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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 14:36:28 GMT -5
Strife((Spacefleet HQ: Sector 2, Briefing Room)) "I wouldn't mind going with the first team." declared Professor Amneiger. "How much time will we have to prepare?""No more than 15 minutes," said The Commander bluntly. "Take whatever weapons and equipment you think you will need and rendezvous with your team members at the docking bay." "I'll go with the first team, as well," said Ethan, after asking Subcommander #1 for a brief review of the mission. "Good. We now have five volunteers for the first team: Professors Ailden and Amneiger, Subcommander Cyclops ((who is Subcommander #1)), Subcommander #4, and Marine Ethan." The Commander looked at Ethan. "It is your mission to keep an eye on Professor Ailden. Follow her at all times." "The rest of you will join the second team. I'm heading to the surface alone, so get your gear in order and wait for my signal. This briefing has officially concluded." The Commander walked towards the table and set his remote down. The door opened again, and he marched around the table and out into the hallway. Half of the marines standing against the wall filed out of the room to follow him, while the other half stayed to keep an eye on things until the briefing room was empty. * * * ((Spacefleet HQ: Outside The Entrance)) It had taken The Commander no more than a minute or two to prepare himself for his departure. His Leech weapon was strapped tightly to his right wrist. He had hidden it during his briefing with his officers, since he didn't want anyone to wonder why its crystal core was glowing with the same color as the magical stormclouds on the surface. They'd notice it sooner or later during battle, but by then, he'd be able to come up with a nice explanation. The Commander had also equipped a new set of boots. They were bulkier than his normal set, but each boot had a tube strapped behind it that allowed him to launch into the air. It was an excellent alternative to his jetpack, as he didn't want to risk setting his cape on fire. Without further delay, he bent down towards the ground, and in a sudden burst of energy, his rocket boots launched him into the air, leaving a small patch of black on the ground below. He soared towards the planet of NTWF like a human comet. He placed his arms at his sides and looked straight ahead of him as he soared closer and closer to the planet. No matter how many times he did this, he never grew tired of it. If he had a choice between spacecraft and jetpack, he'd always go for the jetpack just for the sheer thrill of it. Eventually, as The Commander flew closer to the planet's atmosphere, his body was surrounded by a ball of fire. His professors had reinforced his armor to be extremely resistant to heat, which protected him from burning into space dust as he entered the planet's atmosphere. Because of the flames surrounding him, The Commander could no longer gaze at the planet beneath him. He closed his eyes, thinking silently to himself while enjoying the sensation of traveling at hundreds of miles per second. He immediately began to think about Leoness, hoping with all his heart that she was okay amidst the choas taking place on the planet. He looked forward to seeing her again, and he would have joined the first team to help find her... but he knew that he had to speak to this lifeform as soon as possible, before his chance was lost. With the demons by his side, and eventually under his control, he would never again have to worry about protecting his lover... or protecting the security of Spacefleet, for that matter. He had a personal mission, and if things went as he hoped they would, no one would be able to stop him. No one. Keng"Team 1, make sure you bring civilian jackets or something to try to blend in." Keng reminded as she left the room, but she paused before the door to look at cyclops. "Uhhh..." she said as she looked at the green blob in a robot suit, "you may want to cloak or get a hologram or something Sir..." While Cyclops was one of the strict commander's most trusted subcommanders, he was known to have a bit more of a sense of humour than the boss and was much more approachable than Strife. With that she left the room and made a dash to gather a few last minute supplies, and to swing by the lab to check on the progress of those shields. ZariZari grinned at Keng. 'I have a good disguise.' She removed her labcoat and stuffed it in her satchel, then pulled out a pair of glasses, growing a thick coat of fawn-gray fur in the process. 'Unless I speak or lose the fur, I'm pretty much incognita.” StrifeOf all the subcommanders in Spacefleet, Cyclops stood out as the most interesting, and he was also the most trustworthy. He was, essentially, a blob of green jelly no bigger than a small dog, with a single white eye. Of course, his small size made it difficult for him to move around in a timely manner, so Spacefleet's professors took the liberty of building him a robotic suit. All he needed to do was sit himself on top of the suit's neck, and he could control its movements with telepathic signals. When he was inside it, he moved as naturally as the humanoid lifeforms that made up the rest of Spacefleet's personnel. "Uhhh... you may want to cloak or get a hologram or something Sir..." said Keng as she approached Cyclops, obviously referring to the fact that he'd have trouble blending in when they reached the surface. "I' ll le av e m y s ui t i n t he dr op sh ip wh en we ar ri ve," buzzed the speaker inside Cyclops' suit. The little blob couldn't speak without the assistance of some kind of device. "O nc e w e g et do wn th er e, yo u c an pu t m e i n a fi sh bo wl or so me th in g." Keng looked amusingly at him and dashed out of the room, most likely to prepare for the mission. Cyclops didn't have much need to gather equipment aside from his suit, so he decided to make his way to the docking bay and prepare the dropship for his team members. FrazeFraze had most of what he needed already--he got the assault rifle and flechette gun he had left when the guards took Zari and him, and got his Table of Smiting from his quarters, slinging it over one shoulder making sure it was free of his back. His skinsuit hadn't lost much of its power, but he used the station's electrical supply to top it off. He and the Commander, he knew, shared a love of free-space flight. He had his skinsuit cover him completely once more, and simply stepped out the airlock after the Commander, making sure that he remained in sight of him. He didn't want to get in trouble again. It took one hard jump, with his skinsuit assisting him, to escape the moon's gravitational pull. Once out of its gravity well, he felt he was once more in his element. Here, he could survive for as long as he had food. Even in complete vacuum, his suit would keep him safe, supplying him with the recycled oxygen and water that he needed. He recalled that he had first come to Spacefleet through similar means... He had his shirt off and stored in a small pouch slung over the shoulder that wasn't carrying his Table. He commanded--though "commanded" is really a misnomer, as it was more of a request--his skinsuit to activate its flight function. Two wings made of pure position-fixed energy expanded from his suit, between his shoulderblades, quickly growing until each was a kilometer across and half as wide. It was only a short flight to the surface, so he didn't need them to be very big. Had he been embarking on a several week long trip--say, a flight and lengthy mission to one of the outer planets or Kuiper belt, or even the Oort Cloud--he would have had the wings 100 kilometers across each. He did not need to beat the wings--instead, he allowed them to be partially reflective. He felt the pressure from the light of the moon propel him forward. The Commander had a significant head start on him at first, but he soon caught up, adjusting the reflectivity of each side of his wings to calibrate his speed. Once he was holding steady at some thirty meters behind the Commander, he had the wings fold back once more. It was perfectly silent. Usually, his skinsuit had a continuous scroll of information flash to him in his peripheral vision--velocity, distance to the planet, pressure on skinsuit wings in micropascals, and so forth. He shut them all off, only leaving open his communicator in case someone sent him a message. He slowly looked around at the stars, trying to pick out the ones he had visited. He twisted back to see the moon--he thought he could just barely pick out the Spacefleet command center there, right next to that crater. From this distance, the sprawling compound was little more than a black dot. And the Commander wants that dot to expand to fill the moon and all of the planet, he thought. He spun around and looked now at the planet. It grew now before him, so much like Earth, yet so different. They were on the night side of the planet now. He knew where they were going, but he could only pick it out by the ominous dark color of the clouds that swirled around it. After some time, the planet was getting close, and he began decelerating. He unfurled his wings once more, now making the side that faced the planet reflective. It didn't give off much light since it was nighttime, but he still felt some small push. After several minutes, he felt he had decelerated enough for now. Even after storing his wings once more, he felt some pressure. The atmosphere, they were entering the thin fringes of the NTWF's atmosphere now. His skinsuit had a strange way of dealing with fire. The skinsuit serves as a barrier against most harsh conditions, heat included. Of course, guarding against fire takes energy from the suit--but at the same time, the suit can harvest the energy from fire. This made atmospheric re-entry relatively worry free. He saw the planet beneath him expand. Slowly, slowly, shapes became visible. He had just barely passed through the upper cloud layer, and alarms were screaming at him to slow down or face the consequences. With a grin, he decided he could wait a little longer. He saw mountains in the distance. When he judged he was about level with the highest peak, he had his skinsuit unfold its wings once more. He kept them transparent now, so as to keep a small profile for anyone on the ground. Rather than keeping them flat at his sides, he now lifted the wings up over him like a parachute. He felt tugged upward as the wind resistance slowed his descent. As he slowed, he had his wings grow smaller and smaller. When he was just above the treetops, they were the size of a pair of living room windows. He touched down with as much force as one would experience jumping off a top bunk. He contracted his wings completely, put his shirt back on again, and waited for the rest of the team to arrive. ZariZari preferred to travel by her own means- teleporting into the earths atmosphere and flying down- but she had Ethan, who was under orders to follow her, to think about. 'We could take my dropships, but that's shiny so not a good idea, We could releport but that might scramble Sibers Brain...' Zari continiued talking in this manner, listing off ideas then dismissing them. Omni((Spacefleet, conference room ))
"Maybe we could take a shuttle with a cloak?" He paused in thought for a moment, "Do any of our shuttles even have cloaks?
"And would you mind coming with me to my quarters real quick? I left my knife there."
Siber quietly wondered how teleporting would fry his brain.
Zari
'I think the Combat-issue shuttle I got off a dealer in Illhvren has a cloaking device. And it's not shiny. Which is good.' Zari rummaged in her satchel, then sighed. 'Phew. I've got all my firearms and stuff, and lots of sharp objects.' Zari shut up and tried to remember which bay the shuttle was in.
Keng
Grenades, check. Flash bangs, check. Smoke bombs, check. Remote mines, check.
She tucked each group of items into various pockets, clipping some of them to her belt and then reached for what many told her was the most important piece of equipment that she should wear at all times: her helmet. A few to many knocks to the head, some would say. Going unconscious as much as she tended to from blunt objects on missions apparently wasn't good for her health according to medical. So she'd been encouraged to get a helmet by her friends and doctors. As for that shield issue there was a package left for her when she reached her room. One shield. She'd been hopping to have two, one for each arm, but there wasn't time to make and test a second. Now she just needed a way down to the planet. And a weather report wouldn't be to bad.
She flicked on her screen to the station's weather channel. An asteroid shower was predicted for the far side of the moon tomorow, there was an electric particle storm near the outskirts of the star system, and a star several hundreds of lightyears away was expected to go supernova. As was usual for such an event a large number of adrenalin junkies were expected to hang around for the show and some shock wave surfing, and as was usual they were advised strongly against it. Finally the report on NTWF weather. A cold front was expected to move in that morning. Though the behaviour of the purple storm was mysterious, it was expected to react to it semi normally and that would mean snow.
"Well, better grab my jacket then." she told herself then headed for the launching bay.
Strife
((The Forest South of Dunburrow - Spacefleet Landing Site))
The Commander felt the rush of wind against his armor, indicating that he was close to landing. He opened his eyes again and stared down at the land beneath him. There was a mass of gray where Castle Kestrel stood, surrounded by dots of light that were coming from the village outside the castle. The Commander focused and steered his body towards the forested area where Fraze had just landed.
Something felt different though... As he flew closer and closer to the ground, he felt a strange sensation, as though some kind of energy was crawling into his head and flowing through his body. Blood rushed through the veins of his right arm, and he could feel it pulsing rapidly under his Leech weapon. The Leech's crystal glowed brightly.
The Commander concluded that his close proximity to the artifact was causing this sudden surge of energy. Suddenly, he felt the exact same rush of strength and power as he did on the surface of the moon when he first heard the demon lifeform's telepathic message. Normally he would have felt exhilarated by it, but he did not expect it to happen so soon. He grew nervous, knowing that he was not going to land as cleanly and silently as he first anticipated.
At this point, to the naked eye, The Commander looked like some kind of flaming meteor in the distance. He soared downwards into the dense forest, leaving a streak of purple smoke in the night sky. Seconds before he reached the ground, the Commander flipped himself over, hoping that it would help him hit the ground more softly. It did not.
The Commander crashed feet-first into the forest soil beside Fraze. His incredible landing speed, combined with the immense power coarsing through his veins and his affinity towards earth magic, caused a massive and unnatural earthquake. The ground shook violently as huge shockwaves spread from his position to the far corners of Dunburrow. Leaves and branches were ripped clean from nearby trees, causing hundreds of small birds to retreat into the clouds. And a lot of people were about to fall over.
The Commander dropped to his knees inside the large, smoking crater his landing had created. His legs felt like jelly, but despite their weakness, he forced himself to crawl slowly out of the crater. He would refuse to get caught here. More importantly, he would refuse to leave Fraze unattented. He had no idea what the Special Ops officer might do if he fell unconcious.
After crawling into the soft grass, he sat down at the edge of the crater, took a few deep breaths, and looked around for Fraze. Hopefully the shockwave didn't kill him... or worse, send him flying into an area where he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on him.
Tamia
((Just inside Castle Kestrel's south gate))
The Grey Knight turned to her. "You're injured," he said, and Tamia was grateful that he hadn’t inquired into the rationale behind her decision. "Here." He passed her a small handful of what Tamia recognized as dried vervain. "These should help. I trust that you'll know what to do with these."
Thinking that the vervain flower was an odd choice of treatment for an open wound, she merely nodded vaguely and slipped the herbs inside her backpack. I’ll get around to them later, she thought to herself. For now, worrying about her injury was the last thing she felt like doing; although, as she attempted to flex the fingers of her left hand to restore the circulation, she allowed herself a small feeling of thankfulness -- with all the delicate tendons and bones in the human arm, the wound could have been much worse.
At that moment, however, something -- or someone, rather -- caught her eye. Not far from the group’s position, behind a stand of trees, a red-haired girl was watching them rather unsteadily. By her tunic and quiver, she seemed to be a knight, but she wasn’t one that Tamia recognized -- or was she? The girl’s feline traits, her ears and her tufted tail, held no place in her memory, but still... there was something there. Just then, however, Tamia noticed the dark red stain that could be seen spreading outwards from the girl’s shoulder, even at this distance. Clearing her mind, she strengthened her resolve and started towards the other knight.
As she did so, she decided that she really didn’t care which “side” this girl was planning on standing on. It should be enough that she’s here and she’s hurt, Tamia thought angrily. That’s all it should ever be.
At that moment, however, the ground seemed to buck violently under her feet, sending her flying into the dry grass. Coughing and wiping dirt from her face, she twisted around wildly, heart hammering. What in the name of the King was that? she wondered feebly.
Urchin
When Keng came into the launching bay Urchin was shouting at a docked ship while banging on it's door.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE DOOR'S JAMMED, I fixed it two days ago and it was working last NIGHT!" she yelled in anger as she began banging the door with her other hand because her first one was hurting, " NOW open UP, I've bean yelling at you for almost an hour, open up NOW!" lowering her hand wanting for the door to open or for a response.
"I'm sorry, but the wires for the door have short circuited, I'm afraid there is no way to open the door "came a response from the ship in a kind voice.
"LILY, OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!"
"I'm sorry, but the door is malfunctioning as I told you." came the voice with a hint of amusement.
Urchin began kicking the door several times before walking away, with a small limp from kicking the door to sit on a bench near by. "Lily PLEASE open the door" she said in a impatient, angry, and tired voice.
"Once again I'm sorry, but the door ..."
"What the hell do you want then!" she interrupted, but didn't get a response.
Zylaa
((Dunburrow, South Gate)) Looks like everyone in the NTWF is showing up to find out about this offer, Zylaa thought. At least nobody is attacking each other yet. Ninjas were here, she saw, but for once she had no desire to be the first to break the peace. She started as one of Hunty's meepits bounced over from the crowd- Bloody Mary's mission had apparently lead him here. She listened.
"...I came over. Good thing I did. He has what you sent me after." Bloody Mary finished.
"Does he, now?" Hunty mused. Zylaa's ears perked up. If Kit had the shiny- I've got to stop thinking about it like that, she interrupted herself, it's not healthy- if Kit had the magical artifact and demonic power, what could he accomplish? From what she had gathered over the past day, this artifact alone had enough power to take the world by storm with as much insanity and terror as the inexplicable former popularity of boy bands.
Clara took advantage of the pirates' inattention to bound over to Rider and hug her. “Look! The sky is different here! Aren’t the stars pretty?” she cried. Zylaa had to look. They were indeed pretty. Peaceful too, although really, they were nothing more than a bunch of catastrophic explosions in space.
Funny what perspective a few million light-years brings.
She noticed a disturbance on the other edge of the gathering, but before she could investigate, the shockwave passed. The ground suddenly shook over Zylaa's feet, knocking her sideways, although since she posessed the grace of a weasel, she caught herself before falling over. "What was that?" she cried.
Keng
"You know, I have some remote mines that might be able to blast the door open." offered Keng. "Joking. Joking." she added hastily to both Urchin and her ship. "However there is business afoot and I'll be needing your feet down planet side with me... uhh, preferably with your hands still attached." she said looking at Urchin's fists which were red from their enthusiastic door knocking. "Does Lily have a cloak? If not she'll be to big to take down for the drop off. The commander wants to maintain cover."
Had Keng known of said Commander's glorious entrance and landing onto the surface of the NTWF which had occurred moment ago and had said commander had a greater sense of humour Keng would have congratulated him on a top undercover covert job. A true masterpiece of stealth tactics of a skill that could never be met again, truly an example for the training books on how to make an unnoticed landing. As it was though Keng did not know of this landing and she quite enjoyed the current location of her head and vital organs.
((edit: spelling, because remote mines would be more effective than remote minds))
Surf
((Mage Manor – Entrance Hall))
"I would like to at least get a few small things before we go,” replied Omni.
“Thanks for coming to help us, Omni!” exclaimed Surf, with a smile. “I don’t mind if you go get something. Just hurry, it’s getting close to midnight.” With that, she sat down, took the food from earlier out of her pocket, and gulped it down. While she waited for Omni to return, she leaned back against one of the doors to the Manor and closed her eyes. And the sad part is that this is the closest to sleep I’m gonna get tonight, she thought to herself.
But her few minutes of relaxation were interrupted instantly. As if nature was toying with her, the earth suddenly shook, throwing Surf, who was completely off-guard, onto her face. “Great,” she said, rubbing her nose. “The battle hasn’t even started and I’m already hurt.”
Fraze
Fraze's suit, thankfully, often reacts more quickly than he can.
He saw the fireball that he knew was his commanding officer streak through the sky, not too far from him. He's coming in too fast! Shouldn't he have slowed down by now? Fraze soon found out that yes, he probably should have, as with an earsplitting crash Strife landed just a few meters from him. The ground bucked up with the tremendous force of Strife's impact, throwing Fraze up and away. Emergency programs encoded into his suit immediately took over, causing the suit to become completely rigid. It would remain as such either until it decided that the danger was over, or until Fraze told it to relax once more.
For now, though, Fraze was glad to have it rigid. He was thrown a few hundred meters by the shockwave, knocking down several large trees and countless smaller branches as well as bouncing off a few large rocks, fist-sized chunks knocked off the boulders' faces. He skipped along the ground several times before coming to rest. His skinsuit absorbed all these impacts; by the end, its energy was depleted by some thirty percent--about as much as it would have lost by protecting him from impact had he decided not to decelerate before landing. It could recharge that amount by sunlight in an hour or so. If he had access to fire, lightning, or some other strong source of energy, he could do it in a few minutes.
He had his suit relax. Running a quick diagnostic, he found no damage that the suit couldn't repair fairly easily while recharging its energy supplies. More importantly, he found no damage to himself aside from possible adrenaline overdose.
He knew his first priority was to get back in touch with the Commander. He opened a channel to the Commander's communicator. "Sir, can you read me? I was knocked about..." he paused to guess the distance "...two hundred and fifty meters or so. I'll send out a constant locator signal for you. Should I come over to you, or stay here and wait for you to come to me?"
He checked his supplies. His flechette gun had been slung toward his front, while he was thrown backward, so it only had a few dings on it. His assault rifle, on the other hand, was snapped neatly in two. Well, more where that came from.
Where was his Table? It was strong, but it wouldn't have survived that blast. He must have unslung it from his shoulder while he was getting his shirt back on. He cloaked, still trying to maintain some flimsy facade of secrecy, and jumped up with the help of his skinsuit a bit above the treetops. He saw the crater some distance away, and his path marked by fallen trees. He saw what he assumed was the Knights' castle, but could not make out any people. There was his table to his left.
After landing, he dropped his cloak and contacted Strife again. "Sir, my Table is about forty meters away from me, may I get it?"
Zari
An Earthquake ripped through the silence that had arrived in Castle Kestrel. A inhuman roar of frustration, coupled with a Cat's yowl of fright, were heard in the Third floor of the North Wing. When The dust cleared, Zari was hanging from the top edge of the window, wings spread in alarm, while Zahaere was hanging from the wall, her claws firmly lodged in a Tapestry. 'What the sharou was that?!' Zaha yowled, letting go of the tapestry to thud to the ground in a heap of cathair, sharp objects, and who knows what else. 'I have no effing idea!' Zari yelled back. The plaster ripped and Zari fell, catching herself on the windowsill. Zaha leapt forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her back into the room with suprising strength for such a petite frame. 'Thanks. Skyfire, that was scary. The Earth is angry.' 'You Fae and your whole "Nature lives" ideas. You make me confused. 'No more than the Feliastion way of Deity worship confuses Fae.'
((Censored the language, slightly. Zari gets foulmouthed when she's frightened, and if your hanging by your fingernails from a windowframe you'd not worry about your language))
Vyt
((Castle Kestrel South Gate))
As more and more people attended the meeting place, Cat Assassin was caught by surprise. He could see PFA among the group, almost near the black-haired man. Instantly, the feline's mind was run over with a line of thoughts, including a worried idea that she had been illusioned by the black-haired man to join him. Whether she had accepted or declined his offer, he had to find out sooner.
Cat Assassin unexpectedly broke out of his usual personality, releasing his own anger by talking to no one in particular. "I swear when I get that gem off him, I'd savor the moment that he pleads for mercy," he spoke out.
Bluisa, on the other hand, was still patiently watching from the other side. However, her position was no good as the mage turned to the sound of moans and groans. The mage had two choices: she could risk exposing herself to find another spot; or she could turn around, walk a couple of meters and search for the source.
Fear had forced the mage to pick the former. Bluisa quickly sprinted out of her magical platform and rushed through the group. Clumsiness however had caused her to trip over, stumbling across the muddy soil and towards Ikkin.
Holding her head in pain, Bluisa realized that it was not a good idea for her to run.
((Afterlife))
"... Demons were banished from the human world for a reason. The ancestors of these beings did not just dish them out for nothing."
The figure was getting a bit bored, despite the appearances of hostility among the place he had been watching all along. He wanted to see if justice would prevail among those who support it, whoever he was talking about.
Kit
Kit was beginning to grow rather tired of Ikkin's constant accusations. He wondered if she was just opposing him for the sake of opposing. "Ikkin, you're the Court Marshal. You know laws, you know politics, you've studied history, through all the pacts that Dunburrow has made. You tell me, how does a nation establish a stable diplomatic relation with another nation?" he paused here before continuing, "you're not stupid, Ikkin. Do you think I haven't already made pacts with the demons? That I've not already set regulations in place in exchange for my help to them? Or are you still prejudiced, and don't believe that demons will hold their end of the bargain? I know them, Ikkin, and they're trustworthier than you think. At least they don't kill those that are loyal to them." Kit let the last sentence out forcefully. If it were a blade, it would have come dripping in venom, "and Ikkin, I can't control Shiva any more than you could control Shino in the last war. There's bound to be a couple of rotten apples, but if you're going to let them ruin a potential diplomatic relation, then maybe you might want to reconsider your post on the council."
A small scuffle took Kit's attention from Ikkin, as he saw two zombies crash in on the meeting. They didn't get very far though, as the dragon-mage and a little dragonet leaped on one of them and started tearing bits out of it. As they jumped on the other one, Kit nodded to Nyia who let her tendrils loose upon the mage and her pet, pulling them away from further harm as the Zahhak rather effectively incinerated the zombie in a cone of fire breath. As far as Kit was concerned, he didn't care where the zombies got their power. A pile of soot wasn't much threat for reanimation.
The rattling from Tavara grew steadily louder as midnight approached. Kit found it hard not to notice the growing anticipation from the demon, who had already started to ooze a thick black smoke from the eye and mouth holes of his mask. Kit saw no need in stopping him anyway, he would have use for him soon.
Bladetail watched the growing congregation, rather fascinated by the different types of humans that she saw. She wondered why they all came with false courtesies and sweet words. If this was a matter to be handled by angels, they'd have gotten it over and done with already. There really was no need for all the talking that they were doing. Her tail seemed to agree with her, clicking impatiently as it swished from side to side, poised to strike at any given moment.
She didn't like the ambiguity in the air, and wished that everyone would separate themselves into two neat groups so she could tell who was with them, and who was against. As it was, it reminded her of the jumble of soulwork that awaited her when she got back. As her eyes slipped from one person to another, the ground began to tremble slightly. When she realised what was happening, it had already began to rise to a rather violent quake. Bladetail had no problem in stabbing her tail in the ground and making it rigid for support, keeping her up, but she was more concerned about those on her side at least. She looked to the side to see Kit holding Shade as Nyia wrapped her tendrils around him to keep him, and consequently Shade, on their feet. It was then when she realised the chaos around her. Deciding to take advantage of it while she could, she lashed her tail out towards the ninja that approached Kit earlier, timing it during the height of the quake when the confusion would be the thickest.
By the time Kit had noticed something was wrong with the ground, Nyia had already wrapped her tendrils around his feet. If he had a little more time, he would have found it odd that his main concern was for Shade. But he didn't have a little more time, and he did what came to him instinctually and held Shade's arm, helping to keep her steady. His clairvoyance told him that another powerful person had arrived on the chessboard. It looks like the most important guest has arrived.
Through it all, black smoke continued to ooze out of Tavara's mask, pooling by his feet and slowly flowing out. Midnight was just half an hour away.
Amneiger
Amneiger punched three codes into a keypad in his lab area. Three of the metal crates in the lab opened, revealing things that looked like tanks shrunk down to waist height. "Right. Standing orders for today: defend group. Do not shoot unless fighting has already started." I know the Commander said that this would be a stealth mission, but after that we're going to be close to a very large group of potentially hostile people. Fire support would be a good idea. He pulled out a laptop from his desk and opened it.
> Units 4, 5, 6 - link with this terminal. >> Link established...synchronizing...done. > Run self-diagnostic. >> Running...
While the minitanks were checking their systems Amneiger took a blowtorch from a table and put it into his pocket. He picked up a belt of grenades from another table and dropped them into another duffel bag.
>> Self-diagnostic complete. No errors found. All weapons loaded, safeties on.
"Okay, good." Amneiger closed the laptop and dropped it into the duffel bag along with the library computer. "Follow me."
A few minutes later Amneiger was in the docking bay watching Urchin and Keng fight with their shuttle and listen to Zari trying to remember where her ship was. "It's past ten o'clock and most of sky on the surface is purple and black. Will we need a cloaking device if we just pick a ship that's painted in dark colors and fly carefully?"
Kat
Kat stared at the huge double doors of the Dunburrow Library, her wand tucked safely in her belt.
Would it really help...researching about a gem she barely knew anything about? On one hand, it would keep her well away from fighting and being accused of betraying anyone, but on the other hand, it would be a lot less fun, and would mean not being there when she was most needed...
I'll go, but that doesn't mean I'll do whatever anyone says.
She turned on the spot and vanished from the corridor...
* * *
...only to appear in a rush of violet smoke, right in front of Kit.
"Greetings...Sir Kit."
PFA
((Castle Kestrel: south gate))
Before Jernath could get to the zombies, however, the demons grabbed the dragon and pulled her away, then took care of the zombies themselves. Jernath blinked, a little upset that he didn't get to do anything but also grateful that the zombies were gone.
If demons could help like that all the time... he thought silently, putting his daggers away.
Before he could continue that thought, however, an earthquake rang through Dunburrow. Jernath fell over from the sudden tremor, using his arms to break his fall. "What's going on?!" he yelped, not sure if anyone would hear him. He didn't care, though.
---
PFA was taken by surprise when the ground beneath her started quaking violently. She did everything she could to keep herself up, not wanting to be on the ground incase some fighting were to start. She was doing a pretty good job at being steady, when suddenly the tail of one of the demons (it was actually an angel but PFA didn't know that) came crashing into her, sending her flying backwards.
"AHH!" PFA yelped. She landed a few feet back from the rest of the group, lying on the ground. She tried to stand back up, but the tail had been painfully sharp, as there was now a deep gash where the tail had hit her. Coupled with the sword wound from before, it hurt like crazy. With the immense pain, as well as the earthquake, there was no way PFA could stand back up.
In all her pain, PFA almost didn't notice that one of the badges pinned to her outfit was shining. It knows I was just attacked, she thought silently. Seeing as she couldn't move, she figured she'd take advantage of this.
The Uncle/Cat Assassin question promptly came to her mind again. But, not wanting to take any risks, she shouted out, "CAT ASSASSIN!" hopefully, her Uncle would be able to come and help her soon. What she didn't know was that her Uncle was already at the south gate.
Celestial
She felt herself being pulled away from her "prey" and she didn't like it one bit. Celestial snapped at the demon who had wrapped his/her/it's tendrils around her and the dragonet but it was no use. The demon put her down and away from the fight, to her great outrage! She wanted to fight the zombies, she wanted to be useful, not stand there and watch while others got hurt! If only the storm didn't making using magic so dangerous, I could have burnt all of those zombies to cinders before they even took one step! she thought angrily and jealously as another demon blasted the zombie's with flames that were equal to, if not superior, to a dragons. The dragonet had flown up onto her head, shaking from the demon. Cowardly creature, she spat, still full of bloodlust.
A rattle took her thoughts away from the fight. It was yet another demon with black smoke or ooze coming out of it's face, though why is was doing so was a mystery to Celestial. She would just have to learn but a glance at the moon and stars gave a possible reason: midnight was coming.
Without a word or ever a whisper of warning,the earthquake struck
Even Celestial's draconic size was no match for the shockwave that hit her. She let out a blood-curdling scream, flattenign herself against the ground and feeling the vibrations of the quake in her jaws. The dragonet also screamed and flew off, startled into a panic as leaves showered down upon it, adding to the difficulty of flying in the storm's wind. Every dragon's instinct that she possessed screamed at her to follow.
Celestial scrambled to get back up, anxious that she might have hurt somebody. She shook off the leaves and branches that had fallen onto her. Amongst the panic, her eyes detected a faint trail of smoke whcih led to the the dimmest of glows. A meteorite. she thought it couldn't have been anything else. That would explain this earthquake! But why did it feel...wrong?
This wasn't the time to find out as her wing released another wave of pain. Something had to be done about that thing and fast before the infection set in. If by some miracle the zombie had brushed it's teeth and cleaned it's nails, the dirty ground on which she had fallen contained plenty of organisms who would be the perfect replacement for the ones the zombie had cleaned off.
Or maybe both had infected her wound.
Cursing at herself to stop being so selfish, she stood up, shapeshifting back into her human form and looked around at everyone around her who had fallen.
A purple mage appeared in front of Kit in a flash of smoke. Celestial fanned out her wings and risked a small fireball in her hand, more for reassurance than protection. She eyed the mage critically, noting that her robes appeared to be purple just like her own. It was amazing how similar they looked. She suspected that this was the one who had taken the Gem. Yes, she was the one lying unconcious in the throne room. Celestial thought with some amusement. If she is hostile, I'll attack, no matter what those demons say was the malicious thought that crossed her mind. The bloodlust from the zombie fight still hadn't faded.
Rider
“Look! The sky is different here! Aren’t the stars pretty?”
Rider had to admit, she needed the hug. "They are very pretty..."
The earth shook violently, causing Rider's knees to buckle under her. She held onto Clara and righted herself. She stared at Tavara in a mixture of horror and fascination. It seemed like the demon would melt into an all-emcompassing smoke, smothering, smothering... Rider wanted to run.
Running, running, never free, and the clock counts down so rapidly.
The killers breed or the demons seed, The glamour, the fortune, the pain, Go to war again, blood is freedoms stain, But dont you pray for my soul anymore. 2 minutes to midnight The hands that threaten doom. 2 minutes to midnight To kill the unborn in the womb
Omni
((Spacefleet, docking bay))
"Zari," Ethan said, assuming a more commanding tone of voice. (She may have been higher rank, but he was currently her guard, so he figured that he could probably use it.) "Please come with me so I can get my knife. I know where it is, it's not very far, and if we run, it should only take a few minutes, tops."
A thought crossed his mind. "Actually, nevermind. Siber!"
Siber snapped to attention.
"Fetch my knife. It's in my pillowcase. Be quick."
Siber dashed off, soon returning with a small-dagger sized knife in a sheath, which he dropped at Ethan's feet.
"Good boy," Ethan said, petting Siber as he bent down to pick up his knife, which he fixed onto it's proper place at his side. "Shall we?" he said to Zari as he gestured toward her ship.
----------
((Mage Manor, near the entrance))
"I'll be right back," Omni said as she ran off toward the stairs. The Manor seemed to know that she was in a hurry, as her trip went faster than usual. As she came to the top of the stairs, the place suddenly began shaking. Omni hurried and braced herself in the doorway at the top of the stairs. The tremors soon subsided. Dismissing it as just an earthquake, Omni ran into her room. She opened up a drawer beside her bed, and pulled out a dagger, the same one that she had… received, and then used in the previous Guild War. She had since got a sheath and belt to carry it with, as it was rather inconvenient, and more dangerous, to carry it otherwise.
She buckled the belt around her waist, and let it sit. She then closed the one drawer, opened another drawer and grabbed a small bag, which she opened and pulled a pure silver coin out of. She looked at the coin for about two seconds, enjoying its bright color and lustrous sheen, which she found difficult to capture in images, before putting it back into the bag. She tied the bag to her belt, and ran back down the stairs into the kitchen, again hastened by the Manor. She opened the spice cabinet, and pulled out some garlic, both the powdered kind and the whole-clove kind. She sniffed the latter, enjoying its scent, before placing both of them in her bag. She ran back to the front door, vaguely aware that she had left some doors open, but not bothering to run back and close them.
"Okay, I'm ready," she said to the others, silent for a second until she thought to add "when you are."
((Yay, both Omni and Ethan get knives. …And they're both ready to leave.))
Vyt
((Castle Kestrel South Gate))
"CAT ASSASSIN!"
Bluisa's eyes started to change, her red eyes now filled with black. Even the confusion of the earthquake had nothing to stop the mage's concentration. She ascended into mid-air as she was surrounded by... dark energy of some sort.
I call on to you, oh powerful king Lend me your power and heed to my calling Send to her beloved this pitiful being!
* * *
Cat Assassin was caught in an unexpected earthquake, realizing that his flawless animal instincts had made their rare mistakes. Hearing the agonizing scream of his niece, the feline tried to stand but to no avail. He felt helpless.
... Until he was surrounded by a fog of clouds even darker than the night.
At the blink of an eye, he was standing directly beside PFA. However, chaos and confusion that the earthquake was bringing had him pitted against his professional side, and all he could only do for PFA was to hold her back into her own composure until the earthquake ceased to exist.
Strife
((The Forest South of Dunburrow))
"Sir, can you read me?" said a voice from The Commander's communicator. He immediately recognized it as Fraze, and he unclipped the communicator from his belt and listened in. "I was knocked about... ...two hundred and fifty meters or so. I'll send out a constant locator signal for you. Should I come over to you, or stay here and wait for you to come to me?"
A wave of relief fell over The Commander, and some of his trust in the Special Ops officer was regained. He had thought for certain that Fraze would try to make a run for it.
"Take cover while I reach your location." replied The Commander. "The storm affected my landing, so it's highly probable that the terrestrials detected me. We must retreat to a more secure location."
"Sir, my Table is about forty meters away from me, may I get it?"
"I said wait for me, Special Ops!"
The Commander sat up and started walking in Fraze's direction, mustering all of the strength he could despite the pain in his legs. He had to get out of here, before someone found him. If he encountered a terrestrial, he would have no choice but to kill them. Too much was at stake to risk the security of the mission.
He pressed several numbers on his communicator and held it underneath his mouth. "Attention Spacefleet... This is Commander Strife. The terrestrial storm has compromised my landing on the surface. To ensure our security, the second team must find an alternate landing site. Use long-range scanners and contact me when you've found a secure location."
He clipped the communicator back onto his belt and continued walking deeper into the forest towards his fallen officer. As he walked, he immediately noticed that small rocks and stones were hovering in the air beside him. Some of the stones were orbiting around his body. He tried swiping one away with his hand, but another immediately rose from the ground in its place. He let out a huff of frustration.
What was going on? It was almost as if he had lost some control over his psionic powers. Either that, or his powers had grown too big to contain. In any case, he decided to dismiss it for now. A few hovering stones wouldn't hurt him.
Crystal
There were snarls, and the pig didn’t understand what was happening at all. Clara herself remained happily oblivious to the zombiefied, dragonified situation until the earth began its shaking.
Rider clutched at her as the ground tossed beneath them, and the girl pitched forward onto the ground, screaming and bringing the pirate ex captain with her.
“Mr. Pig,” she wept, “What’s happening? Who’s coming?”
The pig didn’t answer. The pig didn’t know what was happening.
Then it found itself being scooped up as Clara wrestled herself free from Rider’s grasp. “They came from the stars,” she whispered into the aftermath. Her tears dried up in another of her explosive changes of mood. “They came from the stars, Mr. Pig! They must be angels!”
She broke away, running past the fallen pirate and tumbled headlong into one of Kit’s companions, the one with two swords. Forgetting her weariness in her excitement, she somehow recovered enough to speed past fallen knights in the direction of where the angels had fallen.
The pig grunted in terror. It didn’t like what was happening at all and wished fervently for nothing more than a good sty and a warm wallow in the mud. There didn’t seem to be any mud anywhere near as his mistress ran through the thick forests surrounding Castle Kestrel, making a beeline for the place where her angels had fallen. Forest shortly gave way to devastation as she ran, falling and landing on the pig when finally there became too much debris for her to safely make her way. It squealed in pain as the girl got back on her feet, heedless of scraped legs and hurt feet, her eyes wide as she scanned the surrounding area. Trees were fallen everywhere, in a slim ring that surrounded a small crater. Closer in, some of the stumps glowed and flickered with embers of flames, charred by impact and atmospheric friction. “They have fire,” she said to the pig in an awed voice. “They really are angels.”
The pig didn’t think so at all. It buried it’s snout in her arms and wished that they had never even seen the stupid water ship.
Clara stepped near the crater, where trees were completely gone. She was even more ragged than usual, breathing heavily and bleeding from cuts sustained from the broken forest. Altogether, she was a pitiful sight, a frail, child-like figure carrying a trembling mud-caked animal, unarmed and completely vulnerable as her eyes swept over the area, searching. There was a moving figure near to her, heading from the crater into the forest, and she moved after it, back into the forest. "That must be it," she breathed.
Then it moved a little more into her line of sight, and she saw the angel that had fallen from the skies.
She screamed.
Cyborg
((Castle Kestrel: south gate))
" Ok before you look at me Jernath I did not cause that tremor." Cyborg said. " Of course not you wouldn't be stupid enought to cause a tremor that would tick off a bunch of people who could kill you." Midknight replied. " Jernath are you alright?" he asked helping his comrad up.
Zari
Zari tilted her head to one side at Ethan's commanding tone. 'Smart Dog. Voice Commands. You should teach him to respond to hand signals, too. They're useful.' She smiled breifly, then pulled a folded black garment from her satchel, tucking it under her arm. 'Disguise. My armour ain't working so this should do what the armour did in a less outlandish fashion... It's a prototype.' She banged on the door of her shuttle. 'Gyr si, Tza? Open up, Yes?' She shuttle beeped and the door slid back. 'AI. I have to be polite otherwise it gets P-O'ed at me.' She grinned, swishing her tail. 'Humans first.
Huntress
((The south gate of Dunburrow))
Hunty realized way too late that she'd chosen the wrong thing to sit under when the ground began to tremble.
"Oh bugger." She leaned forward, painfully aware of the acid splashing around in the quiver on her back. The last thing she needed was squishing it against the tree trunk. It was lopsided enough as it was.
The tree did what all trees do in case of earthquake, and dropped apples on her head.
The words she let out then were a good deal stronger than 'oh bugger'. Bloody Mary, smart enough to not make a comment, sat up and looked around, ears moving.
"This was no meteor," he said.
"How do you know?" The captain got up, only partly paying attention, since the crowd a few dozen yards away had gotten a new face she was now incredibly interested in.
"Doesn't make sense, so soon before the action's supposed to-" the meepit realized that he was moving away from the tree. He turned around only to realize that Hunty didn't care zilch about what he was saying.
"Kat!"
Okay, so her first mate had taken off with the gem earlier that day. Fair enough. She was a mage, and no sane mage would take a precious magical gem to the pirates. But now she, whatever she'd been doing in the meantime, drops out of the sky and, surely enough, addresses that bloody knight?
Her rational part of the brain pointed out that Kat herself was a knight, and Kit had, after all, summoned them. But this was nevertheless impending war. And as it so happens in wars-
Now she caught up, and interjected without any introductions: "Fancy seeing you here, Katkat. A moment of your time, if you please?"
As it so happens in wars, you have to set your priorities straight eventually.
"Hoo boy," Bloody Mary mumbled.
"You've always been a fine first mate," Hunty carried on, eyes flashing. "And a fine part of our crew. But as you well know, pirates stick together through thick and thin. And I do believe that time has come now. So I'd really like to know at this point where your loyalties lie, if you please. Just for the record. Just so I know for future reference."
Bloody Mary shrunk a little. Hunty only used that semi-calm, semi-manic tone when something had already brought her to the edge of her nerves. "What happened when I was gone?" he hissed to Justice.
"Kind of a long story," the female whispered back. "But she hasn't been having a good day. Neither of us has. The ship was set on fire."
"Whut?"
"Yeah, well, it wasn't really that-" she was cut off as Hunty jerked her chin higher, to look at Ikkin.
"Same question to you. And I see Goosh there. Talk to me, sailors. What are you in for, and who are you in for it with?"
The Invisible Guild
((Nearing the South Gate of Castle Kestrel))
Tigereye smirked to himself as he stepped out from the forest. The road to the old Castle was almost deserted, and his (admittedly pathetic, he thought) advance guard had encountered no resistance thus far -- well, apart from what had seemed to be a very, very short earthquake. It had thrown all three of them for a loop, but the training they had received as recruits of the Invisible Guild had allowed for a quick recovery… on his part at least. The other two scouts, however, were not keen on letting such an event pass by unquestioned.
"I wonder where our brave Lord is now," came the deadly whisper of Sickle, a rather hotheaded young ice mage. Her long black cloak slithered around her ankles as she moved. "No doubt he and his loyal dog Avelin are cowering inside the guild, just in case our mission doesn't go exactly as planned."
Oak, an intimidating ex-pirate whose build lived up to his name, barked with laughter. "And then, o’course, it will be the Invisible army to the rescue… and still, he will hide behind us–“
“That’s enough of your useless repartee,” Tigereye finally snapped. He was still the highest ranked member present (as much as the Invisible Guild kept ranks, at least) and it was still his duty to keep Oak and Sickle in line for the remainder of the journey. “Be grateful that your Lord even allowed you the opportunity to be part of such an important mission, and silence yourselves. I will do the speaking when we meet Winterstone.”
Oak nodded shortly, but Sickle looked ready to argue. One look from Tigereye was enough to cut her off, although a storm was still raging in her silvery eyes. Tigereye turned and continued to lead the way down the road, a small grin on his face. The numerous scars he had received in his former career as a Knight had the effect of making his face, framed with wild brown hair, nothing short of terrifying, something that he had used to his advantage on many occasions.
As they approached the south gate of Castle Kestrel and the sounds of argument and apparent fighting reached their ears, Tigereye found it hard to hold back a passionate sigh. Yes, the battle… the adrenaline rush… the inevitable bloodlust. That was what knighthood had been about for him, and it was the only thing he had missed since the time of his exile. He doubted that any of the current knights would remember him, though. These were nothing but young saplings, some still too weak to bear full armour. Well, he thought to himself, if it came to a battle tonight, the Guild would certainly have the upper hand when its army arrived.
Ignoring all but the pale-skinned knight in the center of the fray, who had been described to him by Avelin earlier, Tigereye strode briskly past the outer stone wall of the Castle. In the mottled darkness of the night, he could not tell if Winterstone was looking at him or not. No matter, he decided. He will know of us soon enough.
The advance guard’s leader came to an abrupt halt before the knight, leaving only the bare minimum amount of space between the two that was acceptable for diplomatic relations. “I carry a request to Kit Winterstone of Dunburrow, on behalf of the seventh guild of the NTWF—“ he paused only slightly for dramatic effect, smiling to himself as he pictured the other guilds’ reactions “—the Invisible Guild.”
Beside him, a flare of silvery-blue magic lifted the darkness momentarily, and Tigereye felt the air grow suddenly colder around him. He shot a warning glance at Sickle, which went unheeded.
“And you’d be well off to assume we’re very determined to get what we want,” the ice mage said quietly, her dark hair blowing dangerously in the air currents her magic had created.
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 14:43:13 GMT -5
PFA
((Castle Kestrel: south gate))
Not long after PFA made her shout, her Uncle appeared next to her, and did what he could to help her get back up. PFA didn't ponder over the darkness magic that had apparently brought him to her, and just accepted her Uncle's help with gratitude.
The quaking soon started to slow down. PFA grimaced, pondering, Where did that come from? It didn't feel like a natural earthquake...
Before she could think on it any longer, she felt a huge surge of pain course through her again. She grunted, clutching her wound. She knew she was going to need some bandaging, and soon.
Her eyes came upon the angel that attacked her, and then upon Kit. She narrowed her eyes at him angrily. This is all his fault, she thought bitterly. I wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for him.
Without any more thought, she promptly pulled a kunai from her pouch, and hurled it at Kit the best she could with all the pain she was in. Not even bothering to see if it hit, she promptly pulled out her katana, doing everything she could to ignore the pain.
"Your stupid demon thing attacked me!" she screamed angrily at the knight. She then tried to charge at Kit, but the pain stopped her. I could really use a healer right about now... she thought.
She tried again, doing everything in her strength to ignore the pain. There may have been people and demons in the path between her and Kit, but right now she didn't care. Kit was going to PAY.
---
"Okay, before you look at me, Jernath, I did not cause that tremor," Cyborg said.
Jernath gave the Kougra an accusatory glance, wondering why he would bother saying such a thing if he were innocent... Cyborg had betrayed them before, after all. But he set the thoughts aside for now, as Midknight came up to him and offered to help him up.
"Jernath, are you alright?" Midknight asked.
"I'll be fine," Jernath replied, accepting Midknight's help. Soon enough Jernath was back on his feet, and glancing around. He saw some people seemed to be rather angry at the earthquake, and he wasn't an exception. Where did that thing come from? he wondered.
And then he started pondering... if Cyborg really hadn't caused that, what, or who, did? He wondered if he should search for whatever caused this earthquake, or if he should talk to Kit... it was getting awfully close to midnight, and Kit said he'd refuse to help anyone who didn't accept his offer by then. Then again, whatever caused that earthquake could be dangerous, and the sooner danger is gotten rid of, the better. He finally decided, again, that Kit would probably understand if he were a little late.
"It felt like it came from the forest," Jernath said to the Kougra brothers. Without another thought, Jernath pulled out his daggers once more and ran in the direction of the forest. Whatever caused that earthquake, he would find it. And destroy it if necessary.
Celestial
The kunai flew past Celestial's ear and she looked at the fallen ninja, the one she had stalked earlier. The ninja looked like she was in a lot of pain and Celestial felt she had to help her. Half walking, half flying, she reached the ninja but this time, there was a cat-like creature next to her.
"I'm not going to hurt you! But I would advise you to stay down, they will have your skin for this! Get away from here as fast as possible if you can" she barked while releasing a little air magic to ease the ninja's pain a little.
Air magic?! She shouldn't be using magic during the storm. But...the others were doing so, why couldn't she? Because your magic relies on the symbiosis of human and dragon was the reply she gave herself. However, she would need to take the risk of using her magic in this battle, regardless of the storm. There was even more risk of what would happen if she went without. The earthquake and zombies proved that.
Celestial snapped to attention as a group of humans came over to Kit. However, they were no guild that she could recognise, instead being a mixture of mages, pirates and knights.
“I carry a request to Kit Winterstone of Dunburrow, on behalf of the seventh guild of the NTWF—“ and the man paused as if full of contempt. Celestial scowled. Contempt bred arrogance. Arrogance bred stupidity. “—the Invisible Guild.” the guard finished, obviously expecting a dramatic gasp. Celestial almost wished to shapeshift into an acid spitting dragon and give him a facefull of it. This guild obviously prided itself in being independent and secret. Nevermind she sneered to herself They will have to follow orders from Kit Winterstone if they want an alliance. That was the only consolation she could find as her deep disgust tried to rise to the surface and wipe the smiles off their faces.
She felt an icy breeze which obviously came from the ice mage in the group. The magical winds of the mage's own creation were making her black hair blow about and Celestial hated these kinds of dramatic effects which, her opinion, were a waste of good power and a mask for your true imcompetence in magic.
“And you’d be well off to assume we’re very determined to get what we want,” she spoke almost insolently. Celestial's mood wasn't helped by her lingering bloodlust. That ice mage was really asking for it! She waved her hand in a motion that would cancel out the air current spells and walked over to the group.
"Pardon me for intruding Kit but I would like to welcome our allies, the Invisible guild" she eyed the whole advance guard with a critical eye, lingering on the insolent ice mage. "Welcome, friends." she said with cold politeness. They would make this 'game' very interesting indeed.
PFA
((Castle Kestrel: south gate))
PFA was relieved when the dragon girl used some magic to help ease the pain, but otherwise ignored her. She would not flee. If Kit was going to have his demons attack her like that, there was no way she would let him get away with it.
PFA barely noticed as a mismatched group of people came up to Kit; she was too angry to care. Taking advantage of the bit of help the dragon girl had given her, PFA gripped her katana's hilt tightly and charged at Kit again. Perhaps the new arrivals would provide enough of a distraction for Kit to not notice her attack.
Ikkin
((Yep, new character time. But, hopefully, this'll help even out the sides...))
((Castle Kestrel Archives -> Wherever Trilly is))
Leraye moved quickly through the rows of bookcases in Castle Kestrel's archives, looking up and down each row to find what he was looking for. Well, perhaps "looking" was the wrong word; his eyes remained closed as he searched, but he still could see using the spell he had placed on the tiny spectacles he wore low on the bridge of his nose. He pushed them up to keep them from slipping, a habit he had grown used to doing even though it wasn't really necessary.
While he didn't waste any time in his search, his expression showed no signs of worry. In fact, he wore a calm smile that didn't break until he came to one particular row, containing records from a decade and a half ago.
"Oh dear," he said, his smile dissipating as he found the body of Madame Esmerta strung up on a bookcase, blood pooled beneath her. A demonic circle was painted next to her in what looked like her blood. "The knights really will want to know about this..."
He pulled a pale red stone from a pouch clipped to his belt, held it in his hand, then willed it to take him to the nearest knight. It reacted more slowly than he'd expected, but finally glowed with a weak light and pulled him where he wanted to go.
He really would need to make a new stone before too long...
But first, his immediate goal. He had found himself behind a very young Knight (Trilly, though he did not know her name), several feet away.
"Oh, hello," he said genially in greeting, raising the hand that wasn't holding the stone and smiling. His eyes remained closed. "I'm a traveling scholar who has been granted the use of your archives to study alchemy, but I've found something quite disturbing that I think the knights should know about."
He paused, his smile fading a bit. "Oh dear, it looks like you're wounded. I'll take care of that for you," he said, moving closer and holding the stone out. It began to glow with magic, but it would not be released until Trilly willed it. ((Trilly - decide if you want healing or not, then godmode Leraye to do that ^^; ))
"Now then," he said. "I really do think you should see what's happened in the archives. The knights need to know, I would say." The stone glowed again as he held out his hand. "Just hold my hand, and I'll take you there."
Rider
”They came from the stars, Mr. Pig! They must be angels!”
Angels... messengers and keepers of the law. Rider had a thing about law. Law killed. Law judged and law chased and law imprisoned.
Hell.
"They're not angels!" Rider shouted to Clara. "Get away from them!" She chased the girl, but dizzy, she fell. Staying low to the ground, she chased the crazy girl.
A jet-black mass blocked her path. "You play with fire, you get burned."
"Shiva, what the hell?"
"You have come to stop Kit?"
"No. That would be betraying you as you have betrayed me."
"If you're referring to Ikkin, she opposes Kit. Those who oppose Kit must die."
Sharp, shallow breaths. Sweat, trembling, a genuine fear. This was a feral Shiva who needed no reason to tear her limb from limb. This was a Shiva awakened to the Dark.
Any one of those demons could be sleeping like this, awaiting the slightest excuse to wake. Suddenly, the path was clear.
"This is my power," Shiva said. "The power of the Dark will fill me as alleycats never have."
Behind her, Rider heard Kat getting an earful. Hunty was a fine apprentice, but she was never the keeper of demons, the caretaker of an atomic bomb. The captain was manic. She oughtn't know the meaning of mania.
Clara screamed.
"Shiva, I'll ask you once and only once. Stand down, and don't eat anything. I have buisness to attend to."
"I'll do as I please."
"I take orders from no mere human."
"I'm the 'mere human' who saved you, Shiva." Rider said no more, but ran to Hunty's side.
"Captain, Shiva has gone absolutely mad. The demons did this to him. We cannot side with them. This must stop."
Ikkin
((Dunburrow South Gate))
"I love dramatic irony," Rider muttered. "Um, please explain in a slow and very detailed manner why my horse is trying to eat you?"
All of a sudden, a crazed-looking little girl with patchy clothing ran towards Rider and caught her in a hug. She seemed altogether too happy, as she spoke cheerily about the stars. “Look! The sky is different here! Aren’t the stars pretty?”
Ikkin really didn't know what to think of her; she guessed it would be best just to ignore her and answer Rider. But then, Kit came back, and she didn't want him to just think she was ignoring him and leave her without an answer again. She gestured "one moment" to Rider as Kit began to talk.
"Ikkin, you're the Court Marshal. You know laws, you know politics, you've studied history, through all the pacts that Dunburrow has made."
Ikkin bristled. Was there some kind of rule in Kit's little group that anyone who joined it had to mock her every time she asked for an explanation?
"You tell me," Kit continued, "how does a nation establish a stable diplomatic relation with another nation?" He paused, giving Ikkin just enough time to wonder why he felt it necessary to call her own knowledge into question. She knew all of that, and she also knew that Kit definitely did not have enough time for any of it.
"You're not stupid, Ikkin," Kit said, his voice implying the exact opposite. "Do you think I haven't already made pacts with the demons? That I've not already set regulations in place in exchange for my help to them?" No, actually, she didn't. He couldn't have. Unless he'd been working on this behind everyone's backs for ages...
"Or are you still prejudiced, and don't believe that demons will hold their end of the bargain? I know them, Ikkin, and they're trustworthier than you think. At least they don't kill those that are loyal to them." Kit practically spat the last sentence out. Ikkin really wanted to say, in the same tone of voice, "And at least they don't go behind the backs of everyone they care about and plan something that could be disastrous," but Kit didn't give her the time.
"And Ikkin, I can't control Shiva any more than you could control Shino in the last war. There's bound to be a couple of rotten apples, but if you're going to let them ruin a potential diplomatic relation, then maybe you might want to reconsider your post on the council."
"Reconsider my... why, you!" Ikkin said, furious now. "Since you've started this whole crazy demon plan, you've treated me like some stupid little kid! You want us to trust your demons, when you're not even giving us any reason to trust you! You've gone behind everyone's back to create pacts that no one else had any say in, you've threatened anyone who won't join you, and you haven't even explained what you want from anyone yet!
"I'll tell you what," she said, still seething. "You either tell us exactly what you want from us, and give us some sign that you still trust us with anything - that gem, maybe - or I'll have to think that you're still lying to us. And you don't want to fight me. It'll tear us both to shreds."
She turned away, back to Rider, hoping that she'd calm down somewhat if she didn't have to see him right now.
"Oh, yeah, I still owe you an explanation about Shiva," she said, not quite able to keep the growl out of her voice. "He went berserk when he heard Kit's message, said something about wanting to go back with 'his people' and then tried to stomp on me so he could have me for lunch. Crazy horse."
Just then, the earth shook so hard that Ikkin was knocked off of her feet. She barely managed to cushion her fall with the wind before she hit the ground backwards, winding up an inch away from the ground. She pushed herself back up to an upright position, floating over the still-shaking ground and shook her head. What could have caused that?! she thought.
The little girl who had hugged Rider ran off yelling something about angels. Ikkin shook her head. No, she was pretty sure that the angels hadn't done this.
But then, who had?
***
((Mage Manor, near entrance))
Omni thought for a moment before answering Sev. Finally, she said, "I would like to at least get a few small things before we go." Sev nodded in response. He could wait a few moments if he got extra backup for Ikkin.
Surf thanked Omni and told her that she could go, then sat down to eat. Omni ran off to the stairs, saying "I'll be right back.
Then, the whole earth seemed to quake. Sev fluttered his wings, trying to keep himself upright, but finally ended up falling forward and hitting his beak on the ground. He just let himself stay there, hoping that nothing would fall on him or hurt him further.
Finally, the quake stopped, and he let out a little bit of healing fire to make his beak stop being sore. Surf seemed to need it, too - Sev heard her say something like, “Great. The battle hasn’t even started and I’m already hurt.”
"It's nothing big, but I can fix it if you want," he offered.
Then, Omni finally returned with a sheathed knife and a bag tucked in her belt. "Okay, I'm ready," she said, then paused before adding, "when you are."
"Just hold onto my feathers and we'll be off, then," he said, offering a wing.
((Surf, godmode Sev to heal you in your post if you want it, and have him teleport to the castle if you're ready, to make things quicker))
Fraze
"Take cover while I reach your location," Fraze heard Strife's voice chirp in his ear. "The storm affected my landing, so it's highly probable that the terrestrials detected me. We must retreat to a more secure location." "Aye, Sir," Fraze responded. He assumed nothing needed to be said after the Commander's second command to stay put. He considered cloaking, but decided instead to squat behind a rock on the side away from the castle. With all the energy in the air, it might take less time than he expected. If anyone came, he would cloak. To one side, he had a view of his unwilling--though, he admitted to himself, kind of fun in a terrifying way--path through the trees. Magnifying his vision, he could just make out the Commander weaving his way through the trees. And farther back--
"Sir, some pirates found the crater. It looks like they're talking among themselves. There's also a black horse, but it doesn't look quite...normal. I think I see it talking. I don't know if you're in their line of sight, but I'm going to cloak so they don't see me." He did so, continuing to send out his location.
He recognized a few of those faces. They were the ones who had found his dropship. With a wry grin, he thought, Those pirates seem to have a way of finding us 'Fleeters. Perhaps it's a magnetic attraction between seafarers and spacefarers? Or maybe they just know where the best trouble is to be had. That's probably it.
Trilly
((Inside South Gate))
Trilly stood away from the cluster of people around Kit, clutching her injured shoulder, trying to sort through her thoughts to some extent before she joined the throng of bickering individuals and picking a side. She was pretty sure that, no matter what happened, she would fight on the side that most followed the code of the Dunburrow knights, which, in this case, probably meant opposing Kit and his followers.
Why do these things always get so complicated, she wondered as she leaned against the castle's cold stone wall. They always tell you--- always--- to fight for what's right and oppose wrongdoers. What happens when the lines between right and wrong, good and evil aren't defined? Who do you follow then?
The crackle of bootsteps on the dry grass alerted Trilly to the approach of a stranger. Staring intently through the trees, the Ivory Knight had only enough time to briefly catch the impression of mid-length blonde hair and a tunic of copper chain mail before there was a sound that split the air like thunder, and the world gave a sudden lurch beneath her feet, sending her toppling to the ground.
There were no more footsteps in the orchard. Apparently, whoever had been in the forest had also been caught off guard by the sudden quake.
Feather clung weakly to the hair on the back of his friend's head. "Please tell me you didn't leave your mage kit next to the fire again, Trilly--"
"You think I did that?" Trilly snapped softly, not wanting to speak too loudly and completely give away her position. "That's crazy." She slowly stood, up, intending to continue viewing the proceedings by the gate from a safe distance.
She never got the chance.
Feeling slightly uneasy for some reason, the knight spun on her heel... and in the process nearly crashed headlong into a man who had appeared, as if out of thin air, behind her.
Trilly's immediate instinct was to scream, and she very nearly did so. She managed to stop herself at the last moment only by reminding the small part of her that remained rational that she was technically hiding at the moment, and that most knights don't scream every time they get a bit startled.
She was going to demand an explanation, but the man began speaking first.
"Oh, hello," the man said in a pleasant enough voice, "I'm a traveling scholar who has been granted the use of your archives to study alchemy, but I've found something quite disturbing that I think the knights should know about."
Trilly frowned, but inwardly she made a mental shrug. Castle Kestrel attracted all types, she knew, but this one gave off a distinct air of being a little bit batty. He hadn't even opened his eyes once while addressing her. Curious, she made a quick waving gesture in front of his face to see if he was blind.
As for his story... the traveling scholar was a good enough explanation. The castle was a popular stop for tradesmen of all types, and at any given time it was full of people who had come to take advantage of the castle's superior library. Still, what was he doing out in the grounds at this hour, and, more importantly, what had he found?
"It's awfully late for a stroll around the grounds, guest of the castle or not." Trilly said, making a conscious effort to keep her voice steady and assertive. "What is it you think I should know--"
"Oh dear, it looks like you're wounded. I'll take care of that for you," the man said, holding out a small red stone as he moved closer.
"Nuhuhuhuh." Trilly babbled, stepping backwards to avoid the man's touch. She wasn't at the point where she'd let anyone she'd just met in the orchard at midnight who claimed to be a scholar try any magical sawbones stuff on her. Still, feeling it was rather rude to leave it at that, she added, "I know a bit of healing myself. I'll take care of it."
"As you wish," he withdrew with a shrug, before continuing. "Now then," he said. "I really do think you should see what's happened in the archives. The knights need to know, I would say." The stone glowed again as he held out his hand. "Just hold my hand, and I'll take you there."
What a creeper, Trilly thought wryly, wondering why the holding-hands thing was necessary. She was a knight, and knew her way to the archives... mostly... possibly...a bit...
She didn't like this at all. Not one bit. Still... if the scholar-guy was determined to run around the castle at midnight in the middle of a tense time between the guilds, it would probably be better if he had someone keeping an eye on him, and Trilly... well, she wasn't doing much where she was. Also, she should try harder to be nice to those who are addled. Today, I'll be kind to my fellow madman, she thought sarcastically.
Her dagger was also within quick and easy reach, and Feather was still with her. She'd have them, if this person was not to be trusted.
Hoping that this was not a huge mistake, Trilly took the proffered hand.
Shade
Hades barely registered what happened in the first few moments after he arrived. The zombies had followed him, but they got incinerated rather quickly by some sort of dragon-thing that sort of looked like a demon. Once the threats to his life were gone, he relaxed and looked around, rising into a crouch.
There were far too many people around him, most of whom he didn’t know. A couple Mercs, some of the pirates that he had seen with Fraze’s ship, and that was about it. After listening to some of the conversations, he figured that the pale guy with all the weird things around him was probably the person who sent out the message. Hades looked at him. He didn’t seem powerful enough to do anything like that, but with magic, anything was possible, he supposed.
“I’m Hades,” he said. “Merc, once part of..” he hesitated. There was no way to get around what Spacefleet was, and he was much worse at lying than Zari or Fraze. “Once part of an organization called Spacefleet. I’m here to join you. If demons can be accepted, then so can vampires.” He glanced around rather defiantly, checking to see if anyone reacted to that. He doubted anyone would, and if they did, he’d blast them. As he had talked, he had changed the power cells in his lasers, so now he had his weapons back, which would help.
* * *
The zombies, as far as Shade was concerned, were nothing. It was the lack of opposition that really made her nervous. There had to be somebody around that wasn’t on Kit’s side, but she couldn’t quite figure out who. She’d set the apple down a while ago, preferring the warm bronze of her sword in her hand. She wasn’t holding it tightly. In fact, her hand was rather relaxed. But the tension that was building up was not helping at all.
Then the earth shook. Shade stepped back, trying to balance herself, but could feel her foot come down on leaves slick from the storm. As she tried to regain her balance, she felt Kit’s hand grab her arm, steadying her. Shade gave him a grateful smile, holding herself steady as the earth slowly settled back down.
A dagger flew past her, near Kit. Shade looked at the source of the dagger. A ninja. Why was she not surprised? And the ninja was drawing a katana, shouting "Your stupid demon thing attacked me!" Shade drew her own blade, moving to intercept the ninja. The ninja was in pain, she could tell, but as the dragon-girl moved over, the pain seemed to ease and the ninja charged at Kit. Shade, however, was in the way.
Savucu’s blade, an almost perfect match to that of the katana that the ninja held, met it, and the sound of metal hitting metal rang through Shade’s body. “His life is mine,” she hissed, so that only the ninja could hear. “And you shall not take it from me.” With that, she pulled back from the ninja and stabbed at her, aiming for the heart.
* * *
Hades recovered from the earthquake quickly. It hadn’t done much to him, other than make him fall back to the ground, and he had gotten up as soon as it ended. And now, as he breathed in, he could smell all the different sources of blood. The ninja, the knight.. and all the living, so far unwounded people in the clearing. He grinned. Which one to choose?
A cold shiver ran down his back. He was hunting now? This was not good. It hadn’t been that long since he had hunted, had it? Except.. that run to escape the zombies. Hades cursed under his breath. It must have taken more out of him than he had thought. But he had to hunt, and there were good targets here, strong and full of lovely blood. Much better than those flimsy peasants that he had fed on last time he hunted.
But which one, which one? He scanned the options. Not any of the demons. It would most likely result in his death, and they probably didn’t have good blood anyway. The dragon was a possibility. Her blood would be interesting to try, at least. None of the others seemed especially special in terms of what their blood would be like. So the dragon it was.
He rose silently, mouth slightly open in the feral smile of a hunting cat. He paced closer to the dragon, who was now in a mostly human form. That made it easier. Much, much easier. Once he was within a few paces of her, he leapt, hands reaching out for her neck.
Ikkin
((The Castle Kestrel Archives))
"I'm not blind, as you will see," Leraye said with a smile, his eyes still closed as the scenery changed around himself and Trilly, old bookcases replacing the trees and the gate. "If I was, I wouldn't have anything to show you."
He looked around a couple of bookcases, wondering how he'd managed to land so far away from where he'd intended. "I did mean to take you right to it - it's pretty far in the archives, and I thought I could save time - but it seems I need to work on teleporting to the proper destinatio- oh, there it is," he said as he found the body of Madame Esmerta in the same position as he'd left it, in the same mild tone that he'd been using the whole time.
He beckoned over to Trilly. "I'd say this woman was probably killed for some kind of demonic ritual, don't you?" he asked, before realizing that the young Knight probably would react significantly worse than he would to that kind of thing. "Oh, dear..." he said, dropping the smile. "I keep on forgetting how normal people take these kinds of things. I'm afraid I'm a bit used to it - I have to be, since I'm working to reverse it."
He looked down at the stone in his hands for a moment, then looked back up at Trilly. "I do think the Knights should know about this, though," he said. "I could send out a message, but then, who am I, that the knights would listen to me? This stone can amplify your thoughts if you will it to, though, so all the knights will hear them. And I really do think they should know about this.”
Surf
((Mage Manor – Entrance Hall))
“Yes, if you could heal my nose, that would be nice,” said Surf in response to Sev’s offer. The phoenix breathed out a small puff of fire at her nose, but it was warm, rather than scorching hot. When the glow of the fire faded away, Surf checked her nose, and to her delight it was no longer sore. “That’s much better, thanks.”
A moment later, Omni rushed back in, ready to leave. Sev extended a wing, which both mages grabbed a hold of, and the three disappeared in another flash of fire, arriving at the south gate of Dunbarrow soon after. The pirates were already there, with some strange girl in tattered clothes and a pig, as were Celestial, Ikkin (obviously), Kit, with a few demons, and several others. Surf immediately ran to Ikkin and said, “Sev brought Omni and me here. I heard you needed help, and I'll gladly support you.”
((I apologize for the lame entrance line, I couldn't think of anything good. ^^')
Kat
"Fancy seeing you here, Katkat. A moment of your time, if you please?"
Kat almost leaped ten feet into the air. She whipped around, but the more sensible part of her - wherever that may be - kept her from reaching into her magic. After all, the voice was too familiar for her to start blasting.
"Cap'n!" she gasped. "Where - how - "
"You've always been a fine first mate. And a fine part of our crew. But as you well know, pirates stick together through thick and thin. And I do believe that time has come now. So I'd really like to know at this point where your loyalties lie, if you please. Just for the record. Just so I know for future reference."
Kat knew that sooner or later, someone would ask her this question. Kit could wait; after all, he was probably busier summoning others. But right now, she found that her throat was dry, and she couldn't stare straight into Huntress's eyes. On the other hand, it was about time Kat made a decision. She was just another mage and another knight, but with the pirates, she held an important position - or so she did, the last time she checked, as nobody had wanted to take it from her.
She wasn't about to leave them behind like in the last war...but what of the Mages and the Knights? She couldn't leave them either...but she could still be of help to everyone without sacrificing her loyalty. Of course, right now she didn't have the faintest idea.
"I'm with you all the way, Cap'n," Kat finally replied, looking back at Huntress with a determined gleam. "I promise, I'll do whatever I can to help. No matter what."
At least she didn't mention anything about the other two guilds she was in.
Zylaa
((Dunburrow, South Gate))
Zylaa followed Hunty after the quake, all senses on full alert, and watched as her captain began to confront the formerly missing crewmembers. She had to suppress the urge to give them a cheery hello- Goosh, at least, who as far as she knew had no other loyalties or hidden agendas. After everything that had happened today, that was a refreshing idea.
"Same question to you. And I see Goosh there. Talk to me, sailors. What are you in for, and who are you in for it with?" Hunty demanded. Zylaa realized that Hunty hadn't told the others what side they had come intending to join.
Probably a good thing, she thought. We can see where their loyalties really lie. Ikkin, she saw, was opposing Kit- a surprise, that. Well, it was for the good of the crew that the pirates were joining Kit, really, but Zylaa supposed-
She heard someone scream, off in the distance, and spun around. Clara had gone. "We lost the pyro!" she exclaimed. Rider ran out of the woods and up to Hunty, and Zylaa caught sight of the former captain's expression. She shivered, for the first time this night feeling a bit of cold fear.
"Captain, Shiva has gone absolutely mad. The demons did this to him. We cannot side with them. This must stop."
Shiva gone mad? Zylaa stared at Rider. If Shiva had gone insane... wasn't Ikkin saying something about the demon-horse trying to eat her earlier? Zylaa had her own experiences with Shiva, and he had considered her and the weasels food from day one. It was just another comedic thrill of the high seas, she had thought before- another day, another threat of eating from the horse belowdecks. But the threats were suddenly deathly serious.
Slowly, she turned to look at Kit. And he would release these demons?
"Captain," she said to Hunty, her voice still steady, "Perhaps we should reconsider Kit's offer. Riches won't help me if I'm eaten."
Tamia
((Inside the South Gate))
Still dazed by the violent spasm the earth had underwent, Tamia managed to stumble to her feet -- only to find the feline-eared girl gone. Cursing silently, she jogged up to the castle itself, where her view would be less obscured by trees.
Unfortunately, upon reaching the castle wall, it became plainly apparent that the young knight in question was nowhere to be seen, even with the help of light from the castle’s windows. She heard noises from the darkness near the road, and was certain that something of a skirmish had broken out by the south gate, if the sudden cries and shouts echoing through the night were any indication. At the moment, Tamia couldn’t think of anywhere else she would less like to be, and continued to move along the stone wall in the direction of the main doors, hating herself for choosing a side so quickly.
Is it possible that the girl made it inside the castle? she wondered, and tried to decide if she would still need help once Tamia found her. After all, Castle Kestrel boasted an entire team of professional healers who ran its infirmary. But then again, she reminded herself, Our healers’ true competence is somewhat debatable these days. Thinking back to a bespectacled, orange-haired woman in particular, she grimaced. Yes, it was better she found the young knight before the healers did.
The large, arch-shaped double doors were neither locked nor barred, and Tamia resolved to do something about that when she had the chance. With all the commotion going on outside, it would be rather unfortunate if one of the more passionate combatants were to slip inside and start destroying the guild from the inside out. She stepped inside, and was momentarily lulled into a sense of security by the familiar warmth and light of the entrance hall.
However, security had not been the presiding theme for the day, and it was not about to become such now. The Orange Knight had barely crossed the threshold when an unseen force seemed to slam into her and take hold of her throat at the same time. Her injured left arm exploded in pain, and she would have cried out were it not for the invisible grip around her airway.
Choking for air, she stumbled backwards and hit the stone wall behind her, hard. As she slid helplessly to the floor, torn between clawing at her neck and clutching at her screaming arm, she was now sure that there was something wrong with her wound.
It was pulsing. Not with blood as a normal wound should, but with a strange, deep green vapour of some sort. It was steadily rising from the wound to the air in a menacing spiral... slowly, deliberately. Poison, she thought in horror and revulsion, Forest’s blade was tainted with poison magic. The Knights had been sabotaged.
However, at that particular moment, her thoughts toward anything at all were growing fainter and fainter, and the magic kept closing in on her with no sign of letting up. Her last attempt at swiping the poison out of the air did nothing more but break its hypnotic pattern and cause it to drift out even farther from itts point of origin.
And then, in the silence of the deserted entrance hall, Tamia Wendfeld of Millsford died. The tainted magic continued to wend its way lazily through the hallways of the Knights’ headquarters, eagerly seeking out its next victims.
Urchin
At the mention of a mission Lily's door opened.
"Where going somewhere! I haven't gone anywhere exciting for weeks, when are we going?"
"I thought your door was jammed Lily! And yes she does have a cloak but it isn't working as well as it should, in fact that was what I was going to fix this morning but there seemed to be something in the way" said Urchin in a sarcastic voice "It shouldn't take me that long to fix it though, about 15 to 20 min maybe 10 maybe even less, I could work while Lily flies but the cloak should work well enough for the landing to go unnoticed".
PFA
((Castle Kestrel: south gate))
PFA was caught by surprise when her katana suddenly came in contact with another blade. She looked to see who had crossed her path, and found herself face to face with one of the knights. Not Kit, however. PFA was rather annoyed at that fact.
"His life is mine," the knight said to PFA. "And you shall not take it from me."
PFA had no idea what she meant by that, but she had no time to ponder it. For as soon as the knight finished speaking, she pulled back and stabbed at PFA. The ninja took a big step back, and swung her katana at an angle toward the knight's sword, trying to veer the strike off course.
Vyt
((Castle Kestrel South Gate))
The earthquake had stopped. Cat Assassin still maintained his grasp upon PFA, noticing the large amount of pain she was in. Fortunately, they were greeted by a dragoness of some sort who used an ounce of her magic to heal her despite the condition of the storm. ... I guess she's against the black-haired man, he thought.
However, his niece was quick to react, as she threw one of her kunai. Very badly, it seemed to the feline. Judging by her face, Cat Assassin knew she was easily taken by anger. Being her trainor and uncle, he turned to PFA and glared at her. "Don't!" was the only word he was able to utter.
... She just lost it.
Ignoring his command, PFA stood up to rush towards the black-haired man, only to be stopped by another knight. Something the knight said angered PFA more, as she began attacking the knight. Knowing his words would not be able to stop an angry niece, Cat Assassin jumped towards them with both his hands filled with energy.
Bluisa, on the other hand, had descended from her elevation, unsure of what had just happened. PFA's scream of Cat Assassin's name had forced her to act so unnaturally... as if someone else was controlling her. Nevertheless, she was not forgetful about her current situation.
The mage stood directly and pointed at Kit. "... I believe you have something that I own," she said in a frightening tone. Her attitude had changed so suddenly... So suspiciously.
Zari
((Castle Kestrel: East Wing, although this to an extent affects anyone in Castle Kestrel and the surrounding city.))
Zari blinked. I need to clear my head. 'I needta...recover from that. I'll see you.' She went down the corridor, took a right turn, right, left, straight ahead, behind that tapestry...Uh? Hanging in mid air was a tiny wisp of green. She dismissed it rapidly. Many of the squires had magic- It was one of them. She went to walk past it, when it shot at her face.
Her natural sheilds against magic of this type went up quicker than she could register, but at the same time her mental barriers snapped like a twig. Her head began to pound. The negative emotions flooded through her brain, turning every limb numb with pain. Unable to physically scream, a Mental howl of pain and rage escaped from the prone Fae's mind, echoing through the minds of those in or near Castle Kestrel
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
((Zari has natural sheilds, but with them on the barriers her empathy are stuck behind vanish. THAT'S A BAD THING))
Keng
"Good, just work fast. We'll have to find a field that's not to close or to far too. Lily's to big to land in the trees." at this point Keng's communicator complained that bad things were happening that she should be made aware of. "OK, Sounds like the Commander had a rough landing. Work on it on the way down. We have to leave now."
Without another word Keng walked onto the ship. It was quite spacious inside. The rest of the team seemed to be finding their own way down otherwise Keng would have voluntold Urchin and Lily to give them a ride.
Amneiger
Humans first; reminds me of ladies first. "Uh...Why humans first?”
Pyro
Pyro was preparing to head to the South Gate of Dunburrow, but she had only taken a few steps towards the exit from the courtyard when a sudden earthquake shook the earth and knocked her sprawling. She lay on her side until the tremors stopped, standing shakily once the quake was over. What in the world was that? Definitely nothing normal. This time, she was only halfway to the front gate of Castle Kestrel when a scream sliced through her mind painfully.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
Pyro recognized it as Zaris' voice, clearly in agony, and without another thought she ran for the closest door, a servant's entrance in the east wing of the castle. For the second time that day, the Black Knight found herself sprinting through the halls, hoping against hope that whatever she found wasn't as bad as it sounded. She heard someone breathing painfully in the next hallway and turned the corner sharply.
"Zari!" The Crimson Knight was leaning against the wall, looking like she was in terrible mental pain--it had to be mental, because Zari had no discernible wounds. "Zari, what's wrong?" Pyro took a step closer. "What's hurting y—aaaagh!" Pyro saw a tendril of sickly green smoke uncurl before her eyes and dart out, wrapping around her throat before she could raise a hand to block it. Her words came out strangled. "Z--Zari--w...w...what is this--this--" She lost the rest of her sentence in a choked gasp as the smoke began to burn on her skin. In seconds, her throat was a searing mass of pain and she would have screamed if any air was getting to her lungs. Almost sobbing at the intense pain, her dazed mind though of one last chance. She let her trembling hand fall to her side and wrapped her fingers around the hilt of her flameblade. It had protected her from magic before, but would it counteract what had to be some kind of poison?
Precious seconds of life dripped away as Pyro struggled in the poison's grip. Then, she felt heat blossom beneath her fingers. The smoke's grip on her throat loosened and she sucked in greedy breaths of air. The pain still coursed throughout her body, though, and weakened, she collapsed to her knees on the floor, clutching her sword with one hand and clenching the other into a fist, waiting to ride out the waves of pain.
Poison. Someone has released poison into the Knights' Guild.
Cyborg
" Ok Cyborg we have to help, who knows what's in there." Midknight said as he rushed of following Jernath. " Fine., but what about Kit's offer." Cyborg asked as he followed his brother and Jernath into the forest.
Huntress
Hunty's face softened considerably when she heard Kat's response.
"That's one thing straightened out, then," she said. "Welcome back aboard." And turned to listen to Rider and Zylaa. And scowled.
"Captain, Shiva has gone absolutely mad. The demons did this to him. We cannot side with them. This must stop."
"Hardly a precedent for me," Hunty admitted, now realizing that they were in the middle of an assorted group of people doing, as she picked up from the corner of her eye, all sorts of interesting things, like trying to kill each other. That's one nicely arranged diplomatic meeting, really. She edged away from the core of the bustle a little. "Shiva's always been a little batty... a little to the dark side. And I'm very willing to admit that not all demons are bad. And if they were all released... why would we care? We're seafarers. They wouldn't affect us much. Heck, a demon alliance would come very handy with plundering."
"Provided you can trust them," Bloody Mary remarked.
Hunty gave him a sideways glance. "I thought you were sternly on their side, darling."
"Doesn't mean I trust them. I'm a meepit. I know zilch about demons. We only have a knight's word here."
This really was an argument. Hunty caught herself wondering where that whole pirate-versus-ninja thing had come from. During her captain career, ninjas hadn't bothered her much; they usually lurked around in the forests and threw pointy stars at other people. Hardly a nuisance for seafarers, and they didn't approach on land either unless they had a mission. Whereas the knights were all too happy to pop up whenever you tried to pillage a little.
She turned to look at Zylaa.
"Captain, perhaps we should reconsider Kit's offer. Riches won't help me if I'm eaten."
"Oh, I ain't in it for the riches," she muttered. "I'm in it for the help. You know we can't be in this show alone, we're up against far too overwhelming odds and we hav no magic... well, we do," something flickered in her eye as she shot a glance at Kat, "but that's hardly enough for the ship and a battle. If we're to decline, where else should we go? Mage Manor?"
"Why not?" Bloody Mary asked.
...really, why not? She stared at the prospect a little.
This called for another voice to be added in, another voice from a high position, and she had just the person in mind. Hunty spun around on her heel, making the meepit whimper, and marched up to the kitsune.
"Ikkin!" she barked, lapsing back into the earlier tone and skipping all introductions again. "Once more for the back rows. Where do your loyalties lie, my good boatswain?"
"You really won't make any new friends in this war that way," Bloody Mary mumbled, holding on for dear life.
Rider
“Shiva's always been a little batty... a little to the dark side. And I'm very willing to admit that not all demons are bad. And if they were all released... why would we care? We're seafarers. They wouldn't affect us much. Heck, a demon alliance would come very handy with plundering."
"There are demons in the sea, you know!" Rider shouted to Hunty's retreating back. "There are worse things that could happen to a ship than fire!"
PFA
((Forest: south of Dunburrow))
Jernath had been running through the forest for a while now. He had thought he heard the scream of a young girl earlier, and had since picked up his pace. Young girl screams are never a good sign.
Just as he was starting to get tired from running, something unusual caught his eye. It didn't take him long to find that it was a massive crater. That can't be good, he thought, and he ran over to get a closer look at the crater.
The crater was huge, and was warm... as if something had crashed into the earth at high speed. He figured that was what caused the earthquake earlier... but where did it come from?
He suddenly heard another scream, though this one seemed to be more in his head than anything else. He disregarded it for now, though. He had to figure out what had caused that crater, and that earthquake.
Jernath examined the crater for a little longer, then started looking around to see if he could see anything nearby. Like something that could cause a crater like that, for instance. He thought he saw something rustle in the distance, and decided to head after that. He gripped his daggers cautiously, readying himself for whatever he might encounter.
Strife
((Spacefleet HQ - Docking Bay))
Cyclops had been packing supplies, such as weapons and ammunition, into the dropship that his team would be taking to the surface. As he lifted a steel container in one corner of the room, his suit automatically recieved The Commander's signal from the surface:
"Attention Spacefleet... This is Commander Strife. The terrestrial storm has compromised my landing on the surface. To ensure our security, the second team must find an alternate landing site. Use long-range scanners and contact me when you've found a secure location."
Cyclops had worked with The Commander for years, and he never heard of his leader goofing up a landing. His landings always went as planned. Always. This was certainly news...
Cyclops set the steel container on the floor and approached Keng and Urchin, who were standing near the dropship.
"Did you just hear The Commander's message?" his speaker buzzed. "I sense that something is terribly wrong. He has never messed up a landing before, and I worry that he might be in danger."
Cyclops paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, then continued.
"I believe we should contact the second team and mount a rescue mission. Because of his landing, it is highly probable that the terrestrials have detected him, as well as Special Ops Fraze. I would rather break our shield of secrecythan to leave our leader to his death on the surface. Besides... what's he gonna do? Throw us in isolation for saving his life?" His single eye winked.
Keng
Keng was momentarily distracted by how Cyclops had managed to wink with one eye. How the heck did that work? she wondered. "Well, I guess I'll have to take that as a direct order from the second in command and there's nothing I can do about that now can I Sir?" Keng winked back. "I'll see to it Sir." she gave him a quick salute then got back onto Lily. "Lily, I need you to convey this message to the following people." she told the ship, walking around like she owned the place when really Lily belonged to Urchin. She typed the message and her clearance code in as well as selecting the other members from team 2. "You know, we need a better name than team 2." she said as she finished inputing the info. "Team 2 is so bland and boring.”
Urchin
"I've happily relayed your message, and for a new name how about Team Fluffy or Team Lily?"
Urchin quickly got every thing ready for launch, closed the door and opened the launch bay doors and flew out. Lily took care of the rest as Urchin worked on the cloak.
Keng
"Team Fluffy?" asked Keng incredulously. "Ok, I know I'm a werewolf but fluffy? ... Maybe Team 2 isn't so bad afterall."
Urchin
"Team Fluffy now approaching the planet." chimed Lily.
"Whatever." Keng rolled her eyes.
Celestial
She felt hands close around her neck before anything else. The stench of death and fresh blood filled her nostrils and she caught a glimpse of moonlight reflecting off the hand that had her neck. It didn't take long for her to work out who it was: the man being attacked by the zombies, he was a vampire. Anger filled her viens and mixing with her blood. Nothing which valued it's own life dared to attack a dragon. Celestial wouldn't take it.
She lashed out with her wing-claws at the vampire, feeling them pierce his skin and causing him to let go. Spinning round, she gave the vampire a long piercing glare before taking out her dagger and stabbing him in the heart. Eve if he was undead, he would go now.
"Be at peace, though you should have known better." she whispered, cleaning her dagger and putting it back in her boot. She hoped there would be no more fighting tonight. If only she knew how wrong that hope was.
Celestial saw the ninja she had healed earlier rush to attack Kit, her kunai raised up. It was the same ninja she had healed. She cursed her generosity and naive trustfullness. That was the foundation for stupid blunders such as this one. She lept in front of the ninja, taking the dagger out of her boot, growling.
It was over before it even began. Someone, Celestial couldn't place her finger on who they were, stepped in front of the ninja and whispered something. Then, they acted, stabbing for the ninja's heart. Celestial smiled in the irony. Once again, her dirty work was done by somebody else. She just hoped it wouldn't be like that for the whole war.
However, the ninja dodged the attackthe attack and stabbed for the Knight's (she could now see it was a knight) sword. Suppressing her draconic bloodlust, she cast a fire spell on the dagger, heating it to melting point. Celestial charged at the ninja, her dagger glowing red from the fire magic spell that she had cast. That at least would give her some advantage. I wonder what the knight would think about being helped by a dragon Celestial smirked to herself as she charged.
However, a feline jumped towards both the knight and the ninja. Both seemed unaffected, abosorbed in fighting each other. Celestial decided she would take care of the feline. It wouldn't raise any...complaints from the knight.
Step-flying between them and the cat, she created a barrier of air currents around herself, making sure the cat would be deflected and then they could fight it out. It feels good to use magic she smiled maliciously just like a dragon would before delivering the death bite to their prey.
Tamia
((Forest, about a day away from Castle Kestrel))
"Hmmm...on second thought, kind sir, I think I know where to find who I'm looking for."
Evan Forest nodded dubiously. He would be glad to see her go. The blonde girl -- Asthielle -- seemed rather detached, and more than a little addled -- not to mention the fact that her story about the girl she was "looking for" wouldn't have fooled a drunken pirate at an annual Crap Poker championship match.
He smiled gently, patronizingly at her. "I'm delighted to hear that, Ielle. So why don't you just step away from the nice horse, and scamper off to find your little friend?" He carefully touched the dagger hidden inside his robes, its folds disguising his hand's movement. Although he doubted he would be forced to use it on this confused little slip of a girl, he would take no chances.
Ikkin
Ikkin didn't have very long to think about the earthquake before the reinforcements who she had called for finally arrived.
“Sev brought Omni and me here, Surf said, running up to Ikkin. "I heard you needed help, and I'll gladly support you.”
"It's about time..." she couldn't help but mutter, still grumpy from having to deal with Kit, and wondering why it had taken Sev so long to get there. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean that... I really can't seem to think straight right now..." She sighed, looking down at the ground. "Anyway, Kit has far too many supporters for us to pose much of a threat to him as we are. I've been talking to him, trying to find out what he really wants, but I still haven't gotten a respo-" She cut herself off, realizing that once again, she'd stormed away from Kit without waiting for the answer she had asked for.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought. Why was it so hard to think straight when she was angry? This is what happened last time, and last time, she'd ended up... well, she didn't even want to think about that.
"I still need to see if I can get him to say what he really wants, because I'd bet that it's not nearly as simple as everyone seems to think it is. I'm just so glad that I finally have some support now; it's felt like everyone was against -"
Ikkin cut off again, but this time, it wasn't her own doing. A terrific mental scream tore through Ikkin's mind, causing her the kind of pain that she thought might have been the cause of the scream in the first place. Without realizing it, she was down on her knees, hands holding her kitsune ears down in a desperate attempt to block the sound out.
Finally, it stopped. "S-sorry..." she said. "I don't know what that was, but..." She didn't really want to think about it, either. If the mental message alone was that powerful...
As it was, she didn't really have the time, even if she did want to, as Cap'n Hunty marched up to her and immediately barked, "Ikkin! Once more for the back rows. Where do your loyalties lie, my good boatswain?"
Ikkin had to wonder if she'd missed hearing Hunty earlier or something.
"My loyalties lie with whoever is willing to protect this world," she said. "Though I would be willing to offer you some compensation if you weren't already on that side," she finished with a wink. "So, what'll it take, Cap'n?"
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 14:55:33 GMT -5
Vyt((Castle Kestrel South Gate))Before Cat Assassin could reach PFA, he could feel the wind slowly turning against him. Eventually it evolved into a rather small squall, literally blowing the feline away. He turned to see that the dragoness that had helped PFA was getting in the way. Now I'm confused, he thought after landing on his feet luckily. Is she with or against us?Recovering from the attack, Cat Assassin stood up and fixed his sight towards the dragoness. Friend or foe, she was inhibiting him from stopping PFA. He had to put her away first, regardless of her alliance. Cat Assassin looked at his hands. His left hand seemed to have lost the energy it held. The energy on the other hand was still intact, however. ... I'll have to train my left hand later, he thought. Besides, the energy in his right hand might just be enough to put her away. The yellow energy in his right hand suddenly began to emit a screech-like noise as it slowly turned into red. Cat Assassin then ran off again, this time launching an attack on the knight who had just stopped him earlier. He was not aware that the dragoness and the black-haired man combined was of a lesser threat to what was coming towards the ninjas. ZariZari slumped, her mental howl cut off. It had gone. Her head still throbbing, she raised it at the sound of a familiar voice. Zari? What's hurting y-aaaagh!' Zari shakily sat up, only to see Pyro, the same green mist wrapped around her throat. Before Zari could do more than lurch unsteadily to her feet, Pyro had gripped the hilt of her flameblade and then relaxed. The green stuff had vanished. 'Pyro. You okay? It got me where I couldn't get it away. My immune system went and relected it, but it managed to shatter my mental barriers. All the tension by the south gate somehow got magnified and shoved directly into my headbox. Owowowow...' She winced as an echo of Pyro's pain echoed through her mind, just before her barriers began to rise again. 'I'd like to know, where did it come from? This is the east wing, I was heading back to my Room in the North Wing, took a wrong turn and started heading south I think. It came from sorta southwestish. Either South Gate or the Servant's entrance. My bet's on the servants, if I did bet at all.' Zari rubbed her head, which was still throbbing. HuntressSomething flashed in Hunty's eyes as she listened to Ikkin's response. Yes. This might still work out like a charm. And still in their favor. It'd be risky, but oh so worth it. To the hellhounds with this, then. "So, what'll it take, Cap'n?"Hunty grinned. Bloody Mary gave her a quick glance and decided that if he was to get out of all this alive, he'd much rather shut his mouth and forget all about his alliances. "We only came for one thing anyway," she said. "Everyone has, if you ask me. That's what I want, and that's what it takes." Bloody Mary sunk a little lower on her shoulder. Nutcase. But then again, what did I expect?"And... maybe a way to go," the captain finished. "That'd be nice." The meepit on her shoulder looked around. Things weren't looking good. The meteor had been bad enough, and the earthquake, and the zombies, and people randomly attacking each other. But now it seemed something bad was at large too, something on the outside... and when a meepit thinks outside, he has a whole new meaning to it. He'd liked the idea of an alliance. But he liked the idea of surviving infinitely more. So he sunk lower again. Whatever the future may bring, he wanted to be alive enough to at least see it. CelestialCelestial saw the cat hover in her shield before the air currents expelled him. She raised her wings and dagger, psyched for a fight. However, the cat suddenly ran towards a knight. Celestial felt the urge to scream! Why couldn't she dispell the bloodlust that had inhabited her system? Something was in the air, something more than the storm. It seemed to Celestial like...burning? This must be worth investigating! Shapeshifting into her dragon form, she flew over Dunbarrow, past the South Gate and into the forest, where the burnt smell was coming from. She looked at the gathering at the South Gate, amazed by how large it was. Many people took up Kit's offer and she wondered how many would turn back on it. She then flapped her wings, catching the smell again and flew towards it. The forest was suddenly interrupted by a clearing but it wasn't anything like Celestial had seen. There was a huge crater there which was the source of the smell, which was made even more obvious by the horrific charring of the ground around it. She swooped down closer and saw a girl and a pig, terrified of something. There were also some mercenries, probably the ones she had seen earlier. But it wasn't the mercenries that distracted her. There was a powerful and dangerous presence in the air and something...not of this world but not a demon or anything supernatural. This was...the opposite of magic. Settling into a hover as silently as possible, she watched the events beneath her unfold. Cyborg((Forest: south of Dunburrow)) Finally catching up to where Jernath had stopped the kougra brothers looked at the crater in front of them. " Hey Jernath you think this is what caused the quake?" Cyborg asked. " Of course it is." Midkinight replied before Jernath could. "Hey where are you going?" asked Midknight as he and his brother took out their cutlasses and followed Jernath. Jason((Mage Manor Entrance))Jasor turned around from the entrance of Mage Manor to see Sev, Omni, and Surf teleport away. With a disgruntled sigh, the mage placed his amulet into the ground, drawing a picture of Dunburrow's southern gate. The world melted around him as a path made of air lay outin front of him. Looking around, he saw air float beside him. Pulling some of the air inside him, the teen began to run along the path. Stones crumbled as the path began to fall into emptyness. Air floated above and beneath him. Up ahead, a door swung open before him. The door began to close as the mage dived through it. A bright light took over him as the door slammed shut. ((South Gate of Dunburrow))The sky opened as a silver door appeared in midair. A doorknob in the shape of a pheonix holding a dragon chick jutted from the silver metal. With a creek, the door swung open, dropping Jasor in front of Ikkin, Surf, Omni, and the others. Ikkin spoke, "I still need to see if I can get him to say what he really wants, because I'd bet that it's not nearly as simple as everyone seems to think it is. I'm just so glad that I finally have some support now; it's felt like everyone was against -"When Ikkin dropped to her knees screaming, and holding her kitsune ears, the young mage stared in horror. Shaking Ikkin, he backed away as she pulled herself up and began to speak. "S-sorry..." she said. "I don't know what that was, but..."Jasor put a finger to his lips. "It's okay, it's okay. Calm down, we're here to figure out what's going on. You...need some rest. We're all going to be okay." he remarked. We aren't going to be okay if we're outnumbered. We have to try though, he thought, tiredness taking over his body. Shrudders racked his skin as he stood, waiting for Ikkin to give them a sign that they needed to move. Zylaa((South Gate of Dunburrow))Zylaa smiled as Ikkin replied- if she was being cheeky to Hunty, she would surely stick with the pirates. There was a complex logical reasoning there somewhere. Her smile faded, though, as she saw Hunty grin. A grin like that in the middle of an impending battle- scratch that, several small battles- didn't bode well. "We only came for one thing anyway," she said. "Everyone has, if you ask me. That's what I want, and that's what it takes."
One thing? Zylaa thought. Oh... the jewel. Her eyes lit up. Forget politics, a bit of plundering would do the job nicely. "And... maybe a way to go. That'd be nice.""I'll volunteer the weasels for any swiping or distraction, Captain," Zylaa said, after checking to make sure that nobody could hear the pirates' conversation. She reached into her pocket and began to rub the spoon out of habit. Rider"We only came for one thing anyway," she said. "Everyone has, if you ask me. That's what I want, and that's what it takes."Sweet hell. Now this was what being a pirate was all about. Rider could feel the anticipation dangling in the air. One thing. Of course. That one key, long forgotten in the tulmult of unlikely events. The most unlikely of them all. Made of pure gold, the weight in the deal with the devil. Aye, worth its weight in light. Rider smiled. How could she ever have thought of retiring? Ikkin((South Gate)) Cap'n Hunty's eyes flashed and she grinned the type of grin that could only mean that treasure was involved in this somewhere. "We only came for one thing anyway," she said. "Everyone has, if you ask me. That's what I want, and that's what it takes."Ikkin wasn't quite sure what she meant by that - what did everyone want? - but then realized she was just thinking too hard. That gem. Of course. It was shiny, and they were pirates. Well, she wanted the gem, too, so that would be altogether too convenient. "And... maybe a way to go," the captain finished. "That'd be nice."Well, Ikkin certainly had that, she thought, glancing backwards at Sev. This whole thing was working out almost too well. But, her mood had improved now - Rider's glee was probably infectious - so that didn't really matter all too much. "I'll volunteer the weasels for any swiping or distraction, Captain," Zylaa offered. "I'm not sure we'll even need them," Ikkin said quickly. "I say, we walk up to Kit, and demand the gem as a sign of trust from him. Tell him he's been sneaking around like a stinkin' ninja, and that we want to know that he still thinks as much of us as he does of his demon friends." She paused, wondering if she should continue, then said, "Though, maybe not in those words, exactly. We do have some common interests with the ninja, after all... and if they're willing to let us keep our plunder... well, the extra hands couldn't hurt. "As for the escape plan, that's what Sev's for," she said with a smirk. She couldn't help feel like she'd forgotten something, though... Oh! The mages! She beckoned them over into the conversation. They'd need to know what was going on, too. "Here's the deal," she said. "The pirates have offered to help us if we help them... appropriate... Kit's gem. So, we all march over there to Kit and I'll demand the gem. But, we've all got to stay close together. Make sure you can grab a hold of Sev at the first sign of trouble, and we'll be out of there and back at Mage Manor before they knew what hit 'em!" This was definitely more like it, she thought. She didn't have to worry about pussyfooting around anymore to keep from getting killed. Now was the time for action. "Kit!" she called as she marched over towards him, hoping the rest would follow suit to make the proper impression. "We've decided that we can't trust you if you don't trust us. So you either give us that gem and an explanation, or we'll make sure you never go behind our back again." She let the last part hang as a threat, despite having no intention to follow it. She placed one hand behind her, allowing it to rest on Sev's head. The phoenix himself had his wings extended fully, giving the pirates and mages as much room to hold on as he could. Ikkin nodded, and felt Sev nod in return. They would all disappear just as soon as the gem was handed over - Kit had already been given enough chances to explain himself already. ShadeHis hands caught, held. Hades pulled back, drawing the neck and its blood-filled veins close. He could smell the sweet scents, almost taste them in the air. And then pain, fiery and sharp, came from his lower torso, ripping down to his thighs. He hissed at the first flare, and released his prey. It was fighting! Prey wasn’t supposed to fight. Electric charges began to build up in his implants, and Hades lunged at his prey, reaching out for the blade she had drawn.
It hit him. It hurt him. It went deep inside of him. And pain, pain that he hadn’t felt since.. since he had two human arms, two arms made of flesh and bone and blood. The pain of loosing one. The pain of the flames that had covered him after that. The pain that had been worse than his death at Fenrix’s hands. That had been gentle, a fading, loving pain. This.. this was fire, burning through his body, disintegrating the bonds that kept the metal and flesh of his body together.
He screamed. There wasn’t anything else he could do, at this point. The electricity that had been built up seemed to have discharged, seemed to have backfired, run back through him. Metal, heated by the charge, was pain. Wounds from metal and bone brought pain. And he could feel it running through his stilled heart, through his dying brain. His thoughts slowed, stopped. Pain flashed through him. Nowhere, nothing was free of it. One last, trembling beat of his heart. One last, pain-filled breath.
And then, nothing. Nothing left to feel. Nothing left to see. Nothing, nothing, but the chill, cold, darkness of the oblivion that paved the way to hell. KitKit watched, feeling rather confused, as Ikkin demanded the gem, turned away, and then marched back up demanding for it again. It was at this point when Kit gave up any hope of sorting through the crowd that had gathered. If Ikkin wanted the gem, she could have it. The dampening effects of Esmerta's blood would wear off at midnight anyway, and he wouldn't want to be around when it went off.
"Sure," Kit shrugged and tossed the gem to Ikkin.
As the gem left his fingers, Kit felt like his veins were being dragged out of his fingertips with the gem. Pain tore through his arm and flared across his chest before subsiding. What was that? The initial burst of pain dimmed down, leaving a harsh warmth around his heart.
Not good.
Kit probed his feelings with his Clairvoyance, finding a strange emptiness in the entire upper left region of his body. Nervous, he took his obsidian dagger and deliberately stabbed himself in his left arm.
Nothing. No pain.
Instead, a thick black liquid oozed out from the wound. As his eyes followed the liquid as it dripped down into a larger pool of similar black liquid, he understood that it wasn't just the gem.
It was Tavara.
He turned to look at the demon, whose only response was to look back at him through the lifeless, mocking smile of his mask with thick black smoke flowing out.
Hellcursed demon.
Yet as he stared deeper into Tavara's mask, he realised that it wasn't the demon that had betrayed him. No, it was the Knights. Always was, always will be.
The harsh warmth began to prick his heart, causing it to beat erratically as he slumped to the ground. Pain seized him as blood turned to black ooze, the remnants of his circulation pumping it further into his body. He could feel his arteries rupture, clogged with ooze as he was pushed closer to death.
With what life remained within him, he turned to look at Shade. Tears began to well up, but when he cried, only black liquid dripped out of his eyes.
And soon, it was over.
Tavara stood over Kit's lifeless body before taking off her mask. She let her raven black hair drop loose before kneeling before the body of her twin.
"I'm sorry. But I had to," Kya whispered before planting a kiss on Kit's forehead. "I had to because I love you," and with that, she glanced at everyone else who had gathered and ran off into the night. ShadeIkkin called to Kit, demanding the gem. Shade turned, almost ready to attack her, but at the sight of Kit simply tossing the gem to her, decided against it. His already pale skin seemed to turn white for a moment, and Shade stepped towards him, reaching out with her left hand. “Kit? Are you-”
She cut off her words as he stabbed himself, seemingly calm and sane. Black.. blood? Shade shook her head. It couldn’t be blood. It just couldn’t. She refused to believe that it was indeed Kit’s blood, despite how it came from his body, welled up from his veins. It dripped, in large globs, down in to a shadowy substance that covered the ground.
Kit turned to look at one of the demons, the one with black smoke pouring out of its mask. Shade moved closer, watching him sag to the ground, knowing that she couldn’t reach him in time to do anything. Not now, at least. The dagger he had held, its black blade echoing the obscene darkness of what was once Kit’s blood, lay on the ground near his fallen body.
Shade stood there, frozen, as Kit turned to her, the black liquid coming out of his eyes now. They looked like tears made of shadow, falling over his face, staining it with darkness. The demon knelt beside him, taking off her mask. Dark hair dropped loose, covering a face that, in the short glimpse Shade had of it, looked like Kit’s. Looked far too much like Kit’s.
She was crying now. When had she stared doing that? The demon – was she really one? She seemed just as human as Shade was – was running off now, blending into the darkness of the night. Shade dropped her sword, its normally bright blade dim. No light reflected off of it, just the shadow that had been cast with Kit’s death.
Shade knelt next to Kit. There were no wounds on him, except the one he had inflicted on himself. And in the moonlight, he seemed peaceful, almost asleep. But the dark trails.. Shade looked back along the path the demon-girl had taken. She wanted to chase her down. She wanted to kill the person who had killed her Kit.
Shade stroked Kit’s face once, feeling his skin, so soft, so cool to the touch now. She rose, tears drying on her face. She turned to retrieve Savucu, only to find the ninja right in front of her.
Oh. Yes. Her, Shade thought belatedly. The ninja’s katana pierced her chest. Shade could feel it, feel the pain as it drew back. She fell to the ground, looking, not at her killer, but at Kit. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, reaching out to him. “I’m so, so, sorry.”
Her hand fell, rested on Kit’s chest. Shade’s eyes fell closed, and her blood slowly ceased flowing, its red color slowly mixing in to the blackness around them. Pyro'Pyro. You okay? It got me where I couldn't get it away. My immune system went and relected it, but it managed to shatter my mental barriers. All the tension by the south gate somehow got magnified and shoved directly into my headbox. Owowowow...' "I'm...not bad...considering...the cir--circumstances." Pyro laid her free hand gingerly over her neck and staggered into a straighter standing position. "I think we'd better g-get to the South Gate and as fast as we can go." She shoved away the pain. "If this poison came from there, we've got to get to the source.” Omni((South of Dunburrow)) Sev had teleported the mages to the southern Dunburrow gate, and it seemed like a bunch of things happened at once. Ikkin asked Kit to give her the gem, which Kit did, a lot more easily than she would have expected. Kit made a facial expression, as if something wasn't right, and cut his arm, which bled black. That. Is. Not. Good, Omni mentally repeated what she had thought earlier. Kit soon staggered, and collapsed on the ground, his skin becoming paler. A woman who looked oddly familiar, and not just because she looked like Kit, bent over him, whispered something to him, and then just left. Shade leaned over him, mourning. A ninja… Was that PFA?! Stood over her with her Katana, and drove it through her heart. Omni almost stepped back, beginning to feel queazy. She had heard of how deadly katanas were, but she'd never thought she'd see one in action, not like that. The katana was drawn back, and Shade collapsed as well, also turning pale. It was about then that she noticed that Sev had spread out his wings. Already?! They had just come there, and now they were going to leave? She thought a little bit. The reason she came there was to help Ikkin stop Kit, be there when the fight begun. Now there was no reason for her to stay. She also wanted to get away from the scene… away from the smell! Almost weakly, she brought up a hand, and placed it on Sev's tail, stroking it just slightly. She would go with. ----- ((Spacefleet, docking bay)) "Yeah, I should do that, though I think I'll wait for him to get his commands as they are hands… er, paws down, or more so." Ethan was actually about to say 'ladies first', but either way worked for him. He stepped into Zari's ship, calling Siber to follow. "Faes next." Bacon((I really need to get online more. Spacefleet- Conference Room)) "Sorry I'm late!" Bacon said as he opened the conference room door. "I got lost between... uh... hello?" There was nobody in the room, and from the somewhat disorderly layout of the chairs, he figured the meeting was already over. "Why does this always happen?" He walked out the door, and headed down a random hallway, taking out his PDA as he did so. He punched in a few keys and... "Okay, it looks like Commando Keng is briefed into this whatever-it-is, since she fowarded the Commander's message. I'll just have to send her a message asking what the injector-valve is going on here." "Commando Keng, due to unforeseeable, unpreventable circumstances, I have missed the Commander's meeting. What is the current situation, and how can I help?
- Head Mechanic Bacon"Then he pressed the "send" button, and looked up. "Oh resistor-syphon! Where am I now?!” Keng"Oh, well done Bacon." murmured Keng with the feeling that the circumstances had actually been highly foreseeable and preventable before opening up the com. link. "This is Keng. I'm going to assume you got that mental message a while back. The Commander has decided to form an alliance with this fellow -at least that's his decision right now, he'll be meeting him soon- and he'll need ground support. If you want to help get on a drop ship and get to the commander's landing sight A.S.A.P.!" she told Bacon. "I'm sending you his coordinates now. Hope to see you there. Keng out." She cut off the communications for now and hoped Bacon wouldn't get distracted by a malfunctioning door on his way because she just knew he would HAVE to stop and try to fix it. She remembered him trying to fix the bar robot on her first day there. Oh wait, no, that was Amneiger. Whatever. When those two started talking Keng usually just found it easiest to nod randomly pretending she understood and usually lost track of who though the result of the latest problem would explode and who thought it would work. "Ok Urchin, we're almost there. How's that cloak comming? We'll need it soon. Oh, and Lily, Commander Strife seemed to have thought the storm was the cause of his roungh landing, brace for it just incase.” Zari((East Wing- Castle Kestrel)) "I'm...not bad...considering...the cir--circumstances." Zari smiled feebly. That was good. "I think we'd better g-get to the South Gate and as fast as we can go." Zari's smile vanished. "Yeah, prob'ly we should. We should find the source if possible, then spread the word around. This ain't an accident. It's sabotage. By who, though?' Zari halted, scratching her wing absently. 'I'd sell out the secret of Wild Magic if I knew. ' -- Zari giggled madly. 'Ha. I forgot who nutso humans were.' She walked inside, and sat down in the Pilot's seat, spinning it around. 'I drive faster when I'm dizzy.' she said, obviously either completely off her rocker or excited over the opportunity to drive her shuttle way too fast. 'Wheeeeeeeeeee!' Yep. Definitely the latter. Amneiger((Spacefleet docking bay, Zari's shuttle)) Amneiged looked worriedly at Zari and checked to make sure that his minitanks were securely strapped down to the floor of the shuttle and that he had a good grip on his bag. Kitchen tongs! Did I bring kitchen tongs? No, I didn't. Great, now if we find any mysterious glowing objects I'm going to have to pick them up with my hands. Or get somebody else to do it for me. Maybe if I can find some gloves. Kat"I'm delighted to hear that, Ielle. So why don't you just step away from the nice horse, and scamper off to find your little friend?"Ielle turned away so he wouldn't see her smile slip a notch. She did not take kindly to being treated like a child. But at least he didn't look at all suspicious - just a bit too kind. And usually, those were the people she watched out for. "Thank you anyway," she said, turning on the spot and disappearing in a puff of violet smoke, barely noticing that she had dropped her locket onto the ground in her wake. * * * Kat sighed. Well, at least she knew she was still on the Pirates' good side. Whether it was the same with the Mages or Knights, she wished to find out, and at the same time, didn't. But before anything else, Kit suddenly tossed the gem to Ikkin. "Be careful with that thing!" she called out to Ikkin, but when she turned to look at Kit, her stomach turned over at the sight of what looked like black blood. Acting on impulse, Kat reached into her reserves of power to create a purple fireball, ready to hurl it at the back of the retreating culprit, and seeing Shade die only increased its size. Tears flowed freely down Kat's face as she let loose her spell, watching it explode before everyone else in a rush of violet flames, knowing full well that she had terribly missed. NatureNature blanked out as Sev and the others disappeared. She then snapped out of her trance and realized that she was left alone. She sighed. Great, just great. She shook her head, stood up and rested her hands on her hips. This was NOT a good day. All of a sudden, she felt weird. The Zafara's face turned livid once again. She grasped her neck, as if she was being choked. Dark swirling mists came from her mouth again. The Freezemancer's eyes grew wide. This couldn't be!Nature had a hard time breathing. She coughed, emitting more dark magicks from her mouth. The Zafara stumbled to the floor, gasping and choking for air. Dark mists started enveloping her in a dealy embrace. Her eyes grew very wide as she was being choked some more. Then, she lay down on the floor unconscious. Everything went black once more. ((Sorry if I'm a little lost. School and time zones hate me. >_>)) RiderShade and Kit were dead. Sweet hell. Rider watched in horror as the black substance mingled with Shade's blood. Kit was a demon-waking horror, but he didn't deserve this. Shade most certainly didn't deserve this. The blood shone and glistened horribly in the light of purple fire. The blood would only continue to flow if demons walked the world unbound and fully awake. Blood flowing from Shiva's mouth, from Shiva's heart. "What have we done?" were the only words she could squeeze from her tight throat. She doubted the kitsune could hear her from so far away, but maybe the Captain could reassure her. They were doing the right thing, right? Ikkin and Kit... They were so close. Bound with love in the midst of the last war. A sudden flash of the blade across Shino's throat. It was time to leave this hell-hole. They couldn't forget the girl. They ahd a responsibility to her. Wordlessly, Rider ran and grabbed her arm, motioning that it was time to go. CelestialThe deaths carried on the wind towards Celestial. They penetrated her scales and her flesh, touching her normally cold heart. Landing on the ground, she let out a haunting cry, one which was soon taken up by each and every single dragon around the Guilds. It was the cry that normally accompanied the death of one of their kin yet Celestial felt obliged to sing it for those who had died, no matter who they were. It sounded like somebody humming a slow, piercing requiem. In a a way, that is what it was: a song for a death. Overlord heard the cry of his mistress and didn't know whether to feel joy or sadness. He had found her in a death song. He flew tot he highest tree in a forest which was stripped of all leaves to see her better. Not wanting to be disrespectful, his whispery "weewoo" joined the echoes of the dragons far and wide. Would there be any point in me staying? she asked herself when the song had finished. What is right?The song was finished! Overlord couldn't lose another moment! He toook off in the direction that the sound came from, his wings beating as hard as they could.Celestial saw a white streak in the distance,coming towards her at an alarming rate. The moonlight suddenly illuminated the streak, giving one part a gold streak. She only knew one such creature: Overlord! He had come back. She shapeshifted into a human, holding out her arm for him. He landed on it, weewooing happily and sending her thoughts of how happy he was. She told him about the deaths, stenching the flow of happy ideas. Then one thought came into her mind but it wasn't fully her own. Both she and Overlord shared it. We have to go back!!Shapeshifting into her dragon form once again and making sure Overlord was flying alongside her, she flew back towards the South Gate. Strife((Spacefleet docking bay, Zari's shuttle)) "E xc us e m e," said Cyclops as he entered the shuttle, being careful not to dent the walls with his bulky suit. As he sat down, the sound of Zari's " Wheeeeeeeeeee!" filled the cockpit, and he noticed the excited Professor spinning around in the pilot's seat. "L et' s k ee p i t p ro fe ss io na l, P ro fe ss or," he muttered, although deep inside he couldn't help but chuckle. "I am pr ep ar ed to de pa rt. On ce we re ac h t he su rf ac e, y ou ca n d ro p m e o ff at Th e C om ma nd er' s s pe ci fi ed co or di na te s. I wi ll ca rr y o ut hi s r eq ue st to re tr ie ve ou r C hi ef Me di ca l O ff ic er. Th e r es t o f t he te am ma y j oi n m e, b ut if yo u w is h t o s ea rc h f or Th e C om ma nd er in st ea d, y ou ca n b e a ss ur ed th at I a m c ap ab le of fi nd in g L eo ne ss al on e." * * * ((The Forest South of Dunburrow))"Sir, some pirates found the crater. It looks like they're talking among themselves. There's also a black horse, but it doesn't look quite...normal. I think I see it talking. I don't know if you're in their line of sight, but I'm going to cloak so they don't see me.""Affirmative," said The Commander in a low voice. "I just heard the scream of a terrestrial girl. I suspect that I am being followed, so be on your guard." Within a minute or two, The Commander had arrived at Fraze's location. He couldn't see Fraze with his eyes, due to the cloaking. With his communicator, however, he could detect his presence behind a large rock. The Commander leaned against a tree next to the rock, in such a way that he would not easily be seen by anyone who might be at the crater. Small stones and rocks still hovered in the air around him. Some of them smacked into trees as they circled around his body. He knew that his officer would wonder about this phenomenon, so he decided to speak up now before he asked. "The storm is having some negative effects on me," he said. Negative for those who would oppose me, he thought to himself amusingly. "I'm having trouble controlling my psionic powers..." Despite his best efforts, The Commander knew that sooner or later his officers would discover his intentions to take the artifact for himself and begin his plans of global conquest. He had hoped that Spacefleet's policy of secrecy would also keep his personal plans secret, but it was now obvious to him that this wasn't going anywhere. He needed his officers. Otherwise, there might not be a planet left for him to conquer. He breathed a heavy sigh. "We cannot afford to sit in the shadows and hide anymore. Midnight is fast approaching, and we must find that lifeform before it's too late. I am starting to think that maintaining our secrecy is not a good idea." There was a faint rustling in the bushes nearby. Somebody was closing in on their position. He lowered his head. "War is coming... I can feel it. You better be prepared to fight, soldier. ZariZari stopped spinning. 'Rightio, sir. Enteedubyoueff. Coming right up. Hold on to something, Amnei's experienced my driving before.' Zari reached foward to turn several knobs and dial, pull a few levers, hit the dashboard and turned the key. In a rather anitclimatic turn of events, the Shuttle buzzed and let off a noise like a flatulent Amayan Stinkworm. 'DRAT!' Zari hit the dashboard again and the shuttle started up. 'Thank Ilhvren. Every strapped down, buckets within reach, crash helmets on?' Fraze"Affirmative," came Strife's whisper. "I just heard the scream of a terrestrial girl. I suspect that I am being followed, so be on your guard."The scream of a girl? What would a girl be doing with the pirates? Fraze realized that he didn't know if the two events were related, but it seemed likely. "Yes, Sir. The coast is clear for now," Fraze thought back. When the Commander came, Fraze looked with surprise at the stones circling around him. Had the situation not been so tense, Fraze might have laughed--he looked like some vague parody of a solar system. "The storm is having some negative effects on me," Strife explained. "I'm having trouble controlling my psionic powers...""It seems this storm is having strange effects on a number of things and people," Fraze answered while decloaking. "I'm surprised I didn't have too much trouble landing." "My Table landed over there," he said while pointing to a spot some distance away. He jogged over to retrieve it, and returned. When he got back, he squatted down to get a better look at his weapon. His Table of Smiting had suffered several dings on the edges; one corner had been chipped off, and there was a hairline fracture running across part of its face. One chip had exposed the blade that ran lengthwise across one of its edges; the blade itself was now badly scratched and dulled where it had been exposed. Well, now people knew that he kept a concealed blade. Not too much of a disadvantage. What worried him most was that one leg had been broken off completely at the base. The leg had had a tightly coiled cord embedded in it, which could be unwound and strung across an adjacent leg to use as a makeshift ballista, though he could hardly remember a time when he had used that function. He was used to having four handles to hold on to, though, so this would restrict how well he could fight with it. Overall, he thought, the Table should hold up in battle until he could get it repaired. He had barely finished his inspection of his Table in the dim light, when the Commander sighed. "We cannot afford to sit in the shadows and hide anymore. Midnight is fast approaching, and we must find that lifeform before it's too late. I am starting to think that maintaining our secrecy is not a good idea."Well, Fraze thought, it would certainly become much more difficult to deny the existence of Spacefleet once they made this deal with the whatever-it-was. "Oh, yeah, we're here to meet with you but we don't really exist," Fraze thought wryly. Doesn't quite work. Fraze's head jerked upward when he heard a noise, realizing that the Commander had heard the same noise. "War is coming... I can feel it. You better be prepared to fight, soldier.""Sir, I'm ready and waiting," he thought into his communicator, deciding to send the message to Strife through more secure means. He made no effort to hide his expectantly morbid grin. "I'd prefer to remain cloaked until combat begins, or until you call for me. It's what Special Ops do, after all," he added, becoming invisible once more. He slung his Table over his shoulder again, which was enveloped by the cloak and disappeared from sight. Ikkin"Sure," Kit said, tossing the gem to Ikkin. She almost failed to catch it out of surprise. It couldn't have been that easy. Almost too easy, really, she thought uncomfortably. But, Cap'n Hunty wanted the gem, and it seemed safe enough now. At least, it didn't cause her any physical pain to hold - it felt really, really odd and unsettling, probably because of the demonic magic used to bind it, but besides the magical signature that seemed to be fractured into thousands of little pieces, it didn't really feel dangerous anymore. Kat's cry of "Be careful with that thing!" certainly didn't help with the comfort levels, though. She didn't have time to think much longer, as Kit suddenly - and, from what she could tell, without provocation - stabbed himself in the arm. She took a step backwards in disgust as thick black liquid oozed out in place of blood. What was that?!She stroked Sev's head, giving him the signal to leave - pretty much the only thing that she still had the mind to do - but, even he seemed struck by the odd sight. Or, maybe, she thought as the soul bond between her and Kit stretched painfully thin, he was just in pain. Sev did have the more sturdy connection to Kit due to the way they were bound. *** This was, in fact, the case. Sev kept his wings outstretched, but they seized up as he tried to keep from showing that he was in pain. The soul bond might have been useful for keeping those involved tethered down to this world, but it sure wasn't a comfortable thing to do.*** Ikkin could only watch as Kit slumped to the ground, clearly in pain. Despite how she felt about Kit's betrayal of everyone for the demons, it still hurt to have to see Kit in so much pain and not be able to do anything about it - and not just because of the soul bond. This was what she'd wanted... wasn't it? For Kit to be stopped, the world to be safe... but, not like this. She never wanted Kit to suffer like this... She reeled back in horror as another image planted itself in her head - Kit strung up in the basement of Mage Manor, when she really did want to kill him. No, no, no! Why did this have to come up now?! Losing Kit was hard enough as it was... Reality was no better, though. Kit was still now, black ooze staining his face where tears should have been. And, Ikkin noticed with a start, Shade was next to him, her hand resting on his chest, a puncture wound through her own. She just couldn't take it anymore. She had to get out of there before she lost it completely. But, she couldn't just leave Kit there, like that, in the middle of the battlefield. Whatever he had done or planned to do, he deserved better than that... as did Shade. And there was still the issue of the soul bond, which would require her and Sev to do their best to bring him back or risk their own souls. "Sev..." she said softly, hoping that he'd know what to do. *** Sev had never really seen too much to be sad about when someone died. He could always just bring them back, after all. Sure, it was really annoying and painful when one of the two non-phoenixes that he was bonded with got themselves killed, but it was nothing he couldn't easily reverse.
Of course, normally, he didn't have the problem of having one of the bonded being an enemy who would be a threat if he came back to life.
He couldn't bring Kit back then and there, that was for sure. But, he'd have to do it sometime before sunrise, and he figured it would be easier if he wasn't just left where he was to be tromped on by a bunch of confused guildspeople.
He nodded in response to Ikkin. Then, he and all of the mages and pirates who had gathered around him disappeared in a flash of fire that quickly consumed the two bodies.
Before long, the flames died down, and nothing was left of the two star-crossed lovers except the ashes that floated softly on the breeze, becoming one in death. Kit and Shade would stay together until the very end.*** Ikkin's group landed at the doorway of the Manor, the doors opening before them in acknowledgment of the mages' acceptance of the newcomers. She walked in to find Nature unconscious on the floor. "Quick! Can anyone tell me what's wrong with her?!" she asked to no one in particular, dropping the gem as she ran towards the unconscious mage.
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 14:59:07 GMT -5
SpeckSpeck stared in horror as black liquid poured from Kit's self-inflicted wound. She stared on in horror as he slumped to the ground, dead. She continued to stare in horror as Shade ran a blade through her own body and joined Kit in death. All that the pirate could mumble under her breath was, "By the power of the sea..." Yet, in a flash and a blur, the two bodies were gone from her sight. Speck looked up in confusion at the open doors to Mage Manor. "Where are w--" She was unable to complete her question as she ran off into the nearest bushes, clutching her mouth and her stomach. The shock of Shade's and Kit's deaths had finally caught up to her. Or maybe that was just the physical shock of being magically teleported from one place to another. Once she had relieved herself, she walked back to the group of mages and pirates in front of the Manor. She ungracefully wiped her mouth on her coat's sleeve and looked at her surroundings. A glint from the gem caught her eye as Ikkin dropped it. Eyes wide, she made her way over to the much-desired-object, picked it up, and stowed it away in one of her coat's pockets. "As I was sayin' before I was, er, interrupted. Where are we?" Speck asked her Captain. Huntress((South gate)) Hunty's expression, almost cheery on one moment, faded into sulky determination as Ikkin went to claim the gem. She had no idea what would happen, but she still distrusted the magical shiny, and was prepared for the worst. Admittely, she had no idea what the worst would be. A big explosion would be more than likely. Instead, she quietly witnessed the scene of Kit's and Shade's deaths, as the gem changed owners without much apparent ado. She'd seen a lot during her career as captain, and a lot more as a regular pirate. She'd seen deaths uglier than these. Deaths sadder than these. And still... "Stupid knights," she muttered, her voice heavy with something - pity? Compassion? Disdain? Perhaps all those and more. "What have we done?" she heard Rider ask. "Not us," Hunty said, raising her hand and placing it on Sev's back. "Nobody can blame others for what they themselves bring forth. Everything has a price." Would be nice if I had a clue what price I'm going to pay for this, she thought grimly, and turned her head to shoot a quick confirmative glance at the orchard and the people who were filling it. She might have to kill one of them one of those upcoming days. And then there was nothing but phoenix fire. *** ((Mage Manor)) "H'okay," announced a familiar, somewhat coarse and sardonic voice somewhere way too close to Hunty's ear, "that's not a ride I'd like to go on again anytime soon." The captain opened her eyes to shoot a stern, if generally relieved look at Bloody Mary. He'd come along. They all had, the gang of meepits, clinging to her clothes and now letting go, looking a little sheepish. She looked around to see that everyone was, indeed, there. They'd gotten away with it. Bloody hell, had they really gotten away with it? Admittedly, they just might have brought hell along. Hunty squatted, picking up the gem Ikkin had dropped. The injured mage didn't concern her at this particular moment. So this was the thing they'd been after - the thing everyone was after. It looked odd - like a solid oil slick, gleaming in the light of the fading flames, something reddish still stuck on its surface. It felt odd, too. A little tingly, as if it was slightly magnetic. ...wait... She twisted the stone around, squinting, and leaned closer to the fire. "Something moved in there," Bloody Mary said sharply. Hunty had already forgotten that the meepit was still sitting on her shoulder, staring intently at the gem, so she almost jumped. "You think so?" She turned the gem around. "May have been just a shadow." "The heck it was." The meepit's voice was hesitant, though. "It was inside," he ventured. "No shadows on the inside." The stone flickered in the light, and all of a sudden jerked around, away from the Manor, as if its magic was pushing it around and away. Hunty gave a quiet 'dangit' and dropped the gem. "There's something definitely wrong with it," she agreed, getting up and taking a few steps back, away from the gem. "Then again, it's magic... what would you expect from magic?" She looked at the open, inviting doors of Mage Manor. Well, if there ever was a place to come to in case of magical gems, then this was it. "I think we need to research a little," she said. "And I really wouldn't suggest it," added to Speck, furrowing a brow, as the pirate picked the gem up. "Heavens know what it might do to you.” Zylaa((South Gate -> Mage Manor Entrance)) At the moment Kit tossed the gem to Ikkin, Zylaa had a moment of confusion. That was far too easy, she thought. But as Kit paled- stabbed- died, she stared, panicked, nauseated, terrified as he fell in a pool of blackness. For one utterly disoriented moment she thought the loss of the gem had done this to him, until she saw the demon-girl flee. But as Shade followed Kit- as a ninja stabbed Shade in the chest and she bled to death beside his body- she could only stare in numb denial, and the last thing she saw before Sev took them out was a wash of phoenix fire. They landed in front of Mage Manor- how could she forget the entrance? She'd walked through these doors in the last Guild Wars, when the place wasn't nearly so welcoming. Good times. Shock caught up with her quickly, and she shuddered, trying to block out the memory, but as she squeezed her eyes shut she saw again the oozing blackness, and she opened her eyes with a whimper. Kit and Shade. One betrayed, the other killed by a ninja. And we know how to deal with ninjas and mutineers, Zylaa thought bitterly. Ikkin had ran through the doors, leaving the gem, and as Speck picked it up, Zylaa focused on it. We got what we came for, she thought. Big whoop.
"Where are we?" Speck asked. "It's Mage Manor," she called to Speck. "Best place to find out more about the shiny thing. You might not want to keep it in your pocket- it could turn you into a frog or something." The lame attempt at humor fell like a lead balloon. Lame humor or not, right on cue, the storm rumbled. It had only spread, and now all the stars were blotted out by the clouds. Zylaa looked up, thinking about lightning, and how it wouldn't be nice to get electrocuted after all the trouble they'd taken to get this lump of rock. They might as well have gone up in flames with the Weewoo-
Clara. "What happened to Clara?" she asked Rider, who had rushed off after her. PFA((Castle Kestrel: south gate))
Behind her opponent, PFA caught a glimpse of Kit tossing the gem to Ikkin. PFA couldn't believe her eyes. Neither could the knight she was fighting, apparently, as she backed away from PFA and turned to Kit. "Kit? Are you-"
PFA was angry. What was this knight doing? Abandoning mid-fight? Such a dishonorable act, PFA thought. Once you start a fight, you can't abandon it. It has to end, one way or the other.
PFA walked over to the knight, who was now kneeling in front of Kit, who seemed to be bleeding black now. It was odd, but PFA didn't ponder it for now. She gripped her katana firmly, and glared straight at the girl. The girl stood and turned around, noticing PFA. She seemed a bit shocked to see the ninja there.
And then, PFA did it. She stabbed the knight, right in the heart.
A voice in the back of PFA's head screamed at her, trying to tell her what she had done. Another voice screamed at the first voice, telling her it was the knight's fault for attacking her in the first place. Not really knowing what to think, PFA pulled her katana from the knight's heart, watching her fall to the ground. The knight muttered something to Kit, and then her life ended.
Part of PFA wanted to feel victorious for the deed. The other part wanted to break down and cry. Her thoughts were really muddled now, so she just stood there, trying to make sense of them all. It was a few seconds before a thought went through her head, one that was far more prominent than the others.
The gem.
PFA turned her head, just time to see the pirates and the mages disappear in a flash of phoenix fire. They were gone, and they had taken the gem with them.
"NO!" PFA shouted, reaching weakly toward the phoenix fire. But she was too far, and the fire faded too fast... PFA needed that gem, if it could really bring Vyt back...
After some more time, PFA turned toward her Uncle, a determined look on her face. "We have to go after them," she said simply.
---
((Forest: south of Dunburrow))
Jernath heard Cyborg and Midknight behind him. Apparently they had followed him. Well, it's always good to have backup... he thought silently, ...incase something bad were to happen.
He was about to say something to the two Kougras, when he saw something off in the distance. Something... floating... were those rocks? Perhaps there was an earth mage nearby... why they would have rocks floating around them, though, he wasn't sure. At any rate, he figured it was far too risky to try and approach them with his daggers. It would be much safer to fight from a distance.
Jernath turned to the Kougras briefly, gesturing to them to be quiet. He then turned back to the rocks, eyeing them warily as he crept quietly behind the nearest tree. He then put his daggers in their sheaths and pulled out his bow. He strung the bow, then pulled an arrow from his quiver.
He looked around the tree at the floating rocks, and took aim. He couldn't see whatever was causing the rocks to spin through the air like that, though he was pretty sure it was behind the tree the rocks were spinning around. So he aimed just slightly to the side of the tree, and then fired. He was sure he'd miss whoever was there, though maybe he could get their attention.
They'd probably come out peacefully if they were friendly. Most likely, though, they weren't. Vyt((Castle Kestrel: South Gate))In a flash of instantaneous events, Bluisa was too slow to react. Everyone around her was disappearing, may they be slowly embracing their respective deaths or being teleported to an unknown place. She had only notice the black-haired man throwing the gem at the same girl she was planning to protect before the chain of unfortunate events followed. Through the eyes of Bluisa, the girl looked stunned for a moment, but quickly let out some kind of command. Bluisa then was quick to notice a quick bright flash, followed by the dance of fire surrounding most of the people around her. Instinctively, she jumped away from the sudden burst of flame. She did not want to get toasted. Until she realized it was not the dangerous type of flame. In an instant, everyone engulfed in the ring of fire suddenly vanished. Judging by the very fast time it took, Bluisa dismissed the thought of them being turned into ashes. The mage could not even contain that kind of idea. "... I thought you were a friend..." the mage sadly spoke, referring to the girl. "Bluisa!" The mention of her name initiated Bluisa to turn around. Cat Assassin was rushing off towards her, his nose covered by his left arm. "It's dangerous to stay in this place! The air is slowly getting more poisonous by the second", he warned. Sniffing the air, Bluisa did notice the gradual change of the atmosphere and quickly muffled her face with her own black cloak. PFA had also managed to join the two. Both of them could tell from her eyes that she was quite disappointed by what happened. "We have to go after them," she quickly said. "Actually..." Bluisa interrupted. "We have to go away from this place first. The poison's starting to spread," she noted, repeating what the feline just said. A sudden rush of energy then started to fill Bluisa. She looked as if she was receiving some kind of invisible force. A moment later, the mage seemed refreshed as her red eyes sparkled with hope. "Good timing! I can use my wind magic again!" she revealed. Knowing that they had no time to escape from the poison gas that slowly surrounded them, she chanted out: Invisible entity that surrounds every man, As I breathe you again, follow the wish of this human, Move for us and obey my every plan!Cool breeze started to surround the three, trying to fend the poisonous gas off. It was followed by wind so strong, it started to carry them off. Realizing that the girl now had the gem, Bluisa noted the two. "Someone else now holds the gem... We'd better check through my crystal ball again," she suggested. Then, with her hand, she signalled the wind to elevate them away. Away from the place cursed by death itself.[/size] KatBefore Kat could say anything more, there was a rush of fire - phoenix fire, Kat realized. She stopped herself from interfering, and simply let it carry her away to wherever it would lead them. After all, she could tell that it was Sev and Ikkin's work... And she was right. In no time at all, Mage Manor stood before them, but before Kat could rush back in as though it were a home she had not been to in ages, Ikkin asked, "Quick! Can anyone tell me what's wrong with her?!"Walking over to Ikkin and looking down, Kat saw Nature, and the grip on her wand tensed. She had thought someone would take care of her... "The last time I saw Nature, we were at the field where the gem was first found," she told Ikkin. "Something - maybe whatever's in that gem - made her this way. I gave her a temporary healing spell and left her in the hands of...well, I didn't know who they were, exactly, but...after that, I never saw them again." Kat knelt down beside Nature, and tried to lift her up, supporting her. Nature"For the last time, I am NOT giving it!"
"You really should know how to respect your elders, young lady . . ."
"This sitar was entrusted to me and I'm not giving it. No matter what circumstances."
A dark, foreboding sigh. "Fine then."
The demon rights activist took Nature by the neck and started tightening his grip. He snarled at the Freezemancer, his yellow eyes showing from his hood.
"If you don't give your instrument to us, you and your fellow mages will suffer the consequences . . ."~~~~~~*~~~~~~ Seline looked at her owner, worry and amusement showing in her icy-blue eyes. Nature was shaking and mumbling unintelligible words, something about not giving it up. Whatever it was. The Elvish dragon perched on Kat's shoulder and asked, "Do Freezemancers really shake madly like that?” Rider"Clara!" Rider called, but she was gone in the blink of an eye. Mage Manor. Rider smiled humorlessly. A lot had changed indeed. "What happened to Clara?""I don't know. I heard screaming. She was staring at the fire at the edges of the crater, and I heard screaming." She turned to Ikkin. "Ikkin, whose specialty would magic like this be? Who should we go to see?" Shadows inside the gem... things were getting a bit too weird around here. Keng"They'll do for now." Urchin said. Despite the preparations it was shaky going through the cloud but they managed to make it out unscathed. "Now approaching landing site of Team Stealthy Ninja!" announced Lily. "Who?" asked Urchin. "The Commander." "... No. Just no." said Keng. "Why not?" "I don't like ninjas." "Why?" "It's a pirate thing." "But you're not a-" "Urchin, get ready to unload. And how in the Galaxy do you put up with this ship?” Omni((Mage Manor, near the entrance)) As if what had just happened wasn't enough, Omni came back to the manor to see Nature collapsed, again. "I thought you'd healed her, Sev!" she shouted, running toward nature and checking her aura. Even though it had only been a few minutes, it seemed to have spread fairly quickly. Similar to what she had done earlier, she began to take some of the polluted energy, store it away, and replace it with some of her own, non-polluted energy. ((Spacefleet Docking bay, Zari's ship)) "Hold on… Siber, sit still…" Ethan said as he tried to buckle up Siber, who didn't want to be buckled. After a few tries, and some barking, Ethan decided to try buckling himself in first. "There, see? The seatbelt isn't strangling me or anything. All it's doing is holding me so I don't get thrown around if the ride gets bumpy. It's okay." A couple tries after that, Siber allowed Ethan to buckle him up, albeit somewhat reluctantly. CelestialThere was a girl on the ground near the crater with a pig. The fear that was felt by them both was so potent that it leaked into the air and Celestial could detect it. She flew above them both, trying to keep downwind of the pig. If it bolted, it would certainly not see another sunset, not with such a strong malevolent presence around the forest. She glanced at Overlord, flying beside her. He nodded as much as he could without falling out of the sky. The decision to rescue her was inanimous. Celestial flapped her wings twice until she was almost above the girl and pig. The girl looked light enough to grab in her jaws and put her between her two neck ridges. The pig however, would have to fly in her claws. Here's hoping it won't struggle too much. Folding her wings inward, she swooped down, the air rushing against her face. The girl was coming closer and closer and...Celestial flapped down as soon as her teeth felt the thin fabric of the dress. Her claws had also connected with the pig, grabbing it before it could even let out a squeal. Celestial felt her tail scrape the ground as she swooped back up, amazed at how well this had worked out. She leveled out in a hover to put the girl on her back and rearrange the pig in her claws so she wouldn't drop it while it struggled. Still amazed by the flexibilty of a dragon's neck, she deposited the girl between her ridges, noticing how she looked at the flame patterns on them. The pig was a different matter. It was kicking and struggling until Celestial had no choice. She showed it how high up they were and flew towards the South Gate. She arrived just in time to see fire engulf most people there. But from experience, she knew it wasn't a normal fire but phoenix fire. A phoenix had taken theml...somewhere. Anyway, she couldn't stay here, it felt too...evil. Celestial sighed. This place would never be the same, the grass wouldn't be so green if it ever regrew. Sighing, she flew away, leaving the devastation and ashes behind her. Celestial had to land somewhere. She was getting tired fighting the storm and carrying her passangers. But where would she be welcome? With the mages Overlord answered. You are one of them, in a way.You are right. Then maybe I could continue searching for them[/i] she thought back at him as she turned towards the Manor, hoping that she could still make it. Celestial was amazed by the gathering in front of the manor gates. It was almost ike the South gate before...before they came here! Joyous in having found them before she could even start, Celestial flew down and landed on the outskirts of the group, hoping she hasn't made a mistake in bringing the girl back. She was too interested in fire to be completely sane. But the pig in her claws had to feel the solid ground again. I can finally understand why it is the end of the world if pigs fly she laughed to herself. She lifted one leg off it but kept it neatly pinned down with the other. The glow caught her eye. It was the gem but it's glow wasn't even as it should be. Instead, it was swirling almost as if something was alive in there. It made her nervous just to look at it. She tore the girl away from her ridges and put her down on the ground, releasing the pig as she did so. Only then did she shapeshift and Overlord landed on her shoulder. "What happened?! Why is everybody here?" she asked, seeing that it was only mages and pirates here. She wouldn't be too out of place. Bacon"Pfft!" Bacon said to himself as he navigated through the docking bay, "Dropship, shmopdrip! ...or something like that." He passed the rows of shuttles, dropships, and miscellaneous other personnel carriers. He passed the fighter racks too, to where the personal ships were docked. "Ah, there's my pride and joy!" He said, as he approached his own ship, the Stellar Eye. He wasn't exactly sure why it's original owner named it that, although he couldn't deny it looked something like an eye when faced head-on. He started to hum a James Taylor song as he opened the boarding ramp and walked onboard. Preliminary pre-flight checks were green, he saw as he typed in a few buttons on the diagnostics panel. Further tests indicate the slight thrust hiccup he'd experienced in the past wasn't likely to occur. It appeared to be ready for a smooth flight. He started to sing aloud to himself, the way he always did when flying alone, "I seen fire an' I seen rain, I seen sunny days that I thought would never end…” Zari'All done? Good fish. Lessgo.' The ship rose, making whirring noises, then shot of of the bay like a greasy sausage. Zari laughed madly and turned the ship towards Earth, flattening the acelerator. 'WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!' 'AAAAAAAAAARGH!' <Ienalle> Who gave her a drive- WARGH WALLSLAMMING IS ZARI'S JOB!> Goosh((South Gate--Mage Manor)) He couldn't think. Something was wrong with him indeed. Goosh's eyes could barely register what was happening. Flashes, fragments of images appeared before him. It was...jumbled. No one else seemed to be having a problem. When he surfaced, when he could see things clearly, everyone was fine. A flash. People at the gate. Kit. What did he want? Why was he here? The swirling sky was scattering his thoughts before he could form them. He vaguely realized that it was cold. Winter was coming. Ikkin. Whose side was she on? Her answer had been guarded, though he couldn't remember the words. So many people. He felt figures, eyes watching him. A dragon girl, a pig, the pirates. What was happening to him? Hunty asked him something, but he couldn't hear her. He begged her pardon, but no sound came out. The ground shook. He couldn't remember falling, but then there was another dose of reality and he found himself on the ground. He got up, swaying. Kit was saying something. Why were his ears filled with white noise? And then Kit was on the ground. Dead. Cold eyes cried black ooze. Goosh felt nauseous, groaned, or tried to. Shade too. Who had killed them. Where were the demons. Were they doing this? Fire. Sev was here. Ikkin was calling him. He stumbled over, though the ground seemed fluid, unpleasant. Blurs of colour whipped by him. He shut his eyes, willing himself to think, and when he opened them, he was standing behind Rider at Mage Manor. He needed help. That much was sure. But he couldn't speak. His tongue felt like lead in his mouth. He steppe toward Ikkin, and a stab of pain shot through his forhead. He staggered over to the wall--what wall? The south gate?--and shut his eyes, slumping onto the ground. Zylaa((Mage Manor- entrance))Zylaa watched Speck warily, thinking about the gem shadows, and only because her nerves were stretched to breaking did she hear the irregular footsteps and soft thwump behind her. She spun around. Goosh was lying on the ground, eyes shut. "Goosh!" she shouted, running over to her crewmate, shaking his shoulder. She checked- breathing, yes. "He just- slumped over- like..." Like Kit and Shade just did, she finished the thought, but didn't say it. Spinning around again, she raced inside the door to Ikkin and Kat, calling "Goosh needs help! He just keeled over against the wall." Kat"Do Freezemancers really shake madly like that?""Depends. Has she been dabbling into a little too much ice magic?" asked Kat, glancing at the Elvish Dragon now perched on her shoulder. "Okay, jokes aside, she really needs our help - " "I thought you'd healed her, Sev!""Sev was supposed to heal her?" repeated Kat, turning this time to Omni, who had run towards them. She felt the energy travel from Omni to Nature, alleviating the evil within the latter, but Kat knew that it wouldn't last long, and she shifted her weight in order to support Nature more easily. "Last I checked, he took us over here. Anyway, listen, I'll - " "Goosh needs help! He just keeled over against the wall."Kat saw Zylaa come in next, screaming about Goosh keeling over. Great. If we don't take care of everything, one of us could be next. "Bring him in. Omni, can you take Nature for a while? I'll check on Goosh, you take care of her. We have no time to lose...and Ikkin, if it would be all right with you, I'll help out with any research that we need to find out just what is it with this stupid gem..." The corridor was dark yet again, and when Kat opened and closed her hands, and felt her waist, she realized that she was devoid of any weapons, not even a dagger. At least she still had her magic...but why did she feel so peculiarly empty, as if something had sucked out every last bit of magical energy from her?
"Kalianne Triss..."
It was the voice again. Kat turned to run away, and when she reached out in front of her, she felt a solid wall, and the incantations for explosions, intangibility and fire seemed lost...
"I have got you cornered, Kalianne Triss. There is nowhere else to hide."Her voice trailed off. Kat just stood there on the spot, with Nature still leaning against her, staring at something only she could see. Surf((Dunbarrow – South Gate)) Surf listened attentively as Ikkin described what she knew so far and expressed her distrust in Kit. When Ikiin went to talk with the Pirates, Surf’s attention span died out, and she stared up at the stars. Her attention was brought back a little later when Ikkin beckoned her and the other mages over. She jogged over to the knight, and listened to her plan, nodding throughout the briefing. It was a clever plan, and Surf admired that. Taking note of Ikkin’s warning, she grabbed onto Sev’s outstretched wings with one hand, and tightly clutched her staff with the other. It’s showtime, the mage thought with a smirk. To her dismay, however, Kit handed Ikkin the gem without a protest. Something about Kit seemed strange, though… This was confirmed when the knight stabbed himself and sort of turned into a pile of black ooze. One of the ninjas stabbed Shade, who soon joined Kit in death. Surf had not known the two knights very well, but she was still saddened by their deaths, and tears trickled down her cheeks. There was a long silence, which was finally ended by Sev. In a flash of fire, the mages and pirates were in front of Mage Manor, where Nature was unconscious once more. After Ikkin rushed over to the ice mage, Surf wiped the tears off her face and pulled herself together. She wasn’t going to accomplish anything by crying herself into a coma. She added, “Nature was unconscious both in the field and before Sev teleported us to Dunbarrow. It’s not just coincidence—something’s wrong with her.” As she finished, she heard Huntress say that she could see shadows in the gem—never a good sign. And, just when she thought that it couldn’t get any worse, Zylaa ran in yelling about Goosh keeling over. I really need to find some wood to knock on, the mage thought to herself. “Kat, we should get Nature into one of the spare rooms,” she added, and, bending down, held out an arm, to extend her help. “And then we can go and research that gem.” ((Holy crap this post is long.)) IkkinIkkin's query about Nature was soon answered. Kat spoke first, telling Ikkin that "The last time I saw Nature, we were at the field where the gem was first found. Something - maybe whatever's in that gem - made her this way. I gave her a temporary healing spell and left her in the hands of...well, I didn't know who they were, exactly, but...after that, I never saw them again." She then knelt down and supported Nature in her arms.
Ikkin frowned. It lead back to the stone again... or, did it? After all, if there was someone else involved at the time, it could have been their doing, too. Though, that was fairly unlikely - Ikkin didn't mistrust Kat's judgement.
Before she could think of what the best way to deal with the problem was, however, Rider spoke up.
"Ikkin, whose specialty would magic like this be? Who should we go to see?"
That was a good question, Ikkin thought. What kind of magic did the stone have, anyway? She'd gotten a good sense of its power when she held it, but it didn't seem like any kind of recognizable magic. There were bits here and there that felt like lightning magic or fire magic - or most any kind of magic one could think of, really - and an overall darkness to it, but she couldn't really think of anyone who would know anything about such a creation. Whoever had made it had clearly used some kind of power that she'd never seen before.
"I don't know..." she said hopelessly.
To make matters worse, Omni started accusing Sev of failing to heal Nature properly – "I thought you'd healed her, Sev!" she said.
Sev seemed to stop in place. "I intended to... but in all the confusion of leaving, I must have forgotten," he said as Omni started pulling energy out of Nature and replacing it with energy of her own. "I could try to burn the remainder out now, if you still want me to try, though."
"That was fairly careless of you, Sev," Ikkin said.
"Well, sorry. I was paying more attention to what I could do to get your reinforcements to the gate before midnight."
Before Ikkin could say anything in response to that, a dragon carrying a pig in its talons and the girl in rags from before on her back suddenly landed nearby. She quickly put both of her passengers down and shapeshifted back into a mage whom Ikkin recognized as the one who had wanted to join Kit earlier.
"What happened?! Why is everybody here?" she asked.
Ikkin wasn't quite sure how to respond to this. It would take too long to explain, really. Especially since Ikkin had been on the opposite side in regards to Kit.
Fortunately, she didn't have to, as she was quickly distracted by Goosh staggering in and slumping onto the ground.
Does everything really need to happen at the same time? Ikkin thought, asking the dragon mage to hold on while running towards Goosh.
Zylaa still reached him before she did and checked his pulse. From her reaction, Ikkin knew he was still alive, even before she spoke. ""He just- slumped over- like..." Zylaa said, cutting off. Ikkin didn't want to think about the way she would have finished. "Goosh needs help! He just keeled over against the wall."
It was times like this when Ikkin really, really wished she knew at least some kind of healing magic - or, even, diagnostic magic.
Fortunately, Kat took charge. "Bring him in," she said. "Omni, can you take Nature for a while? I'll check on Goosh, you take care of her. We have no time to lose...and Ikkin, if it would be all right with you, I'll help out with any research that we need to find out just what is it with this stupid gem..."
"Sounds fine to me," Ikkin said. "But only after we figure out what's wrong with them."
Oddly enough, Kat didn't seem to be listening anymore; she stared blankly off into the distance as if looking at something else.
Ikkin really had to wonder if all the collapsing and staring was somehow related... and whether the gem was really worth keeping, considering how it seemed to be the only common factor. Vyt((Somewhere above [it's not conveniently located, you know]))
Cat Assassin took a glance at the corpses around them the second they took off. A scene full of bodies slowly rotting at the existence of poison did much to bring him nostalgia. The feline's mind wandered off towards his past life, back when he was an infamous killer.
* * *
Cat Assassin led a miserable life, holding tightly to his firearms to survive. At age seven, the time when he had already spent a year with the clan, he was already involved in a medium-scale massacre, and though he was not able to kill someone the orange feline experienced what it felt like standing on piles of innocent people whose lives had been taken away swiftly.
He was restless for the following weeks.
A year after, Cat Assassin was given the opportunity to embark on a single-person mission. However, he was blind to the fact that he was supposed to kill a certain famous political figure. The feline had only learned his true mission through a communicator he received, and he was pinned against his conscience.
Innocence begets obedience, and obedience breeds manipulation, as Cat Assassin was forced to break down emotionally as he pulled on the trigger of his Desert Eagle.
* * *
Cat Assassin's eyes began to fill themselves with tears. The pain of having to experience those flashbacks, along with other numerous sick activities he was not supposed to know, brought back the same guilt he had seconds after those events.
"... Cat Assassin?"
A word of concern from Bluisa broke the silence around the three. Realizing that time was not the right time to become emotional once more, he rubbed the tears off his eyes. He knew he was supposed to be the strong person among the group: the feline seemed to be the oldest among them. Looking miserable would only degrade their own morale.
"Could you two look at my crystal ball?" Bluisa asked as she reached her ball at the two. "I think you two might be able to know what this place is..."
Cat Assassin nodded, receiving the crystal ball. He turned to PFA as they both watched the image inside.
The crystal ball revealed a lot of people, some looking surprised for some sort. Someone notable was a real life phoenix arguing with a girl with fox ears, seemingly stunned by the girl's comments. Whatever it was, the two disregarded the creatures inside and began focusing on the place around them.
The place was very familiar to both of them.
It was the same place where the first Guild Wars took place.
"The Mages Manor!" Cat Assassin exclaimed after the discovery. "They're planning to keep the gem for themselves!"
This made Bluisa react in an unexpected way. She seemed to have become infuriated by the revelation. Her red eyes widened with anger, she gritted her teeth in an attempt to suppress her own emotion with little success. "We really have to hurry," she angrily said.
The wind that carried them around started to move at a much faster rate. As Cat Assassin pointed the direction of the manor's position, Bluisa decided it was best to hasten their search.
She seemed to be impatient for some reason. Kwoiffei((Forest - Near the Clearing Of DEATH))
A lot could happen in a long time.
Drakhé began by running - following the horrible scent, towards what he knew would be reanimated corpses. He was frightened of necromancers - he knew their power very well. And he knew how powerful the undead could be; he was one himself, in a sense. Yet he ran towards what he knew could be dangerous.
For a moment he stopped. Wasn't this irrational? Shouldn't he have stayed in the Manor?
Since when am I rational? he couldn't help but think. The shapeshifter shook his head and resumed his running.
The scene was different from what he had expected. Three rotting, moving corpses stood close by a girl who was lying unconscious on the ground. Drakhé's stomach lurched as he recognised her.
That necromancer!
His mind quickly jumped to a conclusion: she had reanimated them. But why was she unconscious? Who was the other voice? And why was there a white bird attacking them?
A ball of fire fell from space and crashed into the ground.
The ground shook violently. Drakhé was thrown off his feet, and flew at a rapid speed before crashing into a tree.
He cursed in his native language as he landed on the ground once more. Pain was rushing through his entire body now; it felt as though he had been slammed into something hard and wooden. Wait... that was exactly what had happened.
The shapeshifter (still a wolf) struggled to his feet, and looked towards what he supposed was the direction of the clearing. Yes... the smell was still there. Maybe the wind had knocked the zombies down.
He took off into a run.
A low sound came to his ears - dragons. He had heard this sound before; apparently, they made that call when one of their own had perished. With the storm, how many could have died...?
The horrible smell came back to him.
And now, a horrible thought as well: where were the other mages?
The smell was strong - he was back at the clearing.
And another horrible smell was there: the scent of death, carried over by the winds. The wolf looked around. He could hear voices...
"The dragon's lost faith in his own kind, I hear." Kat“Kat, we should get Nature into one of the spare rooms. And then we can go and research that gem.”Kat blinked several times. Once again, she was back in Mage Manor, which was a lot more brightly-lit than the corridor she had been in a moment ago. She saw Surf extending out a hand to help, and smiled, taking it and straightening up again, remembering that Nature was still leaning against her. "Listen...Surf, can you take Nature for a while so I can see Goosh and make sure he's fine?" "But only after we figure out what's wrong with them.""True," Kat couldn't help agreeing with Ikkin. "This is insane - and I don't mean the good kind. I'm sure everyone's noticed that the gem affects a lot of people - if not all of us." Celestial[color=purple((Mage Manor))[/color] The mage with the phoenix came over to Celestia but before she could utter a word, the pirate Yurble that was there earlier collapsed. Celestial cursed, feeling the darkness around him which wasn't normal, even for this time of night. Her instinct told her it was the gem causing all this. why couldn't they destroy it? Even she with her lust for hoarding wouldn't take that gem. No dragon worth it's wings would. She rushed over to Goosh, along with everyone else, and knew from the shimmer of the air around him that this wasn't a normal collapse. She waved her hand to clear away the dark-infected air away from him, feeling a light breeze as she did so. The feeling of darkness, however, remained. It was inside him! Overlord saw his mistress lean over the Yurble and try to clear away the darkness from him. He knew it was little use, the darkness was spreading inside the Yurble, choking him almost. In one last hope, Overlord flew over and landed on the Yurble's barely rising chest. Streching out his wings, he placed the golden feather right on the Yurble's heart, praying to whatever Weewoos believed.Celestial was glad when Overlord put his wing over the Yurble, almost in a gesture of protection. Poor thing will need protection from that gem she thought maliciously. It has to be destroyed and soon, otherwise we shall all succumb to it's power. He was just the first. But she knew nobody would listen to her. They knew that she offered to help Kit while the others didn't. If only they truely knew why I joined him and his cause, they might understand was a thought only Overlord might have heard but he didn't say or think anything in return, he just kept his wing on the Yurble's heart. Celestial could have been wrong but there was less darkness about him. Huntress((Mage Manor entrance)) Huntress took a deep breath, looking at the group around her. Things weren't looking good. Okay, they were looking good, in the sense that they'd gotten the gem and gotten away with it, but now they were openly in war, having left behind a bunch of people who were bound to feel irritated about their sudden departure. And people were dropping left and right like flies. Well, two people had dropped left and right, her common sense corrected her. One of which wasn't in her crew, so it didn't concern her. And Goosh was still alive, after all. As was Speck, despite the vomiting, though part of the captain was expecting her to start oozing black slime any minute now, seeing that she carried the gem. And the Manor had opened its doors. Hunty didn't know that much about the place, but she'd heard a few things, and she suspected that the house, magical as it was, didn't do that for just about anyone. Well, then. All things considered, the situation had probably improved a lot as it was. "You, locals, you know better," she said, edging in between the doors. "Where do you keep the medical quarters? There's bound to be someone around, and I don't want this to spread, so it might be best to isolate them for the time being. And I need to find the library." "And some good weaponry," Bloody Mary reminded her. "We just took off with a shiny magical gem and a bunch of mages. Where do you think they'll come to search?" "Point taken." Hunty stopped, looking up at the ceiling. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the Manor, but ever since she stepped in, she'd had the feeling of... well, not quite the feeling of being watched. More like the feeling that something very big and powerful was aware of her presence and ready to make any conclusions based on anything that might follow. "Eh," she said, now addressing the Manor itself. "Could you, dunno, barricade us in somehow? Just in case. We need to rest and recover, and there are plenty of people out there who are after what we brought." "Huuuunty," the meepit on her shoulder muttered. "Yah?" "Clara's here." "What in the...?" Hunty spun around on spot, just now noticing the skinny girl. "Oh, lovely. Though I guess she's still our responsibility. Best bring her in then, can't very well leave her and the pig out on their own. Come on here, girl. I promised you a fire and I'm keeping an eye on you until you get it." PFA((The skies))
PFA was a little concerned when Uncle started to get emotional about... something, but she decided not to say anything about it. It's not my business, she thought.
"Could you two look at my crystal ball?" Bluisa asked, snapping PFA from her thoughts. "I think you two might be able to know what this place is..."
Uncle grabbed the crystal ball, and turned so PFA could look into it. PFA recognized the place almost immediately.
"The Mages Manor!" said Uncle, taking the words straight from PFA's mouth. She was a little taken back by his next statement, "They're planning to keep the gem for themselves!"
No... she knew the mages. The mages weren't that greedy, were they? "Well, they are mages, and the gem's magical," she reasoned. "So maybe they're--"
She was cut off by Bluisa, who said, "We really have to hurry," in a strange tone. Was the girl... angry, for some reason? PFA couldn't help but wonder why, but again she decided not to say anything. Since, again, it wasn't her business.
PFA yelped when they suddenly started to go much faster. She then covered her mouth, hoping that nobody (besides Uncle and Bluisa) heard her. She really didn't want to have to explain why there were three people flying through the air in a ball of wind.
"We'll have to be careful when we get there," PFA added, a little hesitantly. "Some of those mages are really strong."
PFA then glanced over her wounds. The dragon girl had helped make them feel a lot less painful, but she would still need some bandaging, especially if they had to fight the mages. She didn't want to fight the mages, but she much less wanted to faint from blood loss any time soon.
So she, remembering how he had bandaged that other ninja's leg earlier, turned to her Uncle. "Do you... think you could help me bandage these wounds?"
Cat Assassin looked over PFA's wounds for a moment, then nodded. He handed PFA the crystal ball for a moment to free his hands, and then pulled some bandages out of his overcoat and began gently wrapping the bandages around PFA.
"Thanks..." she muttered, looking into the crystal ball. She was looking at all the people there who they'd probably have to fight... Ikkin, Sev, Kat, Omni, the dragon girl, some other mages she didn't really know, and then the pirates... there were so many people. She hoped that they could take a peaceful approach to all this, but she really doubted that would happen, especially considering how angry Bluisa seemed to be.
Soon enough, Uncle had finished bandaging PFA. He took the crystal ball again, snapping PFA out of her thoughts.
"Looks like one of the pirates has the gem right now," she said, in an attempt to say something useful. "The one with the black bandanna, I think." RiderQuite frankly, I'd rather get this thing off our hands, but at the same time, I don't want anyone else to have it. Does this make us the heroes or the villains of this piece? Running, running, and never a moment to rest. Already war is upon us. "Clara, thank goodness you're alright." Rider ran over to the little pyro and hugged her. "Captain, I'll take the little nutjob from here, thanks. And yes, I'll agree with Bloody Mary. Weapons are a must. I think I remember you guys having a lot of sharp and pointy things in your basement..." Rider shut up very quickly. No need to bring up the torture chamber when she had touched enough nerves as it was. SurfSurf lifted Nature off of Kat, and, shifting the ice mage into a better position, carried her into the Manor and one of the spare rooms. The only pieces of furniture in the room were a bed and the small table next to it. Surf lay Nature on the bed, and sprinted to the kitchen, where she grabbed a glass of water and some food before returning to the room. She lay the food and water on the small table, and opened the window a smidgen before returning to the entrance hall. GooshClouds. They swirled through his mind, fogging his senses, ensnaring his thoughts. They were a shining amethyst, like the gem. Goosh blinked. Where was he? He vaguely remembered Mage Manor, arriving...but he appeared to be in the sky, somewhere. He floated loftily as the clouds before him shimmered and parted, and he felt himself descending slowly.
What was this? Surely this wasn't the NTWF. Tall hills crested to the east, and he could see blank ocean far off. No cities. Was this even reality? He was flying, after all. And he wasn't afraid in the least. This definitely wasn't real. Some sort of hallucination, maybe caused by the gem. Or maybe not. He felt rational here, and comprehendable thoughts were becoming more and more rapid.
He touched down, realizing he had closed his eyes. As he opened them sound piped in, and smell, as if he had pushed a button. He was standing on a battlefield under a violet sky. Churning battle was raging all around him. The dirt was stained red beneath him. The sounds of connecting weapons, yells and screams of pain drifted around him.
Without warning, a figure stepped backwards, stumbling towards him. He tried to move but before he could the person stumbled through him as if he wasn't there, and continued her battle.
Definitely not real, then. He knew he existed.
He stared, intrigued, as the figure removed her hood. She was a young girl, clutching a cutlass in a death grip. Goosh recognized the cutlass, and drew his own to compare. The same. What did this mean?
Her short blonde hair barely touched her shoulders, and a green streak hung over one eye. She blew it back as her attacker approached, wielding a wand that spewed sparks that danced in the air. His cat ears twitched as she lowered her eyes, straining to hear her whisper.
"Alex...please..."
The boy, Alex, stepped forward, unsure. Goosh didn't need to see any more of this. He walked carefully through the battle, lost in thought. That girl was a Pirate, he was sure of it. And that boy, Alex, must have been a mage.
Was this what he thought it was?
His answer came as two ninjas collided in a flash of knives and needles.There was even a kitsune, fending off three attackers with blasts of water. And a disturbingly short woman bossing people around. Goosh rolled his eyes. Some things never changed.
But nothing was happening. The skirmish raged around him, deadlocked, but shouldn't something important have been happening? Goosh closed his eyes and felt it. A tug. Something was pulling him through the battle. He blindly stepped through the turmoil that surrounded him. He could feel faint bursts of motion as weapons passed through him. He was just a visitor here, wherever here was.
He opened his eyes to the entrance of an emerald green tent. With a moment of hesitation, he stepped inside. A figure in a green cloak had his back to the Yurble. The tent was covered with paper, drawings and schematics. And sketches of jewels and pentacles.
"This is it." The whisper was so quiet Goosh almost didn't realize it was coming from the imminent figure. So quiet, words meant for no ears. He couldn't even determine the gender of the person speaking. But then, in a swish of emerald, the figure turned.
Goosh was blinded by purple light. Squinting, all he could see was a shape in the figure's hands. Oh, gods. The gem. Here. Now. Pain hammered into his skull, and he felt himself reverting to the murky confusion of earlier. He struggled. He had to focus. He needed to know who was responsible.
But then the tent was crawling with demons, horrible beings with spikes and slime. He screamed, a bloodcurdling shriek, and felt his mind spinning into hell.
Crystal Of every single possible thing that could possibly have happened so far, the pig felt that being carried by a gigantic dragon was the worst. In fact, it was so bad that by the laws of probability, it could not possibly be happening. So the pig was almost resigned to being airborne in a way that pigs were never made to be - that is, clutched in the claws of something that felt amazingly like a huge barn owl. Almost. The pig bawled at the top of it's voice as only pigs can. Firstly, Clara was gone. Secondly, it was fifty feet above the ground, being carried by a giant dragon. No force on earth, it thought, could convict it for being completely and utterly terrified. In contrast, Clara was crying. She didn’t even seem to register that they were now airborne. “Mr. Pig,” she wailed, oblivious to the fact that the pig was not actually beside her, but about ten feet below, “the angels were demons! So why did they come from the stars? Why did they have fire if they weren’t angels?” Unfortunately, there was nothing in the world that could have made the pig care about theology at the moment, so it ignored her loftily and kept struggling. As the dragon landed and lifted the girl down, she hugged it about the foreleg absently, before stumbling away aimlessly, wiping her eyes. The pig, shivering in terror, bolted after her. There was chaos in this place, and it didn’t want to be left behind. She wandered up to the entrance of Mage Manor, her addled mind hoping for something that would perhaps help her to find something that would reassure her. And through sheer coincidence, she did. "Oh, lovely. Though I guess she's still our responsibility. Best bring her in then, can't very well leave her and the pig out on their own. Come on here, girl. I promised you a fire and I'm keeping an eye on you until you get it."The pig tensed. This particular pirate captain always seemed to have a look on her face like she was contemplating what the pig would taste like charbroiled or perhaps in strips. Clara seemed to perk up a little at the mention of fire, however, and when Rider came running over to hug her, she seemed to collapse, trembling in fear and crying like the child she was. “Clara saw the demons that came from the sky,” she sobbed into Rider’s clothing. “They brought fire with them, but they made Clara so scared! It was a terrible fire!" Her voice shook as she took shuddering breaths. "It wasn't warm or pretty, just all burnt out like after fires die. It was a terrible fire!” The pig nuzzled up to its mistress, feeling a sudden flash of sympathy. After all, it had been a very bad fire that had brought them ‘demons’. Kat"Thanks," said Kat, now relieved of her burden - not that Nature was being one. "Where's Zylaa? On second thought..." She walked off, back the way she came, and passed Rider and Huntress...and who was that girl with Rider, anyway? She looked like she had been through a lot... "Wait a sec," she said, facing them. "Who are you and why are you crying into Rider? Not that it's a bad thing...but you'd want to have mercy on her shirt." Zylaa((Mage Manor))"This is insane - and I don't mean the good kind. I'm sure everyone's noticed that the gem affects a lot of people - if not all of us," Kat said. Zylaa nodded, not bothering to comment that she had noticed few ill effects from the gem so far- although she still felt so miserable that any magical depressant would barely register. She wandered into the entranceway and looked out at the rest of the pirates, her back to Kat. Clara had returned, Zylaa noticed with some relief, and Rider seemed to be looking out for the girl. While still dispensing strategy advice, of course. "Weapons are a must. I think I remember you guys having a lot of sharp and pointy things in your basement..." Rider stopped, suddenly, though Zylaa didn't know why. "We've got sharp and pointy things," she said, pointing to the sword at her waist, realizing that she sounded harsh. "What we don't have are cannons and long-range weapons." She shrugged and continued, less angrily, "I guess the manor can help us out there too." "Where's Zylaa? On second thought..." Kat said from behind before sweeping past towards Rider and Huntress. "Here, if you change your mind and need me again," Zylaa said, following Kat. The weasel-girl thought about the gem, about the power. Perhaps if they channeled the power into something else, it would stop affecting so many of them. "Who are you and why are you crying into Rider? Not that it's a bad thing...but you'd want to have mercy on her shirt," Kat said. "That's Clara. She's... different. She's a pyro who burned the Weewoo, but since she's a few forks short of a silverware drawer we're keeping a lookout for her," Zylaa explained. She listened to Clara. "What's she talking about, demons bringing fire?" she asked Rider. "None of the demons we saw came from the sky.”
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:07:54 GMT -5
Urchin"I don't know really, I guess you learn after awhile but some times even I or the most patient, hard to annoy, people will break which is why this ship is one of a kind." Urchin replied as she got up and sat in the flight seat taking the controls from Lily and looked for a place to land. "There! we wont or shouldn't be seen over there" looking over to a place that looked well covered and not too rough for a landing and was nearby the crater made by Strife. The landing was rough but they got down in one piece and to their knowledge they went undetected. "Ok, make sure that we have everything and then move out, Lily you stay here and keep out of sight. We'll call you if you are needed" "Can't I just..." "No, stay here or if you are compromised find some where else to hide" "But I..." "No" "But-" "Lily, no." "Fine, but don't come crying for help because you got captured by some one" "Hey that wasn't my fault! if..." "Enough you two. Urchin, let's move out and find Commander Strife." interjected Keng. AmneigerYou know, I don't think the acceleration here feels like an anvil on my chest. It feels more like I'm lying in a lumpy bed with lots and lots of thick blankets piled on top of me. Blankets filled with rocks. Heavy rocks. Except that with blankets I can push them off of my face so that I can breathe. "Nobody's chasing us. Do you really need to go this fast?" At least there weren't any noises coming from the back of the shuttle, which meant that the tanks weren't getting thrown about. Kat"That's Clara. She's... different. She's a pyro who burned the Weewoo, but since she's a few forks short of a silverware drawer we're keeping a lookout for her," Zylaa explained. She listened to Clara. "What's she talking about, demons bringing fire?" she asked Rider. "None of the demons we saw came from the sky.""I...see," said Kat, raising an eyebrow. "Well, if she's a pyromaniac, why does she seem so scared of demons bringing fire from the sky? And..." She glanced up. "I can tell that we've got our work cut out for us...all of us." Rider"Who are you and why are you crying into Rider? Not that it's a bad thing...but you'd want to have mercy on her shirt.""Easy there, Katkat, considering all that's happened, my shirt is the furthest thing from my mind. I'm just glad you're okay, Clara. It's okay, the demons can't reach us here. There are friends here... friends who can weild fire. They'll protect you, but you have to listen to what they say, do you understand? You have to listen to what we say." She turned to Kat. "I don't know who these demons from the sky are, or what sort of fire doesn't burn hot. I've a feeling we'll find out, though, so keep your wits about you." CelestialWhat reached her ears puzzled Celestial. Demons from the sky? No dragon had reported any unusual activity but...no dragon had reported at all because of the storm. At least she did the right thing by returning the girl. For the first time ever, Celestial was truly touched by a human when the girl hugged her foreleg. Only then did her heart melt and a tear flowed freely through her scales. It always amazed her how affectionate humans could be, the amazement enhanced by her being a witness to many acts of brutality done by humans. "I don't know who these demons from the sky are, or what sort of fire doesn't burn hot. I've a feeling we'll find out, though, so keep your wits about you." one of the pirates said to the purple mage near Celestial. She turned towards them both. "Nothing will work properly if we have the gem, not even our wits. Who knows, maybe in the middle of the battle, the gem will work it's darkness on somebody who is essential to victory. We must get rid of it or at least, neautralise it's effects" she said with so much conviction, it was surprising. Then she smiled to herself. It was time to go back to square one. "Do you have a library in the manor?" Celestial asked, knowing the answer already. "If so, can I use it?” BaconWith a slight lurch as always, Bacon's ship released its hold of the hangar floor and started edging towards the empty space between the doors and the planet. "...I seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always knew I'd see you, one more time again..." Bacon continued to sing to himself. His ship sang along to the tune with a faint buzz from the radiator fillings and a whine every now and then from a strained torque arm. Bacon, as he left the hangar, pushed the joystick and the half-steering-wheel to the right, banking a turn towards the destination area. He evened out the controls, now going straight, and pushed both accelerator pedals down. Trilly((Castle Kestrel Archives))
"I'm not blind, as you will see," the man said as he smiled benignly. "If I was, I wouldn't have anything to show you."
With that comment, Trilly realized with shock that the trees, grass, and stone wall that had previously surrounded them had begun to fade away, like watery ink on a parchment. As they disappeared, however, new things were coming into view. Rows upon rows of heavy, antiquated bookcases in various states of disarray had been literally stuffed with hundreds upon hundreds of books of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Cobwebs hung thick from the ceiling and the brackets where torches were held, and the room, or at least this part of it, was thick with dust.
Still blushing from her assumption that the man was blind, Trilly was nearly left behind as her new guide started up the rows of shelves without her. Trotting to keep up, the knight listened as intently as possible as the man continued to direct his conversation towards her, and, unfortunately, things seemed to be getting even stranger the more he spoke.
"I did mean to take you right to it - it's pretty far in the archives, and I thought I could save time - but it seems I need to work on teleporting to the proper destinatio- oh, there it is," he said mildly, the tone of his voice not changing a bit.
Trilly knelt on the floor in shock.
No, shock was too mild a word. She'd felt shocked when she was being teleported for the first time. She'd been shocked when she'd injured another living, breathing human only hours before. This was horror.
Strung up from a bookcase like a piece of meat in a butcher's shop window was a pale, bloodless corpse. The blood had mostly been drained out of the body by now, and now lay pooled and drying on the floor. Forcing herself into the cool, methodical mindset she'd been trying to achieve as a healer, she took care to note that the body had probably been here for hours.
Worse, Trilly realized as her stomach gave a queasy backflip, she'd met this person only a day before. As soon as she'd dumped her traveling gear and supplies in her room after arriving at the castle for the first time, Trilly had been led up to the infirmary and put in the care of this wild-haired, bespectacled person for a quick check-up, basically just a formality to ensure she was fit enough for knighthood. This body was all that remained of Madame Esmerta, the castle healer.
"I'd say this woman was probably killed for some kind of demonic ritual, don't you?" the man sounded completely unaffected by the sight of someone's remains desecrated in such a foul way. "Oh, dear..." he said, dropping the smile. "I keep on forgetting how normal people take these kinds of things. I'm afraid I'm a bit used to it - I have to be, since I'm working to reverse it."
Trilly glanced upwards suspiciously. She was really beginning to wonder about this stranger's "alchemist" story. How many people could act so rationally when they were faced with something like this?
Turning her attention back to the body, the knight was forced to conclude that the man was probably dead on in his idea that this was a demonic ritual of some sort. Careful brushstrokes had painted a strange, twisting circle in the healer's own blood, making it clear that this had been a spell of some sort.
But who in the castle would do this? Trilly raged inwardly, biting her lip in frustration. What kind of person—
Her eyes fell on an open book that lay a short distance away from the bloody spectacle. Frowning suspiciously, Trilly cautiously picked it up, expecting to see how-to instructions for conducting hellish rituals with blood and symbols. The book, however, seemed unrelated to the corpse. She was just convincing herself that it may have been a coincidence that the book was there, when her eyes caught one familiar word on the page.
Winterstone.
Kit? The demonologist?
What use would he have for something like this? After all his pretty words about harmony between humans and demons, had he been murdering his own kind for spells?
It made a certain amount of sense, however. As far as Trilly knew, summoning demons had to involve a large amount of raw power, and Kit had managed to come up with quite a large group of demonic lackeys in a short amount of time. Still, she was anything but an expert.
"I do think the Knights should know about this, though," the man continued, "I could send out a message, but then, who am I, that the knights would listen to me? This stone can amplify your thoughts if you will it to, though, so all the knights will hear them. And I really do think they should know about this..."
The Ivory Knight swallowed and nodded, trying to moisten her dry throat. Yes, if nothing else, the knights should know more about what one of their number may have done. "Do you have any idea what this spell is capable of?" she asked the bespectacled man. "I was thinking it may—may-- have been used to summon demons, but aren't there other ways of doing it? Could this spell have done something else?" Huntress((Mage Manor)) Huntress gave a somewhat lopsided grin, watching Rider and Clara. "Really now... she may be a bit of a nutcase, but she did torch our ship, and all things considered, I intend to return there soon enough, after we research the gem a little. And we won't be taking her back there with us. So don't grow too attached. Now, do get inside, the lot of you, I want those doors locked and secured right this instant." She scowled, listening to Celestial. "Nothing will work properly if we have the gem, not even our wits. Who knows, maybe in the middle of the battle, the gem will work it's darkness on somebody who is essential to victory. We must get rid of it or at least, neutralise its effects.""Don't you worry about that," said the captain, her voice somewhat icy. "We'll be taking the gem along as soon as we're done here and you mages can all happily get back to whatever you do here... though Kat and Ikkin, I do believe I'll order you to come along. I need my officers at a time like this." "And where exactly are we going after all this?" Bloody Mary asked, cracking a yawn. The night was starting to take its toll. "Got a buyer for a possible doomsday-gem that affects the weather and people's minds and needs to be soaked in blood every few hours in order to work?" "Eh, I'll think of that once we learn more about it. Either way, I don't want to stay here... blood?" "Uhuh." The meepit scowled at her. "You think I don't recognize the smell of blood? You saw those stains on the gem." Hunty grimaced. "Lovely. But first things first... let's get Goosh back into shape, shall we? Does this place have an experienced medic of some so-oooooh." The Manor had apparently paid attention to her, and the scenery shifted all of a sudden. Hunty found herself staring at a door in a hallway she had most definitely not been standing in a minute ago. "Not funny," Bloody Mary grumbled, clinging to her shirt. "Fully agreed," the pirate said, leaning against the wall for support for a moment before turning to look at the door again. Well, the Manor was on their side, right? She knocked and opened the door. The room she was looking at was big and cosy-looking, quite unlike the rather cramped conditions of the ship she was generally used to, and apparently there was a lioness resting in one of the beds. "Eh," Hunty began, not quite sure what to say, as she wasn't quite sure what she was doing there. "S'cuse me, but..." Bloody Mary, being a little more detail-attentive in general, sat up. "Blimey, what happened to your feet?” Vyt((Outskirts of Mage Manor))The Mages Manor. Not a sight to behold, but a place riddled with infamy nonetheless. All the people who had lived to take part in the first Guild Wars knew this was the site where everyone fought their very best against those who wished to stir up trouble in the delicate state of peace in NTWF. After that event however, the fields of the Mages Manor seemed to have been rather silent in particular. Cat Assassin was still tending to PFA's wounds when he saw the familiar establishment. "We're getting closer." "Looks like one of the pirates has the gem right now," PFA cut in. She was staring at the crystal ball the whole time, and when her uncle took the ball out of her hands she knew best to report everything she saw in the ball. "The one with the black bandanna, I think." Cat Assassin never replied. Bluisa looked closely at the Mages Manor. The very strong magical aura that surrounded the place was deemed dangerous for the mage to just barge in from above. Though she might not know if the manor had something stored for intruders like them, she knew they had to be safe. With a wave of her hand, the wind around the three started to slow down. Lower and lower, they descended to the ground. "I... don't think flying over there would really work..." Bluisa said sheepishly, finally back to her own character. "I think we should just walk..." Still silent, Cat Assassin nodded at Bluisa and started walking towards the Mage Manor without further ado. The mage and his niece followed him as well. A hint of darkness enveloped at the back of the feline's head. ((Afterlife)) "Hmm... This is getting interesting..."The unknown figure pointed at the three beings who had fell down from the sky with wind magic. He was looking more closely at the mage in particular and, judging by the smirk on his face, knew what she was up to. "Deception..." he merely uttered. He then turned his glance at no one around him. " I never knew you were planning to get revived, too."Whoever he was talking to did not bother to reply, but he continued anyway. "Looking at the three, I think your chance of returning is not very far from success..." Zari'We need to get to earth FAST.' Zari yowled. 'If you need more air, there's a cord above your head, pull it down, there's an oxygen mask. Sometimes I forget humans need to breathe to survive rather than be comforta- WAYRGH! Bang. Poof. Dear me. Zari waved away the smoke and turned around to grin through her newly-acquired fur. 'Toldja I was crazy. We're here in...5 minutes 35 seconds 12 nanoseconds. Fwah.' This last sound was Zari starting to say something, then having to cough. SpeckSpeck seemed to shrug off all warnings that both Zylaa and Hunty gave her about the gem. She needed no warnings: she had seen what the gem was capable of first hand. As she had placed it in her pocket, she could feel it pulse. It was as if the thing was alive, beating like a heart. She kept one hand in her pocket, content to feel the pulse. The longer she touched the gem, the more its power seemed to grow. Gradually, the beat of her own heart synced up with the beat of the object. The dark sky rumbled overhead, purple and blue lightening streaking across the clouds. ’It’s about time for me to head inside, I think. Less chance of getting blasted by this storm,’ She thought to herself, making her way up the steps of Mage Manor. But as she stepped through the door, she was immediately expelled from the Manor. She would step inside, only to step directly outside. Over and over she tried to enter the building, over and over she failed. Speck slumped to the ground in defeat, leaning against the doorframe just outside Mage Manor. “If that’s the way you want it, fine,” She growled, crossing her arms, “I’ll just spend the night out here.” An icy wind blew against her face. The pirate shivered, pulling her coat around her. She absent-mindedly stroked the gem in her pocket. Omni((Mage Manor, near the entrance)) "I intended to... Sev said in response to what she had said to him earlier, "but in all the confusion of leaving, I must have forgotten. I could try to burn the remainder out now, if you still want me to try, though."Omni stopped her energy exchange, and felt nature's aura a little more. Judging by how the polluted energy had spread, she didn't think she could do much good on her own. Silently, she nodded, as Surf came to take Nature out of Kat's arms and bring her to a guest room. She stood up, and walked a little closer to the others. “Mr. Pig,” cried a girl in rags who she didn't recognize, “the angels were demons! So why did they come from the stars? Why did they have fire if they weren’t angels?”Omni paused. This girl talked about fire, but she wasn't calling it evil, or even just talking about it in general. In fact, she associated it with angels, suggesting that she thought of it as good. … The two would get along just fine. Omni walked over to the girl. She thought the girl could use some cheering up, and that she would like to take her own mind off of what happened before she teleported back to the manor. "Hey, it will be okay," she used a calming tine, though her voice wavered a little, since she was still feeling a little shaken. She took a breath to calm herself before speaking again. "Hey, let me show you something…" she clasped her hands together and held her wings close to her back, then pulled them out (both her hands and her wings), a small fire appearing between her hands. "Fire!" She pulled them (hands and wings, again) together again, making the fire disappear. "Where's the fire?" Pulled them apart, fire appearing. "There it is!" Pulled together… "Where's the fire? …There it is! Where is it?" Now she used some of Kat's energy, "Purple fire! …Fire! …Purple again! …A bit of each! …Now it's pink!" This latest one was done with Ginz' energy mixed in. "Do you have a library in the manor?" asked the Ryuu. ((dragon-person, like how Kitsune = fox-person)) "If so, can I use it?""From the entrance, take the first right, then the last left. Then take the stairs until you can go no higher. It's behind any of the double door… doors. The Manor will probably make the trip go faster." She continued with her fire trick after giving these directions. --- ((Zari's ship)) Ethan was relieved when Zari caused oxygen masks to drop. He grabbed the one right in front of him, and took a quick, deep breath. He then grabbed the one next to him and held it in front of Siber's muzzle. At least it will end before long… Ethan thought, not finding the trip pleasurable, and very glad that he had buckled Siber in. Celestial"Don't you worry about that, we'll be taking the gem along as soon as we're done here and you mages can all happily get back to whatever you do here... though Kat and Ikkin, I do believe I'll order you to come along. I need my officers at a time like this." one of the pirates, possibly the captain, replied. Celestial felt the anger rising up inside her. The gem needed to be returned or destroyed, not sold to the highest bidder! Even if it is far from here, it will still cause havoc and chaos until there would be nothing. It wouldn't be safe for mages to use even the simplest spells since their magic would go awry. Before she could answer, the pirate disappeared. Celestial cursed. If only she could have talked sense into the pirate but it was too late... A Zafara walked out of the Manor and headed for the girl that Celestial had brought earlier. She started using her fire magic to make flames. Celestial looked on, managing to be impressed. This wasn't showing off but a kind sympathy and desire to entertain. Suddenly the Zafara looked at her. "From the entrance, take the first right, then the last left. Then take the stairs until you can go no higher. It's behind any of the double door… doors. The Manor will probably make the trip go faster." she said before going back to her trick. Celestial smiled. "Thank you" she whispered and added a few touches of her own to the Zafara's tricks, hoping the small flame-pig would be noticed by the girl only, before fly-running to the library. However, she was stopped by a pirate at the entrance. Easing down onto the ground gently, Celestial looked at her, feeling the gem's power from here. It was in the pirate's pocket. What if...no, she wouldn't even touch that thing! But Overlord...she called him over. Overlord felt the wispy touch of his mistress' thought. Steal the gem? Why would she want to do that, unless...she didn't trust the pirates with it. Overlord could understand her, having heard the Pirate Captain.I guess I could, for the greater good he thought. Besides, his mistress would never do anything that affected the dragons badly. Taking the gem for herself certainly would. He flew over to the pirate and weewooed kindly at her, keeping one eye on the pocket with the gem. If he could gain her trust...Celestial saw Overlord fly over to the pirate and weewoo, trying to gain her trust. She knew that she shouldn't be seen around him otherwise the pirate will guess what she is trying to do and that Overlord is with her. Quickly, she shapeshifted into a small black dragonet and hid in the long grass outside the entrance to the Manor, watching. Pyro"Yeah, prob'ly we should. We should find the source if possible, then spread the word around. This ain't an accident. It's sabotage. By who, though?'"No idea," Pyro muttered. "But let's hurry." She led the way out of the hallway and into the stables. They would have to grab horses and go as quickly as they could to the South Gate. "Is your magic okay, Lady Zari?" Pyro swung herself up onto a dark gray horse that looked miffed at being awoken. Well, I don't like having to ride through the city at top speed in the evening, so deal. Oh, great. I'm talking mentally to a horse. "Let's go!" Rikku((Death Clearing)) “Ow. My head.” Rikku sat up, wincing. She seemed to remember a wild-faced boy, and a pile of dead, and a crazy vampire … but she couldn’t think clearly enough to make sense of the memories. Pain throbbed through her skull in time with her heartbeat – and, when it came to it, most of her body felt like it had been rolled under a cement mixer, several times. She got to her feet, and immediately stumbled. A hand was at her shoulder to steady her, and she nodded in thanks, trying to ignore the smell coming from her helper. “Thank you … Larry.” Rikku, able to make a little more sense of the world again now, looked around for the vampire, but saw no sign of him. The other zombies must have chased him off – maybe even killed him! The thought brought a grin to her face. Serve him right. “Master has been asleep for a long time,” the zombie said, making an obvious effort on grammar. “There was earthquake, and fire rained from the sky …” Rikku scowled. “You get all the fun!” Larry attempted to raise an eyebrow. A chunk of skin peeled off the side of his head and dropped wetly to the ground. Rikku noticed the boy who had attacked her lying on the ground, quite obviously dead. Poor kid. She couldn’t really hold it against him; after all, his whole world, practically, had been destroyed … Another of the zombies offered a bunch of flowers. “I pick flowers for Master,” he said proudly. “Oh … um …” Rikku smelled them and smiled weakly. “They’re, um, nice. Thank you, er, Steve.” Steve beamed back. One of his teeth fell out. “Okay.” Rikku glanced up at the sky. Night had fallen; she must have been out for a while. The stars were speckled across the pitch black of the heavens, like spots of mould on a piece of bread – the storm must have died down a bit, then, but there was still a feeling of tension and anger and death in the air. And coldness, that was important to. Rikku shivered and pulled her cloak tighter around her, trying to ignore the various twinges of pain the movement caused. She wouldn’t be surprised if it up and started snowing on her, which was the last thing she needed. A movement caught her eye, and she started, but it was just the undead sparrow. It seemed to be trying to dig worms out of the ground, and not having much luck. Rikku tried to relax, but her muscles were still on edge, not to mention aching. The quake must have tossed her round quite a bit. In addition to that, all of the running around she’d been doing in the past day or two had finally caught up with her, and she felt like nothing more than slumping to the ground and sleeping for a few millennia. But if she were going to sleep, she’d prefer to do it someplace safe. The Manor was the first place to come to mind. She’d be welcome there, if nowhere else. And the Mages were as good a choice as any to tell about what had happened here. Rikku was less sure now that these deaths were caused by demons; it was made to look as though they were, certainly, but quite crudely, and as more of a second thought than anything else. Maybe one of the Guilds … but it wasn’t like them to just randomly destroy for no purpose. Perhaps, then, something important had happened here. She’d have to come back some other time to investigate, though. Right now she had to get to the Manor, and see if she could enlist the services of a healer. Rikku wasn’t seriously injured, but it would be nice if she could move without wincing. The third zombie, who had thus far remained silent, spoke up. “There is fire,” he said, pointing. Rikku turned to look, and groaned. A pillar of smoke was clearly visible, even from this distance. It seemed to be from around the area that ship had been … The fireball … Oops.“Guess I’ll have to deal with that later,” she said aloud. “I think there are some water mages at the Manor. I’ll ask them when I’m there.” Rikku’s eye caught another movement. A flash of dark fur? She frowned. Something was familiar about … “Drakhé? Is that you?” She shrugged, and then glanced at Fred, Larry and Steve. “About the zombie thing … it, um, wasn’t my fault this time …” She trailed off, not sure if anyone was even there, and ended, “I’m going to the Manor now.” She nodded and turned to go. One of the zombies placed something in her hand. She glanced at it. A humerus? A replacement wand? “Thanks, Fred!” Rikku looked over to the dead boy who’d tried to kill her. His arm looked distinctly … boneless. “This’ll make a great wand! I need one, that’s for sure.” And she did. These were troubled times; she needed a weapon. Rikku walked towards the Manor, rather slowly, accompanied with her own personal bodyguard of undead. She held her frying pan ready, just in case. You could never be too careful. PFA((Near Mage Manor))PFA was starting to see it now. Mage Manor, in all its glory. Well, not necessarily glory, more like... magic. Which is pretty much what the manor was. A big building riddled with magic. "I... don't think flying over there would really work..." Bluisa said, lowering the group down to the ground. PFA noticed that she didn't seem to be angry anymore, but didn't comment on it. "I think we should just walk..."Uncle nodded silently in response, as the group came in contact with the ground once again. It took a few seconds for PFA to get her balance back after being in the air so long, but as soon as she did, she followed after her Uncle, who was now heading toward the manor. "Maybe... we could try talking this over peacefully?" PFA grinned sheepishly as she came up next to her Uncle. "I mean, maybe they'd let us borrow it or something..." She really didn't think Uncle and Bluisa would listen to her, but it was worth a shot. Fighting the mages and pirates in her current state would be suicide, PFA thought. Zari'Yeah, it is, it's my head that's the problem. Empathy's inconvenient at the best of times, but now it's actively trying to obstruct my mission.' Zari mounted a sturdy bay gelding, holding her stave loosely in her fingers. One bar of the ankh lengthened, curved, and sharpened, forming a scythe. darn. She'd left her sword. But this'd do. 'Before we go, we should warn them. Please don't scream.' Zari dismounted, and took a small red book out of a compartment in the stave. she dropped it, flicking to the middle, then used the tip of the scythe to cut her forearm. Amber blood dripped onto the pages, before Zari pulled her sleeve back. 'Red don show bloodstains. You three. Wakey wakes! There's work to be done!' The pages glowed softly. A column of silvery light escaped from the pages and formed the shape of a man with silver-blue hair adn red eyes, closely followed by a woman who looked a bit like Zari, except her eyes were more yellow than amber, encased in a red column. Another man, this one covered in gray fur, blurred by a blue cylinder. 'Alrighty. Suno-' The furry man nodded '-I want you to locate Huntress, of the pirate guild, and let her know that the Knights have been sabotaged. Poison Magic. The same coulda gone for the White Weewoo, so tell her to look out for green mist. Turoni-' The first one turned his attention from the ground to Zari '-Find Cat Assasin and PFA of the Ninja Guild and give them the same message as Suno is to give Huntress, except with the Ninja Dojo. Ziore?' The woman tilted her head to one side. 'I want you to inform the mages, especially Ilkkin and Kat, who are also Knights. Any questions?' Turoni jerked a thumb at Pyro. 'You sure you want her too see this?' 'Eeeejit. Thassa 'nother Knight.' Ziore cuffed him over the head. 'Go, Before she decides to call up Rena instead.' Turoni sighed and dissolved, While Suno turned into a puddle and began to drip his way along the castle floor. Ziore went inside and leapt into a fireplace (Much to the alarm of a passing maid). Either way, they all disappeared. 'Yep, now let's go.' she put away the book and got back onto her horse, who was obviously not happy with all the weird lights and furry humans that turned into water that smelt funny. Kwoiffei((Forest - Clearing of DEATH)) "That dragon's lost faith in his own kind, I hear."Drakhé looked about, trying to find the source of the voice. He could see nothing out of the ordinary, unluckily... save for a small group of zombies. "Unsurprising. Why else would he join the outcasts? Apparently he wasn't money-hungry enough to be a mercenary." "Do you think he'll help the others?" "Knowing him, probably... at least until he finds out about Evan." "Yeah, he'll be mad..."
What are they talking about?
"Shh! Someone's here!" One of them swore. "We'd better go." "Dunburrow?" "Sounds good to me.Silence befell the trees once more. Drakhé looked towards the group of zombies - and Rikku, who was now conscious once more (and clearly in a lot of pain). It was clear that she'd reanimated them... why else would they address her as Master, let alone help her? And she'd named them... To be slave to a necromancer, have a new name, and to be unable to speak properly... that combination was a horrible one. The shapeshifter shivered at the thought. Being unable to speak properly was probably the worst. At least Doc was nice...The girl calling his name cut off his thoughts, and made him look up. She must've seen him. The shapeshifter cringed, his fear still holding a tight grip on his mind. "I'm going to the Manor now," she spoke. He wasn't sure what it was... But he said, "I'm going to follow you."Drakhé was quiet for a moment. I can't believe I said that! She's dangerous!
No she's not.
...maybe she is.
"I-If that's alright," he added sheepishly. Rikku set off, the zombies following her. Drakhé hesitated before bounding after; only his aching body kept him from running. Nonetheless he caught up soon enough. Night had long since fallen, and the shapeshifter had to admit he found the sky to be beautiful. Vyt((Mage Manor))PFA had an idea Bluisa was not thinking. "Maybe... we could try talking this over peacefully? I mean, maybe they'd let us borrow it or something..." she said, followed with a grin that looked plain silly. For some reasons, Cat Assassin never bothered to reply, still keeping his eyes straight at the Mage Manor. Bluisa looked at PFA with utter curiosity. "After disappearing from the castle without us knowing? I doubt that," she answered. Somehow, she felt she was more intelligent than the ninja by that answer. "Do you think they'd be kind enough to lend us the gem by asking for it?" Bluisa then noticed something in her crystal ball. It revealed the person currently holding the gem to be outside the manor, with no chance of entering. She then looked at the front door of the manor. It was the same person. The mage exclaimed, "There! She has the gem!" And the three sprinted towards the person. Rikku((Forest - heading to Mage Manor)) Rikku heard light pawfalls behind her. So the ghost decided to follow me after all … Hmph. To be fair, she hadn’t really listened for a response. The wolf caught up to her. He seemed to be nervous, a little twitchy, and his movements were awkward. Then again, the nervousness was certainly reasonable with all the things that had happened, and if he’d fallen ill of the same quake she had, he was bound to be in a little pain. And from what little Rikku remembered of Drakhé, he was always nervous. Or is that only around me?Rikku slowed down a little – not noticeably, just enough to give her time to think. She glanced at the wolf. She hadn’t known he was a shapeshifter. She’d just thought of him, vaguely, as some random ghost, and had ignored him for the most part. “Hey, Drakhé. Are you always this nervous, or is it just me?” Rikku looked at her feet. Step, step, step. She was moving at a crippled place, but they’d still be at Mage Manor soon. Rikku wondered what they’d find when they got there, and wondered, with a trace of amusement, what her Mage friends would think of her zombie escort. “Because if it’s the necromancy thing … I can understand why you wouldn’t like that. But I would never cause you, or anyone else, any harm through it, if I could help it.” Unless I had to, she added silently. “And, the necromancy I do … it’s not advanced. It’s, well, frankly, it’s petty. Just … magic tricks, really. I move dead stuff around, I control it. I can’t resurrect things. I can’t make things live when they would have died.” The necromancer’s next words were so quiet they were almost inaudible. “I feel like I can’t do anything, sometimes …” She bit her lip, and looked away awkwardly. Rikku wasn’t really one to talk about herself for hours on end. One of the zombies was trying to whistle, but having difficulty, as a large chunk of his lip was missing. Rikku walked over to him, glad for the chance to get away. The awkward silence was getting to her. “Nearly at the Manor!” she said with forced cheerfulness, swinging her frying pan from one hand. And I really, really hope we're ready for whatever we'll find there. PFA((Mage Manor))"After disappearing from the castle without us knowing? I doubt that," Bluisa answered. "Do you think they'd be kind enough to lend us the gem by asking for it?"PFA paused for a moment. She had a point... this gem seemed to be causing a lot of intrigue, and they probably wouldn't hand it over that easily. Then again, with what Kit did... but the mages weren't Kit. Before PFA could say anything, though, Bluisa spoke up again. "There! She has the gem!"PFA looked up, and saw the pirate she saw in the crystal ball earlier. She seemed to be stuck outside the doors of Mage Manor, for whatever reason. There was a Weewoo flying over her head, though PFA wasn't sure why. She also noticed some other pirates there, as well as Omni, who was entertaining some girl with colored fireballs for some reason. PFA then noticed her comrades charging off toward the pirate with the gem. A little hesitantly, she followed after them, fingering her kunai warily. She wondered if anyone would recognize her as the one who'd killed that knight earlier. If so, this could be bad. Kwoiffei((Forest - Going to Mage Manor)) Save for the sounds of footsteps, and the noises accompanying them, all seemed to be quiet in the forest. In a way, this silence was a welcome change from the sound of his own constant running... and at least he wasn't alone, as much as part of him didn't want to admit the reason.Then something else broke the silence: Rikku spoke. The wolf stopped for a moment, stunned. He hadn't expected her to ask directly why he was so nervous. She continued, and after a moment, he resumed his walking, looking at her to show he was paying attention. Part of him didn't want to believe what she was saying, but that was only one part, not the whole. His eyes widened slightly for a few moments as he listened, before he made a simple, "Huh." Part of him now wished he'd said more. Finally she walked over to one of the zombies, and announced that they were almost at the manor. That's a relief...
"Uh... Rikku? I, uh..." He looked away. "Yes. I-It's the necromancy. They... they scare me." He looked at the ground. "I-I've seen what they c-can do... very powerful ones. It's horrible."He fell silent once more, a mixture of emotions boiling in his mind. What should he say next? "I'm... I'm sorry." SpeckSpeck looked at the weewoo eyeing her pocket. She patted it on the head with her free hand, perhaps a little roughly. “You’re cute. Perhaps you can keep me company through the nigh—“ But the pirate was interrupted by a yell from the forest surrounding the entrance to Mage Manor. "There! She has the gem!"Speck sprang to her feet at once. There was a small group of people charging at her, probably intent upon taking the gem away for themselves. They looked like ninjas. Her pocket was probably not the safest place for the gem to be right now. But what could she do? Swallow it and hope that no one cut her open to retrieve it? As she was busy thinking of other ways to hide the gem on her person, she felt the skin of one of her homemade lemon bombs in her pocket. Letting go of the gem momentarily, she felt for the plug on the ‘bomb, opening it with one hand. Davy Jones knew she had made enough lemon bombs in her lifetime to know how to re-open one with one hand. She slipped the gem inside, sealing the citrus-turned-bomb once more, and took her hand out of her pocket. ’Note to self: remember which pocket that lemon bomb is in,’ Speck thought, edging over to the door to call inside, “Hey, guys! We’ve got company! And Clara: I think they might look very pretty if they were on fire, if they attack anyone.” Never did her eyes waver from the oncoming people. Her dominant hand had drifted to the hilt of her sword, ready for a fight at moment’s notice. The hand that had held the gem a few seconds ago now found a lemon bomb from one of many pockets on the inside of her coat, and withdrew it. CelestialCelestial saw the ninja, the cat and the mage coming. She knew the cat and the ninja but the mage was unfamiliar. However, their intentions were clear. They wanted the gem! The gem which she needed to research and destroy. Fury filled her viens and she stood up, shapeshifting back into a human. She walked over next to the pirate, nodding subtly at Overlord, telling him to go and attack them. Overlord felt the angry thoughts of his mistress cloud his own. She wouldn't stand for those ninjas and the mage taking the gem for thier own purpose, possibly a destructive one. A scorching breeze ruffling his feathers told him that his mistress was also preparing to attack. Not wanting to waste any more time, he flew at the cat, talons outscreched and chattering angrily as Celestial's fury and bloodlust mixed with his own.Flames danced up Celestial's arms as she prepared herself for attack. It felt good to be using magic again but she knew that getting used to it wouldn't be a good idea. Not until the gem was out of the way. But now wasn't the time for thinking. A dragon full of bloodlust never thinks just does. She ran at the ninja, mage and cat, her arms dancing with fire spells and her wing-claws itching to sink into flesh. Vyt((Mage Manor))Bluisa gradually slowed down once she had a better view of the field. The mage noticed that the girl carrying the gem was not alone; in fact, the odds were stacked against them judging by the numbers. Too bad the other side had already reacted to their seemingly hostile action. One of them, the same dragoness from the Castle Kestrel, had already rushed off, flying in high speed towards them. Enchanting her arms with fire was a pretty smart move, spelling "Doom" with an exclamation point. Above and below. "Stop!" Bluisa exclaimed. However, the furious look on the dragon's face gave her the thought that she was too late to initiate peace talks with her. Instead, the mage decided to at least get a grip of her into a halt. Darkness, prove that you are a gestalt To obey my every command, to that I will exalt Uphold this dragoness, and put her to a halt!Even the gloomy night and the dark clouds did not overcome the slowly condensing black mass of fog that surrounded the incoming assailant. Eventually, the fog materialised into a large hand of blackness. Its long fingers closed in with its palm, grasping the dragoness in it. "As I said, stop..." Bluisa gasped, tired from casting the very familiar spell. "... We do not mean any harm." Cat Assassin however was not paying attention to what was happening. He was almost as if unable to remove his focus on the gem. He continued sprinting towards the girl donning a black bandana, his eyes set on the prize. ((Afterlife)) Though the unknown figure was quick to judge the feline's actions, his ability to read through people's minds had told him not to. His expression was weirder than ever, looking quite interested at Cat Assassin's actions. "He has no control of himself..." he concluded. CelestialCelestial was grabbed to a halt by a black hand created by the mage. It reeked of darkness and she couldn't stand to be touched by it. Snapping and spitting out the bloodlust that always overcame her before a battle. However, the other mage seemed tired and Celestial was secretly glad she had wasted her energy on this spell. It would spell her doom when this hand let of of Celestial. "As I said, stop... We do not mean any harm." the mage said breathlessly. Celestial laughed. She had stopped but not of her own free will. "What do you want?! If it's the gem, you aren't having it! It needs to be destroyed to prevent the total destruction of the NTWF!" she shouted to them, stabbling at the black hand with her wing-claws. The flames had taken too muhc out of her to be able to batter the hand with winds. Hopefully Overlord will have better luck. Overlord landed heavily on the cat's head, scratching and pecking at the eyes. His wings were nothing but a furious spin of white with a hint of gold. The cat was running at the pirate girl who his mistress wanted to befriend. Anyone who attacks a friend of milady's is an enemy to me! was Overlord's angry thought as he screeched in rage and beat at the cat with his wings, fighting like an eagle. He couldn't lose this battle. Rider"Oh frigate, I love complications," Rider muttered, drawing her cutlass. "And Clara, I rather you didn't get involved. Things could get ugly." She ran at PFA in a crazed, zigzagging pattern. It wouldn't help her aim those kunai. She would engage the ninja in close combat and swing from the side. Wound her before doing anything drastic. Ikkin((Castle Kestrel Archives))
"Do you have any idea what this spell is capable of?" Trilly asked Leraye, clearly disturbed by what she had seen. "I was thinking it may--may-- have been used to summon demons, but aren't there other ways of doing it? Could this spell have done something else?"
Leraye frowned and placed a hand under his chin. "That does seem to be the most likely use of it," he said. "As I said, though, I'm just an alchemist. My knowledge of demons and the rituals created to deal with them is sadly limited. I do know, however, that any spell that requires such preparations is likely highly dangerous."
He stopped. There was an odd smell in the air, he thought. It was very faint, but there was something about it that felt wrong.
The stone in his hand flashed green, drawing his attention. Poison magic.
He grabbed out towards Trilly with his free hand. "We're going," he ordered, his voice uncharacteristically harsh. "This castle's being filled with poison magic!"
The stone glowed in his hand, ready to transport them as soon as he was sure that Trilly would come along.
((Trilly, just have Leraye take you where you want to go.)) Vyt((Mage Manor))
As the dragoness started stabbing the black hand into letting her go, Bluisa could feel her stamina dropping down at an alarming rate. The mage could not even breathe properly. She had no choice but to use other methods.
She could not afford to lose.
With a nod from Bluisa, the black hand evaporated quickly, releasing a hint of smoke before disappearing. Bluisa then slowly stood up, trying to fight her fatigue off. Shakily, she uttered another chant for another spell.
Element of fire, strong is your rage Follow the wish of your loyal mage Consume her, I say, into your ownage!
Dropping down to her knees, Bluisa watched as a floating entity of pure flame accumulated from nowhere. The yellowish life in the fire began to take human form, stretching out to imitate arms and legs. It then charged at the dragoness, eager to pit herself in a very tight situation.
* * *
Peck. Scratch. Claw. Repeat.
The fury of those attacks were relentless, but it did not stop Cat Assassin from running. Though his efforts of shooing the bird that was causing his misery were not bearing fruit, Cat Assassin endured the pain the attacks brought him.
Eventually, the feline adjusted his sight at the bird, ready to stop it from attacking him.
Enduring more pecks from his winged assailant, Cat Assassin filled both his hands with... black focused energy? It was very unheard of that the feline could change the color of his trademark ability-
((Afterlife))
"Oh, shut up, you stupid narrator. He's possessed, that's all."
((Mage Manor))
Hush, you. I'm trying my best to stir up trouble here.
Cat Assassin then looked at the bird. His hands were aimed at both sides of the bird, waiting to clasp it within. Ikkin((Mage Manor)) This was just great, Ikkin thought. The day was bad enough already; she really didn't need demons falling from the sky to make it even worse. The fact that the pyromaniac was afraid of them despite their making of fire didn't really help with the bad feeling she'd gotten about this. And, of course, Rider had to promise the little pyro that they'd protect her from the demons. While this seemed unlikely to pose any more risk of a demon attack, it did mean keeping the unstable pyro around all their nice flammables. Well, at least the Manor had defenses against fire, she thought. But then, Hunty wanted to go back to the ship to sell the gem, and the White Weewoo wasn't quite so fortunate in that regard. This just couldn't be easy, could it? Finally, she realized that she really ought to be paying attention, just before everyone started to separate. Well, that was just perfect. Ikkin sighed, unsure of who she should follow. The manor would probably know, she thought. So, she allowed it to pull her where it would take her. She ended up in front of a door that she recognized as the door of the guest bedroom. The door was open, and she heard Bloody Mary's voice from inside. "Blimey, what happened to your feet?"Ikkin ran in, wondering what the Meepit was talking about, then found Huntress standing near a lioness who seemed to have some fairly severe burns. The Manor should not have let in anyone who would harm a guest of the Mages, Ikkin thought angrily. It was supposed to be the perfect protection. But now, it seemed that even the Manor wasn't safe. "Who did this?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. *** Sev followed Surf as she carried Nature off to a spare room. He had promised to try to do something for the Zafara, and he wasn't going to let himself get distracted again.
He waited for Surf to leave the room before he did anything - it would be far too easy for this to be taken wrong otherwise.
And then, he covered Nature in warm, healing phoenix fire, intending to burn the dark, corrupted energy right out of her. He kept up the steady stream of fire, hoping that he would be able to stop the dark energy from coming back by wiping it out completely so it couldn't come back. CelestialSe could see the mage was tiring but endless days of flying had given Celestial enough stamina to outlast all but the strongest in combat. She could do this all day! But to her surprise, the hand let go, disippating into smoke. Celestial looked at the mage, strong and defiant. That was too easy. The mage muttered something and an entity of fire appeared, scorching the grass around it. Celestial laughed. Didn't that mage know that dragons and fire were mutual friends. Nevertheless, she would make it...interesting. Celestial took out her flame-dancing pipe from a pouch in her belt as the flames rushed towards her, trying to be as calm as possible. She put the pipe to her lips and played a haunting melody of green fields and war. The notes swirled around the wild fire, shaping it to the melody. Even if the pipe met it's match for the first time, she would fight the flames with flames, hopefully absorbing them into her own power. One thing for sure, the mage had made a mistake in choosing to attack a half-dragon with it's own element. Overlord was frustrated at how the cat kept running. His attack became even more intense. He didn't see the blackness of the hands, only felt it slightly. His only goal was to peck out the cat's eyes. Suddenly, hands grabbed him. Overlord screamed in pain and rage! He had failed! What was his mistress going to do now?
A soft golden glow shone in the blacknes, piercing the dark terror of the hands. The single gold feather in his wing was glowing warmly, dispelling the darkness. He concentrated on making it stronger, giving all his energy to the feather. It should be enough to drive the darkness away...if the legend was right. Strife((Mage Manor - Guest Bedroom))Leoness rested on the bed of the guest room. She had wrapped her feet in a layer of white bandages to help ease the pain of the burns, and for the most part, it was working. However, she still felt sore when walking, so she tried to remain as still as possible by relaxing on the bed. After a short while of napping, she heard a faint noise just outside the door, and the sound of footsteps against the wooden floor filled the room. "Blimey, what happened to your feet?" asked a hoarse voice. Leoness opened her eyes and turned her head. A woman was standing next to the door. She had a bright yellow ponytail with black streaks, and she was wearing black and white clothing that suggested she was a pirate of some sort. A small critter with deep blue fur was sitting comfortably on her shoulder. "Oh..." began Leoness, slowly lifting herself up until she was sitting at the edge of the bed. "Well... There was a small fire here a few minutes ago." She motioned towards the floor next to the doorway, which had black burn marks on it. "I threw a blanket on it and stomped it out. I'm sorry about it." While she finished the last sentence, a kitsune woman with long brown hair - a knight, by the looks of it - rushed into the room. She seemed to immediately notice the thick bandages Leoness was wearing. "Who did this?" asked the kitsune in a breathy voice, trying to remain calm. "It's okay," insisted Leoness. "It was an accident. I came here to be with my sister Aerisa and my brother Scar. A phoenix came and talked to my brother, and when he teleported away, his flames caught fire to the floor." She looked at her bandaged feet, slightly embarassed. "This is very strange. I work with fire magic, and I don't usually get burned like this..." Rikku((Forest – approaching Mage Manor)) "I'm... I'm sorry."Rikku almost started at that. She’d expected Drakhé to ignore her, or at the most brush her off. This was something new. “… You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” she said eventually. “I can understand why you’d judge all necromancers by the same mold.” She grinned a little. “We’re not exactly the nicest people out there, after all, and …” There was a lump in her throat that made talking difficult. “… And I’m sorry too. That I didn’t even try to understand.” She looked away, and spotted something through the trees. The subject change was welcome. “There we are! Mage Manor, in the stone! … Or whatever the Manor’s made of.” Something seemed to be wrong, though. Were those people fighting? Rikku paused, and looked back at Drakhé. “Hey … do you think you could shapeshift back into a dragon? It might be a better form for … fighting, if it comes to it.” I hope it doesn’t.
And … necromancy. It’s not like I’m very good anyway. And Drakhé’s right – it can be used for some pretty nasty stuff.
But it’s part of who I am …Rikku put a hand to her new wand, hesitated, then gripped her frying pan instead. “Come on – they could be in trouble!” She started running towards the Manor. PFA((Mage Manor: near entrance))Before they could even start talking peacefully, the people at Mage Manor started to launch an attack. That dragon girl from earlier, in particular, seemed the most hostile. Which her shouts about destroying the gem proved. PFA noticed as one of the pirates drew her cutlass. She recognized her as the former pirate captain... Rider, her name was. The pirates and ninjas had fought enough in the past for PFA to recognize such an important figure. PFA was a bit curious why Rider would be accompanying the pirates if she had retired, but pirates were pirates, she supposed. Rider charged at PFA, taking a strange, twisty path. PFA was about to pull out a kunai, but decided not to, since it would be hard to hit a target with such odd maneuvering. She instead pulled out her katana, and took up a defensive stance, ready to block whatever attack the pirate would throw at her. Keng"There are additional life signs here that are not from Spacefleet." warned Lily as Keng and Urchin began to make their way towards the crater. "The last time you said that it turned out to be two rodent-ish creatures sharing a scrap of food, and the time before that it was a plant." complained Keng. "We'll be careful." Urchin said though. "Hurry up Urchin, that crater didn't look to friendly, the Commander probably needs help." ----- "Bloody hell she was right this time." whispered Keng to Urchin a few short minutes later. Because Urchin was an elf this whisper hardly even qualified as a breath she could say it so quietly and still be heard by the merc. The two were hiding in a bush, crouched down and peering through the branches. They had found the Commander but between him and them were two figures. She didn't recognize either of them but the Kougra had a strange familiarity about him. Then a third figure -another kougra!- came into view and the reason for the familiarity struck her like a frozen shot of pan galactic gargle blaster hitting the bottom of her stomach. The first kougra looked remarkably like Cyborg, her old assistant swabby, who now stood next to the first two. "Frig." she breathed. "I know that cyborg. He's ... uhh.. Cy..borg... ... He's from my old crew." she explained quietly. "Urchin, hide over by those boulders, I may need cover fire if things get out of hand." Keng then took out her communicator. "Commander Strife, this is Keng. We're about 30 meters behind you. Approx. 10 meters in front of us between you and us is a group of 3 NTWFites. I know one of them, and will attempt to engage to settle this peacefully." With the message sent and the orders given Keng scuttled away from Urchin so as not to give her away, then approached the three. "Cyborg?" she asked, as if surprised to find him there, (which in truth she was).
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:12:15 GMT -5
Strife((The Forest South of Dunburrow))Without warning, an arrow flew past The Commander's shoulder and hit another tree beside him, startling him a bit. He would have expected the terrestrials to approach him in a more... peaceful manner. "Savages," he muttered quietly with disgust. If they wish to be hostile, I will return the favor.A plan rushed through his head. He figured that if he was fast enough, he could maneuver around the trees and use his Leech against the attacker. Without another moment of thought, The Commander emerged from behind the tree and dashed to the side. To the attacker, he would probably look like a blurred shadow with two piercing red eyes. Stones were tossed all over the place as he ran through the tall forest grass. Quickly, he took cover behind another tree. He had spotted the attacker while running, along with two other people behind him who were also coming towards him. The Commander had moved too fast to make out their appearance, but the important thing was that he now knew where to aim. Immediately, he dashed in the opposite direction, scanned the attacker with the Leech, and took cover behind another tree. The attacker's bow and quiver were covered in bright green scanlines for a few seconds as the Leech copied their mechanics, and a bundle of arrows identical to the attacker's appeared inside the Leech, ready for The Commander to use. He fired one of the arrows in the direction of the attacker. He knew he would miss, but at least the attacker would know that he was aware of his presence. Shortly afterwards, The Commander heard a familiar voice emitting from his communicator. "Commander Strife, this is Keng. We're about 30 meters behind you. Approx. 10 meters in front of us between you and us is a group of 3 NTWFites. I know one of them, and will attempt to engage to settle this peacefully."The Commander was suprised, as he didn't expect his officers to land in the crater after he ordered them to find a safer landing spot. Nevertheless, he was relieved of their presence and decided not to get worked up about it. They were, afterall, trying to save him and Fraze. "Go ahead, Commando," he replied into the communicator. "Special Ops Fraze is cloaking near my location. Neither of us have sustained injuries." He waited quietly within the shadows of the forest trees. FrazeFraze heard a swift thwok, and looked up to see an arrow embedded in a tree near Strife. He peeked over the rock to get a better look at the attacker. Granted, since he was cloaked, this stealth was unnecessary--he could have danced a jig naked right in front of the hostiles, and unless he stepped on something that would break, he wouldn't be noticed--but the instinct to remain hidden from the enemy was a strong one. Judging by the depth that the arrow had penetrated into the tree trunk, Fraze guessed that whomever had shot it was a fairly skilled archer. Not one to miss at such close range, he thought. It was a warning shot, then.Strife had already made it clear that anyone they came across before reaching their destination would need to be killed, to maintain Spacefleet secrecy. But it wasn't until now that the full implications of this became clear to him. These are just people who are curious and frightened about a mysterious figure with rocks floating around him! And now they're going to die because of it.At the speed of thought, Fraze began to devise a plan. I turned off my homing signal when Strife found me. I can sneak over there without him knowing, whisper something like "run away," and hopefully they'll leave. They may think I'm just some invisible spirit or something. Then I can come back over here, and Strife will just think they ran away on their own accord.But all the while he was thinking this, other parts of his brain were telling him how ridiculous an idea it would be. They might not leave. They might acknowledge my presence. I'm already on Strife's bad list after what happened earlier, if he finds out I disobeyed a direct order again, he'll kill me...or at least try to. And even if I manage to get away, I'll never be able to get off this planet again, because he'll know if I try. I'd never be able to finish...All these things flashed through his mind in the space of a couple seconds. He looked up at Strife again, and saw in his action in his eyes, just before he began running. this is it. They're going to die. He couldn't save them now, he couldn't stop the Commander, and he couldn't bring himself to kill them--so he stayed where he was. Fraze almost jumped when he heard a familiar voice sound through his communicator. It was directed at Strife, but he had received it as well. "Commander Strife, this is Keng. We're about 30 meters behind you. Approx. 10 meters in front of us between you and us is a group of 3 NTWFites. I know one of them, and will attempt to engage to settle this peacefully."Inwardly, he sighed. Perhaps they wouldn't die, then. "Go ahead, Commando," came Strife's voice in response. "Special Ops Fraze is cloaking near my location. Neither of us have sustained injuries."Fraze did not respond verbally, but let out another ping from his homing signal to let them know his location. He looke down at his hand to see what he was holding, before remembering that it was invisible. He realized that, without realizing, he had drawn and armed his flechette gun. He switched on the safeties, but decided to keep it in his hand. He didn't particularly like to use it--someone had once described the weapon as simple, effective, and immensely unfair to the target--but its familiar weight felt good in his hand. Vyt((Mage Manor))The last thing Bluisa was expecting for her fire-type attack was for it to be countered by its own type. She had realized too late that dragons like her foe specialized in fire spells, and that her opponent was wasting much lesser stamina compared to her by simply flying. "How stupid of me not to figure that out," she told herself. Upon hearing the pipe from the dragoness play its tune, Bluisa watched helplessly as her fire entity slowed down. It was getting more adjusted to the melody for some unknown reason. She knew her summon would not last longer if the music lingered around him. She had to act fast. Too fatigued to even stand up, Bluisa had to chant her last spell knees down. That did not stop her from casting it, however. My fate will not be so fast to be sealed Though cowardice surrounds, I must be concealed Embrace my enemy's shadow, so I can be healed!Slowly, Bluisa's body dissipated with the darkness of her surrounding, converting herself into another black fog. The dragoness' shadow, which was hiding itself from the luminous rays of the moon, was her target. The fog then seeped through the cold ground, making its way towards the shadow. "You may have more power than me, but I can simply rejuvenate myself!" said the mysterious voice that was Bluisa. Cat Assassin effortlessly clasped his hands together, leaving his winged enemy stuck inside. For a moment it seemed like it was his victory. However, the feline could feel resistance from within his hands. The darkness that enveloped around them was shattering, as a small golden glow pierced through. Cat Assassin tried to fight his way, but whatever was making the glow seemed too powerful even for him. Feeling his focused dark energy weakened, Cat Assassin had no choice but to break free. He removed his grasp from both hands and jumped away, hoping the glow would not be able to cause him any damage. Opportunity struck the feline's way, as Cat Assassin resumed rushing towards the girl who held the gem. Kat"I don't know who these demons from the sky are, or what sort of fire doesn't burn hot. I've a feeling we'll find out, though, so keep your wits about you.""Of course," said Kat. Judging from how much Rider was attached to this Clara girl, Kat preferred not to say out loud that she still didn't trust this little pyro. "Nothing will work properly if we have the gem, not even our wits. Who knows, maybe in the middle of the battle, the gem will work it's darkness on somebody who is essential to victory. We must get rid of it or at least, neutralize its effects.""Exactly why we're going to start researching," said Kat, her fingers brushing against her wand. "And trust me, I do know what it feels like to be near that thing." "We'll be taking the gem along as soon as we're done here and you mages can all happily get back to whatever you do here... though Kat and Ikkin, I do believe I'll order you to come along. I need my officers at a time like this.""Will do, Cap'n," said Kat, bowing shortly. The Manor gave its familiar tug - after all, she herself had even tinkered with those little jerks in the magic - and she was with Huntress and Ikkin in front of the room. When the door opened, she quickly ran in after them, and saw Leoness. Drawing her wand, which instantly became a staff, she said, "If there is anything, anything at all I can do to help, just say the word. Though I'm not exactly the biggest authority on healing…” Kwoiffei((Forest - Approaching Mage Manor)) Drakhé wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but when Rikku had responded, he couldn't help but smile a little... as much as a wolf could smile. It wasn't long before he resumed looking at the ground, trying to hide his awkwardness (failing miserably, perhaps). "It's okay," he said softly, more to himself than anything; he knew that she probably wouldn't agree. Luckily, the Manor came into view, which Rikku was quick to point out. He looked up fairly quickly. "Finally," he breathed. But something was not right - there seemed to be fighting at the Manor's front door. “Hey … do you think you could shapeshift back into a dragon?” Clearly, Rikku had seen it, too. Drakhé looked up at her. “It might be a better form for … fighting, if it comes to it.”The wolf hesitated a moment before he nodded three times. On the third nod, he kept his head lowered. The change happened swiftly: the fur faded into scales, the tail vanished like it had never been, the ears shrank and were replaced by horns, and the paws changed into clawed hands and feet. Somehow his clothes had reappeared during the transformation as well. The dragon pushed himself to his feet. He stumbled backwards into a tree, but managed to regain his balance soon enough. "I hope we d-don't have to fight..."By now, Rikku had begun running. Drakhé broke into a run as well. The Manor came into clear sight much more quickly. In his mind, part of him couldn't help but wonder if the zombies could keep up. CelestialThe fire was now dancing to the tune from her pipe and Celestial played with amazng vigour. The mage was by now tired and she was only beginning t get out of breath. I never knew those long flights would come in so useful one day she though. Victory was near. Celestial didn't see the mage turn into black fog and fade into the ground. She wouldn't have even noticed if the fire entity hadn't winked out, like a candle in a strong wind. The disembowled voice of the mage spoke. "You may have more power than me, but I can simply rejuvenate myself!" it laughed mockingly. Celestial smiled. Many things will change before the mage would be able to rise out of the fog whole. "In oedinary times, that would have been an advantage. But these aren't ordinary times. You fought well, mage." she whispered to no-one and walked towards the entrance, calling Overlord in her mind. It was time to begin her research and hopefully find a way to create order out of chaos. He was free, a phoenix rising out of the ashes! His single golden feather was glowing brightly, like an ember. But the cat wasn't about to wait. He once again ran at the girl with the gem. Overlord had to act fast if the gem wasn't to fall into the cat's hands. He had seen how evil they were.
He was quick on his wings, at least quicker than the cat. Landing on the pirate girl's shoulder, he reached into her mind, apologising for what he was about to do.
I'm sorry but I have to. I hope you will understand and forgive me but it's for the greater good. We shall give it back to you when this is over. he spoke in the pirate's mind. Without a word of warning, he swooped down and put his claws into her pocket, clasping them around the gem, though what he withdrew was a lemon bomb, he felt the reek of darkness from it. It felt terribly heavy with the same darkness and Overlord struggled to fly with it. Flapping his wings and panting with effort, he finally got it out and flew with little grace towards his mistress.Celestial slackened her pace and waited for Overlord to catch up. He dropped the gem in front of her and slumped down onto her shoulder, tired from carrying such a dark thing. Remembering what it did in the Throne room of the castle, she gingerly picked it up and wrapped it quickly with her cloak. Not wasting any more time, she ran into the Manor and towards the library, following the Zafara's instructions. She finally came to a double door and opened it to the most amazing collection of books that she had ever seen. The amazement didn't last for long as the gem got heavier and Celestial almost dropped it. She couldn't wait any longer. A table stood in the centre of the library, conveniantly located next to a chair. She put the gem and the tired ball of feathers that was Overlord down onto it. Telling him to gaurd the gem against any attacks, she browsed the shelves for anything about magical artifacts and demonology. Vyt((Mage Manor [outside]))Cat Assassin was not even close to his target when he suddenly stopped. For some reasons, the feline started shaking his head, as if trying to remove something from his own mind. His eyes met the sight of a bird snatching off the gem from a girl he barely knew. Even worse, he asked himself how he got himself near the Mages Manor... when the last thing he was remembering was floating with Bluisa and PFA. He then realized something else was happening. As a girl with dragon wings accompanied the bird towards inside, Cat Assassin noticed something wrong with her shadow. It seemed to be moving by itself, as if it had a life of its own. Confused, the feline realized too late about what was really happening to it. The girl and the bird had already entered Mage Manor before he could tell what was going on. Frantically, Cat Assassin searched for PFA, who was pitted in a fight with a pirate for reasons he did not know. Desperation had forced the feline to just shout out his discovery in hopes that it would reach his niece. "PFA! She's back!" ((Mage Manor [inside]))Celestial was getting a bit hasty with her actions, desperately browsing through numerous shelves in an attempt to find what she was looking for. She was forgetting about one thing, however. "... I'd like to thank you for giving me the chance to enter the Manor..." said the very familiar voice. The shadow behind her then started to take shape, slowly condensing into three-dimensional form. The shelves had been the perfect cover for the shadow not to get noticed by the dragoness' companion. There she was, the same person Celestial had confronted. Her hands had already made their way around the head of the dragoness, restraining her. "In case you did not notice... You haven't won yet." It was Bluisa. CelestialCelestial watched helplessly as her shadow morphed into the mage she had fought earlier. The sneak had hitched a ride on her shadow! Eyes burning with the blue flame of rage, she sent out a mind-cry to Overlord to get the gem out of here! The mages hands were wrapping around her head, cold as ice. "In case you did not notice... You haven't won yet." the mage snarled. Celestials wings were pinned behind the shelf and any magic she would use might damage a book she would need. Sighing, the fire in her eyes faded. "No, I haven't won yet. How did I ever think I could win? I was stupid to try and fight you. Yur power is so much more superior than my pathetic tricks." she sighed, down but not out. If only she could keep the mage talking... Somewhere in Dunbarrow, a black dragonet stirred and began flying towards Mage Manor as fast as it's little wings could carry it, it's green eyes full of alarm and anger. Overlord awoke to Celestial's summons. The mage had returned and he was to take the gem away from here. He picked it up in his claws, once again feeling the darkness, and lifted up into the air. The gem wasn't safe in the Manor and the Manor wasn't safe with the gem inside it. He had to find an open window! Luckily, Celestial had left the door open and he headed straight out of the library, not pausing to think about his mistress.
He finally reached a small window in the kitchen which was thankfully open. He flew out of it, straining under the wieght of the gem. At least there was a tree next to it.
He crash-landed into the tree, putting the gem in a fork between the branches. Only then did he look up to see many eyes watching him. Common Weewoo eyes, not a trace of white or gold amongst them. They took off at the merest sight of the gem, shaking the tree terribly. The gem feel out of it's nest. Overlord gripped his branch so tightly he thought it would snap. Stupid cousins! he thought as he half-flew, half-fell down onto the ground and sat down on the gem. So sleepy...his eyes closed as he sat on the lemon bomb with the gem like a mother hen on her eggs. PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Not long after Jernath had fired his arrow, a figure dashed out from behind the tree, just to go behind another. The figure looked very... ominous. Especially since it seemed to have red eyes. Then suddenly, the figure dashed out again, shooting a light toward Jernath. Jernath was shocked as his bow and arrows were suddenly covered with a green light. He expected them to catch fire or something, but they didn't, and the light soon faded. Before he could even register what happened, an arrow that looked exactly like one of his flew past his head, landing harmlessly in a tree nearby. What was that?! was the only thought that ran through Jernath's mind. And then, he thought he heard voices for a moment, coming from the direction of the person with the rocks spinning around him. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he prepared himself, incase somebody else would come out from behind the tree. But to his surprise, the voice of the possible second person came from behind him. "Cyborg?"Jernath whipped around, noticing a girl with short brown hair. She was approaching Cyborg and Midknight, with a look of surprise on her face. "Friend of yours, Cyborg?" Jernath muttered, hoping whoever was behind the other tree wouldn't hear him. --- ((Mage Manor: near entrance))"PFA! She 's back!" came a shout from Uncle. "What?!" she yelped, keeping her gaze on Rider. "But I thought... she..." She really didn't know what to think. If Uncle was referring to who she thought he was referring to, this could be bad. But how was it possible? She really couldn't think too hard on it right now, though, since there was a pirate charging toward her, cutlass raised. "Well, maybe you should do something about it!" PFA shouted, not exactly sure what else to say. "Stop her before something bad happens! I'll catch up as soon as I can!" She then narrowed her eyes at Rider, gripping her katana a little tighter. Hopefully, she could do this quickly. RiderRider's sword clashed with PFA's in the epic sound of steel on steel. Rider pulled back a little. "Who's back?" She demanded. "Tell me, or I'll run your thieving behind through." Huntress((Mage Manor)) Hunty grimaced, looking at Leoness's bandaged feet. "Sev? That bird really is a handful, eh? Sorry to hear that. But, well. I wanted to find a medic, and the Manor brought me here, so I'm assuming it brought me here for exactly that reason. I have a crewmember down. Not sure what happened to him or whether he's actually injured, but I'd need someone to have a look at him." Bloody Mary had been sniffing the air with a scowl, but now he stood up in all his length. Hunty gave him a sideways glance. "What is it?" "D'nno." The meepit was fidgeting nervously. "Something's not right in the air. Something's changed." "Very cryptic," Hunty snorted. "No-no, I can tell. Know that feeling before the storm, when there's not a cloud in the sky and the waters are still, but you just know that a big thing is coming? S' in the air. And this place is, after all, magical." "The gutfeeling of a ship rat?" Hunty asked, lifting the crossbow from her back for the first time and partly uncorking the quiver. The meepit, who was a number of steps above rats in the food chain, grunted with disdain. "More like a smell. We don't do hunches. Either way, this place ain't safe. Opens its doors to one too many people if you ask me. So keep that crossbow poised. This is a war, after all.” Strife((Mage Manor - Guest Bedroom))"Sev? That bird really is a handful, eh? Sorry to hear that. But, well. I wanted to find a medic, and the Manor brought me here, so I'm assuming it brought me here for exactly that reason. I have a crewmember down. Not sure what happened to him or whether he's actually injured, but I'd need someone to have a look at him."Leoness smiled a little at the idea of the Manor "choosing" her as the best healer for the job, although she wished this request could have come at a less painful time. Nevertheless, she wasn't the kind of person who refused a call for help. Not if she could provide that help, at least. "Sure," she replied. "Where is your crewmember? I need to take a look at him first." Just then, a mage woman dressed in purple teleported into the room. She was holding a small wand which, to Leo's surprise, morphed instantly into a long staff. "If there is anything, anything at all I can do to help," said the mage. "Just say the word. Though I'm not exactly the biggest authority on healing..." "It's okay," replied Leoness, tilting her head to one side while her eyes wandered. She was always stubborn when it came to healing, because she preferred to take care of her own body instead of leaving it to magic. It made her feel less dependant on others, and in a way, it was one of the reasons she became a Spacefleet medic. "I'll be fine. The pain is almost gone anyway." Vyt((Mage Manor [inside]))Bluisa felt so refreshed. The ominous atmosphere present around them had let her recover, and her energy supply was building quickly by the second. It did not take long before she completely stole back the energy she lost awhile ago. " Night fights have always been my specialty," she thought. "You'll never be able to destroy the gem," she noted Celestial, still remembering the reason why the dragoness was keeping the gem away from them. "Now give it to me. I have... a friend to resurrect." The mage thought it was better if the gem would be used for a specific purpose. The deaths of everyone would then be at vain if it would only get destroyed without being used. Just in case the dragoness would try to escape, Bluisa had already set up the darkness to go after her aggressively. ((Mage Manor [outside]))Cat Assassin and PFA knew fairly well about the girl they were talking about. In fact, they both remember something very important: whoever would try to state her name could unlock her transformation. That was the exact thing they were trying to avoid from the girl. "Alright, then..." Cat Assassin replied to PFA's request and headed straight towards the Mage Manor. The feline was hoping no one would stop him. Now was not the time to get misunderstood by many as an enemy. CelestialYou'll never be able to destroy the gem," the mage said, a hint of smugness in her voice which Celestial immediately picked up. Smugness led to carelessness and if she got her way, this mage would be toast literally and quite soon. Just needed to keep her monologging. "Now give it to me. I have... a friend to resurrect." the mage continued, her breath tickling Celestial. A friend to resurrect? This is pretty interesting. Too bad the gem was already outside and hopefully safe. The last thing the NTWF needed was some undead guy powered by darkness wandering around. "It isn't here. At least, I don't have it. I gave it to a cunning overlord on the way here. He is probably many miles from here now. But I could help you locate it, if you tell me what you need it for." she replied, looking subserviant but casual. Even if the mage scryed her for lies, Celestial wasn't lying, just not telling the whole truth. Either way, help was coming. *** Come, dragon, come echoed itself in the little dragonet's head. It knew the Dragon Mage was in danger. The dragons were supposed to protect her and that is what he will do. She asked him personally and he must respond. Clearing the forest, he found himself outside of a human building and stopped. She was inside but he didn't feel comfortable going into a human building. But it had to be done. He found an open window near a tree with a white bird at the bottom of it curled up against something. The dragonet could feel the signal getting stronger and he followed his heart. She was close. ZariZari turned around to grin at the motley collection in the back seat. 'You okay there? That was a rough landing. Any broken bones? Nutty clones? I hope you brought 'em. They can smell really well. PFA((Mage Manor: near entrance))PFA didn't notice her Uncle run off, as she was preoccupied with fighting Rider. Their blades met, ringing out with the sound of steel against steel. Rider then pulled back a little, looking PFA in the eyes. "Who's back?" asked the pirate. "Tell me, or I'll run your thieving behind through."PFA paused for a moment, not really sure how to respond. She couldn't say who it was, as that would just make things worse for everyone. But she really didn't want to be stabbed, either... "I... can't tell you," she replied honestly. "I... I don't want to make it any worse than it is." She really, really hoped Rider wouldn't question her response. PFA knew she would, though. Rider"Oh, for you, girl, things can't get any worse than they are." Rider promised. She brought her sword around, going for PFA's throat. Surf((Just outside Mage Manor)) Surf stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was happening outside the Manor. One of the ninjas was fighting Rider, one of her newly made allies. One of the pirates is in danger...Rider is in danger...A friend is in danger! she frantically thought. She sprang into action seconds later, and jumped to the side of the ninja so that Rider wouldn't be hurt by what she was about to do. With a swing of her staff, she sent a scythe of wind at the ninja. "If you try to hurt my friend, I'll kill you," she said. Bacon((Bacon's ship, lower atmosphere)) As Bacon approached the surface, he heard a sonar-like ping. "What's that?" He asked his ship with no reply. He looked at his instruments real quick. "A homing signal? Maybe they're signaling me where I should land..." And so he turned his ship to where Fraze was. Seeing Lily's shuttle, he landed near it. Then Bacon opened the hatch, grabbed his stunner and walked slowly towards the source of the signal. No telling what the situation is. This is a rescue mission after all, isn't it? Or is it? I don't know... What did Keng say again? Something about an alliance... and ground support... wait a sec, ground support? I wonder if I should have brought my katana... PFA((Mage Manor: near entrance))Rider did pretty much what PFA expected her to do: she swung her cutlass around and tried to slash PFA's throat. PFA quickly moved her katana to meet Rider's blade, blocking the swing. Then, when PFA thought it couldn't get any worse, a mage jumped toward her and sent a scythe of wind at her, striking her in her already injured side. PFA did everything she could not to scream at that point, as the pain that the dragon girl had eased earlier was suddenly coming back in a flash. She began shaking with pain, not sure she could keep Rider's sword away from her throat much longer. "If you try to hurt my friend, I'll kill you," the mage said angrily. PFA grunted, both out of pain and anger. "What are you... talking about? She's... she's the one who attacked me! I... I didn't want to... want to fight at all! But..." her thoughts were muddled, and her words were even more so. But she felt she should say something... her life was at stake here. Amneiger((Zari's ship)) "It's not oxygen that's the problem, it's getting my lungs open enough to - " Then the ship, uh, landed. "Where are we?" Amneiger asked as he untangled himself from his seatbelt. He looked out the window and saw nothing but trees. Omni((Zari's ship)) Ethan was glad when the trip was finally over. Next time… someone else drives, he thought, unbuckling himself and Siber. "I'll be fine. It's just a few bruises." And a little nausea…------ ((Mage Manor, near the entrance.)) "Rainbow!" Omni half-shouted this as she created a fireball in her hand, which she managed to make a mix of six colors. "If you try to hurt my friend, I'll kill you."Omni turned and looked as she heard that sentence shouted. She saw a pirate, who she recognized as Rider, Surf, a fellow mage, and PFA, who seemed to be struggling, as well as outnumbered. "Woah! Hey! Break it up!" Omni jumped into the middle of the three, holding her arms out as if to push the fighters apart. "What's going on here?" Kat"I'll be fine. The pain is almost gone anyway.""All right," said Kat, her staff shrinking back. Turning to Ikkin and Huntress, she asked, "What can we do now? I can't stand around doing nothing while things like these happen all over the NTWF…” Cyborg( With Jernath in the forest) " I'm not sure but I think I recognize the ability. It's a copycat ability. What ever he puts the green light he gets a replica of." Cyborg said to Jernath. Rider“She's... she's the one who attacked me! I... I didn't want to... want to fight at all! But...""But what? But you came here to steal the gem? But you just wanted to get your filthy hands on it and muddle up our world again? If I let you go, you'll just find another way, come back to steal again. I know the way of the ninja." She turned to Surf. "Thanks for the help. You have no idea how much I appreciate it." "Woah! Hey! Break it up! What's going on here?""We have a thief in our midst. She came with that feline ninja. They're here for the gem. Omni, I reccomend you get out of the way." Huntress((Mage Manor)) "What can we do now? I can't stand around doing nothing while things like these happen all over the NTWF..." Huntress scowled. Too many things were happening all around the land at once, and as far as she was concerned, she would've liked to just get out and sail away, preferably with a profit, but most definitely with her life. And the life of her crew, for that matter. "Well," she said. "At this point we still need to learn as much as possible about that stone, so Kat, if you could go to the library and dig something up, I'd be grateful. Ikkin... can you take this mage to look at Goosh? Float her around, if necessary. I'm not doubting Kat's healing abilities, but to me Goosh didn't look like he needed healing, more like... diagnosing. Either way." "And you could load that crossbow," Bloody Mary remarked, now standing in all his not-particularly-impressive length. "I'm telling you, something's foul." "You and everyone else around me," Hunty said. "I'm pretty sure I told them to get in and close the doors and- aurgh!" The Manor had shifted once more, and the captain found herself at the doorstep, the crossbow poised and a bunch of dizzy meepits clustering around her feet, staring at a literal battlefield outside. "...close the doors and barricade them. Lovely. Stop that!" she barked, though really more at the Manor than the fighters. "I like moving around on my own two feet, thank you very much." Bloody Mary snarled. The gang around Hunty's feet perked their ears and shifted their position. It was still a cluster, but now it was an attentive and dangerous cluster. "Okay, gentlemen." Hunty uncorked the quiver and loaded the crossbow in one swift, broad motion that sent drops of acid flying around in a semi-circle. "Can someone tell me what everyone's doing here, why you're fighting, and why the bloody doors aren't closed?" PFA((Mage Manor: near entrance))"But what? But you came here to steal the gem?" Rider protested. "But you just wanted to get your filthy hands on it and muddle up our world again? If I let you go, you'll just find another way, come back to steal again. I know the way of the ninja."PFA was getting annoyed at the pirate now. Why wouldn't Rider listen to her? But then she remembered that this was a pirate she was referring to. She narrowed her eyes, then opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted. "Woah! Hey! Break it up! What's going on here?" said Omni, as she jumped in the middle of the three, trying to break up the fight. PFA was about to say something again, but Rider started before she could. "We have a thief in our midst. She came with that feline ninja. They're here for the gem. Omni, I reccomend you get out of the way.""Wait!" she called to Omni, before she could go anywhere. "I... can't you at least hear me out?" she didn't wait for a response. "We have a good reason to want the gem... we don't want to destroy anything. We just... I..." She hung her head, thinking about her father. That's what they wanted the gem for. To bring him back. But for some reason, she couldn't say it. She didn't know the right words to make them understand. "...We don't want to hurt anyone. Please... can't you believe me?" she finished, looking back up at the three in front of her. She hoped beyond hope that at least one of them would listen to her. --- ((Forest: south of Dunburrow))"You think?" Jernath said in response to Cyborg. It seemed so obvious, Jernath couldn't believe he didn't immediately think of it. He then turned to the girl who had approached them earlier, looking her in the eyes. "Who are you? What do you want?" he tried to keep his voice loud enough so the girl would hear, but quiet enough that the person behind the other tree wouldn't. He hoped he was succeeding. KengKeng was rather surprised to not be taken note of by the kougra. He was usually renowned for his exellent hearing. She supposed this must be something deeply ingrained into his brain too pretend not to hear her as back on the Weewoo her calls for him would more often than not include scrubbing the deck, cleaning the dishes, painting the scratched wood, or some other chore. "Who are you? What do you want?" "I'm Keng, an old ship mate of your friend there. OI! Cyborg!" she tried again. "You on holiday from the pirates or did they kick you off for getting drunk at night again?" she added the last part as a joke. "And if you would be so kind I would appreciate it if you didn't shoot over at my friend over there." she jerked her head to indicate the rough area of where Strife had dodge to. "'I've already requested he cease fire which he has." Rider"...We don't want to hurt anyone. Please... can't you believe me?"Rider took a deep breath. Blast ninjas, making ehr life so complicated. "That cat and his companion... they're with you, are they not? Are you not working towards the same goal? Because it seems liek everyone and their uncle wants this piece of rock. Now, the rock itself can burn in hell for all I care, but it's got a secret, and it'll spill it afore it burns." Vyt((Mage Manor - Library [?]))"It isn't here. At least, I don't have it. I gave it to a cunning overlord on the way here. He is probably many miles from here now. But I could help you locate it, if you tell me what you need it for."Bluisa did not need any help. She needed the gem. And this girl just filled her madness. Bluisa tightened her arm grip on Celestial's head, trying to put more pressure on it. "No, you don't understand, really..." she breathed out with anger. "You're the one in danger. I can simply torture you long enough to make your so-called overlord return here." She then smirked. "... It's called 'concern for your friends', and it's one of your weakness." A barge on the door disturbed the eerie silence of the library. Moments later, a very familiar figure appeared and showed himself near the moonlight. Bluisa had no choice but to focus her attention on the figure. "... Let her go," said a furious Cat Assassin, his red eyes glaring at Bluisa's. "I know exactly why you're here for." Ikkin"It's okay," Leoness said, answering Ikkin's question. "It was an accident. I came here to be with my sister Aerisa and my brother Scar. A phoenix came and talked to my brother, and when he teleported away, his flames caught fire to the floor." She looked down, seemingly embarassed. Ikkin on the other hand was just angry. Couldn't Sev ever control himself?! "This is very strange," Leoness continued. "I work with fire magic, and I don't usually get burned like this..."Well, of course she didn't. Phoenix fire could be the most dangerous fire of all. That Sev would use it where a guest could be burned was just not right. She would have to give that bird a lecture the next time she saw him - in fact, she almost wanted to call him immediately, but she figured it would be better not to. Hunty spoke next, seeming to be in accord with Ikkin about Sev's actions. "Sev? That bird really is a handful, eh?" she said. "Sorry to hear that. But, well. I wanted to find a medic, and the Manor brought me here, so I'm assuming it brought me here for exactly that reason. I have a crewmember down. Not sure what happened to him or whether he's actually injured, but I'd need someone to have a look at him."This made Ikkin wonder - why hadn't Hunty taken Goosh when she went to look? It would have made things much simpler. Though, Hunty probably didn't realize how little she would actually have to carry him, Ikkin figured. Well, it was too late for that now, anyway. And, she thought as Leoness offered to take a look at Goosh, it's not like it couldn't be resolved. "Where is your crewmember?," Leoness had asked. ...that was a good question. But, he was still in the Manor, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem, anyway. Before Ikkin could answer, Kat came in and offered to heal Leoness, only for Leoness to tell her that she'd be fine. Kat, in response, asked what to do now that she didn't have to heal Leoness. Well, Leoness might not have wanted Kat's healing, but it sure would be useful to have multiple healers for Goosh, Ikkin thought. "I'm not really sure where Goosh is... but, the Manor can take us there," she told Leoness, answering her earlier question. "Why don't you come, too?" she asked Kat. Meanwhile, Hunty and Bloody Mary had started talking about how something didn't seem right, and Ikkin decided to listen in. That something wasn't right was really likely, she thought, and not just because she trusted the Meepit's judgement. It was just that the day seemed insistent on making everything go wrong. Murphy's Law, or something. Huntress had apparently heard Kat's question, as she answered, "At this point we still need to learn as much as possible about that stone, so Kat, if you could go to the library and dig something up, I'd be grateful. Ikkin... can you take this mage to look at Goosh? Float her around, if necessary. I'm not doubting Kat's healing abilities, but to me Goosh didn't look like he needed healing, more like... diagnosing. Either way."Well, maybe it would be better to have Kat study the gem rather than go and see Goosh. If it was the gem that caused his unconsciousness, it might actually help more in waking him up. "Okay, I'll do that," she said, walking over to Leoness and summoning the winds around her so she could float several inches off the ground and not have to walk on her burned feet. "Come on," she said, holding out a hand. "The Manor will know the way." Huntress disappeared, providing emphasis. And then, she put the image of Goosh in her mind, willing the Manor to take them both to where he was. CelestialThe cold grip on Celestial's head tightened and she began seeing spots in front of her eyes. The mage spoke "No, you don't understand, really...You're the one in danger. I can simply torture you long enough to make your so-called overlord return here." was the acid the mage spat. Celestial growled deep in her throat. Overlord wouldn't return against her will and no matter how much the mage would torture her, she wouldn't make him go back. There were much safer ways to get rid of renegades. "... It's called 'concern for your friends', and it's one of your weakness." the mage smugly pointed out. At least I am not a heartless shadow, loyal to nobody. she wanted to spit out into the mage's face. But that would cause even more trouble. "It's because my friends will always help me in my time of need" she whispered, resiliant. The dragonet was close now. He is coming and then the tides will turn against her. The consequences of threatening a Dragon Mage were very...unpleasant. However, what came through the door wasn't what she expected. The feline that Overlord had fought stepped into the moonlight coming from one of the windows. Behind it, only Celestial saw the small darting shadow of the dragonet. He was here. This was looking much better already. "... Let her go,I know exactly why you're here for." the cat said angrily at the mage. Celestial let out a sudden laugh, masking the pain she felt from the mage's grip. She somehow managed to turn her head towards the feline. "You shouldn't have bothered, though it was nice of you. I wasn't going to stand here and wait for a knight in shining armour to rescue me. I'm quite used to doing the rescue myself" she said, almost tauntingly. She didn't need this cat's help, a welcome distraction for the mage as it was. A perfect moment to strike. **** One more foreign thought came into the dragonet's mind. Go for her eyes. If she makes a swipe at you, avoid and dive down again. Use your instincts...and good luck. He didn't hesitate to look at the feline who had opened the door for him. His normally green eyes were masked with the red mist of anger and primitive draconic bloodlust. He dove off the shelf and landed straight on the mage's face, his little claws and teeth ripping apart the skin, going for the eyes. *** "And don't even think that I am escaping. I shall stand and fight, my arrogant friend." Celestial spoke as the dragonet began it's vicious attack. Not wasting precious time, she kicked the mage right in the stomach, trying to knock the breath out of her. From then on, it as a matter of who had quicker reactions. Zari((Zari's shuttle, Forest)) Zari fell out of her seat, giggling madly. 'That was fun. I think I forgot my pills this morning. Yeah. That must be it.' she opened the door of the shuttle and stuck her head out. A short woman in a red cape and a blonde ninja were having it out when a Zafara stepped between them. 'C'mon. We need to find Leoness' ((Mage Manor- Entrance)) The messengers The other Zari had sent gathered speed, all heading towards mage manor. Turo, recognising PFA, assumed a semitransparent form near her shoulder. 'Excuse me? Am I interrupting a quarrel? I have been sent by Zari ret Krahia to give a message. There is poison magic in Castle Kestrel, the result of sabotage. The Dojo could be next. She advises you to be cautious when you return.' He folded his, arms, moving slightly with the direction of the wind. ((Mage Manor)) Suno and Ziore arrived within a few seconds of each other. Ziore cleared her throat 'Are any of you Ikkin of the Mages Guild and Huntress of the Pirate Guild? I bring a message from Lady Zari ret Krahia. Poison Magic was recently let loose in Castle Kestrel. The White...Weewoo, isn't it? ...And Mage Manor could be next. Symptoms appear to include wooziness, loss of mental barries against conditions such as empathy, and strangulation. Just a warning.' Ziore put her hands behind her back. She was only a messenger. So to speak. A way for Lifespeaker to communicate. At this moment, she knew the Lifespeaker was seeing and hearing what she could. She looked forward to going back into the book, exciting as life was. At least in the book she was safe. PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Jernath blinked. "Wait... it's your friend?" He then started pondering. So the person he was fighting was the friend of his friend's friend... but then, Cyborg had betrayed the mercs before, so who's to say his friend couldn't? Not to mention Cyborg's friend's friend... and whatever friends of his friend's friend there could be... as well as perhaps the friends of his friend's friend's... now Jernath was just confusing himself. At any rate, maybe he could manage to do this peacefully. This Keng girl said she told that other person to cease fire, and it seemed to have worked... it was worth a shot, he figured. "Well, could you also tell him that we don't mean any harm?" he asked Keng. "We just want to figure out what's going on here... and I think he'd listen to you more than he'd listen to me." --- ((Mage Manor: near entrance))PFA didn't exactly know how to respond to Rider. Everyone wanted the gem? Was everyone trying to revive someone else, or were there other uses for the gem she didn't know of? Now wasn't the time to ponder such things, though. "Alright, so maybe you don't want me to get the gem..." she started slowly. "...But if we don't act fast, someone who really shouldn't get the gem probably will, and who knows what would happen then. We need to stop her before it's too late." Suddenly, a figure appeared beside PFA, tapping her on the shoulder. PFA glanced to the side, looking at the figure. "Excuse me? Am I interrupting a quarrel?" the figure asked. "I have been sent by Zari ret Krahia to give a message. There is poison magic in Castle Kestrel, the result of sabotage. The Dojo could be next. She advises you to be cautious when you return."
Poison magic? PFA thought silently, not sure if anyone else could see the figure. After pondering for a moment, she nodded to the figure, then looked back to Rider, awaiting her response. Keng"Well maybe if everyone wasn't waving their weapons around and shoving them in eachother's faces it'd be easier to talk." said Keng exasperatedly, her eyes rolling over to look at the arrow in the tree nearby which looked suspiciously like the ones the archer she was speaking to held in his quiver. "What's going on is some idiot decided to mess around with magic making a pretty purple storm of uncertain doom that made The Commander crash land rather spectacularly on his way down to have a nice chat with the demon's rights activist." summarized Keng. "And you would be?" ---- Meanwhile the less than competent and slightly below average even by nameless NPC standards, (Ok fine, they're not THAT bad), marines were nearing the landing site in their dropship along side Bacon.
The Invisible Guild So this is what became of the great Winterstone.
Tigereye cursed softly under his breath as the night’s events unfolded before him. Death, murder and sacrifice. As tragic as it may have seemed to the guildlings present, to a warrior of his caliber the scene did nothing but reinforce the unshakable truth that he had been aware of for decades: the Knights were weak. Chivalry may be a fine thing to fill up fairy tales, the Advance Guard leader thought, but in this world it means less than the ink it’s written in. And then, in a flash of fiery light, the three were alone in the sudden darkness. Grimacing crookedly, Tigereye turned away. The Lord of the Invisible Guild would not be pleased with this turn. Well, he should have known better than to try bargaining with a Knight.
“Sickle.”
The mage glanced up at him, her normally attractive face contorted with barely disguised rage. Her palms glowed softly as a tribute to her frustration.
“Where did they go?”
“Teleport,” she said in a hiss. “Fire magic of some kind.”
“Can you trace them?” Tigereye inquired evenly.
“No,” she managed in a low snarl.
“Who can?” The man waited, but she did not reply. The corner of his mouth twitching, he took a step forward so that his scarred face would be visible in the faint light of her magic. “Who can?”
But the mage was done talking. Tigereye shot the girl a contemptuous glare, and instead approached Oak, who was more likely to listen. “Is there any way we can follow them? They have the jewel.”
Slowly, the big pirate shook his head. “No, I’m afraid I don’t know much about magicks,” he said.
Rather than be forced to look up at Oak for another moment, the shorter man spun away angrily, his brown cloak sweeping behind him.
“Tigereye,” the pirate said in a firm, deep voice. “Why does the Lord want the jewel back?”
The group’s leader sneered and was about to make a scorching rebuke; however, something stopped him. Even Sickle was looking up at him, and for once, intrigue shone stronger in her eyes than malice. He scowled. Perhaps they did have the right to know, if they were to be the ones who hunted it.
“A bargaining piece,” Tigereye said finally. “Neither he nor I know anything of the magic associated with it, but it is still the most powerful bargaining piece available to us. Forest’s idea was a good one -- leave it in the field with the gun and let the guilds wipe each other out over it -- but he didn’t anticipate these complications. The jewel’s power isn’t going to be enough to destroy the guilds. We need more time, and as long as we’re in possession of that gem, we have the upper hand.”
“Forest was a traitor,” Sickle grumbled. “We should never have agreed to his plan.”
“There’s nothing we can do about that now,” Tigereye snapped. “There’s a bounty on his head even as we speak. Our mission lies with that gem, and right now, the only one on our side who can tell us where to look for it is lounging around back at the Invisible Guild.”
“Avelin,” growled Oak. The scrawny psychic was not held in high esteem by many in the Invisible Guild.
“Avelin.” Tigereye nodded resentfully. “As I said, our only option.” Without waiting for the others’ approval, he strode off in the direction of the southern woods. “We’re going back to our castle. SpeckHer stomach was in knots as soon as the white weewoo had taken the gem from her pocket. Her pocket was sopping wet from lemon juice; the bird had managed to dig the treasure out of the lemon and take off with it before Speck could do anything. She grasped at the empty air as the weewoo flew off with it, which followed the dragon-girl into the Manor. Shoulders sagging in defeat, she turned to the scene in front of her. The lemon bomb she had taken out found itself back in its pocket, and she rested one hand on the hilt of her sword, taking a neutral position in front of the double doors. Just in time for Huntress to show up suddenly outside the entrance. "Can someone tell me what everyone's doing here, why you're fighting, and why the bloody doors aren't closed?" “I don’t have the blasted gem anymore, Cap’n. A stinking weewoo flew off with it inside… but I keep having this feeling that it isn’t in the Manor anymore,” Speck spoke to her Captain calmly, leaning against one of the open doors, “A group of three ninjas showed up out of nowhere and started running at me when I had the gem. One of them has since entered… or maybe two? That one over by Rider is all that remains of the group, in any case.” Speck pointed at PFA, then took a double take and stared at the ninja. The scene of Shade’s death flashed through her mind briefly: a ninja stabbing the knight clean through with her katana. PFA stabbing Shade clean through. The murderer! That is not important right now, a voice which was not her own hissed in her mind, You must retrieve the gem… you must. She looked around, searching for anyone who might be talking to her. Meanwhile, her gut was being tugged in the direction of the dark forest. A beat pounded in her ears. It was the same kind of beat that the gem had pulsed while she still had it in her hand. Retrieve the gem, the voice hissed again. Speck closed her eyes, trying to fight off the voice. She needed to follow her Captain’s orders, she needed to stay where her crewmates were. Forget them. The gem is more important. The gem can offer you power, riches beyond your wildest dreams, as many lemons as you please.When her eyes opened again, they were a dark purple. As dark as the gem, her irises, pupils, and whites were completely covered by the darkness. Speck drew her sword, running off in the direction of the forest. Running off in the direction of the gem.
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:15:51 GMT -5
Strife((Mage Manor - Guest Bedroom))"I'm not really sure where Goosh is... but, the Manor can take us there," said the kitsune knight to Leoness. "Ikkin... can you take this mage to look at Goosh?" asked the pirate. "Float her around, if necessary. I'm not doubting Kat's healing abilities, but to me Goosh didn't look like he needed healing, more like... diagnosing. Either way."
"Okay, I'll do that."Leoness was suddenly caught by surprise as her body was magically lifted from the bed until she was floating an inch or two above the floor. The kitsune seemed to be controlling the movement of the air around them with some kind of magical energy, and to be honest, it made Leoness feel very relaxed. No bed in the world could compare to resting on thin air. But of course, now was not really the time to enjoy the sensation. The kitsune stretched her hand towards Leoness. She grabbed hold and waited for the wind to carry her forward. * * * ((The Forest South of Dunburrow))Amidst the chaotic storm and the darkness of the night, two more spacecraft descended from the sky, unnoticed by the terrestrials on NTWF. The first ship belonged to Spacefleet Cadet Bacon, and had no problem landing amongst the forest trees. The second ship was larger in size, and as it landed, the leaves that blanketed the ground were violently tossed away by the jets. It was a dropship carrying a score of marines to reinforce The Commander's mission. The dropship's door silently sweeped open, and the marines began to jump out of it one at a time. Some of them were wearing small backpacks, and all of them were holding a laser weapon of some sort in their hands. Subcommander #4 was the last to exit. After Subcommander Cyclops issued the new orders, he had volunteered to lead the marines to the surface rather than accompanying Zari's landing party. After all the marines left the dropship, he made a few motions with his hands, and two of the marines rushed back into the dropship to guard it in case anybody should find their landing spot. ((When it comes to the marines and unnamed subcommanders, any of the 'Fleeters are free to control them. Just make sure to let your fellow 'Fleeters know before doing anything major with them. ^_^)) IkkinThe scenery shifted around Ikkin and Leoness as Ikkin willed the Manor to take her to Goosh. Within seconds, they found themselves right by the wall of the Manor where Goosh had collapsed. Apparently no one had thought to take him inside. Goosh appeared just as unconscious as he had when they had left him. "Can you wake him up?" Ikkin asked anxiously, worried for the little Yurble. She just wanted him woken up as quickly as possible so they could all go back inside and figure out how to deal with the gem. ...well, that was only partially true. She also wanted him woken up as quickly as possible because Rider was facing off with an angry ninja only feet away, and that never boded well for anyone else in the vicinity. What could the ninja want? she wondered. The gem? But, why? Bacon"Looks like I made it just in time for the parade..." Bacon muttered to himself. He didn't really like the marines- well, the majority of them anyways- and disliked their presence in any case, as he was something between pacifist and coward. "Good day, Subcommander Cyclops!" He greeted the... thing...who seemed to be in charge. Surf((Just outside Mage Manor)) The ninja pleaded with Surf, but her fierce anger blocked out all pleas. She was glad that at least Rider appreciated her help, because Omni, the poor fool, didn’t, and tried to stop the fight. If only she knew what those ninjas had done, how they were responsible for Shade’s death… Surf didn’t have time to respond, however, because Hunty entered in on the scene, asking what was going on. “Well, I was going to meet up with the rest of you guys back out here to find this ninja attacking Rider. And the doors would be open because I needed a way to get out here, and I can’t exactly walk through walls, y'know.” The Ninja looked pleadingly at Surf, Rider, and Omni, and said, “We don't want to hurt anyone. Please... can't you believe me?”Surf replied flatly, “Answer me this: why should I believe you, when you ninjas were responsible for Shade’s death? Why should I believe anything you say at all? For all I know, you could be plotting my demise as I speak, so why in the world would I trust you?” KatBefore she turned on the spot and disappeared from the room, Kat only had one thing to say. "It would be nice if we got the gem back so I can take a closer look at it though. I'll be at the library then." And with that, she disappeared, and reappeared in the Mage Manor library. Despite the feeling of dread that rose and ebbed inside her, somehow being around the towering shelves gave her a tiny spark of hope. * * * Asthielle cursed under her breath, reappearing not too far away from Mage Manor, where she had started. She could not feel her quarry's distinctive aura there...not at Dunburrow. Perhaps she would have more luck here...but if not, she could always ask around... Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))
"You shouldn't have bothered, though it was nice of you," said the person in front of Bluisa. "I wasn't going to stand here and wait for a knight in shining armour to rescue me. I'm quite used to doing the rescue myself."
Cat Assassin hated the spunkiness of the girl, and hissed at her quite stubborn personality. "You don't understand, do you?! The girl behind you is almost immortal! Once she fully awakens, you'll never-"
A very blurry object speeding at high speed halted Cat Assassin into surprise. It flew just inches away from his head and rushed towards the two girls.
"... And don't even think that I am escaping. I shall stand and fight, my arrogant friend."
Bluisa succumbed to her hostage's well-planned attack as Cat Assassin watched helplessly. She took every beating thrown at her, too slow to react to even just one. Shrieks of pain came out from the mage's mouth. Never in her life had she felt so much blood on her face, let alone experiencing the loss of sight.
Bluisa still had her spells, however.
Still shaking, the mage waved her hand at the darkness, the receiver slowly enveloping her. In a matter of seconds, she vanished along with her cover. Cat Assassin knew better how powerful that spell was and quickly turned at the knight, mouthing the words that might disappoint her.
"Remember when I told you about her immortality?"
The feline then looked at the direction where the mage once stood. Moments later, the darkness slowly concentrated on the same spot, revealing a very healthy Bluisa much to her opponent's dismay.
Bluisa smirked as her face was shown to be completely flawless, not to mention the recovery of both her eyes. "You're quite ignorant, eh?" mocked the mage at Celestial into thinking that she was unkillable.
Bluisa knew she should eliminate the dragonet first. It was a minor inconvenience to her.
Besides, it's part of her race's etiquette.
She turned at the dragonet, fixing her eyes at it so she could have a good aim at it. Without chanting anything, purple-black energy started to surround her and the dragonet.
Experience told Cat Assassin not to interfere. He knew what Bluisa was going to do. Out of concern, he turned to the knight.
"If I were you, I'd stay very far away from her right now," he warned before jumping back. He wouldn't want to be killed in an instant. Celestial((Mage Manor library))"You don't understand, do you?! The girl behind you is almost immortal! Once she fully awakens, you'll never-" the feline shouted at Celestial. He should have come earlier if he wanted to stop her but now it was too late. The dragonet was doing it's work as she had asked it too. The mage fell, screaming in pain and not even trying to resist. This was easy...too easy to be true. That mage wasn't somebody who gave up easily. Celestial knew she was right when the mage waved her hands and was wrapped in a shroud of darkness and she disappeared. The dragonet looked confused, it's prey had never disappeared like that but Celestial watched that spot, braced for what she would see when the mage reappeared. The mage was whole again, her eyes and face restored to perfection. She gave Celestial the most arrogant, mocking smirk that Celestial hated. Arrogance never paid off. It's a shame the mage would learn her lesson a little too late. "You're quite ignorant, eh?" the mage laughed. Celestial just scowled but her expression turned to horror as magical enegry began swirling around the dragonet. Horror gave way to anger, stronger than she had ever felt before. How dare she kill a dragon in front of me?! Does she not know the consequences of such an act? was the angry, blinding thought that Celestial had in that moment. A command was sent to the dragonet. *** Huddle as close to my heart as possible. The mage intends to kill you. the Dragon Mage spoke to him. For the first time ever, he questioned her. It will kill you too! I would gladly die if you live he replied. But would I be glad to live if I don't do my duty to our kin? was the responce he got. She was right. *** The energy of the spell followed the dragonet and wrapped itself around it in it's new position, hanging onto Celestial's purple robe by his claws. She winced as it scrabbled for a better grip and scratched her skin. But this was for the best. She noted the sadistic grin on the mage's face. Perfect tiem to tell her that she wasn't the only "immortal". "You might think that you are going to kill two birds with one strone, huh? I'll just let you know that I am the only one who knows were the gem is right now and that I am not afraid to die. I would rather die than see one of my kin murdered before my very eyes and just let it happen. However, you might not want to kill me since you will only kill the human side. The dragon side will remain immortal but wild, with no trace of speech, memory or self-control. It won't hesitate in tearing you apart and scattering your ashes to the wind before you even have a chance to say a fancy spell. But if you feel like searching for the gem and getting torn apart, you are welcome to kill me. I'm sick of being human anyway." she said with infinite calmness and no fear for she had no fear to show. What she said was all true. Celestial spread her arms out in a 'go ahead' gesture, looking the mage straight in the eye. If she decided nto to kill her, Celestial could always figure out her weakness later. If she killed her right now, she will unleash the dragon within. That was never a good thing, especially in confined spaces such as this. Either way, the mage lost. Rider"...But if we don't act fast, someone who really shouldn't get the gem probably will, and who knows what would happen then. We need to stop her before it's too late."Crafty of her, trying to divert Rider's attention. or so Rider thought, until a ghost shot up from behind her and reported poison in Castle Kestrel. "YARG! A GHOST!" Rider pointed her cutlass at the figure. “Answer me this: why should I believe you, when you ninjas were responsible for Shade’s death?""Shade's ghost? it doesn't look like Sha- Wait, WHAT?" PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))"Well maybe if everyone wasn't waving their weapons around and shoving them in eachother's faces it'd be easier to talk," Keng said, glancing over at the arrow in the nearby tree. Jernath was about to say something in response, but Keng interrupted him. "What's going on is some idiot decided to mess around with magic making a pretty purple storm of uncertain doom that made The Commander crash land rather spectacularly on his way down to have a nice chat with the demon's rights activist." Jernath blinked, trying to figure out exactly what Keng was talking about. Storm? Like that cloud he saw from a distance? And... Commander? The 'demon's rights activist,' he figured, was Kit... but besides that, he was pretty much lost. "And you would be?" Keng asked, interrupting Jernath's thoughts. He paused for a moment, trying to decide how to answer that question. "I'm Jernath," he decided on. He then gestured to the Kougra brothers, "They're Cyborg and Midknight... we're mercenaries." He hoped he wasn't making a bad decision here, telling her that much. --- ((Mage Manor: near entrance))"Answer me this: why should I believe you, when you ninjas were responsible for Shade’s death?" asked the mage. PFA grimaced; Shade was most likely that knight's name. She knew that would come back to bite her... "Why should I believe anything you say at all?" the mage continued. "For all I know, you could be plotting my demise as I speak, so why in the world would I trust you?""I... I..." PFA tried to say something, but the words weren't coming to her. How in the NTWF was she supposed to convince this mage to trust her? There wasn't exactly an easy way to say 'you can trust me'... and this mage was angry, which made it that much harder. "YARG! A GHOST!" Rider shouted, distracting PFA. PFA stifled a giggle; it was rather funny, and she couldn't help it. She just hoped she wouldn't regret it later. "He says there's poison magic in the Knight's Castle..." PFA said. With all this speaking what came to her mind lately, it came almost without her wanting it to. "Something bad's out there.” Celestial((Outside Mage Manor- Underneath the tree))
Fighting, swords clashing, shouting and destruction filled Overlord's dreams but they were intense. More intense than this worst nightmares before this. He felt frightened and lost, unable to help any of the dying being rooted to the ground and unable to fly. A figure wreathed in purple smoke walked up to him carrying the limp body of a girl. Wings were hanging from her back. He shuddered. It couldn't be...
A sudden light hit the figure and the corpse and Overlord fell back, revolted as his fears were confirmed. The corpse was Celestial's and the normally purple robes were dark with blood, some shades lighter than others, clearly not her own. He was rooted to the spot by the horrible sight. Why was he not dead when she was? That was how their bond worked. The firgure carrying Celestial looked him right in the eyes. He would never forget them.
The figure turned to him and dropped Celestial on the ground, a malicious smile spreading across its face as the figure outstreched it's hand and grabbed Overlord by the tail. He couldn't do anything about it but just watch as the figure took out a cruel-looking knife and pierced his heart.
He awoke with a start, feeling less tired despite his troubled sleep. At least it was only a dream. A dream made more horrible and frightening by the gem by still a dream. However, the battle was real. A ninja and a pirate were fighting for no reason which he could determine with a group of mages around them, trying to help the pirate. This wasn't the time for petty squabbles! What they should be doing is uniting to fight a common enemy! He had seen what would happen if they didn't!
Tucking the gem as much under his wing as he could, he assumed the general wingless weewoo shape with only a small lump where the gem was. Without any further thought to himself, he waddled to the edge of the group and let out the most earsplitting shriek he could to divert their attentions from each other.
Trust each other and this will all end well! Put aside your quarrels for the ninja is telling the truth. She only wants to help the thought at the pirate and mages. Enough time has been wasted and enough blood has been spilled already. Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))
Somehow, the dragonet Bluisa was focusing on tried to move from its spot. The dark energy that surrounded it slowly transferred to its master's side. Bluisa had no choice but to focus her spell on both dragonet and the knight.
Her human enemy then uttered warnings about her dragon side, trying to scare Bluisa into thinking that the mage would suffer the consequences of killing her opponent in her sight. The knight then opened her arms in an attempt to receive her spell completely.
Empty threats. She thought they were empty threats.
"Hon, there's a reason why even immortal dragons do not exist anymore back in my place," justified Bluisa. She then went ahead in finishing the spell.
Darkness, reveal your power of gloom Around my opponent, forget that you loom Show your real wrath and her real doom!
The dark energy then slowly condensed into black walls, closing in on Bluisa's opponent. Bluisa knew it would mean death for her opponent, but something about what she said troubled her a bit.
Bluisa then pulled out something from her cloak.
Cat Assassin was rendered unable to do anything during the battle. Even his experiences could not help him stop the two from fighting. He was only able to move once again when something fast approached him.
The feline caught it with his hands. It was Bluisa's crystal ball.
He looked at a teary Bluisa, not knowing if he should feel empathy for her. "You almost got it right, Cat Assassin..." Bluisa started, her sobs trying to interrupt. "I may look and act similarly like her... But my intentions are true. I am here to revive Vyt, not her..."
"... I am simply a remnant of her memories. I never wanted her to be revived."
Noting that her spell was reaching its climax, she waved her hand once more towards the ball. It revealed the image of a very peculiar-looking Weewoo carrying the gem under its wings. "Please, continue my mission. Revive Vyt so the gem would not be used for other evil purposes," she breathed out, more tears coming out of her eyes.
Cat Assassin did not reveal it through his face, but he was saddened by the truth. She would not be able to cry so hard, he convinced himself. He then realized he should really finish the mission, not for the sake of Vyt but for the others.
Cat Assassin gave a quick nod and headed for the door.
The smirk on the face of Bluisa revealed to actually be an energetic smile. Celestial"Hon, there's a reason why even immortal dragons do not exist anymore back in my place,” the mage spoke, trying to deny Celestial's words. Celestial couldn't care less what the mage thought, that didn't make the reality of the death less. It was the last thing she saw before the black walls closed in around her and the dragonet. It cheeped, scared and she stroked its gently curving wing. "Have no fear, little one. Dying isn't as terrible as the legends say" she whispered softly as the dark energy prepared to kill the dragonet as well as Celestial. Soon, only her dragon side will remain. Her magic will die with her human side. The last Dragon Mage prepared for death. Only the words of a song echoed in her mind. Do all those who lie here know why they died? Did you really believe them when they told you the cause? Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Huntress((Outside Mage Manor)) Hunty's eyebrow twitched as she watched the scenes unfold in front of her eyes, and Speck's behavior didn't make things any better. "This," she said to the universe in general, watching the pirate's disappearing back, "does not bode well." "Y'think?" Bloody Mary asked with a scowl. "Well, t'was to be expected. It's that stupid gem. It affects everyone around it. Remember Kit? And now Speck. Hunty, I do agree that we need to research it, but that bloody thing is dangerous." "Did it have an effect on you?" Huntress asked back. "I know it didn't really affect me. Or the weasels, apart from the usual shiny-reaction." The meepit stared at her, then frowned. "Well, just how many shiny and powerful objects have we all handled during our pirate-life? Speck didn't join until recently. Former ninja, remember? And Kit was-" "A knight," Hunty snarled. "With their rules of chivalry and honesty." "Well, that doesn't make us immune," the meepit said. "But that does make us quite a bit more suitable to handle that thing, us and the mages," the captain said, marching down from the staircase and up to PFA and Rider. "Nonetheless... you, ninja! I think I've missed a memo here. Why're you after that blasted thing? You saw what it does to people. I agree that it's shiny and all, but that's pirate expertise. And you're outnumbered, so pointy things won't help here." "Especially against poison," Bloody Mary muttered, having paid more attention to Zari's message. "Waitwait. You're negotiating with a ninja?" "Desperate times," Hunty grunted. "Well? If I like your answer enough, we might come to an agreement.” Strife((Mage Manor - Outside area))Seconds after Leoness grabbed the knight's hand, the world around her began to shift, and she was whisked away to a different location. Suddenly, she was standing next to the outside wall of the manor. A Yurble creature dessed in pirate clothing was leaning against the wall, unconcious. "Can you wake him up?" said the knight, a hint of anxiousness in her voice. "I believe so," said Leoness. "I think I have a feeling what caused him to collapse, but just to be sure..." As she floated slightly above the ground, she bent down as far as she could and gently placed her hands on Goosh's face to examine it. She moved his head gently in a few directions to see if she could spot any bruises or scratches. "Yep. He doesn't seem to be injured," she said. "I think he may have fainted from either shock or surprise." She stood up and faced the knight. "If you'll help me take him inside, I have a homemade remedy that should wake him up." She smiled a little. "I just need a few baking supplies from the kitchen." * * * Meanwhile, in a hidden area further away from the manor's walls, a small spacecraft landed unnoticed in the forest vegetation. It was Zari's shuttle. Although the Professor's landing was rough, it was nothing that Cyclops hadn't handled before. "You okay there?" she asked. "That was a rough landing. Any broken bones? Nutty clones? I hope you brought 'em. They can smell really well."Cyclops raised his thin, V-shaped eyebrow, wondering if Zari had finally turned into a mad scientist. He didn't think too hard about it though. She knew how to get the job done, which was the important thing. "C'mon. We need to find Leoness," said Zari as she opened the shuttle door. "S o I pr es um e t ha t y ou ar e c om in g w it h m e..." buzzed Cyclops. "I n a ny ca se, he re is my pl an. I w il l l ea ve my su it be hi nd an d a pp ro ac h t he Ch ie f M ed ic al Of fi ce r's lo ca ti on wh il e m as qu er ad in g a s h er pe t. I wi ll no t b e a bl e t o s pe ak, so I c an on ly co mm un ic at e i f s om eo ne is ab le to re ad my th ou gh ts. On ce I m ak e c on ta ct wi th Le on es s, s he wi ll kn ow wh o I am an d t ha t w e a re co mi ng to re tr ie ve he r." * * * ((The Forest South of Dunburrow))"Good day, Subcommander Cyclops!" announced Bacon. "I'm not Cyclops," replied Subcommander #4, his eyebrows furrowed. "Although I wish I was. Sometimes I think that snotball gets all the glory just because of his relationship with The Commander." "Sir," said one of the marines while scurrying over to #4's location, "We've packed our supplies and we're standing by for your orders." "Good," replied #4. "I've pinpointed the location of The Commander. Gather up the others and we'll zone in on his position. After the area is secure, we'll setup a temporary outpost in this section of the forest." He turned to Bacon. "You can either guard the ships or come with us. It's up to you, Cadet.” Amneiger"I don't know telepathy, so I can't go," said Amneiger in response to Cyclops. "I'll stay with the shuttle and if something goes wrong I'll try to help." Amneiger reached over and began to unbuckle the minitanks. Ikkin"I believe so," Leoness replied. "I think I have a feeling what caused him to collapse, but just to be sure..."Well, that was a relief, Ikkin thought. If Leoness knew what was wrong with Goosh, she'd hopefully be able to heal him quickly. Ikkin really was starting to get antsy with everything going on. Leoness bent down and placed her hands on Goosh's face, examining it, then gently moved his head around, apparently looking for injuries. Ikkin watched, but she couldn't really tell much from it. It was a good thing Leoness was a healer, Ikkin thought. "Yep. He doesn't seem to be injured," Leoness said. "I think he may have fainted from either shock or surprise." She stood up, looking at Ikkin. "If you'll help me take him inside, I have a homemade remedy that should wake him up. I just need a few baking supplies from the kitchen."Ikkin really wanted to get this over with without moving around any more than was strictly necessary, but it wasn't like there was any other option. At least the Manor would make this easier. "Okay, I'll take you there," she said, bending down and picking Goosh up, then standing next to Leoness. "Just hold on, and think 'kitchen,'" she said, doing so herself. Once more, the scenery began to shift around her, the wall of the Manor being replaced by a very large and open kitchen. A long, ornate wooden tall table stood in front of Ikkin, with many red-cushioned stools surrounding it on all sides. The kitchen, like the rest of the Manor, reacted to the desires of those within, so Ikkin willed three of the stools to combine and turn into a long couch, which she then laid Goosh down on. Once she had done this, she pointed over to a divider past the near end of the table. "The actual kitchen, with supplies and such, is behind there," she said. "There'll be a bunch of cabinets and a refrigerator. Just make sure to think of what you want before you open them, or who knows what'll be in there." *** After several minutes, Sev finally stopped blowing healing phoenix fire over Nature. If that dark energy wasn't gone by now, there was nothing he could do.
Besides, there was a huge amount of dark energy coming from somewhere near the entrance of the Manor, and he needed to know what was causing it. Maybe it was that gem again?
No, it probably wasn't, he realized as he studied the magical signatures in the area. The dark energy was definitely coming from a person - and not one who he recognized. How did that person get in?! he wondered in surprised. The Manor was supposed to have a defense against intruders! There were also two other signatures in the room - one feline, and one draconic - along with another draconic one that seemed to be too small to be another person. The two draconic signatures seemed to be fading.
There was definitely something wrong down there. He would have to move quickly.
Instead of allowing the Manor to transport him around as the Mages were in a habit of doing, Sev preferred to teleport himself using his fire. So, that's what he did. He disappeared from the side room in a flash of flame, instantly reappearing next to the dark energy signature with the most powerful phoenix fire he could muster without risking burning down the entire Manor.
Hopefully, he'd catch the dark signature off guard. That always made things much easier.((Dragon!Celes sounds interesting, but... I don't want Overlord to die. So, you get Sev-reinforcements. =3)) PFA((Mage Manor: near entrance))"You, ninja!"PFA looked in the direction the voice came from. It seemed to be one of the other pirates, one she was pretty sure she had seen before... Isn't that the new pirate captain? she thought to herself. The pirates and ninjas hadn't really fought lately, thus she hadn't seen their new captain much. She was pretty sure that was who this was, though. "I think I've missed a memo here. Why're you after that blasted thing?" the pirate continued. "You saw what it does to people. I agree that it's shiny and all, but that's pirate expertise. And you're outnumbered, so pointy things won't help here."PFA pondered for a moment, not exactly sure how to answer that question. She wasn't sure the pirate would understand about Vyt, and there was no way PFA could ever explain. Feelings like that were impossible to explain. But she couldn't say nothing... "Well? If I like your answer enough, we might come to an agreement," the pirate added, as if to emphasize that thought. "I... we..." PFA started, still not exactly sure what she was going to say. "...We heard that the gem can... can bring people back." That was as much as she could bring herself to say, and even that was pushing it. Maybe they'll understand anyway, PFA hoped. ZariZari nodded. 'Yes. I can understand telepathy, as long as it is in Anglese or one of the Sievez Qatron's languages. I'm coming. We can invent an excuse. I'm good at excuses. They made up my life for a good year or so.' Zari pulled a heavy black cloak over her shoulders and put the hood up. For then, at least, her facial features were obscured. Safe. Ienalle licked one paw and rubbed it over her ears. <Ienalle> And me! And me!> Zari sighed. 'Tza, Ienalle, you too.' ((Sievez Qatron is Ilhvren for 'Second Quater', and Anglese is english.)) Rikku((Outside Mage Manor)) Rikku watched as Drakhé shape-shifted back into a dragon, trying to hold back admiration. She would have to ask him to tell her how he did that one day. The ghost thing probably had something to do with it … She forced herself to concentrate. The situation in front of the Manor seemed … odd. A number of sharp pointy things were directed at one person in particular, a ninja. Rikku wondered why, but it didn’t really matter. “Fred, Larry, Steve!” she called. The zombies were surprisingly fast, considering that their leg muscles were decomposing by now. “Surround everyone. If they make a move to attack anyone, then … um … stop them?” She thought that she saw Steve’s eyes glinting dangerously, though it could have just been a maggot. “But, er, not too forcibly.” She then rounded on the people. “Okay, guys, please try to be sensible here, and don’t attack me.” Nice one, Rikku. “I’ve had a bad day! So here was this gem, messing with my mind and the weather …” Rikku glanced up. There were the storm clouds, in all their ominous purple glory. “And then there’s this mysterious ‘Spacefleet’, and an absolutely idiotic vampire, and a pile of mysterious dead who don’t stay as dead as they should … no offence, guys,” she added hastily, smiling at the zombies. “And, as if that wasn’t enough, I come back to the Manor to see what my friends make of it all, to find everyone biting each other’s heads off! … Fred, I didn’t mean that literally. So could somebody please tell me what in Neopia is going …” She paused and frowned, something that the ninja girl had said finally sinking in. “Wait. The gem can ‘bring people back’?” Rikku sighed, rubbing her thumb along the edge of her wand’s sharp edges. “Great. Just what I needed.” Bacon"I'm not Cyclops. Although I wish I was. Sometimes I think that snotball gets all the glory just because of his relationship with The Commander."Bacon looked again at the Subcommander. Hmm, somehow I messed up somebody's name. That's never happened before... At least I got the first part right... Let's see, what is this guy's name? I want to say '#4', but surely that can't be right.The Subcommander was speaking again, "You can either guard the ships or come with us. It's up to you, Cadet."Bacon tensed slightly. He preferred the honorary title of "Head Mechanic", but since there weren't any other mechanics other than automated repair machines, most of the officers refered to him as "Cadet". "Last time I guarded something... well, it wasn't a pretty story. I'm coming with you, Subcommander Joe." Bacon said, twirling his stunner the way a gunslinger might. Wait, Subcommander Joe's the guy with the scar on his nose... what is this guy's name? Surf((Just outside Mage Manor)) The ninja seemed at a loss for words, which only made Surf more suspicious. Add this to the fact that she hadn’t gotten any sleep at all, and this was one stubborn mage. Before Surf could continue her tirade, however, a ghost appeared out of nowhere. Surf didn’t notice this, however, until Rider shrieked. The surprised mage jumped, accidentally hitting herself on the head with her staff. “Oww…” she said, rubbing her head. “Why’d you have to yell like that? Now I-” She was cut off by another voice in her head, which informed her of the presence of poison in Castle Kestrel; she suspected it was the ghost. Huntress asked the ninja what she wanted with the gem, and the girl revealed that she had heard a rumor that it could bring back the dead. But the question is, who does she want to revive? the mage thought to herself. Before she could voice this question, Rikku entered the area, and began describing the weird things that had happened to her that day. “Hey Rikku,” exclaimed Surf with a wave. The necromancer asked what was going on, to which Surf replied, “Well, I was leaving the Manor when I found her (she gestured at PFA) attacking Rider. I went to go help out my friend and Omni and Hunty came and began interrogating the ninja, and that’s about it as far as I can tell. And as for the gem, we have absolutely no idea what it can and can’t do, these are just rumors.” Kwoiffei((Mage Manor - Just outside, at the entrance)) This was really not Drakhé's day. When he, Rikku and the zombies had arrived, some his fears seemed to be confirmed. It was a largely one-sided battle; a large crowd against a smaller one. Only, there wasn't any fighting... for the moment. To the dragon's relief, Rikku was the one to step in and ask what the heck was going on. He decided to hang back. He knew that should something happen, he would have to act, and quickly... but he really did not want to do that. So he listened as Rikku ranted about her day, mentally making comments. A gem?... So I'm not the only one... Space what?... Vampire?!... Revive the dead?Then another mage - Surf, he recognised - explained things to the necromancer. Something seemed to hang over him, though. The gem... the weather... reviving the dead... where have I heard that before? Cyborg((The Forest South of Dunburrow)) " Um Jernath me and Keng already know each other. We were shipmates on the Weewoo. No Keng I'm just takin a break. I just met up with an old friend and joined the Merc's and don't worry Jernath we can trust Keng. She was one of the only ones who didn't think it was good to leave me on an island while I was unconcious." Cyborg said recalling when he was almost left to die. " But me and Keng haven't met yet." Midknight said. Rider"...We heard that the gem can... can bring people back.""Well, it seems to be bringing together a pretty little crowd here," Rider said, not understanding. Rikku and her zombies approached. "I see dead people," Rider said, just to break the dead-seriousness of the scene, as well as the fourth wall. “Wait. The gem can ‘bring people back’? Great. Just what I needed.”The full meaning of what PFA was saying finally sunk in. "Oh hell... I know your intentions are good, kid, but the laws of Life and Death aren't to be messed with, no offence to your dear self," she said to Rikku. "Using the gem, especially for such an unnatural purpose, will just heap destruction upon us all." Kat((Mage Manor - Library))But just as Kat was about to pick out a book or three from the shelves, she heard several noises, and felt the presence of other mages. It was not good - they were definitely there to do much more than just research. She held out her wand, which promptly grew into a staff, and created a wave of violet energy that rippled from her...it would touch no books - after all, she could not bear to lose any crucial information - and it wasn't a very damaging spell, but it should be enough to knock back anyone who was hit with it. And just as fast as she had cast it, she fell onto her knees, breathing hard and gripping her staff so hard that it hurt. She had to stop being so impulsive with her magic Huntress((Outside Mage Manor)) Huntress grimaced, listening to PFA. Bringing people back? Rider's comments made the idea all the more clear. "Oh hell... I know your intentions are good, kid, but the laws of Life and Death aren't to be messed with,"said Rider, and Hunty couldn't help but agree. She rather liked zombies; from what she knew, they tended to be rather quiet and stoical - as they knew that there really wasn't much that could happen to them - and they were also pretty good with a needle and thread. But they were still unnatural, and could get really powerful and bloodthirsty. But she was a pirate, not a knight, and she didn't care much about right and wrong. She shot a thoughtful glance at the sky that was getting restless again. "Remember those three at the castle?" she asked nobody in particular. "That so-called Invisible Guild. We don't know their plans, but I do suspect that theirs don't coincide with ours. And we don't know how many there are. And we don't know what they're up to, or what their limits are. And," now she grinned, "we're but humble pirates, looking for a little shiny gold to keep ourselves afloat. We don't care if you plan to resurrect all your ancestors with it. For enough money, we don't care about anything." Bloody Mary's eyes widened and then narrowed as he processed that sentence. "Uh, Hunty, you can't very well bargain with a gem that you, one, don't currently have, and two, probably can't sell to her. Ninjas aren't known for their riches and that thingy has a very high value, I can tell that without being any kind of expert." "In this situation, there are things that are, can't believe I'm about to say that, worth more than money," said the captain, and looked at PFA. "Y'see, ninja, the way I see it, you want the gem. We want the gem. We both have our reasons. Neither of us currently has said gem, but if we're to find it, we end up having it. If you're to find it, we still end up having it, because you're outnumbered. So what we could do is sell you the gem for, shall we say... the ninjas." She spread her arms with a wide grin. "An alliance. You get your gem, and in return we get your services in the war that's currently so nicely hanging above our heads in all its invisible glory, and won't have to worry about getting backstabbed in the middle of a battle." "Em," began Bloody Mary, who still saw the bargain as kind of uneven. "But," Hunty continued, "if, by some strange twist of events you should get the gem and the upper hand, then I'm offering you the same thing. An alliance, and our services of not backstabbing you in a battle in exchange for the gem. I have a few tiny little plans with it. And nobody's saying we both can't use it... savvy?" "We still don't know what it's capable of," the meepit said grimly. "What if it breaks after the first person uses it?" "Well, that's why the person who has the upper hand gets to use it first," Hunty said. "Whatcha say? Fair enough?" PFA((Mage Manor: near entrance))The reactions of the mages and pirates weren't far from what would be expected. Generally, they were shocked. Rider started saying some stuff about tampering with life and death, which PFA wasn't exactly sure what to think of. People had been revived before, and nothing ever really went wrong... did it? "Remember those three at the castle?" the pirate captain asked, interrupting PFA's thoughts. "That so-called Invisible Guild. We don't know their plans, but I do suspect that theirs don't coincide with ours. And we don't know how many there are. And we don't know what they're up to, or what their limits are. And..."PFA listened silently as the pirate captain started discussing a deal. She suggested that the ninjas could ally with the pirates, and in return they'd get the gem. PFA wasn't exactly sure what to think of the concept of pirates and ninjas working together... but this way, she wouldn't get stabbed by the pirates. Nor, seeing as the pirates were allied with them, the mages... which really sounded good right then. "But," the pirate continued, "if, by some strange twist of events you should get the gem and the upper hand, then I'm offering you the same thing. An alliance, and our services of not backstabbing you in a battle in exchange for the gem. I have a few tiny little plans with it. And nobody's saying we both can't use it... savvy?"
"We still don't know what it's capable of," the Meepit on the pirate's shoulder growled. "What if it breaks after the first person uses it?"
"Well, that's why the person who has the upper hand gets to use it first," the pirate replied. She then turned to PFA again, "Whatcha say? Fair enough?"PFA wasn't exactly sure how to respond. She didn't have any authority over the rest of the ninjas... but the not-getting-stabbed part was really appealing to her. That, and the chance of using the gem... She shrugged, "Sounds good to me... I can't guarantee the approval of the other ninjas, though.” Celestial((Outside Mage Manor)) The battle ceased even though nobody shot the weewoo a passing glace. Maybe that was better Overlord thought, a silent witness to the pirate captian and the ninja making an agreement about the gem. He was glad he had tucked it under his wing. Who knew what they would do if they found out how close the gem was to them. Nervously and hoping he wouldn't be noticed, Overlord waddled away.
Suddenly a silent scream filled his mind. Celestial was in mortal danger! He opened his wings and grabbed the gem in his claws, making sure that it would stay and not fall out. He didn't dare to risk it coming into the hands of somebody who wanted to use it for evil. Without wasting another second he took off in a flurry of white wings and feathers, leaving the negotiators behind.
When he reached the tree and the window, it closed as if in a whoosh of air. Overlord screeched at it but it wouldn't budge. He put the gem into the fork in the branches and landed on the window ledge. Strangely, it opened to just his hieght. Realising that the gem would have been less help than hinderance anyway, he went into the Manor for the second time.
Overlord quickly flew into the library. A horrible sight met his eyes. Black energy surrounded his mistress and another draconic form he couldn't identify. A mage was commanding it and for a moment, he wanted to rip her face off. However, he wasn't the only one watching her. A phoenix, glowing bright hot, was also hovering and trying to disrupt the dark power.
"What is going on? Can I help?" he mind-called the phoenix. Maybe he could give Overlord some answers and hopefully help save Celestial. Speck(( The Forest )) Speck rushed through the forest, stopping for nothing. The one who possessed her knew that it wouldn’t be long before they reached their destination. It chuckled to itself as it used the pirate’s body to avoid any obstacles in its way. The pirate screamed in her mind, ‘Stop! Please, stop!’
It’s no use, weakling. You’re under my control now, The voice laughed cruelly, leaving a smirk on Speck’s lips. ’You’re going to push my body to its limits. You’re going to kill me if you keep this up!’ She talked to the shadow in her mind, hoping to reason with it to let her go. Ha! You think I care about your body? Once it’s gone, I’ll be free. You will be free: you will never have to pick another side again,
What do you mean? How could she believe something that used her body against her own will? You think I haven’t noticed? You hide it from yourself every time there’s a conflict between the guilds! Ninjas? Pirates? Do you think the sides matter after death? They don’t.Speck listened silently as her body jumped clean over another large rock. You are not a pirate. You are not a ninja. You are a rogue, and you side with no one but yourself.
That’s not true! Arguing was pointless: she knew this being was telling the truth. It only took a point of view outside her own to confirm her own suspicions. Her vocal chords let out a laugh as her body led her closer and closer to a man who was at the center of an orbit of rocks. The sword she had previously drawn was soon back in its sheath. The Possessor knew that it did not want to appear hostile in order to convince the man to hand over the gem. Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))"Tired... Too tired..."Bluisa dropped down once more, fatigued by her last spell. Though it was not enough for her not to notice the two beings who had just entered the room, she was in no more condition to react. She cursed herself for using the dark restoration spell too early. " I might've been able to assist Cat Assassin if it weren't for the dragoness..." she thought. Bluisa shot a glance at a phoenix. Its flaming body gave warmth to the room, and even though the mage was somehow resentful about the bright light, she felt comfortable getting so warm. "I beg of you," she spoke, half-gasping for air. "Stay away from that girl if you want to live." She had enough seeing blood for the day. * * * Cat Assassin watched at Bluisa's crystal ball as it changed its image once more. The bird that was carrying the gem was back in the library, furious at whatever it had seen. The feline knew he had just been given another opportunity to grab the gem in an attempt to revive Vyt. He could not blow that chance again. Known for his swiftness and stealth, Cat Assassin managed to enter the library once more without any detection from anyone hopefully. He then looked around, noticing the gem shine once more. The bright light passed through the wings of the bird, giving him a clear view of where it was. Without further ado, Cat Assassin jumped at the bird, his hands stretched out towards catching it. Strife((EDIT: I should probably decrease the font size. ^^; )) ((Mage Manor - Kitchen))
Once again, Leoness found herself whisked away to another area. This time, it was a large and spacious dining room next to the kitchen where she had met Aeri and Scar several hours ago. There was a large, round table in the center surrounded by stools.
To her astonishment, three of the stools slid together and magically merged into a couch. The knight, who was carrying Goosh, set him down on the couch. She then lifted her finger towards the cooking area.
"The actual kitchen, with supplies and such, is behind there. There'll be a bunch of cabinets and a refrigerator. Just make sure to think of what you want before you open them, or who knows what'll be in there."
"Okay," replied Leoness while nodding her head. "This should only take a few minutes."
Leoness walked (or rather, floated) into the kitchen and stood in front of the refrigerator. She gripped the handle tightly and tried to focus her mind, as though she was politely asking the manor to create an ingredient for her. After a few seconds of concentration, she opened the fridge. To her surprise and happiness, the entire inside of it was filled with egg cartons.
That's much more than I need, but thank you Ms. Manor, she thought to herself. She opened one of the drawers that was overflowing with white eggs, picked one of them, and closed the fridge. Then, she walked over to a set of cupboards beside the fridge and recited a list of ingredients in her mind. Flour, sugar, chocolate, vanilla extract... Flour, sugar, chocolate, vanilla extract...
She opened the cupboard door, and the four items were placed gently inside in a neat row. She scooped them up into her arms and placed them on the counter. Afterwards, she closed the cupboard, conentrated one more time, and opened it again. A set of cooking tools were now inside, and she placed them on the counter one by one: a large bowl, a small bowl, a set of weight scales, a large wooden spoon, a few other miscellaneous utensils, and...
Leoness blinked her eyes several times at the sight of the last item. Was she dreaming this? She couldn't be...
In the back of cupboard was a white carnation, which was her favorite kind of flower. Strife would sometimes pick some for her when he returned to Spacefleet HQ from the planet. She must have been thinking about him in the back of her mind when she opened the cupboard.
She began to arrange the tools and ingredients on the table. As her hands started to cook the remedy, her mind wandered elsewhere. The carnation reminded her fondly of Strife...
It was about a week ago. Leoness was relaxing in a silver rocking chair in her quarters. Balls of colored yarn were scattered around the floor, and she was knitting a dark blue scarf with white spots that twinkled like the stars. Years of practice had allowed her to knit clothing with great dexterity.
Unexpectedly, the door to the room slid open, and The Commander walked inside. He was no longer wearing his bulky armor, but a black suit that covered his whole body except for his hands and head. The suit had ridges on it which looked similar to chainmail, and he normally wore it underneath his armor.
"I have discovered something..." he said, looking at the lioness woman.
"And what would that be?" replied Leoness, looking up with a smirk on her face.
"My scanner has detected the presence of Beautiful in this room." He smiled amusingly, pulling a white carnation flower out from behind him.
"Aaawww..."
Leoness blushed. She removed herself from her rocking chair, took the flower, and gave him a warm embrace. She rested her head on his shoulder and held him close, and he did the same.
"You're so sweet to me, Strife..." she said quietly.
"It's only because you're such a sweet woman," Strife replied.
"If only you could treat your officers with such kindness..."
"We've talked about it many times before, my love. You're the only person i'll ever need to give my affection to."
Leoness had always been concerned about Strife's cruelty to his officers. She had brought up the issue many times with him, but her efforts to soften him never worked, and she had pretty much given up on changing him. He was who he was, and it didn't make her feel right to force him into becoming a person that he didn't want to become.
Despite her worries, it still made her melt with happiness whenever Strife proclaimed his love to her. It made her feel like the luckiest girl in the universe.
The two lovers took a few steps backwards and stared into each other's eyes longingly. Time always seemed to stand still when she looked into his eyes.
"Did you find what you were looking for on the surface?" she finally asked.
"Indeed, I did." Before leaving, Strife had told her he was looking for a strange artifact, although he didn't say specifically what it was. He didn't feel comfortable telling her the whole story, since he didn't want her to worry. "It was some kind of old magical gem. I extracted a fragment of it, and i'm about to head to the laboratory to examine its properties. On a similar note, did you find what you were looking for as well?"
"Uhm, no. All these balls of yarn are only holographic projections."
Strife raised an eyebrow, a confused look on his face.
Leoness giggled and brushed her nose against his. "I'm just teasing you, silly!"
Strife started to laugh too.
A smile spread across her face. He could be so clueless sometimes.
She had mixed all of the ingredients into a large bowl during her daydream. She had cooked this so many times before that she could do it in her sleep if she wanted to.
She set down the bowl, picked up the carnation, and brushed its soft pedals against her nose. Even though she knew that the manor created the flower, it still made her feel as though Strife was watching over her... protecting her with his invisible hands. After a moment of smelling the flower's sweet scent, she picked the bowl up again and proceeded to mix the ingredients with a wooden spoon.
* * *
Meanwhile, in Zari's shuttle...
"I don't know telepathy, so I can't go," said Amneiger in response to Cyclops. "I'll stay with the shuttle and if something goes wrong I'll try to help."
"Yes," said Zari as she nodded her head, "I can understand telepathy, as long as it is in Anglese or one of the Sievez Qatron's languages. I'm coming. We can invent an excuse. I'm good at excuses. They made up my life for a good year or so." The professor dressed herself in a black cloak that obscured her appearance.
"And me! And me!" replied Zari's companion, Ienalle.
"Very well then," said Cyclops. "I will leave my suit and follow the two of you. No sense in pretending to be the leader of this operation. I doubt any of the terrestrials would believe me if I said so." His suit produced a chuckling noise.
The dome helmet of the suit flipped around and sank into the neck. Cyclops crawled like a fast slug out of the suit and and jumped down. His body jiggled as he landed on the ground.
I am ready when you are, he thought.
((The Forest South of Dunburrow))
"Last time I guarded something... well, it wasn't a pretty story." said Bacon to Subcommander #4 "I'm coming with you, Subcommander Joe."
#4 facepalmed. "I'm Surly. Joe is my twin brother, and Charlie's face was cosmetically altered to look exactly like mine for security reasons. But I outrank you anyway, so technically you should be calling me Sir."
Charlie pulled an energy cell out of his pocket and loaded it into his blaster. "Now let's move!" he shouted to everyone in the vicinity. "The Commander isn't planning to wait for us." Omni((Mage manor, front lawn)) Omni continued to stand and keep the fight broken up as the others around her… discussed… the gem, and how it probably shouldn't be used. She lowered and shook her head briefly before speaking. "What she did, and wants to do with the gem, doesn't matter at the moment, we can focus on that later. If she's right, and there really is someone who will definitely use the gem for bad, who is close to getting it, we should stop them." And she is in serious need of healing, she thought as she held up her tail, near PFA, and started to use her healing ability. --- ((Zari's shuttle)) As Ethan saw the others work on their disguises, he thought of something… "Does anyone have a hat, and some skin-colored make up stuff?" Siber started to run off away from the ship, but Ethan quickly called him back. Siber trotted back to the ship, somewhat annoyed that he couldn't get away from the crazy shaking machine yet.
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:20:15 GMT -5
Zari
'I've got another cloak. Y'might trip over the edges, so be careful.' Zari threw a cloak at Ethan, and covered the Spacefleet tag on Siber's sollar with smears of some sort of black powder. 'There.' she did to same thing for Ienalle, and covered the Butterfly-shaped mark on her shoulder with more black stuff. 'I'm a fire mage. I could always say it was a botched teleport or somesuch. You can use some of this to cover your implants.' Zari retrieved her stave from the shuttle and waved it in a random direction. 'ONWARD! For now it is our solemn duty...I forgot the rest. Whoops.' She grinned.
Bacon
"I'm Surly. Joe is my twin brother, and Charlie's face was cosmetically altered to look exactly like mine for security reasons. But I outrank you anyway, so technically you should be calling me Sir."
Ah, that's right... Charlie, Joe, and Surly. Wait... why does that sound familiar? Jerry, Soe and Churly? That's a little more clear, but not quite right...
"Yes, Subcommander, Sir." Bacon said when the officer gave the order to move out, following the marines as they headed into the forest. He kept his eyes out for signs of movement. Not that he'd see anything before the combat trained marines did.
Ikkin
"What is going on? Can I help?" Sev heard echo in his mind. Someone was talking to him telepathically, but he wasn't quite sure who.
"I'm just taking care of a dark mage who seems to think she owns the place," Sev thought back. "It shouldn't take long."
Sev then turned his attention to the dark mage, glaring at her. "I beg of you," she said, gasping for air. "Stay away from that girl if you want to live."
"Hah, idle threats," Sev said. "You are in no position to make a bargain after attacking a Mage, particularly in your condition. You're pathetic."
Sev smirked, disappeared, then reappeared right behind the dark mage with a flash of fire. "Actually, I feel sorry for you, standing around and panting like that. So I'll just put you out of your misery, then."
He used his fire, allowing the flames only to lick at the dark mage's feet. "Oh, wait... you don't want that? Well, you stop your magic and I'll stop mine." He turned up the heat, not bothering to wait for a response.
The mage should last long enough to reply anyway, he thought.
((Vyt, Sev was supposed to appear and instantly create fire around him to try to burn Bluisa, not just teleport. But, whatever.))
***
Leraye had been using his stone for a very long time, but even he was surprised by the odd, storm-like whirl of colors around him as he was transported out of the archives of Castle Kestrel and towards the South Gate. This was truly unusual. To make matters worse, instead of simply appearing at the South Gate as he intended to, he crashed into the ground, and a piece of the stone broke off on the ground.
This had never happened before. The stone should not break... but, it did. Energy began to pour out from the bottom of the stone; Leraye clenched the stone tighter in his hand and used its own power to recreate the seal he had made on it.
It would not do for the stone to be left broken, so he worked quickly. Still, he was unable to finish before he felt a large tug inside of him and found himself whisked away again.
The other gem had awakened, and it had called his stone towards it.
He simply ignored the transportation and kept working on fixing his stone. He'd deal with the gem when he got to it.
Fortunately, the stone's seal was complete just seconds after he arrived in a library. For a moment, he wondered if he had just been transported back into the archives, but a quick glance showed that this library was far different.
The gem was nearby in the clutches of a small white Weewoo, emitting a huge amount of magical energy and threatening to turn into a storm once more. A cat seemed to be trying to take the stone from the bird.
"Stop fighting," he said with his usual smile. "That gem has been broken, and will destroy you both if it is not sealed."
((Trilly, you can go either to the South Gate or the Manor Library, or use the broken piece of Leraye's stone to go wherever you want; I just needed to get Leraye into the action.))
Celestial
((Mage Manor Library))
Dark energy whirled around her, choking her thought and breath. The dragonet too was succumbing, it's little chest was rising sluggishly and irregularly. Celestial herself felt weak. Poor Overlord, if only he didn't have to die... she thought sadly as she looked death in the eye and didn't even flinch.
Fire! The dark energy was melting away and giving was to flame. The dragonet had sensed it too, screeching and fluttering up. Celestial suddenly knew the mage was weakening but where did the flames come from? No matter, she would, literally, add fuel to the fire. Two fireballs blossomed in her hands and spread across her arms, turning them into flames which ate away the dark walls from the inside. Soon her whole body was aflame with fire magic, eating away at the walls which were closing in around her just a few seconds ago.
"You are no longer in control, renegade made" Celestial said to nobody. The liberation of the fire spell was amazing and a great relief to her after being trapped in the dark spell. The mage wasn't going to last long if this double-pronged attack was kept up.
"I'm just taking care of a dark mage who seems to think she owns the place, it shouldn't take long." the phoenix replied. Overlord had to agree with him. The mage was down on the ground and he could see flames leaking from the dark cocoon around Celestial. She was fighting back, not giving up.
Something grabbed his tail and began dragging him down. He turned his head to see what it was: the feline which he had fought earlier had come back, his eyes shining with malice. Overlord had seen that look before, in the eyes of people who wanted the gem. Too bad I don't have it he thought maliciously but the cat wouldn't believe him. There were probably traces of the gem's power caught in his feathers. Nothing else to do but fight for his life.
Before he could even get his claws to connet with the feline's face, a strange man walked into the library and looked around before speaking.
"Stop fighting, that gem has been broken, and will destroy you both if it is not sealed." she said with infiniate calmness. Overlord screeched at him and gave him a piece of his mind.
Too bad I don't have it with me at the moment!he mindspoke to the man. But I know where it is. he added, letting his claws connect with the feline's face in an attempt to make him let Overlord go.
Zylaa
((Mage Manor- Library edge)) Zylaa was lost.
Soon after Hunty and Ikkin had entered the manor, she decided to follow, out of eagerness to help as much as a lingering suspicion of the mages- residue of the first war. By the time she entered the manor, though, the captain and Ikkin were nowhere to be seen.
Well, this was a magical manor. Since she had no idea where her crewmates had gone, aloud, Zylaa said, "Take me to wherever I need to be." The hall blurred around her and refocused.
She was in the library, and no crewmembers were in sight. Or anyone else, for that matter- this was deep in the shelves. Zylaa wondered how large the Mage Manor library was. Probably as large as it feels like, she thought. She looked around at the shelves, wondering why the Manor had brought her here.
The shelves around her were filled with black leather-bound books. Each was about an inch thick, with "NTWF" embossed in gold on the spine, along with a number. She picked up one at random- 2320, the number read- and flipped it open. It fell open towards the end. Zylaa read:
"Hey, don't laugh," Eri said. "Every 32.5 minutes, another author is maimed by Bruce the Land Shark. It's a serious problem."
... and Zylaa closed the book. So this was the history of the NTWF? Interesting. But if the manor had some point in bringing her here, it would be helpful to have less than the thousands of books in this aisle to choose from. "A bit of help here?" she asked.
She felt something shift in her pocket, reached in, and drew out the object. Her compass was glowing purple, and the arrow pointed straight down the aisle. Zylaa walked.
The aisle was almost thirty feet long, Zylaa guessed. Her compass led her straight down the aisle to the back wall of books. Here the compass pointed slightly to the left, and she picked up a small book, untitled. Dust drifted off the book as Zylaa sat down and began to read, still using her compass until she found the page the Manor wanted her to see.
Before the NTWF arrived, these lands were a mix of many cultures- Neopets and their owners, wizards, elves, and more. All had carved this territory out of the gray lands, and for years they had shared the land in relative harmony.
When a young Kougra first encountered a strange, magical gem in the field, he showed it to many of his friends, and word of this new powerful device spread. Nothing was beyond the capabilities of this gem, it seemed. Rival factions, always uneasy, began to fight each other for this gem; whether out of simple greed or the gem's own magic, we cannot say. Purple clouds blotted out the sun over the lands, and underneath the storm the people went to war.
Some had fled. Several days later, when the storm clouds had vanished, the remnants of the people returned. All who had fought were gone without a trace. The land was untouched, and empty- and soon filled by the first NTWFers, who founded their home on these lands.
Many searched for the gem, but failed to find it. However, scholars believe that the gem absorbed the energies of those who died in pursuit of it. The battle continues in the spirit realm, with the spirits of the dead bound to eternal fighting. Those who fought over the gem will remain captured unless the gem is broken of its power.
Zylaa stopped reading as a new chapter began, and she thought. So no keeping the gem for wealth?she thought. Of course, those people have been fighting for years. A few more days wouldn't hurt,she added with a hint of sarcasm. She thought back to her crew and blanched. Any of them could die in the fight for this gem- and then, they would be taken back to this spirit-NTWF of war. What if those who had already died were in this battle?
"You know, it would be really helpful if this book had told us how to destroy[/i] the gem," she said. No response from the Manor. Her compass had gone back to resolutely pointing North. She shelved the book with a sigh.
She heard a rustling from the nearby shelves and stood up, warily drawing her sword. Who knew what could be looking around these magical shelves? But when she left her own aisle and looked around, nothing was there, except for a few peanut shells lying on the ground. Hearing more noises ahead, Zylaa began to run, weaving through shelves. It sounded like there was a battle ahead.[/size]
Vyt
((Mage Manor - Library))
"Actually, I feel sorry for you, standing around and panting like that. So I'll just put you out of your misery, then."
Bluisa squirmed uncomfortably at the raging flame that lurked near her feet. Tiredness alone had inhibited her from screaming out in pain, however. "Oh, wait... you don't want that? Well, you stop your magic and I'll stop mine," said the phoenix, his tone seeming to be somewhat that of sadistic.
Bluisa knew what she had said was misunderstood as a threat more than a warning.
"I hate your method of attacking first then asking questions afterwards, but..." Bluisa glanced back at the mage she was fighting before. The sight of her spell slowly being dissipated combined with the increasing agony she was receiving from the surrounding fire gave her the desperation to continue. "I have a friend to revive! Someone who did not deserve to die so quickly... Someone who even YOU were not able to revive!" she shouted, referring to the phoenix as the one who failed to return Vyt to the real world.
Soon after stating her mission once more, Bluisa was overcome by an unknown force. The fire around her did little to give her the headache she was then enduring, and the mage grasped her head with both hands in an attempt to decrease the pain to no avail.
Not even the flames that was slowly engulfing her could stop Bluisa from doing something unexpected.
Darkness had once again concentrated itself into a ball of blackness, surrounding Bluisa. Only Cat Assassin, who had stopped from launching his attack to instinctively look at what was going on, knew what was taking place.
Bluisa was turning into Subila.
A scratch in the face forced Cat Assassin to use his reflex in grabbing the source of that painful attack. It was the same bird he plunged at. "You don't have a speck of a clue on what's going on!" he exclaimed. "Are you thinking that I'm trying to get the gem for myself?!"
Out of fury, Cat Assassin launched the bird into a nearest wall with enough force to stun it for a little while. If it could cleanly land a hit, he'd have enough time to snatch the gem.
Kat
Kat felt a disturbance somewhere in the Manor's library - where her magic had overlapped, passing over something that was much more than books, shelves, or tables. She staggered back onto her feet, feeling a bit better, and followed the noise, weaving through aisles and aisles with only the residue of her spell to guide her.
Just as she was about to give up, she heard someone speak.
"Are you thinking that I'm trying to get the gem for myself?!"
"Who are you and what do you want with the gem?" Kat yelled, pursuing the voice and drawing her wand - scratch that, staff. When she found herself facing someone's back, she prodded him (or her) with the staff and said, "Don't you know what that thing's capable of?”
Celestial
((Mage Manor Library))
She was free of the darkness! Celestial let the fire die around her and looked around, cautious of anything that could hurt her. The renegade mage was on the floor, hovering over her was a phoenix in full flame. The mage was gathering the darkness around herself and something told Celestial it wasn't because she wanted to save them the trouble of killing her.
Overlord was grabbed roughly by the feline, claws digging into his body and wings."You don't have a speck of a clue on what's going on! Are you thinking that I'm trying to get the gem for myself?!" the feline spoke, every word a drop of acid. Before Overlord could even reply, the cat threw him at a wall in rage. He couldn't stop it. Celestial!!! he scream in his mind to her.
She heard the scream inside her head. Overlord was in danger! Without even thinking, her energy focused on the air in front of him, condesing it so that the wall would be cushioned when he hit it. If he hit it with that amount of force, even the best of luck wouldn't prevent him from breaking one of his fragile bones. Whoever threw him so heartlessly would pay. It was probably the feline, standing there enraged she deduced from the direction of Overlord's "flight". Once the little weewoo was safe with her, Celestial wanted a few words with him.
A soft cushion of air enveloped him just as he was about to him the wall. He sank into it, weak from terror. Thank you Celestial he told her through their telepathy. The cushion carried him to her, carefully depositing him on Celestial's shoulder before it dissolved back into air
Celestial turned with anger to the feline who had hurled Overlord so cruelly. Before she could utter a single word, another purple mage had stepped out and prodded the cat with a stick which could have been a staff.
"Who are you and what do you want with the gem?" the mage asked the cat. "Don't you know what that thing's capable of?" she added. Celestial really didn't think he did. She looked the cat straight in the eye.
"It won't bring anybody back from the dead if you are trying to do that. That gem is only capable of evil and-
When it was under my wing, it felt broken, like somebody chipped a little bit off. Who or why, I don't know Overlord whispered to her mind
"Overlord says it is broken or at least chipped. So it doesn't work properly, even if it could bring the dead back. Don't waste time and effort on something useless. What you are truly seeking could be right under your nose." she finished, thinking that maybe the library has something that could bring the dead back. If the dead needed to be brought back.
Speck
(( The Forest South of Dunburrow ))
Speck’s body slowed its approach to the mysterious man with the orbit of rocks around him. Her lips smirked, and she put her hand on the man’s shoulder. A few of the floating rocks collided with her, but she paid no heed to them.
”You have something that doesn’t belong to you,” Her voice seemed to echo at the end of the sentence, “If you would be so kind as to return it to its rightful place…”
She held out her hand, palm up. Muscles sore from running so hard and long, she might not be fully prepared for a fight. Yet her body tensed, just in case this person was not so cooporative with her. The darkness in her eyes glistened.
Strife
((The Forest South of Dunburrow))
The Commander remained in his position behind the tree and listened as his officer confronted the three terrestrials. Apparently, their names were Jernath, Cyborg and Midknight. Keng seemed to have a former relationship with Cyborg during her swashbuckling days as a pirate.
However, his ears were so focused on the conversation that he didn't notice another terrestrial approaching him from the side. A hand landed on his shoulder, and he immediately turned around and jumped backwards in surprise.
Amidst the darkness of the forest, he could make out the silhouette of a pirate girl. At least, he figured it was a pirate, based on the clothing. But something was very strange about this terrestrial. Her eyes were glowing a deep purple color... In fact, it was the exact same shade of purple as the stormy clouds above them.
“You have something that doesn’t belong to you,” Her voice seemed to echo at the end of the sentence, “If you would be so kind as to return it to its rightful place…” The girl lifted her hand towards him.
Thoughts rushed through The Commander's mind very quickly. It was possible that whatever power was causing the storm might have possessed this girl. Could she a "representative" of sorts? A messenger of the lifeform that The Commander was searching for?
Then again, he did not want to take any chances. He needed to know immediately if she was friend or foe.
"I offer you a simple proposal, creature..." began The Commander. He moved his arm with the Leech behind his back, and using his other arm, pointed a stiff and threatening finger at the girl. "Tell me who you're working for, and why. If I like your answer, then you get to keep the body you're controlling.”
Rikku
Surf offered up a brief explanation. Rikku nodded hesitantly.
“Good. That’s okay. No … deaths, or anything? That’s … good.” She didn’t particularly want to be contacted by desperate next-of-kin and pleaded with to resurrect anyone, but for once her concern wasn’t selfish. There’d been too much pain over this gem already.
Speaking of which … Rikku had a stabbing pain behind one eye. It felt like somebody was driving a needle into a skull. A white-hot one. It made it difficult to concentrate on anything.
“Fred, Steve, everything seems to be under control here. You can go back into the forest with the sparrow for a bit if you want,” Rikku said to the zombies. Fred and Steve looked at each other uncertainly. “But Larry, could you give me a hand here?” She was almost swaying on the spot, still tired.
Larry gave her a hand. Rikku stared at it.
“I didn’t mean …” She sighed, and gave it back. “Never mind. I can get up to my room by myself, I suppose, if the Manor’s in a good mood. ‘Night, all.”
Her footsteps sounding very loud, Rikku walked up the steps and into the Manor.
“Room. Room. I know where you are, room. I’m sure I can find you. No use hiding, now.” Navigating in the Manor was hard enough at the best of times. Half asleep and babbling whatever came to mind to thin air was pretty far from the best of times. “I just want to sleep. I’ve been up since six, and it must be past midnight …” She winced as her head gave a particularly painful throb. “And my head hurts. Room. Please?”
The Manor didn’t seem to want to let her find her room without a struggle. This seemed odd. It normally took about four minutes to reach her second-floor room from the Main Entrance, less if the Manor felt like doing its ‘magically taking you where you want to go’ trick. She’d been wandering for twice that time already.
“Stupid head.” Rikku yawned and leaned against a wall. “Going off and hurting, as if the rest of my body hurting wasn’t bad enough ... yah!” She let out a yelp as the wall opened inward and she tumbled through into the room beyond. Just barely keeping her balance, Rikku rubbed the back of her head and looked around.
“Oh. My room. Well … that’s nice.” She yawned again, this yawn several seconds. “Gosh, I’m tired.” She glanced at her reflection in the mirror. “And I look like I’ve been running around in the forest, dodged lasers, been attacked by a nearly-dead vigilante, and been tossed around in a freak earthquake … oh. Yeah.”
Rikku walked over to the window and peered outside. The purple storm was still visible overhead, even in the darkness. She blinked as something cold landed on her nose.
“It’s … snowing? Cool. I might make a snowman with the zombies tomorrow … or something …” She leaned back again and closed the window, then went and laid down on her bed, cloak wrapped tight around her, too tired to get changed.
But she couldn’t sleep. She just couldn’t. Every time she felt herself drifting off, the headache based behind her eye let out a particularly painful throb and drew her back to weary wakefulness.
Eventually she couldn’t stand any more, and got to her feet.
“Might as well be doing something … useful,” she murmured blearily, and glanced at her reflection again. What she saw made her freeze.
There was … some kind of needle or headset. It was made of metal. And it was piercing directly into where her head hurt the most. And that wasn’t all. For just a split second, Rikku glimpsed two figures - one adjusting the headset, and the other examining some kind of data. As soon as they realized she saw them, they looked at her in shock. At that point, the mirror gave a helpful flash, and the reflection became normal. Rikku remained staring at it, her heart beating fast.
Well, that explains why the Manor was being so stubborn. It wasn’t angry with me – it just didn’t understand who the intruders were.
Fair enough. Neither do I.
They must have some form of invisibility device or magic that the mirror broke through for a few seconds … but why are they doing this? Are they conducting experiments or something? What about the others? Does everyone have an invisible tag-along?
Ow. That needle thing really hurts.
Rikku put a tentative hand to her head, found the headset, and tugged at it. Hard.
Instantly the pain tripled. She let out a strangled cry of pain, but her grip stayed steady, and she pulled on it as hard as she could. It felt like it was being tugged in the opposing direction as well. Her invisible friends were still there, then.
“STOP IT!” she yelled. “I know who you are!”
There was silence, but it was startled-sounding silence. The headset came off in her hands, and she found she could see it. The long, vicious-looking needle was coated in blood.
Ow, she thought, and crumpled to the ground, dizzy and now even more tired.
But …
“I know who you are,” she snarled, glancing around the room. “And soon enough, everybody else will know too … Spacefleet.”
The door opened, and then closed. They were gone.
Rikku closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep on the hard floor.
The Invisible Guild
“Hear that? She thinks we’re Spacefleet. Too easy.”
“I told you it would work. But stay quiet until we get out of here. This Manor has ears in unexpected places.”
There was silence for a while, until the two got out. They walked into the forest on silent footsteps.
“She penetrated the cloak thingmajig, though.”
“Phase-shifter. But yes, that is worrying.” The speaker stayed silent for a while, and then spoke again. “Now come on. There’s still a lot of work to do, and we’re running out of time to do it.”
“I know already, Marzia. You don’t need to –”
The ex-Spacefleet member glared at him. “Shut up, Trilby! Don’t say my name!”
“Paranoid,” Trilby muttered, adjusting his old pirate bandanna.
“Shut up. Just … shut up.” Marzia growled under his breath. “I can’t believe I’m paired with an idiot like you on this mission.”
Trilby winked. “Well, after Evan Forest, I’m the best you’ll get.”
“That Forest … oh, he is going to pay for his treachery when I get my hands on him.” Marzia’s invisible eyes narrowed.
“I hope you’ll let me torture him first.”
“Of course.”
“This it?”
Marzia glanced at the crater, steaming in the snow. “Looks like it.”
“This snow’s annoying. We’re going to leave footprints.”
“Just use your stealth techniques. It isn’t that hard.” Marzia slipped away, as if to demonstrate, leaving no trace of his passing on the icy layer underfoot.
He walked over to The Commander, and murmured in his ear. “Hello, sir. I doubt you’ll remember me, but it’s Lt. Marzia, reporting for duty.” He smirked, though Strife couldn’t see him. “Don’t look around for me. You won’t see anything. My old training’s been put to good use. Now then, Commander Strife. I know how your mind works. You want power. We can give you that.” Marzia gave a small chuckle. “Just shoot them. I know you’re going to anyway, but don’t use the Leech with the gem.” He slipped a blaster into The Commander’s hand. It was emblazoned with a Spacefleet logo. “Power, Commander,” he hissed one more time, and then was gone.
Trilby swaggered, not used to being invisible, over to where the lemon-crazy pirate stood. “Hello there, matey. I would advise backing away – The Commander won’t take kindly to your walking up to him and demanding his little bauble.” He chuckled. “And yes, before you say anything, I know you’re possessed. Here.” He slipped an amulet, obviously made by the Mages, over her neck. “This ought to help with the possession.” The ex-pirate put something that looked like a pickaxe, bearing marks of Knight manufacture, into her hand. “Use that to destroy the gem. Trust me, it’ll do more harm than good otherwise.” He winked for good measure, though he knew she couldn’t see him, and then was gone.
They walked through the forest once more.
“Now there’s just Evan to deal with, provided those people do exactly as they’re told,” Marzia said.
“They might not, but even if just one of them uses just one thing … I must say, those were a stroke of genius on your part.”
“Thank you.”
“When the blaster destroys half the forest, the amulet forces the Possessor into one of those pirates, and the pickaxe doubles the gem’s power … well, it’ll be obvious which Guild is to blame in each case.”
“I should think so, unless they’re even stupider than we thought.”
“I doubt it. I tell you, Marzia, this will mean war.”
Fraze
Fraze watched the interplay between Keng and the unknown attackers expectantly, even though he couldn't hear what was going on. In the past 24 hours, he had been confronted by several mages and knights, been shot at by a former 'Fleeter-turned-mercenary, narrowly avoided a fight with several pirates, and had his life threatened by his commanding officer. One of these times a battle would break out, and he wanted to be ready.
He took advantage of his cloak by doing some stretches, to warm up for whatever combat might come. He knew that the biggest disadvantage of how he fought was that it required high stamina to fight for a prolonged time. He didn't have the time to warm up before leaving the station, so now was as good a time as any. No one's shooting anyone yet, he thought. That's a good thing...I think.
He glimpsed something through the trees. Moments later he realized it was a person. Moments after that he realized--
Sir, he thought into his communicator, that's one of the pirates who found the dropship, I'm sure of it! Do you need assistance?
Not waiting for an answer, he got up and began walking toward the two. He remained cloaked, as he didn't know how this person would react to seeing the same silver man she had encountered several hours earlier. When he got closer, he realized—her eyes are purple. They weren't that way when she was at the dropship.
As he got closer, he thought for a moment that he saw a strange look cross the Commander's face. He whispered another thought. "...Sir?"
Strife
((The Forest South of Dunburrow))
“Hello, sir. I doubt you’ll remember me, but it’s Lt. Marzia, reporting for duty.”
The Commander flinched and turned around, but saw nobody. People just had to keep sneaking up on him, didn't they?
Marzia... the name certainly ringed a bell in his head, although he couldn't remember what he looked like. The only thing he remembered about Marzia is that he was expelled from Spacefleet a long time ago. He'd have one of his officers go through the database once he was able to get some privacy from these terrestrials.
“Don’t look around for me. You won’t see anything. My old training’s been put to good use. Now then, Commander Strife. I know how your mind works. You want power. We can give you that.”
He heard a deep chuckle in his ear. He hated it when people laughed at him, but he decided to relax and listen to the rest of this negotiation.
“Just shoot them. I know you’re going to anyway, but don’t use the Leech with the gem.”
Suddenly, his hand grew heavier. He lifted it to his face, and noticed that someone had placed a standard Spacefleet blaster in his hand.
“Power, Commander,” hissed Marzia.
Several seconds passed in silence. The voice was gone.
The Commander glared at the blaster. He was too arrogant to directly follow anyone's orders, especially that of an ex-Officer... but he could certainly use the technological edge against the terrestrials. These arrows were too primitive for his taste.
He decided to compromise. He lifted the blaster in front of him, and then aimed and fired the Leech at it. The blaster was surrounded with green scanlines as its properties were copied to the Leech. He then clipped the blaster onto his belt.
We can give you power. We? Could it be possible that Marzia was working with the demons and the lifeform? If that was the case, somebody here wasn't really working for the lifeform.
His suspicion was confimed when Fraze sent him a message through the communicator.
"Sir, that's one of the pirates who found the dropship, I'm sure of it! Do you need assistance?"
Something inside him still felt weird about all of this. He didn't know which voice to listen to, or who to trust. It was a lot for him to take in, and he knew that one wrong decision could mean the death of him. He felt... vulnerable.
Upon feeling that sense of vulnerability, Marzia's voice echoed inside his head once more. “Power, Commander.” With power, he would not be vulnerable. With power, he could bend the world to his will. It was a craving that grew more and more impossible to resist by day. By the hour. By the minute. By the second. It consumed him, inside and out.
"...Sir?" repeated Fraze's voice.
The Commander remained silent, and the air grew tense. The rocks orbiting around his body closed in on him, until eventually they stuck to his armor like magnets. He slowly tiled his head towards the possessed pirate girl and glared at her with a malevolent look on his face.
"This gem is mine now," he said in a cold voice that would send chills up the spine. He clenched his right hand into a fist, and the rocks that were attached to him immediately gathered themselves onto the fist until it was covered in a ball of stones.
Without further warning, he lunged towards the pirate and threw a punch in her direction with his stone fist.
Speck
((The Forest South of Dunburrow))
Speck chuckled, and the possessor started to explain itself to the Commander, “I work for no one but m—”
It was not able to finish its sentence as a voice whispered into Speck’s ear. Without any warning, an amulet was put around the pirate’s neck. The amulet suppressed the power of the possessor: it was no longer able to keep control over Speck’s mind and body. It withdrew its grasp on her, becoming no more than a whisper in her subconscious. Her irises remained the same deep purple of the sky above, but the whites of her eyes returned to their original color. That which had possessed her was content to wait in the shadows once more.
An almost-burning pain spread through Speck’s leg muscles. The long run she had taken to get to Strife had finally caught up with her. Her breathing became heavy from the physical exertion. Yet before she could fully regain herself, the Commander lunged at her, a rocky fist aiming straight for her face. “The gem is mine now,” He said in a voice colder than ice.
She had little time to react. Before she could even think about stepping out of the way, the clenched fist made impact with the side of her face. Speck could feel bone crack; her own teeth dug into the inside of her mouth, breaking the skin. Stumbling back, she dropped the pickaxe that had been place in her hand on the ground.
You have been given a gift from the Invisible. Use it. It was still there, still inside her.
”Use this to destroy the gem,” the other voice had whispered to her. How could she use it? She had never so much as touched a pickaxe, except perhaps to dig up treasure. Her opponent was too powerful for her, she thought. This pirate had always avoided conflict, only ready to defend herself, never to inflict pain upon others. How could she win in such an uneven fight?
Now is the time to prove yourself… You are capable of great things, even if your loyalties may not be strong, It was but a whisper, but it was enough to give her confidence. Speck spit out blood from the wound inside her mouth, withdrawing two large kunai from her coat.
“You don’t know what you wield,” She accused the man, charging at him with a sharp, pointy kunai in each hand. Her sword would do no good in such close combat. The knight-crafted digging implement lay off to the side. If she could find an escape from this battle, she would not forget it.
Tamia
"Thank you anyway," the girl called Ielle said tightly. Evan Forest just smirked and watched coolly as her body disappeared in a flash of purple smoke. The guilds were spawning stranger folk by the day, it seemed.
He had just begun turning away when a faint glimmer in the grass attracted his gaze. Caught in the moonlight was the golden locket Ielle had shown him just moments ago, the one with the picture of the dark-haired girl.
The poor fool, Forest thought without much sympathy, wondering how long it would take the blonde girl to notice her trinket was missing. He slipped the locket inside his robes casually; if he should somehow stumble across the girl depicted in it, he would most certainly question her about it. For the time being, however, it didn’t concern him.
What did concern him presently was the sharp pressure of a blade being whisked up around his throat.
“I’m under orders to kill you, Forest, and although I would normally do so without this useless talking, I feel obliged to admit my disappointment in you,” a gravely voice whispered in his ear. “You should have expected this.”
Forest gave a lopsided grin, lowering his arms to his sides. He flicked his fingers absently. “What makes you think I didn’t?”
The unknown assailant chuckled shortly. “I’m a ninja, Forest. You can’t play me like the others.”
“You’re no more a ninja than I am a knight,” Forest said pleasantly. A small switchblade slipped slowly from the inside hem of his right sleeve into his waiting hand. “Those titles mean nothing. When you live like we do, all that matters is the stuff you’re made of--”
In one incredible flash of motion, the blade Forest had retrieved was between his neck and the attacker’s own knife. Taking care to flick the other knife away from his throat, he deliberately nicked the wrist of the ex-ninja and twisted away from his grasp. His attacker, a silver-skinned being who looked to be at least partially elven, grunted in pain and clutched his injured wrist. The knife fell from his hand, and Forest picked it up easily. The elf from the Invisible Guild was swaying on the spot.
"--or lack thereof,” he smirked, twirling the new knife deftly before concealing it within his robes.
“darn it, Forest -- you’re smug now, but this is far from over. There’s four more from the Guild right behind me, and even without them I could still... still....” The elf’s eyes crossed vaguely and he stumbled to the ground with a moan.
“Oh, by the way, you’ve been poisoned. It would probably be wise to act accordingly,” Forest suggested helpfully. As a precaution, he flung the poisoned switchblade into the ground a good distance from the felled ex-ninja. No sense giving them something to trace, he thought. He had no doubts that the Invisible Guild had indeed sent a full team immediately behind this assassin, who was probably little more than a scout. After all, Evan Forest was one of the best.
But something seemed wrong to the former Black Knight. It was true that Forest was not proficient with magic, but he had always had a distinctly mage-like sense when it came to detecting various elements in his immediate surroundings. He carried a lot of concealed weapons, but that switchblade was the only one that he had wiped with poison -- and yet, even after disposing of it, he could still pick up the signature taint of poison radiating from somewhere on his person. Frowning and doing his best to ignore the groaning elf before him, he probed deep inside his sixth sense, searching for the source of the mysterious taint.
Seconds later, he whipped a dagger out from the folds of his robe. The elf looked up with something like dazed panic, but seemed relieved when Forest merely threw the dagger to the grass in disgust.
Impossible, Forest snarled to himself. How could I have missed this? The poisonous remnants on the dagger were of a magical variety, the kind designed to infect a specific person or place -- not the basic chemical poison Forest would have used himself. Someone from within the Invisible Guild had used him, used him to carry the poison magic to someone in particular... The girl from the Knights’ Guild, he realized dully. He had stabbed her with the infected blade, and she would have carried the poison back to the knights’ castle, where it would destroy them from the inside out.
In a fury, Evan Forest swung himself onto Bianco, the fine white stallion. Sir Shino would just have to understand. He had no desire to cross the White Knight so soon after their reunion, but right now, the most important thing was for him to get away.
“Tell your friends that it was a simple nightshade extract you were exposed to. If there’s a decent healer among them, you’ll undoubtedly be fine.” He wrapped Bianco’s reins around his hands securely, ready to spur the horse into a gallop. “And tell that rat Avelin that his little trick with the poison magic will not go ignored.”
Zari
Zaha sat on a windowsill, thinking. Her scarf had been removed, sowing the cecklace beneath. It could have been called a choker, but it's shape suggested more of a collar than anything else. The sylian stone was set in the middle, glowing with indigo-purple light, flecked with green. The spirits within the stone didn't like the gem at all. It made them frightened. Zaha knew the spirits were malicious, and indifferent to the sufferings of the living, but when they were actually feeling emotion, something was happening. Then, a whisper rose to her ears, many people speaking at once-- 'War. Chaos. Murder. Greif. Rage. Slaughter. Stavation.'-- Zaha cut them off. The stone was right. It was war. She'd made a deal only a month past, so she could use the Sylian stone without worrying about sprouting Four extra tails or turning into something bloodthirsty. She shut her eyes, then raised her hand to them. Her fingers met cloth. She was once again blind. 'Protect me.' She murmured. The Sylian Spirits obligingly formed into a rough indigo mist. Hopefully, no magic would get through that without her notice.
Halfway through the southeast door, a foul smell reached her nostrils. Death. She broke into a run. Gradually, the dead person's smell broke through, and Zaha stopped. Tamia. No way. She herself had given Tamia a scroll, written in Fae, that she knew had been used at least once. Even if it was only a word. A Fae scroll never let it's owner down... More smells. Ugh! That smells like...no...possibly... 'Poison!' Zaha clapped a hand over her mouth. This was too much. She'd just eaten, too. She turned and ran healong into the Forest, running blindly, anywhere, just not there. Just not near death. More smells slid by her nose. Ikkin--Huntress--PFA--One of the meepits--One she didn't know, tinged with ash--Shade--Cat Assasin--Kit- 'ARGH!'
Zaha flapped her arms and righted herself, suprised. She'd bumped into a person. She put a hand out. A face. Hair. Smells familiar. S'not Zari, she doesn't own anything operated by- Crap!
Zaha shreiked again and clawed at her blindfold. 'YOU!' She swore, apparently something along the lines of Vulture entrails and dead ants. ZariKrahia Ailden. She'd taken her counterparts name and used in in an Illhvrenan circle, she knew that, and still used it as an alias, and in return, the Fae Zaha knew had taken ZariKrahia's name to disguise her real identity. She still used it. Zaha swore again.
((I'd better go change Zari's profile, eh? Yep, that's not her real name.))
Vyt
((Mage Manor - Library))
Cat Assassin was irked by a sudden poke on his back, hinting him that another being had just entered the library. He was getting more irritated as more and more creatures try to hinder his chance of getting the gem. Anxiety was forcing him to act against his professional side.
"Who are you and what do you want with the gem?" uttered the female voice behind him. " Don't you know what that thing's capable of?"
Cat Assassin sighed. For once, he asked himself the same thing. Feeling that the person behind him needed an answer, he replied with utmost sincerity, "I do not know what to do with the gem... But I know someone who can, and all of you just angered her. Now she's really back, and I don't want to know what happens to you all."
Finding an opening in the form of the only window compounded on the walls of the library, Cat Assassin quickly jumped towards it. Between the lines of another voice laid the answer on the whereabouts of the gem: outside the Manor. "She's too powerful even for all of us inside to fight against. I really need to get Vyt back somehow so we could stop her," he thought. He could even smell the impending doom reeking from the black ball.
Through the dark mass came out the voice of a mage. "... I'm getting bored of this," it finally spoke.
The ball started to dissipate, revealing a very familiar girl to almost everyone.
"... Missed me much?" Subila said.
Almost instantly, Subila waved her hand in a large arc. Suddenly, the same shadow hand appeared, only bigger and harder. It whooshed across the library, pushing most of the bookshelves down. The smirk on the mage's face revealed her sadistic satisfaction.
She then turned at Sev and aimed her third hand towards the phoenix. The fire bird needed to die first in her opinion.
Kat
((Mage Manor, library))
"Overlord says it is broken or at least chipped. So it doesn't work properly, even if it could bring the dead back. Don't waste time and effort on something useless. What you are truly seeking could be right under your nose."
"Excuse me?" repeated Kat, her staff still up. "And I agree that the dead must never be brought back to life. Life is a continuous cycle that must never be tampered with!"
"I do not know what to do with the gem... But I know someone who can, and all of you just angered her. Now she's really back, and I don't want to know what happens to you all."
She blinked several times, but slowly lowered her staff. "I don't know what you're - "
"... I'm getting bored of this."
Cat Assassin was gone. But there were more pressing matters - like that strange dark thing that had spoken. Because she was too busy trying to wheedle information out of Cat Assassin, she had not noticed it - not till it said something and morphed into the shape of a girl.
Kat yelled a swear word that, if her parents had ever heard it, would have deprived her of dessert privileges for an entire year, or maybe two.
Her staff was up again, and it began to glow with a dangerous purple light, but before she could choose a good incantation, Subila waved her hand, creating a larger, more shadowy hand. Kat had no time to grieve for the falling bookshelves, or the tomes that tumbled from them, as she dived to the opposite side, crashing into yet another shelf. Clutching her head, she staggered back up in time to see Subila aim for Sev.
"Sev!" Kat screamed, and pointed her staff, gabbling arcane words and almost slurring them. Instantly, a wall of violet flames erupted in front of the phoenix. There was no time to see whether her shield had worked, or wonder why she had bothered to protect Sev when he had powers of his own, as she let loose a large bolt of purple lightning towards Subila.
Kwoiffei
((Mage Manor - Just outside))
Listening to the explanations, followed by people sharing their opinions on the gem, was certainly enlightening, particularly if one was in the right mood. Whether Drakhé was in the right mood was a matter of debate in itself. He was only half-attentive.
One of the other kardenno said something about a powerful gem...
Rikku then told the zombies to go their seperate ways (Thank goodness, he thought) and headed inside the Manor.
Drakhé let his eyes wander to the sky. Was it just him, or were the clouds starting to turn green again...? Because if that were the case, then something was clearly seriously wrong - either with the gem, the Manor, himself, or one of the other mages. Drakhé hoped it was only him. At least then he'd have an excuse for running around like a wimp.
((Gah, filler post. Notmuchtime.))
Celestial
"Excuse me? And I agree that the dead must never be brought back to life. Life is a continuous cycle that must never be tampered with!" the purple mage spoke and Celestial couldn't agree more. Everything had its time under the sun. Before she could reply however, the renegade mage was back again but this time she was...different. Darker and more powerful that before. So we dance that dance again she thought to herself. Only this time, her powers were the inferior.
Her suspicions were confirmed by the blast of darkness that the mage released, knocking over every shelf in the library and almost taking the breath away from Celestial. She closed her eyes, letting the pressure from the shockwave ease up. But there was no time to rest. The renegade aimed her magic at the phoenix. A phoenix, the closest "mythical" creature to dragons that ever took to the skies! There was no way Celestial would stand and do nothing.
"Sev!" cried the other mage and began uttering strange words which Celestial didn't recognise.
Arcane spell words Overlord translated for her
A wall of purple flame erupted around the phoenix called Sev when the mage finished speaking. However, Celestial feared it might be too little too late. The renegade was too strong for both of them...but not for them and the dragons. A small smile spread across Celestial's face. If every dragon around Mage Manor would lend me their power, we could defeat her.
"Dragons!!! Answer my call! Lend me your power so I could stop the evil that threatens to destory us all!!! she cried mentally, letting that cry echo in the valleys, the hills and the caves where a dragon could hide around Mage Manor. The call could only be heard by dragons. It was up to them to decide to answer. They didn't have to help her.
Celestial felt a small strenght come to her from the little black dragonet somwhere in the library. But they would need much more to defeat the renegade. In the meantime, she had to protect the phoenix, Sev. The dragonet's power combined with her own should last until the willing dragons around the Manor channelled their power to her. She solidified the air around Sev until it was harder than granite. Hopefully, that will be enough for now...
Rider
The thought of allying with the ninjas left a bad taste in Rider's mouth, but in truth she had no choice. "Yes, Cap'n," she said to Hunty. "Alright, 'tratta, time to go gem-hunting. Since that thing is a veritable lightning-rod," she waved her hand and three faerie Meepits appeared in blossoms of darkness. "Sandy, Mindy, Cindy, we're going on a hike. Every 10 yards or so, I want you to cast Thundaga. I just hope our elusive shiny isn't in any highly damagable hands. If it is, then the little thieves probably deserve it anyway."
Ventratta squeaked. Something to the effect of, "Aren't we thieves?"
"We're pirates, 'tratta, we're pirates."
This is where we fast forward through the boring bits where Rider walks around in circles and wastes Lulu's the Meepits' MP.
They didn't have to walk far before a bolt of lightning struck a tree. Something shone with a light that wasn't light.
Huntress
((Outside Mage Manor))
Hunty's eyes flashed cheerily upon PFA's answer. "Do you ninjas even have a spokesperson at this moment? Things are a lot easier if you have someone who can decide things for you. Such a burden it is, trying to decide right from wrong and good from bad..."
She turned away, squinting at the purple sky that was now dropping single snowflakes. The gem, it had to be somewhere nearby. It was affecting everything around it, people included.
"I'm not sure if I even want to touch it," Bloody Mary muttered, glaring at the snowflakes. "It can alter weather, who's to say it can't alter your intestines? You saw Speck."
The pirate wandered closer to the trees, shuddering and wishing that she hadn't left her overcoat on the ship. It was past midnight, and now it was snowing on top of that, so the weather wasn't exactly nice and warm.
"We should head back to the Manor," said the meepit sulkily. "Nice and warm, at least."
Hunty's chin jerked up as the lightning struck a tree farther in the forest. "There's your nice and warm. Hold on!"
She galloped off.
The tree, sizzling with hot air, had already begun to shed brownish leaves when the captain reached it. Something shone higher up, between the branches, something bright and powerful.
"Bingo," Hunty stated. "Bloody Mary?"
"You already owe me big time for what I did for you earlier today, girl," snarled the meepit.
"You betrayed me earlier today, honey."
"Crudmuffin," Bloody Mary muttered, climbing up the tree. He was more used to a ship's rigging, but even so, a tree trunk offered a lot more support than a mast, and he was familiar with masts. So he was up pretty fast.
"Hunty, that bloody thing is gonna fry me if I get any closer!"
Hunty scowled. "It's been fine the whole evening, now why'd it blow up?"
"Rider's lightning, I'm assuming," the meepit shouted back. "Riled this thing all up."
He fidgeted on the branch, unable to even look at the shining gem. It reminded him of phoenix fire somewhat. Pretty, and bright, and powerful, and all too deadly.
Ikkin
“I hate your method of attacking first then asking questions afterwards, but..." Bluisa said, somehow able to speak coherently despite burning up in a fire. "I have a friend to revive! she continued, suddenly shouting. "Someone who did not deserve to die so quickly... Someone who even YOU were not able to revive!"
"I know your type," Sev said, his voice dangerously low "If I asked first, you'd use the chance to try to attack me once I lowered my guard. This way, I don't have to worry about your attempts to gain my sympathy. Not that it would work, anyway. Your lies are as clear as glass.
"As for your friend, he chose not to return. My power was perfectly sufficient to revive him had he not fought it."
Suddenly, Bluisa put her hands to her head as if she had suddenly been struck with a headache - odd as it was that she'd care about such trifles when she was on fire - and was then engulfed in darkness.
It was clear that whatever was happening wouldn't be good.
After some time, a voice finally spoke from the darkness. "... I'm getting bored of this," it said.
Well, good, Sev thought. Because I am, too. Now die. He prepared more fire, waiting for the dark ball to open so he could hit the mage within.
"... Missed me much?" the girl inside the ball spoke as she finally revealed herself.
Sev wondered whether he should know her, then decided he just didn't care.
This was probably for the best, as the girl's next move was to create a shadow hand and knock down a bunch of bookcases. Sev willed the Manor to put the bookcases back in place, just to annoy her, and then prepared to let out his fire towards her.
Before he could do so, though, she reached the shadow hand towards him - which wouldn't be a problem on its own - and then a barrier of purple fire erupted in front of him.
Well, that was kind of annoying. Sev was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and barriers would prevent him from attacking, too.
That was what teleportation was for, though. Once more, he heated up the fire used for the teleportation until it was nearly-full-strength, and teleported right behind the dark mage, blasting out the fire as he appeared. Then, without missing a beat, he blasted more of the same fire from his beak. Nothing should be able to survive that. Phoenix fire consumes everything, after all.
***
It had taken about three seconds after the fighting had broken out in the library for Leraye to take off once more, focusing on getting to safety while remaining close.
Somehow, he ended up in a spare room on the third floor of the Manor, with a very large window with which he could watch the people down below.
And, fortunately for him, the people down below were fairly amusing. One pirate girl and a group of three Meepits were walking around, casting lightning-magic spells, seemingly haphazardly.
Before long, one of the spells seemed to be redirected and hit directly into a tree.
It was at that point that Leraye realized that the pirate girl wasn't just casting spells for the heck of it. The gem must have been in that tree.
He wondered why he would have been taken so far from the gem, if that was what caused his stone to take him here, but he figured it would be better to make sure he got his hands on that gem first.
He clutched his stone in his hand once more and a pair of wings began to grow from his back, starting as a bony frame, then quickly covering up in feathers until he looked almost like an angel. As soon as the wings finished growing, he beat them a few times to test them out, then he took off out the window. He'd need the wings to fly to get to the gem, but he didn't want to use any more energy than he had to.
Before long, he could see the gem in the tree, spitting out lightning sparks. Apparently, the spell had effected it badly - probably because it was broken, he thought. Next to it was another Meepit, who seemed too scared to actually pick it up.
Well, that would make things easier, then. He flew over near the gem, picked it and the Meepit up, and landed down at the bottom of the tree, near another pirate who he guessed had sent the Meepit up the tree to begin with.
Forgetting about the Meepit, he concentrated his energy into keeping the gem harmless. Once he was satisfied, he asked the pirate, "Is this yours?"
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:30:43 GMT -5
Fraze
Fraze was sure now: Strife had lost it. "This gem is mine now" was all that he said. Fraze had heard that tone before, but only out of the mouths of those who were insane, murderous, crazed for power, or--in Strife's case, it seemed--all of the above. The rocks that had been floating around the Commander like his personal Oort cloud now fell to his bulky armor. A number of them coalesced onto his fist, which he threw at the pirate with such force that Fraze was sure that her skull would shatter.
Part of Fraze, the vigilante loner part--the part that, in a lifetime before Spacefleet, had volunteered him for numerous solo stealth and sabotage missions that kept him alone in deep space for weeks or months at a time--that part of him told him to kill Strife where he stood. Even if he couldn't, he could cloak and escape, then work to find some other way to end the Commander's life and undo what he had started. The more rational part of Fraze, the part that had kept him alive all these years, told him to wait and see how this played out. He knew that such an attack would have to get out among Spacefleet some way or another. When it did, the fracture that had been forming in the ranks over the past several months would finally split the 'Fleet in two: those siding with Strife, and those against him. Fraze knew he would be one of those against Strife, but whether through direct attacks or subterfuge remained to be seen.
"Keng!" Fraze thought into his communicator, trying to get his teammate's attention. "You might want to tell your friends to run away now. The Commander's going berzerk on some pirate who may be possessed. I don't think he'll attack his own troops, but I can't say the same for the people you're talking to."
Strife
((Mage Manor - Kitchen))
At last, the ingredients had been mixed together properly. Leoness lifted the bowl of dough in her hands and poured it onto a metal tray in small circles. She then picked up the tray with one hand and concentrated very hard.
Within a few seconds, her fluffy hand was covered in blue and orange flames, heating the tray as though it were inside a high-temperature oven. Being a fire magician, the flames she created did not harm her whatsoever. In that case, she enjoyed cooking with her bare hands more than an ordinary oven, unless she wanted to bake several things at once.
Within a minute or two, the circles of dough on the tray had flattened themselves into a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. Their sweet scent travelled out of the kitchen and into the surrounding rooms, cuddling the noses of everyone who was nearby. Leoness set the tray of cookies on the counter and, with a spatula, plucked one from the corner and placed it in her hand.
"The remedy is done!" she yelled to the kitsune knight in the other room. She walked in and approached Goosh, who was still slumbering on the couch.
"These cookies have a special ingredient that makes them harder to resist. The smell should wake him in a minute or two." She smiled brightly, lifted the cookie, and began to wave it slowly in front of Goosh's face. She turned her head towards the knight. "In the meantime, I don't believe we've had the chance to introduce ourselves. I'm Namarié Leoness."
((The Forest South of Dunburrow))
While Leoness was stirring up remedies, The Commander was stirring up deep trouble in the forest.
His stone fist connected brutally with the pirate girl's face, knocking her back a fair distance. The blow left a nasty bruise, and she spit out blood from inside her mouth. A devilish smirk crept across The Commander's face, and he let out a deep chuckle.
“You don’t know what you wield,” said the girl while withdrawing a set of large kunai. She charged at him.
Big mistake, he thought to himself amusingly. As the girl lunged at him, he jumped forward while swinging his arm to the side. There was a good chance that his outstretched arm would collide with her chest and knock her to the ground, and from there, he would gain the upper hand.
Ikkin
"The remedy is done!" Ikkin heard the lioness call as she walked into the room carrying a plate of what looked like chocolate chip cookies. She wondered vaguely how cookies would be able to help Goosh, but decided that the healer probably knew much more than she did about these kinds of things.
"These cookies have a special ingredient that makes them harder to resist, she explained as she reached Goosh. "The smell should wake him in a minute or two," she said, smiling brightly as she waved a cookie in front of Goosh's face. So that was how she was planning to wake Goosh up, Ikkin thought, rather amused by the concept.
"In the meantime," she continued, looking at Ikkin now, "I don't believe we've had the chance to introduce ourselves. I'm Namarié Leoness."
"Oh, yeah," Ikkin said, suddenly realizing that she hadn't actually gotten the healer's name before. "Hi, Namarié. Or should I call you Leoness? I'm Ikkin, by the way." She stretched out her hand for Leoness to shake, not really thinking about the fact that the lioness' hands were already full.
Kwoiffei
((Mage Manor - Just outside...))
Drakhé continued gazing at the sky for a full minute. He was unsure as to whether he was hallucinating, or if the purple clouds were turning green... but either way, it was not an appealing colour combination.
"Ugh..."
With not too much discretion, and a tight grip on his own head, he headed past the gathering and right into the Manor itself.
--
((Mage Manor - No longer just outside.))
Shelter. Finally.
Having just closed the door behind him, Drakhé breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe it was all just a bad dream... maybe a good night's sleep would clear his head, and normality would resume. Such an idea was not as farfetched as one might think; with the right magic, anything was possible.
The dragon let the Manor guide him to his room.
After several magic holes in the walls, a corridor, and a dome-shaped door, Drakhé wound up in the dome that was his room. Strangely, everything seemed so much chillier...
He went over to his bed, and fell asleep right on it without changing outfits.
Unbeknownst to him, someone had placed a uniform at the foot of his bed.
Kat
((Mage Manor, library
Ielle - outside))
Kat staggered back against the shelf she had crashed into a moment ago after casting the lightning spell. She glanced at her side and saw another mage, deep in concentration. Perhaps she was thinking of a spell...but whatever she was doing, she needed to be protected.
A flick of her wrist later, Kat created a new barrier of violet fire around this particular mage. "Tell me when to take it down!" she cried, just as she saw Sev teleport out of his barrier and behind Subila.
She really shouldn't be underestimating phoenix fire.
* * *
Ielle walked towards the Manor, staring up at it. There was no doubt that whoever she was looking for was inside, and if anyone asked, she always had a ready-made alibi.
And yet...somehow, the Manor didn't want her around. She gritted her teeth and created a ball of pale golden flames, the same color as her hair, just in case.
Huntress
((The forest, by the tree of Precious))
Huntress raised an eyebrow, watching as the winged man descended from the sky and landed in front of her.
Then she turned to look at Bloody Mary, who'd been sitting on the man's palm but was currently edging towards his fingers, away from a little puddle.
"Bloody Mary," she said sternly.
"Hey, I haven't had a good day to start with and daggone angels dropping from the sky ain't making things any better," grumbled the meepit, apparently too shaken to jump off.
"Whatever happened to the fearless rabid meepit gang of the seven seas?"
"Seas. That's the thing." The meepit sat down again. "Rain and wind and waves are plain and simple. This..." he nodded at Leraye.
Hunty tilted her head, looking at the man who'd gotten the gem under control in the meantime – well, that's kinda convenient - and turned to look at her, asking, "Is this yours?"
"Both of them are," the captain said somewhat grimly. "To a bigger or smaller extent. As much of a nuisance as they both may be."
She eyed the man curiously. Probably an elf, her brain concluded. The pointy ears and green clothes were good factors on their own, backed up by the general cheery hippie expression, and she didn't put growing wings past one either, seeing that the one in her own crew was a shapeshifter – wonder if Dragon's doing fine...? Her general impression of elves was that they were reliable, if flighty at times, and definitely good with magic, so she loosened up a bit.
"But I probably could use a little help with that thingamabob," she added, nodding at the gem. "Wouldn't want to get fried at one point like that tree, and you seem to be good with this."
Rider
"An angel?" Rider whispered, reaching out to touch the elfin man's wings. "Kit had angels. Do you know what happened to them? Um, sir?"
Rider upholds the noble tradition of being a pirate, making assumptions, and being highly superstitious.
She turned to Hunty and whispered. "An angel on our team we can probably trust, but if we're going to make a pact with demons, I do wonder about bringing him along. Not that I think we can entirely trust the demons, after what happened to Kit. I'm all about turning this ship arund and getting back into that manor."
Celestial
Celestial's field of vision was suddenly engulfed in a shield wall of purple flame. The purple mage near her seemed to have cast it. A useful thing to have, considering their enemy. Even if the renegade was being blasted with the deadliest phoenix fire, something told Celestial that it would't be enough to have a fire on the inside. The darkness needed to be burnt away from the inside. Visions overtook her and she completely lost track of what was happening in the library. The cry had reached outside the borders of Mage Manor and into dragon country.
She wasn't moving but the landscape beneath her kept rushing past. Mountains streched as far as the eye could see and the moon hung brightly over the dark sky with only stars to shine throuhg the oily blackness. An echo was boucing off the normally still mountains. The echo called for all to use thier powers and help. Suddenly, all around the mountains, valleys and caves, lights flickered on, burning bright and constant, streching tendrils towards her. The tendrils overlapped and met, glowing brighter as they met her body and wrapped around it, smoothed over by her own tendril of power, reaching out from her heart and eyes. With each tendril that joined the cocoon, she felt stronger and stronger. Soon, she will be able to fight the evil.
Overlord wasn't too disturbed by the purple flames that engulfed them both, she had taught him to not fear the fire. However, when his mistress had gone into a trance and her wings jerked upward spasmodically, it was a good time to get off her shoulder. He fluttered down to the ground, just in time to see her fingers sharpen and turn grey. The robes on her back strained to not rip as the beginnings of spikes appeared down the lenght of her spine. Scales grew here and there while her hair was swept aside by a circlet of seven horns, similar to the crest of her dragon form.
She was shapeshifting in this trace, however slightly. Overlord knew it was a dangerous spell which could make those features permanent. Last time she tried a spell like this, it left her with scales in some places, just beneath her skin. He just hoped his mistress would have more experience now with those spells.
((Purple is Celestial's trance state in case anybody is interested))
Strife
((Mage Manor - Kitchen))
"Hi, Namarié. Or should I call you Leoness? I'm Ikkin, by the way."
Ikkin stretched out her hand, and Leoness shook it with her free hand. "Nice to meet you. You can call me Leoness."
Despite the tension in the air and all of the strange things happening in the manor, it always made her feel happy to help people, especially when it involved doing something she enjoyed such as cooking. That, and she kept thinking about Strife. The carnation flower was gently hanging out of her pocket.
"I wonder where the pirate captain is..." she said. "She was the one who originally asked for my help, afterall... In any case, i'll stay here and take care of this fellow until he's recovered.”
Vyt
((Mage Manor - Library))
Chaos. Subila could already feel the chaos reigning from the people around her, and she was not even starting to attack yet. If that could keep up, the possibility of single-handedly defeating them all was not very far from reality. "I mean, really. Vyt and his companions are the only people who knows how to oppose my powers, and I'm glad the most important person among them is already dead," she thought.
Subila retained her smugly smirk even with everyone around her reacting rather aggressively towards her actions, but became a bit cautious once she felt the phoenix making its own moves. Immortal entities affiliated with light were once her race's "mortal" enemies, and phoeni were included in them. Subila knew quite well that the phoenix just around her might spell trouble for her.
At least, it was not spelling her doom.
Subila was alerted by both the purple-clad mage and the phoenix, who had each cast their own respective magic in an attempt to hold her off. Though the mage was itching to taunt them all up to spice up the battle (and give her tremendous amounts of power in the process), she thought it best to move first.
And move, she did. Vanishing into the darkness proved to be one of, if not the only one, the best evasive maneuver she knew. The flaming beak of the phoenix pierced through only the newly-emerged black fog.
A laugh preceded Subila's insight on immortality. "... I kill you and you resurrect yourself sometime later... only for you to be greeted by the same person who killed you as well as death again. Repeat, repeat, repeat," said the ominous disembodied voice that tried to taunt the phoenix into rage.
"... And as for you..."
The darkness of the past midnight was not really helping in the favor of Subila's opponents as it slowly materialized into hordes and hordes of human-sized tentacles. Seven or eight of them had already made their way on the purple mage, trying their best to hold her in place.
"You can die quickly right now."
((Mage Manor - Outside))
Cat Assassin might not be a worshipper of magic, but even he could feel the intensity that was brewing through the room he came from. He would not really be surprised though. One sadistic dark mage was inside, probably already creating havoc among everyone around her right now.
Somehow, he wished he alone could do something about her.
Walking for a minute forced Cat Assassin to ponder. If the bird did not have the gem, then why did Bluisa's crystal ball point it as the holder of the gem? Something was not adding up.
Thinking it best to look again at the crystal ball, Cat Assassin pulled it out of his coat once more. It still revealed the bird which now looked scared for some reason. Then, a hunch entered his mind, hinting him to think outside the box.
"... What if I was not really trying to think about the gem?"
Cat Assassin closed his eyes and tried really hard to think about the gem. The object everyone was after. The only artifact that could return Vyt from oblivion.
For some time, it was clear. Even the feline could see the gem within his mind. He then woke up from his thoughts and looked at the crystal ball that was now revealing the gem itself.
"I was so caught up into capturing the holder that I forgot to focus on the gem itself..." he concluded.
Again, he started his search for the missing gem. Or rather, "The Search For The Precious Lost In The Forest".
Ikkin
"Both of them are," the pirate girl - who looked like a captain - said. "To a bigger or smaller extent. As much of a nuisance as they both may be."
Leraye chuckled at the last part. He didn't really believe that the gem was the pirate's, but, he figured that she was as good a person to keep it as any, at least for now.
It was just then that he noticed the puddle the Meepit had made in his hand. "I can see what you mean," he said, letting the Meepit down slowly, then absentmindedly used the gem in his other hand to summon some water to clean it off with, forgetting that it wasn't his own stone.
It worked just as well, though, and he hoped the pirate wouldn't pick up on his mistake.
"But I probably could use a little help with that thingamabob," the girl added, nodding towards the gem. "Wouldn't want to get fried at one point like that tree, and you seem to be good with this."
"I'm an alchemist," he said. "I know quite a bit about magical stones and gems, so I know what it takes to calm one down. This one might be a problem, though - this type of stone was never intended to be cut. That's why it's been creating a storm.
"I could fix it, but that would be quite difficult..." he finished, trailing off. He didn't really want to ask for some kind of payment, but, if the pirate took it that way, he certainly wouldn't mind.
"An angel?" Leraye heard from behind him, as he felt someone touching his wings. He turned to look - it was the other pirate girl, who had used her magical Meepits to find the gem. "Kit had angels," she continued. "Do you know what happened to them? Um, sir?"
Leraye laughed. "No, I think you must be mistaken. I'm not an angel; I just used my alchemy to transmute the wings so I could fly. And I'm sorry I can't tell you what happened to the other angels, either. I wasn't even aware that there were any around."
---------
“Nice to meet you. You can call me Leoness," Leoness said.
"Okay," Ikkin said with a smile. "Nice to meet you, too."
"I wonder where the pirate captain is..." Leoness said. "She was the one who originally asked for my help, afterall... In any case, i'll stay here and take care of this fellow until he's recovered."
Ikkin concentrated on Hunty's magical signature, until she found it, down in the courtyard of the Manor. "She's out in front of the Manor," Ikkin said. "I'll take you there once Goosh wakes up."
She certainly hoped he would wake up soon, though. While she hadn't been paying much attention to the other magical signatures, she'd still felt enough to know that something was very wrong.
***
That dark mage really was starting to get on Sev's nerves. Why was she being so flippant about his phoenix fire? He seethed with rage as the mage disappeared to avoid the other attacks, despite ignoring his.
Why was she not affected by the phoenix fire, though? He concentrated on her magical signature, which seemed to have diffused throughout the shadows in the room. Nothing there suggested that she should have any immunity to even normal fire - darkness was usually weak against fire, and that was all she had.
It just didn't make any sense. She should have at least been losing power... but, instead, she was gaining it!
...wait. Gaining power? Why would that be...?
Before he could come up with an answer, she decided to taunt him, still remaining invisible. "... I kill you and you resurrect yourself sometime later... only for you to be greeted by the same person who killed you as well as death again. Repeat, repeat, repeat," she said.
Sev growled. He knew the mage was just trying to make him angry, but that didn't make it any less annoying for this pathetic mage to even claim something like that.
She's getting stronger, he realized with a start. She was taunting him... because his anger made her stronger.
Well. That was interesting. Maybe this called for a different tactic...
"Hey, look, it's Ursula!" Sev said, forcing himself to laugh at his own joke. "I wonder if anyone wants fried squid for dinner!" He landed between the tentacles and Kat, blasting out as much fire as he could manage.
"Oops, I think they might be overcooked..." he said, not even letting the smoke clear first. "Oh, well, I like my food well done, anyway. Sorry you couldn't have some though, Kat." He winked at her, hoping she would catch on.
He then released a large amount of the harmless kind of phoenix fire from all over himself, blasting the shadows away from himself and Kat while also slightly tickling anyone who it touched.
Now this was how to fight someone like that, he thought with a smirk.
Goosh
Goosh's mind was on fire. All he could feel was a burning pain that threatened to overwhelm him completely. But he clung solidly to a single corner of self-awareness. Blurred images passed before him. Demons. Angels. Armies. And through it all, the smell of cookies...
Wait. That wasn't just a hallucination. He could smell cookies. Chocolate chip. And he could feel. He was in a chair or a couch. It took him a second to connect it all through frazzled nerves.
He was awake.
Having not eaten in several days, he first ate the cookie that was waving in front of his face. Then he opened his eyes, staring into those of a lioness woman.
"Gfghhi."
He looked past hre and saw Ikkin standing nearby. Remembering his vision, he started mumbling through his cookie in alarm. "Ighhfin! Tghhe hem! Hggr ih it?”
Zari
((I have Pyro's permission to godmode.))
Pyro hadn't really registered the messengers. Perhaps the younger knight was more used to Zari's strange ways than she had realised. Nevermind. The two rode towards Mage Manor, faster than Zari could register. A little along the way, A blindfolded Zaha leapt onto Zari's horse and climbed onto the Knight's Shoulder. 'Ailura. She's here.' Zari started. 'She's WHAT?' 'Here. Heading to the Mages. Something about Lioness.' Zaha replied.
((Outside Mage Manor))
Zari didn't answer, sitting still as Mage Manor came into view. She ground to a halt and dismounted. Rider, Hunty, An ANGEL? Zari dismounted hastily and ran over to the odd group. 'Gah...Whuzzgoinon? What happened to Kit's meet? What happened to that thrice-accursed gem? There's poison in the Knights guild...Wait. I think I sent a messenger to tell the guild leaders that...I'm confused.' Zari leant on her staff and tried to recollect her thoughts.
Omni
((Mage Manor, front yard))
Not much happened as Omni stood there, healing the ninja behind her. Rikku said something, Rider and Huntress ran off, and it started snowing. The latter one was, oddly, the one that caught her attention most, once she noticed it. Still, she continued to heal the wound in PFA's side, perceiving the cuts and tears, and directing them to knit together, almost as if they had never been done. She started with the deepest and more serious parts, and worked her way out, until the wound was healed enough that Omni was fairly certain that PFA could move without much pain or blood loss.
"I'm going to go after the person PFA mentioned. Anyone else who would like to is welcome to follow," she said before running off toward the manor, where she had seen the other ninja go.
((Inside Mage Manor))
Once Omni had entered the Manor, she mentally asked it to guide her to the one PFA mentioned. She wasn't teleported there, but the walls appeared to slide by faster than they normally would while she was running. She traveled through halls, and turned corners, though it didn't feel like she was directing her feet where to turn so much as it did like the floor was turning underneath her, though she knew fully well that she was the one being rotated. She ran up stairs, several fights of them, taking the path she took the many times she wanted to go to the library. Sure enough, that's where she was outside of before too long. She came close to the door, there were magical signatures behind it strong enough that she could feel them, even the one from the opposite side of the library. The ever familiar feel of Sev and his fire, Kat's magic was close enough that she could feel it, a strangely warped (and warping) version of Celestial's energy, and a strong dark energy that could only belong to one person she knew.
"Subila?!" Omni said, catching herself before she made it into a shout. That girl was trouble, she knew it from the start. She was also powerful, and she would like any boost fighting her that she could get. She drew her dagger, and also reached into her bag, pulling out a silver coin. She heated up the coin with fire magic, particularly one part of the edge, before rubbing it against the dagger. She tried to spread it as thinly as possible without compromising the edge. She wasn't sure if it would do anything, but it was worth a shot.
----------
((With Spacefleet!Zari))
Ethan took the cloak that Zari gave him and put it on, finding it mildly interesting that it matched the clothes he already had. He used the clasp, making sure that the cloak covered his badge, and pulled up the hood, covering his implants. He also used the black powder to cover up the wires that were visible beneath the epidermis of his face and neck. He held his rifle, also black, hiding it within the cloak. Now he was ready to depart from the shuttle.
He commanded Siber to 'heel' and took his first steps on the surface of the planet. Part of him wished they had been taken under different circumstances. Now he was in a quandary. He pondered how to get out of it as he followed Zari, keeping an eye on her.
It wasn't long before they ran into someone. Or rather, someone ran into Zari. "YOU!" the person shouted, before running off again.
"Friend of yours?" Ethan asked.
Kat
"... I kill you and you resurrect yourself sometime later... only for you to be greeted by the same person who killed you as well as death again. Repeat, repeat, repeat."
Another bolt of violet lightning issued from Kat's staff, but missed terribly, as though Subila had been taunting her, not Sev. Swearing, she began to whisper another spell, not listening to anything Subila had said. But it was hard not to notice the dark tentacles that and shot out of nowhere, and were folding her in their fatal embrace. She couldn't move her staff, and her mind had gone dangerously blank; where was that spell she was trying to cast awhile ago?
"Hey, look, it's Ursula! I wonder if anyone wants fried squid for dinner!"
But Sev came to her aid. Blasts of phoenix fire mingled with Subila's own brand of darkness. Unfortunately, Kat couldn't laugh at the joke, not when she was slowly being constricted to death.
"Oh, well, I like my food well done, anyway. Sorry you couldn't have some though, Kat." And then he winked, and Kat winked back. She wanted to grin, despite her dire situation; perhaps it was the joke.
A few seconds later, everything was phoenix fire, which made the tentacles let go. Kat was not only free, but she was enjoying a light, tickling sensation...possibly from the fire. Now, she was back on her feet, staff in hand, and she unleashed a blast of purple light towards Subila, helping Sev drive away the shadows.
Huntress
((The forest, by the scorched tree))
"I could fix it, but that would be quite difficult..."
Huntress raised an eyebrow, looking up at Leraye. "You could fix it? Looks pretty much fixed to me. At least it's not shooting sparks any more."
"I say it's dangerous any way you look at it," said Bloody Mary, climbing up her clothes and landing on her shoulder again. At that point, the rest of the meepitgang caught up and clustered around Hunty's feet as the captain fell into thoughts.
"As are you, but that doesn't make you evil or useless," she said, then looked at Leraye again. "An alchemist? So that gem isn't evil or with a mind of its own... it's just a tool and can be controlled by those who have the skills?"
"Well, you could say the same about all weapons," Bloody Mary remarked, still squinting at the angel-elf suspiciously. "You can use gunpowder to clear obstacles or blow someone's head off. Doesn't make gunpowder good or evil."
"S'what I meant, more or less." Hunty looked at Rider, who'd said: "An angel on our team we can probably trust, but if we're going to make a pact with demons, I do wonder about bringing him along. Not that I think we can entirely trust the demons, after what happened to Kit. I'm all about turning this ship arund and getting back into that manor."
"I don't intend to join this guy, per se," she said. "Though the demon-pact is hardly a question at this point. No, I don't care about pacts any more. They can all run around and blow each other's heads off, for all I care. I'm more interested in..."
She stopped, turning to look at the man in front of her. Fine then. All cards on the table.
"If you can handle this stone," she said, "and if you're willing to come along for a bit to help us, then the rest is just a question of bargaining. I have a ship, and a crew, and we need a bit of protection. Which is why we've been running around on this land all evening to start with. I've no doubt that this shinything can help me with my goal, but there's lots of people around looking for it, and most of those people would be all too happy to have our heads, with or without the stone."
At that point, two knights rode into the clearing and one of them ran over, asking: "Gah...Whuzzgoinon? What happened to Kit's meet? What happened to that thrice-accursed gem? There's poison in the Knights guild...Wait. I think I sent a messenger to tell the guild leaders that...I'm confused."
Hunty's mouth twitched. Speak of the devil. Meddling knights were just what she needed in that situation.
"Kit's dead," she said. "Placed too much trust in the wrong hands, if you ask me. The gem's safe and under control, dontcha worry about that. The poison..."
She paused, unsure what to say, as she'd pretty much ignored the message, having had a pirate-ninja pact to forge, then finished: "We'll find a way to deal with it, should it hit us." Well, that was more or less true, given the gem. "I doubt we'll be able to help the Knights anyway.”
PFA
((Mage Manor: near entrance))
PFA was a little surprised when her wounds started to feel numb, as if the pain was just melting away. She glanced over to look at something she felt at her side, and noticed that Omni's tail was there. PFA smiled a little. She'd have to thank Omni later.
"Do you ninjas even have a spokesperson at this moment?" the pirate captain asked, distracting PFA.
"Um... yeah, but I haven't really seen them..." she replied. "I usually don't get to see the higher-ranked ninja."
Suddenly she shivered a little, looking up at the sky. Snow? When had it started snowing? At any rate, she was suddenly starting to realize how cold it was. The new outfit she had got was certainly great for moving around in, but it wasn't so good in cold weather. She'd have to get something warmer later.
When she looked back down at the crowd in front of her, she noticed that the pirates were leaving, off to do their own things. Also, that Omni had finished healing her. PFA smiled again; it wasn't quite good as new, but it would do for now.
"I'm going to go after the person PFA mentioned. Anyone else who would like to is welcome to follow," Omni said, just before heading off toward the Manor.
"I'll come," PFA said quickly. She had promised her Uncle that she would, quote, 'catch up as soon as I can.' She wasn't about to forget that. Also, it would be good to get out of the snow, she added mentally.
So she followed after Omni, into Mage Manor. She had to find that... that fiend... before it was too late.
((Mage Manor: near library))
As soon as PFA entered the Manor, the walls around her morphed into what appeared to be a hallway, near a library. What just happened? she wondered briefly. Oh right, this is Mage Manor, it's got all kinds of--
"Subila?!" came a yelp from Omni, which immediately caught PFA's attention. Her eyes widened remarkably, and she felt like her heart would beat its way out of her chest.
"OMNI, NO!" she screamed, before her mind could tell her to use her inside voice. She hoped beyond all hope that what happened last time the dark mage heard her name wouldn't happen again... that the mage didn't hear Omni, that it needed to be her full title and not just her name, anything.
Cyborg
(( Somewhere in the forest)) " Hey Keng what have you been doin since I left?" Cyborg asked his friend.
Zari
((Forest, Near Mage Manor.))
ZariKrahia windmilled her arms wildly, then grabbed a tree branch, staring after Zaha. 'Jhioan. That's Zahaere Emaya, The Other's Companion. She will have told her. I doubt She'll let that slip by. I'll just have to keep my hood up.' Zari took a cautious step forward, then broke into a brisk walk, the pistol in her holster reassuringly secure. Ienalle turned human, obviously confident that a large metal cylinder strapped to the forearm wasn't a very strange weapon, and walked a few paces ahead. 'All clear. Nothing but forest animals and such.'
--
Zari listened to Huntress's reply, face at first mildly curious, then gradually turning stony. 'Dead...Drat. By Zaha's word, that's two Knights dead in the same day. Tamia too, if you were wondering. Me and Pyro--' she motioned towards her comrade '--were both attacked. It tried to strangle Pyro and attacked my empathy barriers. Uhm...wait. I'm forgetting somethin'. Zari ret Xenam, Crimson Knight. Looks like we came for nothing, then.'
She lapsed into silence, quietly wondering who else would die in the next two days. Zari had seen enough death to greet it with a blank face, but it still stung. One of the Knights. She bit her lip. Who would tell the King? How would the country do without them? Urgh…
Keng
" Hey Keng what have you been doin since I left?"
"Working for The Commander over there, as mercenaries he could prolly give y-" she cut off, as she looked towards Strife and saw him talking to someone. Speck had joined after she'd left the pirates so she didn't recognize the girl. How did I not notice her arrival? wondered Keng. And then, the commander struck the girl.
"Oh %$#@!" swore Keng. She didn't swear often, really she didn't. At least not with actual swear words, but no other term quite fit the situation.
"Keng! You might want to tell your friends to run away now. The Commander's going berzerk on some pirate who may be possessed. I don't think he'll attack his own troops, but I can't say the same for the people you're talking to."
Buzzed her communicator, turning the thoughts into spoken words that sounded exactly like Fraze with a process she didn't understand in the least.
"Rodger that." replied Keng frantically as the girl retaliated against Strife who wasted no time in reacting. "Bloody hell, bloody hell. Cyborg, I don't know what's wrong here, but something is. You heard Fraze!" she yelled completely forgetting they didn't know who Fraze was. She then sprinted towards the commander without any plan to speak of.
"Urchin! We have trouble!" she spoke into the communicator, "uhhh...stay down for now, move closer." was all she could think to say. She then directed her voice at Strife, "Commander-" she yelled but found no words to follow. Capture the girl. she thought, her mind flying off in as many directions as this post, Capture the girl, call for an interrogation. The commander needs to be calmed down. Needs logical thought. it was a poor plan, but she needed to take some action. Running away wouldn't help, and attacking the commander even for the purpose of knocking some sense into him was by every view point a bad idea.
Bacon
((Forest South of Dunbarrow))
"Sir!" One of the marines called to the Subcommander. He then gave a bunch of hand signals and three of the marines broke off, crouching down and peering through the hedges. Bacon snuck up behind them and looked over their shoulders. There was a small group of people standing in a clearing.
Ok, that looks like Keng, but who's that? Bacon thought to himself.
"Oh %$#@!" Keng swore suddenly.
"Keng! You might want to tell your friends to run away now. The Commander's going berzerk on some pirate who may be possessed. I don't think he'll attack his own troops, but I can't say the same for the people you're talking to." A voice, maybe Fraze's, shouted from somewhere Bacon couldn't see.
"Going beserk?" Bacon asked. The marines silently went back to Subcommander #4 to report what they saw. "Going beserk how?"
"Rodger that... Cyborg, I don't know what's wrong here, but something is. You heard Fraze!" Keng said before moving deeper into the forest.
Bacon started to move closer to investigate, but a marine's stiff hand stopped him. "Where do you think you're going, Cadet?" The marine asked with just a little bit too much menace in his voice.
"I'm going to find out what's going on." Bacon replied, stunning the Marine with his Pulse Charger. He then ducked through the bushes. "Oy! You there- Cyborg, I think it is?- what's going on around here?”
PFA
((Forest: south of Dunburrow))
Cyborg's insisting that "we can trust Keng" didn't make Jernath any less suspicious. If anything, it made him more so.
Keng started to say something about The Commander again, but then stopped mid-sentence. She then swore, and suddenly there was a voice from Keng's direction that didn't belong to Keng. It took a moment for Jernath to realize it was probably a radio of some sort.
"Keng! You might want to tell your friends to run away now," said the voice. "The Commander's going berzerk on some pirate who may be possessed. I don't think he'll attack his own troops, but I can't say the same for the people you're talking to."
What? Run away? was Jernath's first thought. He supposed it made some degree of sense that whoever it was would be concerned, but run away? No... he couldn't do that. Running away was the coward's way out of a problem. If there was going to be a fight, he would fight.
"You heard Fraze!" Keng exclaimed. Jernath figured that Fraze was the name of the person who told them to run away. Before he could say anything, though, Keng ran off toward what was probably The Commander.
"I don't care what she says," Jernath told Cyborg. "I think we should help them out."
Jernath grabbed an arrow, just as a person popped out from behind the bushes and asked Cyborg what was happening. Jernath ignored the person for now; the person had directed the question to Cyborg, and Jernath decided the fight was more important right now anyway.
He looked around the tree he was standing by and noticed two figures fighting. He couldn't make out any of the details, though, seeing as it was very dark, and there was a tree blocking his view. He started to aim at one of the figures, but he hesitated... which one would he aim at?
He couldn't tell which one was The Commander (if either were), and even if he could, was The Commander even an ally? Jernath didn't know The Commander personally... all he knew was that he was an ally of Keng's. And he still wasn't sure he entirely trusted Keng. Also, who could the other figure be? What if they were the ally? He really had no idea who it was, and he could be shooting at a fellow mercenary for all he knew.
Finally, after a few moments of hesitation, he fired the arrow. He didn't know who it would hit, or if it even would hit, and just hoped he wouldn't be killed for it.
The Invisible Guild
“Poison.”
Marzia’s voice was a low hiss. Trilby turned his face in the rough direction of it.
“It’s expected, isn’t it? Forest’s gone rogue.”
“He’s gone rogue twice now. Untrustworthy character, even for the Guild, which is really saying something. And yes, it was expected. Poison is a pretty reasonable response when someone’s holding a knife to your throat.”
They were standing in the forest by the path, conversing in whispers. It was pure luck that they’d been there at all when Forest had been ambushed; they were on the way back to headquarters to report their success, or lack thereof.
“Do you think they’ve used them?”
Marzia made a dismissive gesture, though he knew the ex-pirate couldn’t see it. “It doesn’t really matter. There will be blood between the Guilds either way. We were just trying to push it along a little. The Mages will go against Spacefleet for certain, unless …” He suddenly breathed in sharply. “Wait.”
“What is it?” Trilby leaned against a tree, stroking the edge of his dagger. He would have twirled it or some such posturing, but it would be risky when he could see neither the dagger nor his hand.
Forest had ridden off, and though the other members of the Invisible Guild on his trail could not be seen, that was to be expected. All Guild members were trained in stealth, whether ex-Ninja or no.
“The reconnaissance we’ve kept on the Manor’s paid off.” Marzia’s oddly deep voice was quick, unusually excited. “That lioness woman, she’s staying there.”
“So?”
“She’s Spacefleet’s Chief Medic.” Marzia smirked, savoring the impatience in his companion’s tones.
“And?” Trilby growled.
“She said before that The Commander was her lover.” The ex-Lieutenant’s voice was full of scorn. “I thought she was lying – showing off, or covering up something. But on second thought’s …”
“You think she’s serious?” Trilby gave a slow, lazy grin. “That is good. That is very good.”
“Indeed. If Leoness gets hurt while at the Manor … well, who’s to blame but the Mages? Even if she has relations there, The Commander’ll raze it to the ground.”
“Which can only be a good thing.”
“Of course.”
“So let’s get to the Manor.” Marzia prepared to move off, slinging his bag of explosive objects to a position that made it easier to carry.
“Wait.” Trilby sheathed his dagger. “I think we should go to the Castle.”
Marzia’s tone was both incredulous and dangerous. “Why.” Just that one word. Why.
“Because that’s the way Forest’s going. I don’t trust him. Bound to be up to some do-good scheme.”
“Nice change.”
“Still.”
“Go to the Castle if you want to. I’m going to the Manor.” Marzia’s voice was casually contemptuous.
“You’re not the boss of me.” Trilby’s voice was dangerous.
“Really? Because I was under the impression that I was.” Marzia’s voice was more dangerous still.
At that point, a rustling in the bushes beside them disturbed them. Trilby frowned.
“That you?” This invisibility thing had its down sides.
“I thought it was you.”
There was an uneasy silence, until a rotting head poked out of the bushes.
“… Is that a zombie?” Trilby said, taking a startled step back.
“Ssh. It can’t see us.” Marzia looked at the undead creature curiously.
“That would be a pity,” the zombie said cheerfully, emerging from the bushes and brushing some leaves (and accidentally a few chunks of flesh) off its self. “Master is very handsome.”
Marzia blinked, not sure whether to be more confused that the zombie claimed to see him or that it seemed to be chatting him up.
“I’m invisible,” he murmured. “It can’t see me. Invisible.”
“You have a very deep voice for someone so small.” The zombie smiled slyly. “It suits you. Very suave.”
Marzia coughed. “Trilby, are you hearing this?”
Trilby gave a low chuckle. “Oh, yes. It’s very amusing.”
Marzia shot a glare in the direction of his voice.
Two more zombies emerged from the undergrowth.
“Only Rikku is a Master, Fred,” one of them scolded. “Normal humans are just flesh.”
Fred smirked at Marzia. “Very handsome flesh.”
Marzia coughed and took a step backwards. “Stop there. Please. You’re starting to worr – urk!” He let out a muffled exclamation as the zombie embraced him passionately.
“Trilby!” he yelped. “Get if off me!”
“You’re playing hard to get,” Fred crooned, and started waltzing him around. “I like that.” Marzia muttered a curse under his breath, his face screwed up against the stench rising from the zombie’s rotting flesh.
“Trilby!”
“Say ‘please’.”
Fred leaned forward, his mouth over Marzia’s ear, and whispered sweet nothings to him. Marzia’s face would have betrayed rising panic, could the former pirate see it. “Please!” he yelled. “Just get rid of the thing!”
Trilby shrugged, still grinning, and pulled the protesting Fred off Marzia. “Alright. Happy now?”
Marzia coughed and staggered a pace or two back. “I think that was possibly the worst moment of my life.”
Fred looked like he was about to resume attack, but his two companions pulled him back, and they started to leave.
“Farewell, my love, until we meet again!” Fred yelled as they disappeared behind the trees.
There was silence.
“They went towards the Manor,” Trilby managed at last.
Marzia nodded decisively and started following Evan Forest, heading towards Castle Kestrel. “Castle it is.”
Amneiger
Amneiger was sitting by himself in the shuttle, with the windows closed and the door shut. After he'd turned on the radio and checked his minitanks over for nicks and scratches, he'd opened up the laptop and plugged in his datacube.
It appears that adding additional refractors to the hypothetical rifle-sized laser cannon does add to an increase in power but also makes the weapon much less
Then the radio crackled with Fraze's message. What the...a group of people found the Commander? And he's fighting them? Amneiger lifted the radio and dialed it to Ethan's frequency.
"Ethan? Amneiger here. I just heard Fraze over the radio saying that the Commander's been found by somebody and that a fight's started. You all better hurry."
Vyt
((Mage Manor - Library))
The disembodied soul of Subila listened as the phoenix uttered a rather corny joke about her tentacles. The mage would not want to know if it was running out of anything to say or anything, but she knew fairly well it was interrupting her quite drastically. She could drain only a relatively small amount of negative emotions from the phoenix and its cohorts. "They're not quite half-bad... This IS my second appearance," she thought.
Another spell from the phoenix caused her to react quite awkwardly.
The darkness that was surrounding the library slowly succumbed to the light that spread out from the phoenix, gradually filling the entire room. If the spell would continue, that would be bad for the mage considering that she relied heavily on the darkness.
Subila had to act fast.
The last of the shadows concentrated themselves in a dusty corner of the library, revealing Subila once more. Temporarily blinded by the light, Subila hissed at the new appearance of the room she was in. She found it better to reform herself back to her original form rather than be completely eliminated by the light while in her shadowy state.
"My, my, so you figured out one of my energy sources," Subila said, trying to remove the frustration off her own system. The light did little to mask her worried face however. "... But I think you're taking my weakened form seriously, my darlings!"
"Subila!"
Oh, that single word sparkled new hope in the eyes of the dark mage. It was the only thing she was waiting for. "Did you hear that? Someone spoke out my name!" she exclaimed, sadistic joy overshadowing her irritation awhile ago. "You know what that means..."
From outside the window entered more and more fog of war, trying its best to fend off the newly-developed light that appeared around the room. Slowly, the darkness reigned part of the library once more, specifically on the side of Subila.
She was waiting for the moment for her to be in her fullest form.
Kat
((Mage Manor, library
And outside, respectively))
"Did you hear that? Someone spoke out my name! You know what that means..."
"Right now, I'd rather not think about that," said Kat, amazed at how someone could have a much bigger ego than she did. She concentrated on blasting jet after jet of purple light, the energy making her glow as well. "I'd rather think about how I get to say your name...when you're begging for death!"
Kat gritted her teeth, and kept on casting her spells, keeping the violet light burning as bright as she could. The darkness must not win...and the only way to beat it was to shed more than a little light on the situation.
* * *
"Why won't you let me in?!" demanded Asthielle, standing up from where she had been hurled onto the grass. Brushing dirt off her cloak, she grumbled, clenching her fists, which began to glow with a faint yellow light. "Don't you make me use my magic on you!"
Mage Manor, sensing her wicked intentions and tainted magic, had denied Ielle entrance. But this was one mage who didn't know when to give up.
In a fit of rage, she screamed and stomped her foot, and threw several yellow fireballs at the front door.
Of course, since Mage Manor was...well, Mage Manor, she may as well have been throwing spitballs at it.
Cyborg
" Keng all I know is I'm stayin and there's gonna be trouble if your commander hurts that pirate." Cyborg replied.
Rider
“That gem is a tool, and all tools are made for a purpose. Mr. Leraye, if I might be so bold as to ask, do you know who made that gem and what its intended purpose is?" Rider scooped up a handful of snow and started packing it into a ball. "I doubt it was created to make pretty weather."
Omni
((Mage Manor, at the door to the library))
"OMNI, NO!"
Omni just about jumped out of her skin. Startled, she gave herself a little cut from her dagger, near her wrist. She also got flecks of silver on the door, and the carpet, and her fur.
"What?" Omni said. "You think silver will make her stronger?"
----
((With Zari, heading toward Mage Manor))
Zari started flailing around, saying things that didn't make much sense to him. "Zari, what are you…?"
He was interrupted by a signal he started picking up. "Something's come up. We should get to the manor, A.S.A.P."
Ikkin
The pirate captain looked at Leraye. "If you can handle this stone," she said, "and if you're willing to come along for a bit to help us, then the rest is just a question of bargaining. I have a ship, and a crew, and we need a bit of protection. Which is why we've been running around on this land all evening to start with. I've no doubt that this shinything can help me with my goal, but there's lots of people around looking for it, and most of those people would be all too happy to have our heads, with or without the stone."
"You need protection as well as having the gem fixed?" Leraye asked. "That does seem to be asking quite a bit. But, I can do that," he added with a smile. "It would be good to be out of the way while I fix this gem, anyway. And it has been a while since I've had a good adventure..."
Just then, the other pirate girl spoke. "That gem is a tool, and all tools are made for a purpose. Mr. Leraye, if I might be so bold as to ask, do you know who made that gem and what its intended purpose is?" she asked, scooping up a handful of snow and packing it into a ball as she did so. "I doubt it was created to make pretty weather."
"The gem is actually a fairly simple thing," Leraye explained. "At the most basic level, it takes the latent magic that everyone has and allows them to both control it and amplify it many times over, to create magic that they never would be able to do on their own. As for its creator... it was almost certainly an alchemist. Such things are the goal of our research, after all.
***
"My, my, so you figured out one of my energy sources," Subila said, clearly frustrated and anxious about the turn of events. "... But I think you're taking my weakened form seriously, my darlings!"
Sev wasn't quite sure what she meant by the last part, and he didn't really care. His plan was working, and that was all that really mattered.
"Admitting your weakness is a really stupid thing to do," Sev said with a smirk. "Too bad you won't live to know better next time."
Before anything else could happen, though, someone yelled out "Subila!" and the dark mage's expression changed entirely.
"Did you hear that?" she called out with a rather evil kind of glee in her tone. "Someone spoke out my name! You know what that means..."
Sev wasn't actually sure what that meant, but he certainly didn't think it could be anything good. The fog that seemed to be seeping in from the windows and creating shadows didn't help matters, either.
Well, then, Sev thought, this called for drastic measures. He summoned as much of the non-dangerous phoenix fire as he could and blasted it out, filling the entire room until it extended even beyond the windows. This time, the places where the phoenix fire hit almost seemed to catch on fire, except that while they appeared to be burning and put out a very large amount of pure light, they were not harmed at all.
Now, not only could Sev concentrate on things other than using his fire, shadows would not be able to form anywhere - after all, if the floor, walls, and ceiling themselves are the source of the fire, it is very difficult to make a shadow on them.
This meant that he could go on to phase two of his plan.
"You must be familiar with phoenix song, Subila, since you've gone on about phoenixes so much... right?" Sev said, taunting. "Your power to use negative emotions is completely useless in the face of it... it replaces fear with courage, despair with hope - the only one in this room who would have any negative emotions would be you!
"Now, then... how about a song that shows the majesty and the beauty of the phoenix race?" he said, affecting his voice to sound as grandiose as possible.
"...or, not. I don't actually know any real phoenix songs. But this should work just as well." And with that, he started to sing.
"Buddy you’re a boy make a big noise Playin’ in the street gonna be a big man some day You got mud on yo’ face You big disgrace Kickin’ your can all over the place
"All together now!" Sev called out, then continued singing.
"We will we will rock you! We will we will rock you!
Rider
"Buddy you’re a young man, hard man, Shoutin’ in the street, gonna take on the world some day You got blood on yo’ face! You big disgrace! Wavin’ your tailfeathers all over the place.
We will we will rock you! We will we will rock you!"
Shiva was at the window, stomping in time to the beat. "Yo, firechicken, having some trouble? Wish I could help, but you're on your own from this one! Thanks for breaking me out of my funk, though. it was weakening anyway. Less drama when my people aren't involved. Hey, have you seen Rider? or that foxy morsel of yours?"
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:36:02 GMT -5
Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))"Phoenix fire. So typical," Subila breathed out as the magical fire of the phoenix surrounded her. Her black fog of darkness and the enchanted flames struggled to complement each other, and while the fire did eliminate the darkness it landed on, the rest continued to loiter around the fire. It was like a mix of darkness and light.For some reason, the phoenix acted out in a rather unusual way. It began to sing a song in a very annoying tone. However, Subila did not mind the teasing taken from the phoenix. The anger coming from him and the other mages around did not really matter now. Ever since her name was mentioned, Subila had unlocked another force within her. Besides, there were still other things she could do that would make them angry again. If she could not make her angry through verbal insults and phrases of annoyance, Subila can still torture one of them. Torture had always been her physical means of bringing destruction, might it be painful or sexually suggestive (and when she would think about the latter she would squeal with perverted glee). The mage had been using torture for her entire life; it would not make sense if she would not use it again. Subila's annoying smirk suddenly changed to a frown at the phoenix. "You're more annoying than my counterpart," she uttered, almost saying the word that might cause her downfall. The dark mage then turned to the purple-clad mage, who was desperately trying to keep up with the pressure. "I told you once and I'll tell you again, DIE NOW!" Once again, the tentacles were back, but that time they seemed to be more agile. Their speed were considerably faster, as five of them whooshed through the room towards the mage. If only Subila could get a grasp of her could she initiate her back-up plan. EDIT: Bold lines added recently to explain "most things". CelestialThe tentacles reached out for them both and Overlord shrieked, unable to do anything with Celestial in a trance and the power of his gold feather exhausted. However, the phoenix was too quick for them, burning them away before they could reach Celestial and him. The sensation of her thoughts was getting too much for him. Overlord looked up at the tense figure with draconic features showing through. The thoughts coming from her were too strong to hold back any longer. He fell at her feet, joining Celestial in the trance for power.Overlord had joined her in the cocoon of power, the tendrils stroking him but never absorbing into his feathered body. By now, there was a glow all around her body showing the saturation of power within her. Still more kept coming as dragons all over responded to her call. It was amazing to be in control after so long. She didn't care what happened while she was here, the additional power would resolve anything. Why, she might be even more powerful than the renegade mage.
It was time to go back. The dragons had given her thier full support. She opened her eyes and willed the cocoon to dissolve into her. As soon as it did, she fell out of the sky. If anybody was foolish enough to have been near the Dragon Mountains that night, they would have seen a foreign star hover above them and fall, disappearing before it hit the ground.Celestial snapped out of her trance to see the chaos around her. Flames were everywhere but she knew it wasn't ordinary fire which could burn anything, this was simply phoenix fire. It culd keep shadows away but the renegade wasn't even fazed. There was something...different about her. She had more power now but it didn't surpass Celestial in her empowered form. A quick inner fire should put us out of our misery she thought, cracking her fingers in preparation. Every single cell of her was saturated with power, so much that she was glowing. Overlord awoke from the trance to phoenix fire. Celestial was awake too and preparing to cast a spell. He weewooed urgently at her. The spell won't work, she could recover! Why don't we try and bargain with her? She wants the gem to bring somebody back from the dead right? If you are enpowered, couldn't you do that in exchange for her surrender? he asked her telepathically.Good idea Overlord she said but even her telepathical voice was slightly echoey. Celestial looked up at the phoenix, who was trying to sing to defeat the mage. There were few who could bring people down with song and the phoenix was sadly, not one of them. "Stop!" she shouted, the echo of a thousand dragon voices matching the multicoloured swirls in her eyes. "Dark Mage, stop your attack, there is no need to fight for what can be given willingly. You want somebody brought back from the dead right? I can bring him back for you on the condition that you stop your spells and surrender. If you doubt me, use one of your fancy spells to find out. Hopefully we can come to an agreement. Deep down, you don't want to spill any more blood and niether do we" she spoke, powerful and confident. If the mage had any grain of sense, she would grab the opportunity with both hands. If not, Celestial could always reduce her to ashes inside her very own star. Before her words were noticed, dark tentacles rushed towards them, fast and agile. Celestial just smiled and with a flick of her wrist, a firestorm burnt them all, leaving everything else unharmed. It was such a shame that keeping this power forever was wrong and dangerous. "That was fun. Now stop your spellcasting for a minute and take note of what has been offered to you! she echoed, calm and composed. Yes, this echo would hopefully tell the dark mage that she wasn't joking. IkkinMage Manor was angry. It did not much appreciate its powers being ignored by that dark mage who insisted on sneaking in as a shadow. It could deal with that, though. As long as an invader wasn't really threatening, the Manor could stand its presence. But this invader had begun to act in impossible ways. It ignored phoenix fire and seemed to think that that would result in it not getting burned. It was able to use its powers even after both the shadows and the negative emotions had been entirely suppressed, despite depending on those things for its power. And it was alive despite being half of someone who the Manor knew to have been dead for quite a long time. This invader wasn't just dangerous to the mages, the Manor thought. This invader acted in ways that threatened to rip apart the fabric of space and time. Fortunately, the Manor had a remedy for that. It had a very special magic that could only be used on those who acted in impossible ways... but it was the most powerful magic of all. It was a magic only known as Sudden Existence Failure. Subila wouldn't even know what hit her as the Manor used her own contradictions to annihilate each other, much like the reaction that one would get when adding matter and anti-matter together, except much less explosive. Not even a godmoder could survive being struck with the force of their own contradictions. ((Vyt, if you make Subila into a reasonable character, I'll make this into a joke post. And quit it with the perversion.)) Huntress((In the forest by the scorched tree)) "I can do that," the winged man said. "It would be good to be out of the way while I fix this gem, anyway. And it has been a while since I've had a good adventure..."Huntress grinned cheerily, wrapping her arms around her and trying to stifle shudders. The leather corset kept her more or less warm, but it didn't cover her shoulders, and her blouse wasn't cold weather material. And she was getting sleepy. Not that it really mattered, seeing that things were finally turning for the better - as much as they could in the circumstances, but still. "If you want an adventure, you really came to the right people," she said. "What the heck is that?" Bloody Mary, whose hearing was somewhat better, stretched his neck. "Shiva, I think. And Sev." "What're they doing?" "Singing." Hunty blinked. "What?" "'We Will Rock you', I think," said the meepit. "Not what I..." The captain paused, then shook her head. "Who let them near the booze? Not that I care. They can take care of themselves." She looked at the knight, who'd said: "Dead...Drat. By Zaha's word, that's two Knights dead in the same day. Tamia too, if you were wondering. Me and Pyro were both attacked. It tried to strangle Pyro and attacked my empathy barriers. Uhm...wait. I'm forgetting somethin'. Zari ret Xenam, Crimson Knight. Looks like we came for nothing, then.""Make that three," Hunty said without much empathy, though something did twist inside her as the realization and messages of death planted themselves into her mind, coldly and heavily like slabs of stone. "Shade went down with Kit. And you knights seem to be all scattered across the lands. Go get your king, wherever he may be. Strength lies in unity. Don't wander around the land like sheep, it won't do you any good at times like these." She tilted her head. "But, well, pleasure to meet you, Crimson Knight. I'm Huntress, captain of the White Weewoo. And trust me when I say: I don't usually give advice to knights." She turned around, eyeing the dark forest in front of her. "Rider, let's go. Keep your eyes peeled. And you, kind sir, follow us." Due to the earlier phoenix-teleportation, she wasn't exactly sure which way the sea was, but she was a pirate. When it came to orienting, she had a keen sense of direction. Then again, a good compass is much better than a keen sense of direction, so she clicked hers open. Northwest, add some ten degrees, up rather than down, set. "Why'dyou warn the knights?" Bloody Mary asked when they were out of Zari's hearing range. "Strength does lie in unity. And they're the enemy in our sense." Hunty shrugged. "They've suffered losses as it is. Must be coming down with a bad case of chivalry.” PFA((Mage Manor: near library))"What?" Omni asked in response to PFA. "You think silver will make her stronger?""No, not the silver, the... the NAME! It... you can't say the name, she'll hear you! And then everything will go wrong, and..." PFA explained all at once. She was too panicked to speak properly, and was pretty sure Omni would have no idea what she was talking about. But she continued anyway. "...And it's not the silver that makes her strong, it's the name! I mean, it's not her name that makes her stronger, it's... saying the name! DON'T SAY THE NAME!" PFA panted, catching her breath for a moment. She could hear shouts coming from the other room, and though she couldn't make out what they were saying exactly, it sounded bad. Her immediate thought was that the dark mage had heard Omni, and she was getting stronger now... though in the back of her mind she was thinking up other things it could possibly be. Unfortunately, none of them were good things. And suddenly, the library caught fire. "Oh drat, she's burning them!" PFA exclaimed, just before she realized how illogical that was. The dark mage didn't have any fire magic... especially not that strong of it. But then, who else would attack everyone in the room? she wondered, not realizing it was harmless phoenix fire. "Come on, we need to do something before the building burns down!" she called to Omni, gesturing to the library. But then she stopped... what could she possibly do to put out fire? She didn't have any water on her... and she definitely didn't know water magic. Omni might've, though. "Can you put it out?” Kat((Mage Manor, library))"I told you once and I'll tell you again, DIE NOW!""Sorry, if I die, I know a lot of people who would kill me," said Kat, grinning as she shot more bolts of lightning. Sev's phoenix song, though annoying to Subila, was...strangely inspiring, in some way, for Kat. Either that, or she simply liked the beat. Anyway, Kat was fired up enough to create a wall of purple fire that burned any shadowy tentacles that tried to grab her again. "And, only five this time? What's wrong? Tired? I'm just getting started!" She decided to stop taunting her for now; after all, Kat would need all the power she had to keep the flames burning. Whispering a quick spell, a huge violet plume leaped from the barrier, crackling with energy, blazing towards Subila. "What if we attacked at the same time?" whispered Kat to Sev. Cyborg(( Somewhere in the forest)) " So Keng where is this commander and the pirate?" Cyborg inquired. " Yes we'd like to have a word with your commander and help the pirate." Midknight added. " Oh and what's goin on is me and Keng were just catchin up with each other and now your commander might be attackin one of my old ship mates and I don't like it." Cyborg added to the other person whom he didn't recognize. Strife((Mage Manor - Kitchen))After a minute or so, the unconcious pirate slowly began to move his muscles. The cookie was working. He didn't even open his eyes before swiping the cookie from Leo's hand and shoving it into his mouth. "Gfghhi," he muffled through the chewey dough and chocolate. His eyes flickered awake, and he stared at the lioness girl above him. He then saw Ikkin and grew nervous. "Ighhfin! Tghhe hem! Hggr ih it?"He looked like he would have sprung up from the couch, but Leoness placed her hands on his shoulder. "Now now," she said in an almost motherly routine, "Chew your food before you speak. I'm flattered that you like my cookies, but I wouldn't want you to choke on them." She paused for a moment, then continued. "My name is Leoness... What's yours?" * * * Meanwhile, somewhere outside the manor, Cyclops prepared to leave the dropship with his fellow Spacefleet officers. He was quite fast for a slug-like organism, but he still knew that just about anyone could outrun him, and that he would have trouble keeping up with his troops if he didn't hitch a ride. The small gelatinous subcommander approached Ethan's boot and starting climbing up the back of his leg and underneath his cloak. His gooey body left a wet trail on Ethan's clothes and leaked through the back of his cloak, but since he couldn't talk without his suit, he couldn't give him a notice. He figured it wouldn't be a big deal though. People would just think that Ethan fell in the snow at some point. Cyclops could see nothing underneath the marine's cloak, but through his telepathy, he could hear Zari's muffled voice. He slowly crawled upwards through the cloak until his single eye was poking over Ethan's shoulder, which helped him focus his mind better on what was being said. "All clear. Nothing but forest animals and such," said Zari. Cyclops then picked up a radio transmission emitting from Ethan's communicator. "Ethan? Amneiger here. I just heard Fraze over the radio saying that the Commander's been found by somebody and that a fight's started. You all better hurry."
"Something's come up," said Ethan. "We should get to the manor, A.S.A.P."A fight... how convenient. Just after he happened to get rid of his robotic suit, which was specially designed for combat. Nevertheless, he nodded his eyestalk in acknowledgement. He could always go back for the suit later. Bacon"Keng all I know is I'm stayin and there's gonna be trouble if your commander hurts that pirate... So Keng where is this commander and the pirate?""I say! Didn't you hear me?! What's happening here?" Bacon restated to Cyborg, walking up right to him and Midknight to better get their attention. "I don't take kindly to being ignored..." Omni((Mage Manor, just outside the library)) "...And it's not the silver that makes her strong, it's the name! I mean, it's not her name that makes her stronger, it's... saying the name! DON'T SAY THE NAME!"Omni froze briefly, noticing an increase in Subila's dark energy. Well that was certainly a big 'oops'. Sure, she didn't know about that particular detail, but it was still the kind of mistake one wouldn't like to make. "Alíbús," she said, hoping that somehow saying the name in reverse would at least partially reverse what had just happened. "PFA-PFA-PFA-Píeffa-Pieffe-Pef… blech." This bit was said rather quickly. Again, it was wishful thinking, but who knows? It at least seemed that if you believed something would work, then it would. "Oh drat, she's burning them! Come on, we need to do something before the building burns down! Can you put it out?"Omni observed the fire. There was something about it, both in the way it acted and the way it felt. "It's harmless phoenix fire," she said, reaching out a hand. "It isn't even hot." Noticing the coin in her hand, she decided to quickly rub the still-pretty-well-liquid part of it over her dagger, spreading it thin, before cooling it and the dagger a bit with some magic and bagging it again. Omni walked into the library. She came to prevent Subila from getting to the gem, that's what she was going to do. "You know…" she started, "I love the smell of singed dark mage in the morning," she paused, smiling. "It smells like… chocolate." She quickly gathered fire energy and threw a fireball at Subila. In the time that it was flying at said dark mage, she look some light energy and held it within herself, ready to use it whenever needed ZariZari turned white. Jhioan. A slow turn sent her walking back towards Pyro and Zaha. Why them and why now? All three dead were good knights, her friends and comrades. Maybe it was true. Maybe she did bring bad luck. Every time she'd settled, made friends, someone had died. Funny that bad luck was wearing about seven good luck charms on her person. Ha. Instead of mounting her horse once more, she chewed her lip and stared at the ground. 'Kit, Shade and Tamia-- All dead. We need to marshal the Knights, and fast. We cannot afford to lose any more. It may force the Knights of Dunburrow to disband, if there are only a few of us. Zaha is willing to, for now, serve the Knights until the Ninjas require her skill. I mean...forget it. We're useless if we aren'r defending other guilds and ourselves. Divided the Knights aren't much use. Our strength is in numbers.' Silence. Zari exhaled and stared at the scar on the palm of her hand. It looked a bit like a X, but narrower, with smaller lines criss-crossing the main ones. This whole scar was enclosed inside a large, roughly circlular patch of paler skin. This was what bound her to earth. The paler the skin, the closer her little problem. It would be just like her life if the skin was near white. Which it was. Bah. -- 'The Manor? Can you Run? Can Cyclops hold on? We'll have to risk it. I'll fly ahead.' Zari backed away, turned and broke into a run. A swift movement saw her wings unfold and another propelled her into the air. The wind wasn't too strong, so she could flap towards the Manor without many problems. At least, not with air. About a minutes in she felt a stab of pain in her chest, then an image superimposed itself over her line of sight. A crowded breakfast table. People were laughing. Across from her, a young Knight sat down, then leaned forward to grab a roll. Another Knight, Sitting next to her was already eating. A few seats down, a third, this one male, excused himself. These three seemed sharper. Then they faded, and after them the rest of the image. Ailura. darn. Zari kept going. The image was troubling. She'd seen snippets of her counterparts feelings before. Why would those people fade? Troubling. But she couldn't think on it now. Hopefully when she landed Ethan and Cyclops wouldn't be far behind. Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))
"Stop!" echoed the many voices from out of nowhere. "Dark Mage, stop your attack, there is no need to fight for what can be given willingly. You want somebody brought back from the dead right? I can bring him back for you on the condition that you stop your spells and surrender. If you doubt me, use one of your fancy spells to find out. Hopefully we can come to an agreement. Deep down, you don't want to spill any more blood and niether do we."
Subila was angered by how cocky whoever were making the decision for her. The dark mage was there to revive her original counterpart, but that was only for her powers to be fully maximized. Stubborn as always, she hated being treated so weakly.
"You do not scare me!"
The swift firestorm that brewed around forced Subila to think otherwise. Even she was not able to understand how it got there, let alone figuring out how it quickly dissolved her dark tendrils into ashes.
Nevertheless, she had the darkness beside her: the sole element that reigns over all other. With her ultimate form just in her hands, no one could stop her!
"Enough!"
Subila's eyes widened. Was that her who had just said that? It sounded so similar, yet very different from what she usually said.
"This is not what we planned for, Subila!"
Indeed, it was Subila who was talking. The most confusing part however was that she was talking to herself. Moreover, the mage seemed to have another voice within.
"You've hurted my friends... I won't forgive you for that!"
Subila could not understand what "she" was trying to say. For an immortal bent on the suffering and agony of others, what she had just mentioned was very far from her personality. Later then did she realize the only person who had the ability to mimic her voice.
She had realized it too late, however.
Subila's body started to move erratically, her whole limbs flailing out of consistency. The mage was shaking up quite badly, and no one else could understand why. If that was not creepy enough, everyone around Subila could see a seemingly ethereal person trying to escape from the dark mage's body.
Suddenly, the creature got shot out of Subila's system, launching itself right near Celestial's feet.
It looked like a clone of the dark mage.
Before Subila could even think about what had just happened, a swift ball of flame soared through the room. The dark mage's slow reaction gave the fireball the chance to hit her cleanly, and it did not fail to reach the dark mage in time.
For the first time in her life, Subila knew how it felt to be in pain.
Subila dropped down on her knees, her left hand desperately trying to cover the large singe on her right shoulder. "IT HURTS!" she screamed, tears forcibly flowing out of her eyes.
((Moment break. Feel free to do anything on Subila and the "clone".)) Kat((Mage Manor, library))"So, how does it feel to be in pain?" said Kat, her violet flames dying down as she walked towards Subila. She saw the creature by Celestial's feet, but Kat knew that her fellow mage would know what to do with it - for now, it was Subila who was the bigger catch of the day. Her staff twitched, and a blade shot out from one end. This she pointed at Subila's throat. "Whoever wishes me to finish her off, say 'aye'." Ikkin"You're more annoying than my counterpart," Subila said to Sev before launching into an attack at Kat.
Sev really wasn't sure what that was supposed to accomplish, so he sang louder. And out of tune. For whatever reason, his phoenix song seemed to work just as well that way.
Then, Celes decided to offer Subila to bring Vyt back. Sev did not like this at all. Subila had done nothing to deserve being bargained with, and he certainly didn't think she was so threatening that it was necessary. So far, she'd mainly just been annoying.
And then, Subila's existence vanished. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to notice. Or rather, Sev realized, the puppeteer behind her didn't seem to notice, because one could not simply fail to notice their own lack of existence.
Now this was really annoying.
Oddly enough, no one else seemed to notice, either. Bizarre. Kat continued her attack as if nothing happened, and even asked Sev to help out. "What if we attacked at the same time?" she asked.
"Sorry, I don't need your help to defeat a non-entity," Sev said. "I'm going to finish her myself."
And then, Subila seemed to go crazy, reacting to something that no one else could see or hear.
Probably the puppeteer, Sev thought. Typical.
The dark mage quickly started to jerk around, as if possessed, and another copy of herself seemed to pull itself out from her, landing at Celes' feet.
This slowed her down enough to get hit by a fireball, which she didn't ignore this time.
This annoyed Sev to no end.
Kat, on the other hand, was quick to take advantage of this. "So, how does it feel to be in pain?" she asked, walking over to Subila. She sounded rather scary, actually. She released the blade from her staff and raised it threateningly, asking "Whoever wishes me to finish her off, say 'aye'."
Sev didn't want this. The dark mage had annoyed him too much to let someone else finish the job.
"Nah, I think I'll do the honors," Sev said, releasing his most powerful phoenix fire at Subila.*** "Rider, let's go. Keep your eyes peeled. And you, kind sir, follow us," the pirate captain said.
"As you wish," Leraye said. He didn't really have anything else to add. PFA((Mage Manor: near library))"It's harmless phoenix fire," Omni said in response to PFA. "It isn't even hot.""...Oh," was all PFA could say. Well, now she felt awkward. Also she wondered why regular fire and phoenix fire had to look exactly the same. And now that she was thinking about it, she figured it must have been Sev that made the fire, since he was the only phoenix she knew that would do something like that. And to think of it, she was pretty sure she could hear the sound of Sev singing coming from the library, so... wait, Sev singing? Was that We Will Rock You?! PFA was snapped out of her weird mental images when she noticed Omni walking straight into the phoenix fire, not even getting hurt. PFA then grabbed a kunai from her kunai pouch, and followed after Omni. ((Mage Manor: library))The phoenix fire was rather bright. PFA wished she had brought sunglasses or something, as she squinted around the library, waiting for her eyes to adjust a bit. Soon enough, some figures were starting to come into her view... there was Omni, obviously, and Sev... over there was Kat, and that looked kind of like the dragon girl from before, except more... dragon-like. Most important of all, however, was the dark mage in the middle of the room. PFA narrowed her eyes at her, taking up a defensive stance. What she wasn't expecting to see, though, was the dark mage... fighting herself? She watched as the mage flailed around wildly, and suddenly split into two figures. One of them was hit by Omni's fireball, while the other crumpled up at the dragon's feet. "IT HURTS!" screamed the one that was hit by the fireball. Wait... she was in pain? PFA had always thought she couldn't feel pain. But this... this seemed to be suggesting otherwise. Kat then walked up to the mage in question, pointing her staff at her. "Whoever wishes me to finish her off, say 'aye'."PFA, in all honesty, didn't know what to say. She had just seen the dark mage split into two, scream, and even cry. For the first time ever, she almost felt... sorry, for the mage. But the logical part of her wanted to smack that part. You realize who this is, don't you?! she screamed at herself. But then... She turned to look at the mage that was at the dragon's feet. The one that struggled its way out... or was it? What if the one Kat was about to kill was actually the good one? What if it was... "Nah, I think I'll do the honors," said Sev, and he released a big blast of fire at the mage. PFA's eyes widened. "Wait!" PFA yelped. "What if that one's not her?" She didn't know what else to say. She just really didn't want the wrong one to die. Rider((Mage Manor, Library)) "Whoever wishes me to finish her off, say 'aye'." "Aye," Shiva yelled a lot more quickly than was absolutely necessary, before uselessly turning tail and running. Typical chaotic demon behavior. ((Outside Mage Manor)) "Shiva, I think. And Sev."Rider ran towards the sound of the singing, calling Shiva's name. The two were reunited in a flurry of flying snow and anime sparkles. "Shiva, are you alright? Are you back to, you know, normal?" "Blame the fire chicken for that. I was kind of enjoying being wild for a bit. Never have to answer to anyone but yourself, but then again, when you call, there's no one there to answer." He paused. "Kit's dead." "I know, Shiva, I know. There's nothing we can do about it now. We have the gem." She paused. "You'll be okay in the presence of the gem, won't you?" "Yes." "Then we're going home. We've got an alchemist on board now. His name is Leraye. I think you'll like him." back with Hunty and the group, Shiva seemed a little uncomfortable. Rider wondered if he was really alright. "Hey, um, new guy. Leraye. Can I talk to you a minute? In private?" CelestialThe renegade's eyes suddenly went wild and Celestial recognised the signs of indecisoon only extreme. It was as if she had another personality which was taking over here. Nevermind, it would make her easier to finish off. This wasn't controlled like Celestial's power borrowing spell since niether wanted to give in. She watched with the indifferent eyes of a dragon watching a human war as the mage writhed and began to split, a ghostly version of her peeling off like a patch of dead skin. The creature that was created sprang out and landed at Celestial's feet. She looked at it as if it were a dirty rag flung at her. If there is one thing I hate about this power, it's the arrogance. she thought as she watched the creature unfold. The renegade herself was struck by a ball of flame, falling to the floor and screaming from the burn. The purple mage walked up to her and placed the staff she held at the renegade's throat. Whoever wishes me to finish her off, say 'aye'." the purple mage said. Celestial was really reluctant to let the purple mage finish her off. After all, the renegade had nearly killed her, Overlord and the dragonet. If anybody deserved the honours, it was her. "Nah, I think I'll do the honors," Sev replied, annoying her slightly. However, before she could do anything about it, he launched his strongest fire attack at the mage. Celestial struggled to keep her thousand personalities under control and not create a wall to stop the phoenix getting at the mage who she believed was hers!
"Wait! What if that one's not her?" a new voice called out. Celestial turned towards it, her eyes whirling with all the colours of rage and bloodlust. It was the ninja who she had healed and fought earlier. Wars are funny like that she laughed privately for her and Overlord "Don't worry, we can easily deal with both of them with our dragon's power." she told the ninja. "Sev, please leave the mage for us, we have a bone to pick with her. After all, she almost killed us." Celestial said with infinete calmness, her eyes turning again into a multicoloured swirl. "But if you are concerned about this thing" she pointed to the creature at her feet. "That can easily be taken care of" and smiling, she lit a star inside the creature, burning it from the inside. "If you are the real one, this is for the pain and suffering you almost caused us. If not, that is one dark 'clone' out of the way and we can deal with the original" she whispered to the creature before she knew it would begin turning into ash from the immense heat of the star. PFA((Mage Manor: library))"Don't worry, we can easily deal with both of them with our dragon's power," the dragon said to PFA. "But if you are concerned about this thing... that can easily be taken care of."PFA just about died when the dragon lit a star inside the clone. "WAIT! NO! That's not what I..." she didn't know how to say what she was thinking. "What if... what if... I think one of them's good! ONE'S GOOD!" PFA fell to her knees, knowing there was no way to undo the phoenix fire or the star now. Now both of them would die. Great. Omni((Mage Manor, library)) Subila seemed to split into two before the fireball hit her, singing her shoulder. Omni decided not to push her joke farther and say 'Mmm… chocolate', but instead remained silent. Sev began to shoot phoenix fire at the one she had burned. "Wait!" What if that one's not her?" When PFA yelled this, Omni felt she had to agree. The burnt Subila's aura was devoid of the dark energy she normally had, all that was left was the standard energies for a magic-less person. That could only mean one thing; that the other was a manifestation of Subila's dark powers, and if that one was left alone, then who knew what would happen if it decided to possess someone and give them its power? Luckily, judging by the power that was coming from Celestial, it would be destroyed anyway. "Sev, please leave the mage for us, we have a bone to pick with her. After all, she almost killed us.""She hasn't tried to kill me, but there's also something that I would like to do to her," she said, sort of fidgeting with the light energy she still held in her body. ---------- ((On the way to Mage Manor)) Ethan resisted the urge to shudder as Cyclops crawled up his back. 'The Manor? Can you Run? Can Cyclops hold on? We'll have to risk it. I'll fly ahead.'"I think he can hold on plenty well enough," he said before Zari broke out into a run and flew off. He ran as fast as he could behind her, Siber running beside him without a problem. He had orders, he didn't want to let Zari out of his sight. Celestial"What if... what if... I think one of them's good! ONE'S GOOD!" The ninja fell to her knees in anguish as Celestial set the star burning. That wasn't a good reaction but where could goodness be found in a mage that loved killing so much? Nevertheless, the star could wait. She blinked and put it out inside the creature, hoping too much wasn't burnt. She kept a close eye on it in case it decided to make a break for it. If it did, she would restart the flames inside her before she could blink. Sev however, was still going to burn. "In the name of the flame that lives within us all, stop please! The ninja could be right! she roared at Sev. Hopefully, he would listen. If not, she would have to use more direct methods to put out the flames. It's such a shame that with the enormous mass of dragon minds inside her, she couldn't reach Overlord and ask him to stop Sev. "She hasn't tried to kill me, but there's also something that I would like to do to her," a Zafara mage that Celestial didn't notice before (and the one that was eating the beef stick when this whole trip started for Celestial, she remembered with a hint of amusement). "We shall get our chance to have our revenge. For now, lets see what the ninja and the renegade mage have to say to each other." she said, her glow increasing as the power inside her twitched. She needed to release it and soon. Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))The Subila near the dragon's feet tried to stand up, perfectly clueless about the people around her. She could hear most of them uttering sick words of plain revenge, but what surprised her was that everyone was trying to kill them both. " ... I've done my part now, anyway," she uttered to herself. For a moment, that certain Subila felt warm inside for some reason. Warmth then turned to scorching pain however, as her whole body combusted inside. Unlike the other Subila however, she felt it unnecessary to scream out her flammable agony. She just dropped down her knees, almost accepting her fate. "Wait! What if that one's not her? What if... what if... I think one of them's good! ONE'S GOOD!"The very familiar voice echoed around her ears, telling her not to succumb to what was happening. There was someone who thought right about her after all. Her final resistance on the likes of the other Subila was greatly rewarded by the gradual disappearance of the hurtful flame inside her. It took her quite a moment however to recover from that. Then, she raised her head, looking at the person who just spared her life. "Thank you for waiting." It wasn't Subila after all! As the light in the library revealed her face, it showed a more subtle expression. Her eyes were not glaring at all, and the smile on her face was quite surprisingly different from the scornful smirk she'd usually wear. To PFA, she was no stranger at all. "I'm sorry for what Subila had caused you... As a remnant of her memories, I beg for your forgiveness on behalf of her." It was Bluisa. The real Subila watched in horror as the purple-clad mage and the phoenix slowly walked towards her. The stares in their eyes completely returned the hatred they binded in her. "So, how does it feel to be in pain? Whoever wishes me to finish her off, say 'aye'."
"Nah, I think I'll do the honors."The fire that surrounded Subila the moment after did not bode well for the dark mage. Skin turned into charred flesh, and her clothing joined her body as they both perished into dusts of ashes. Sickening as it was, I should probably stop the description from there. Subila's voice let out her last scream of agony, as it vanished completely into oblivion. ((Afterlife)) The unknown figure was more busy complaining on the insights of the phoenix through his mind. "Villains like Subila have powers you should not question," he breathed out, quite angry that Sev was blaming someone for all that. "You just don't get it, do you?" With that, he stormed off, trying to calm himself down like an average mature person, or so society thought. Cyborg" What's happening is if you don't get away from me you won't be alive to know what is happening." Cyborg said angrily. " What's happening is we want to meet you commander and find my brother's old shipmate your commander is attacking." Midknight added in a more calm tone. " And I swear if there's even a hair out of place on that pirate's head, you'll be dealing with me." Cyborg threatened angrily as he sharpened his claws on his cutlass. Huntress((The forest, west of Mage Manor)) Huntress strode through the forest, as quickly as she could in the almost complete darkness, seeing that there was no path and the bushes were annoyingly thick at times. The others were a dozen or so yards behind, which suited her: less noise from the companions meant that it was easier to hear the sounds of the forest, and made sneaking up to her considerably more difficult. But the forest was silent, silent and cold, filled only with the whisper of the wind, the rustle of footsteps, the muffled trot of the meepitgang, and the distant dull echo of the ocean ahead. Wherever the other guilds were, they weren't nearby. "Somewhere out there, there's a war," she said quietly, hurrying through the bushes. Bloody Mary turned to look up at her, beady eyes shining in the moonlight. "Funny thing, that. I haven't seen much of a war to speak of. People running around chasing gems, yes, deaths and magic through the roof, yes, but wars are, y'know, organized. You saw those knights. Like cattle, all over the place with no order. Same with the mages... do they even have a leader? And the ninjas and... hah, not like we're any better. Most of your crew is at the Manor, oh mighty captain." "I'll summon them later," Hunty said. "At this point the ship is the priority. The crew can handle themselves. The ship can't." The meepitleader scowled. "What are your plans, anyway?" Hunty paused, then told him. Bloody Mary's eyes widened. "That, m'dear, will definitely cause an open war. The knights won't just let you off the hook after this. And the mages are a completely unknown entity in the question." "Q.E.D.," the captain said grimly. "And all that because of the gem. Which is why I'm keeping it under my watchful eye instead of letting it near some ambitious knight." "And the promise to that ninja?" "Keeping it, but on my own terms and on our ground." Bloody Mary fell quiet, once again suppressing the urge to gnaw on his lip. In the silence, the sound of the waves was getting stronger. They were close. Goosh((Mage Manor--Kitchen)) "Chew your food before you speak. I'm flattered that you like my cookies, but I wouldn't want you to choke on them." Well, they were good. Goosh took a few precious moments to chew and swallow. "My name is Leoness... What's yours?""Goosh. Thank you for the cookie, really, but I have no time for pleasantries. We need to find the gem." He turned to Ikkin. "Do you know where it is?" He closed his eyes in frustration, than got off his seat. "We need to find the gem," he said again. "If someone gets too mad, goes over the edge...the gem will activate. The First Army will rise again, and I'm sure neither of you want an ancient war on the front lawn of....where are we? Is this Mage Manor? I've never been to the kitchen, actually." The Yurble looked around for a weapon, for something. There's always something, a certain voice murmured in his head. He snatched something small and white--who cared what it was?--and looked around. "Come on, come on," he said impatiently. "We need to get to the gem. Now." Zylaa((Mage Manor- Library)) Zylaa was confused. First off, the shelves of the library were strewn, mazelike, around the place. She could only hope that she was continuing in the right direction. Fighting and flashes of light still shone dimly up ahead- much longer than a magical fight usually took. Then the shelves began to glow with fire. Zylaa yelped and jumped about a foot before she noticed that none of the shelves were actually burning. Since a divine revalation was fairly unlikely inside the Manor's library, she assumed this was Sev's phoenix fire. It's kind of blinding, she thought. And then- when she thought things couldn't get any weirder- someone started to sing "We Will Rock You." Badly. "Divine revalation meets American Idol," Zylaa muttered to herself. A bookshelf stood between her and the noise. A thought struck her. She clambered quickly to the top of the bookshelf and looked around. Some battle of epic proportions was finishing up ahead of her- she could see figures moving against the glow of the walls, ceiling, floor, and shelves. A bit excessive, that, she thought, although she was still concerned. If Sev had to resort to full illumination of the library, his opponent must have been difficult. The light dimmed as, with the grace of a weasel, she leapt onto the next shelf over, which only rocked a little at her jump. She kept that up for three more shelves until she was overlooking the scene- Kat, Sev, PFA, Omni, and two random girls she didn't know. She guessed that the fight was everyone versus the two random girls- who seemed to be defeated. "Should I start singing "We are the Champions" now?" she called down. Bacon" And I swear if there's even a hair out of place on that pirate's head, you'll be dealing with me." "What pirate? What are you talking about?" Bacon asked, all of a sudden confused and intimidated. ZariZari landed about five minutes walk from the edge of the forest and folded her wings. 'Guys, the Other's nearby. This might be awkward, so I ask you not to refer to me by name at all. Ienalle, you too.' Ienalle saluted, chewing on the body of some sort of rodent. 'All ready? Disguised? Face hidden, Cyclops somewhere safe? Clones under control?' Zari fired off questions, then inhaled. Hopefully this wouldn't go bad. She really hated using memory serum. It was sneaky. Her two pistols were safely concealed in her shoulder holster and belt, and her stave didn't show any allegiances whatsoeve, apart from a slight similarity to that of The Other's. Thankfully, the fact on side of the ankh had become a scythelike, serrated blade detracted from these. Kat((Mage Manor - Library
Mage Manor - Entrance))"Nah, I think I'll do the honors." And with that, Sev blasted Subila with phoenix fire before Kat could react. She stepped back, and the blade retracted back into the staff. After it shrunk back into a wand, she twirled her weapon idly, watching the flames. Fire...it had always fascinated her, ever since she was a little girl. In fact, it was the reason why she started learning how to control it... "What are you doing?"
"Look what I can do! And Master said that we weren't ready to create fireballs...he was wrong! Come on, try it, it's easy!"
"I don't know...I'm not sure we should be..."
"Kalianne, you can do it! If anyone can do it, it's you! Don't be such a - "
"No, we shouldn't be...Master isn't here..."
"So what if Master isn't here?!"
"Who cares..."Kat's world spun once, and she felt as though everything had slowed down as she fell to the floor. The moment her head hit a stray encyclopedia, her entire world went black. * * * Ielle was exhausted, frustrated, and disgusted. The Manor had resisted all her efforts to get inside...where her quarry had been waiting all this time. She could feel the mage's aura; it was flickering like a candle about to burn out. It was the perfect time to strike, and yet she was out here... She pouted, and leaned against the nearest tree. Perhaps it was time to ask for directions...or more specifically, directions on how to outwit the Manor. PFA((Mage Manor: library))PFA was so caught up in her emotions, she didn't notice when the dragon put out the star. She heard the dragon yell something, but by now she wasn't paying attention. "Thank you for waiting."That, however, caught PFA's attention. It was the ever-familiar voice she had heard not long ago... it was Bluisa's voice. She looked up, seeing the smile on the girl's face. "I'm sorry for what Subila had caused you..." Bluisa continued. "As a remnant of her memories, I beg for your forgiveness on behalf of her."PFA was a little surprised at the whole 'remnant of her memories' thing, seeing as she wasn't there to hear Bluisa say that the first time. But in a way, it was a good thing. It meant that deep down inside of Subila, there must have been something good, else Bluisa wouldn't exist... Bluisa, she knew, was a caring soul, and that had to come from somewhere. PFA smiled. "It's alright, Bluisa..." she said softly, putting her kunai away. "You didn't mean to." PFA then walked over to the girl, and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. From another place in the room, she heard the agonizing scream of Subila. This made PFA feel a lot better: Bluisa had separated herself from Subila, and now Subila was gone. Only the good remained. "...I forgive you." Celestial"Thank you for waiting." the renegade said, only this time she didn't seem as dark as the other one who got burnt. This wasn't her, Celestial figured. She seemed too kind and better than the mage who wanted to kill her some time ago. "I'm sorry for what Subila had caused you... As a remnant of her memories, I beg for your forgiveness on behalf of her." the mage continued and for a moment, Celestial's heart melted. If she wasn't boosted by the dragons, she would have hugged the mage, so small and vulnerable at her feet. "You are forgiven. You didn't cause the grief after all" she replied, smiling a little. The ninja came over to the girl and hugged her in a touching gesture. Not all of the renegade was bad, at least. Now if she could only discharge of this power and use it for something... The purple mage collapsed and fainted as she hit an encyclopedia left over from the battle. Celestial ran towards her, the power glowing with anticipation. Something was literally bugging the purple mage for which Celestial had to admit, she felt a slight kinship towards. Maybe it was the similar colour of the robes. "Overlord, we think there is somebody outside the Manor we need to anticipate. Go and check for us will you?" she told the ever patient Weewoo who had been calmy sitting on her shoulder during the whole process. Overlord heard the command given to him and took off towards the now familiar window. The was a strange mage beneath the tree and instinct told him the Manor wasn't letting her in for a good reason. She was dangerous and maybe the cause of the purple mage's collapse. If only he could get through the dragon minds to Celestial then he could report to her. Nevertheless, he carefully moved from branch to branch, not making any suspicious noise and let his eye firmy on the girl. Celestial put her hand on the mage's head using the dragonpower to revive her. She reached into the mage's mind to drive out any unwanted force but also healing any damage that might have been caused by the fall. There was something there, something invasive. Celestial focused her energy on that force, burning it out of the purple mage without harming her. "You will be ok, I promise" she whispered as softly as the echo in her voice allowed her. SpeckSpeck was surprised by the commander’s next attack. She haulted her charge, and jumped back, hoping it was enough to dodge the blow. His arm narrowly missed her. And yet, her dodge was not enough to avoid a painful attack. Just as she had jumped out of the way, an arrow lodged itself in her left shoulder. Startled by the arrow now sticking out of her, she dropped one of her kunai. One of her hands touched the wound tentatively, while another withdrew a lemon bomb from her coat. She threw it hard at the commander’s feet, hoping to knock him to the ground from the lemon-scented explosion. As the bomb exploded, she backed away from the commander as fast as she could. A plume of pale yellow smoke blocked her view of the commander. It would have been an opportune moment to escape. Instead, the pirate picked up the knight-crafted pickaxe, and charged again at her opponent through the smoke, holding the weapon above her uninjured shoulder. Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))Bluisa went tearful as PFA quickly gave out her side, forgiving the mage for what she and Subila had done. The mage knew it was the time to admit that their actions were poorly-planned and wrong. Her watery eyes then finally started to flow when the ninja embraced her, as well as getting apologized by the dragon itself (however daunting the mystical creature was with its very echoey voice). Bluisa feared the phoenix, however. She felt it had became too agitated with what happened earlier to forgive her. Subila did caused more trouble with the magical creature than with anyone else, and Bluisa was worried she would never be forgiven for that. Without breaking the hug, the mage turned her head and glanced at the phoenix, her mind full of worrying doubts. "... Must we move along, PFA?" Bluisa broke out the silence. "Cat Assassin had already left several minutes ago with my crystal ball," she noted the ninja, clueless about PFA's sudden change of affiliation. Zylaa((Mage Manor))Zylaa realized, as one of the random girls hugged PFA, and another continued screaming, and Kat fainted, that a bit of lighthearted humor wouldn't exactly be appreciated. The dragon seemed to be taking care of Kat, so Zylaa figured she should report to a superior officer about the gem, and the aftermath of the battle in the library. That is, if Ikkin didn't already know... Zylaa had never been quite sure how the soul-bond worked. She walked into the hallway, asked "Closest conscious pirate, please," and once again, the hallways blurred around her. Before the room had even solidified around her, a delicious smell wafted to her nose. Amazingly delicious. Scrumptiously delicious. Zylaa spent a good thirty seconds just enjoying the scent of cookies before she realized that she was standing in a room with Ikkin, Goosh, and a lioness. The lioness was holding the amazing cookies. Therefore she was good. Zylaa turned to Ikkin and Goosh. "Ikkin, Goosh, there's something you need to know," she said. She summarized the events in the library and her finding from the book. ((Sorry this is so quick, I'll be gone until Sunday night. Ikkin, Goosh, you can godmode me around to wherever you're going.)) KengAn arrow had hit the girl (a pirate as she now knew from Cyborg) even though she'd dodge Strife's blow. Despite this injury she was continuing her attack. Keng knew the Commander's suit was tough, but it wasn't worth the risk. There was always a weak point. In need of a burst of speed and strength Keng's thoughts activated the device planted within her causing fur to sprout all over her body as she transformed into her werewolf form. Her daggers were already drawn, and her new shield flared out into a protective circle. The girl's blade was almost upon Strife; there wasn't much time. Keng thrust her and her arm forward, forcing the shield between the blade and it's target. The energy of the shield crackled at the force of the blow, but it and Keng held strong. "Stand down." she growled. Her voice and teeth were menacing but her eyes were begging. Begging that she would take the advice in her desperately outnumbered state. Pyro((Edited for my stupidity in not knowing where we were.)) ((Outside Mage Manor)) The area around Mage Manor had been ominously deserted when Pyro had arrived, on the heels of Zari, the strange poison that had attacked them still curling maliciously through her veins. Evening was falling, and through the shadows cast by the trees Pyro couldn’t see if there was anyone around. There seemed to be two figures ahead—Zari ran up to talk to them. Pyro, one hand on her sword, took a look around as Zari spoke to the other two. She had just recognized the pirate captain Huntress, in fact had just registered Zari’s ninja cat by her side, when she saw the others, and Zari was turning back towards her. “'Kit, Shade and Tamia-- All dead.”The Black Knight took a step back, as if the news were a physical blow she could avoid, ignore. The pain of losing Shade, Tamia, and Kit—all Knights—hit her hard and sucked the breath from her lungs. She bent over, chest tight and grief welling up in her throat. ”We need to marshal the Knights, and fast. We cannot afford to lose any more. It may force the Knights of Dunburrow to disband, if there are only a few of us.”It was a long couple of moments before Pyro could regain herself, and when she spoke again, she forced herself to put the pain aside, to lock it away for later. The rasp in her voice, though, was all too evident. “Then let’s go. Quickly. Now. We must find King Wolf. Is there any way? To locate the others?” She swallowed. She raised one hand in the air, fingertips shaking. It wasn’t a magical movement, but a movement half-remembered from childhood—one of loss. A movement of reaching out to touch something that had slipped away forever. “Este in pace,” she whispered, letting her hand fall. “Zari, let’s go.” She turned her sights upon Mage Manor. The first guild war blazed in her memory, a time of chaos and bloodshed, and she had seen friends die on this very field. She didn't want that to happen again. "Should we go into the Manor?" she asked. "If it lets us in, I mean."
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:38:39 GMT -5
Surf((Just outside Mage Manor)) Surf watched drowsily as the pirates and the ninja made negotiations. Her eyelids drooped, the lack of sleep beginning to get to her. Eventually she began to doze off… …And awoke with a start a few minutes later. Everything was white, and there was an angel… “Is this heaven?” mumbled the young mage. She soon realized that the whiteness was snow, and she was, thankfully, still alive. But if she didn’t get inside, she may actually end up in Heaven. She dragged herself up the stairs, and into the first room she could find, which, incidentally, was the room where Nature still lay unconscious. Stealing on of the pillows from the bed, she lay down on the floor and drifted to sleep. ((This occurs back when PFA and Hunty are finishing negotiations. Surf'll re-enter the action soon, but right now I'm sick, so I'm gonna go to bed myself.)) Zari((They aren't at the South Gate. They've travelled further than that, to Mage Manor)) 'Syniamir.' Zari swung herself back onto her horse, and loomed over her shoulder. Mage Manor. During the last Guild Wars, many had lain there, slain. Some of them she hadn't known, was now going to be the same? 'I don't know. I know His Majesty can always find us, even when were somewhere hardly anyone ventures. But so many of ours are also part of another guild. Tamia was a Pirate, sure, but Kit and Shade were two of our best Knights. Nevermind Kit was speaking delusions.' She bit her tongue. 'I don't want to lose anyone else.' ((Syniamir is like saying 'Amen to that!' or 'Exactly.' Strife((The Forest South of Dunburrow))The pirate girl jumped away, causing The Commander to miss his attack. Just as this happened, an arrow suddenly lodged itself into the girl's left shoulder, much to his surprise. She staggered backwards a little, dropped one of her kunai, and tossed a lemon bomb at him. It landed on the ground next to him. The Commander immediately jumped backwards as the lemon bomb exploded in a cloud of pale yellow smoke. His heat shield kicked in, and he was briefly surrounded by an orange-colored orb as the shield absorbed the explosion. However, it didn't stop the physical force of the blast, and he was pushed onto the ground as a result. As he landed on the ground, he felt a cold sensation in the dirt: snow. In the darkness of the forest, he did not realize that it was beginning to snow. All the more proof that the storm circling above their heads was unnatural. But he didn't ponder too heavily about it, since he was more concerned about his lack of vision in the cloud of smoke. Before he could even stand up, Commando Keng stepped between him and the pirate. He heard the sound of her force shield crackling. "Stand down," she growled. The Commander lifted himself from the ground as the smoke began to clear up. The color of his eyes pierced through the night as he stared furiously at the pirate. "I will admit," he began, poining his Leech in her direction. "You have courage. But there is a fine line between bravery and foolishness." He marched closer to her as he spoke, his threatening voice cutting through the chilly air like a dozen blades. "You will turn around, run, and speak nothing of what happened here... if you value your life, that is. Otherwise I will end it, and I promise you that it will be slow and agonizing." Bacon((Forest south of Dunbarrow)) Bacon saw the flash of yellow out of the corner of his eyes, and before Cyborg could say anything more, Bacon had gone a short distance towards the unusual sight, enough to see and hear the Commander say, "You will turn around, run, and speak nothing of what happened here... if you value your life, that is. Otherwise I will end it, and I promise you that it will be slow and agonizing." Bacon's eyes grew wide. He hadn't met the Commander personally very often, but the few times he had seen him at some meeting or ceremony or the like, he had seemed much less... hostile than he did now. He backed away slowly, and turned to face Cyborg and Midknight. "I think you guys should probably get out of here. I have no clue what's going on, but it looks bad. Really bad.... And... is it snowing?” Omni((Mage Manor, Library)) Omni watched as Subila was burned right before her eyes. When the flames ceased, nothing was left but ashes. So much for injecting her with light energy. Oh well, she shrugged, storing the aforementioned energy back in her crystal. She turned to look at Subila's clone, there seemed to be smiles all around, and even a hug. "Excuse me," Omni said, walking up to PFA. "…Who is this?” Ikkin"We need to find the gem," Goosh said, turning to Ikkin. "Do you know where it is?" He then closed his eyes, seemingly frustrated, then got up and repeated himself before Ikkin could respond. "We need to find the gem. If someone gets too mad, goes over the edge...the gem will activate. The First Army will rise again, and I'm sure neither of you want an ancient war on the front lawn of....where are we? Is this Mage Manor? I've never been to the kitchen, actually."Ancient wars? The First Army? What was Goosh talking about? Ikkin had never really heard anything about that before. It had something to do with the gem... but, how would Goosh know? Goosh was clearly impatient, as he spoke again before Ikkin. "Come on, come on. We need to get to the gem. Now.""Hold on a second first," Ikkin said. "We're not even sure where that gem is. It kind of feels like it's left the Manor... but beyond that, I can't really tell much. "And what is all this about an ancient war, anyway?" Part of Ikkin's question was answered as Zylaa appeared, apparently by the devices of the Manor, and explained to them what she had learned about the gem and what had happened in the library. "That certainly explains a lot," she said. "Though we still need to actually find the gem before it would come in handy." *** "Sev, please leave the mage for us, we have a bone to pick with her. After all, she almost killed us," Celestial said.
Sev ignored this. He had his own personal reasons for wanting to finish Subila himself - she'd insulted him too much to allow her to survive, or even to let someone else finish her off.
Besides, Celestial had already gotten - and, from the looks of it, used - her chance to finish the clone of the mage off, and, for all he knew, that could be the real version.
Or perhaps not, Sev realized after PFA started shouting about how one of the Subilas was good and Celestia relented in her attack.
As for him, he really didn't care which was which. It was always easier to bring the good one back than to risk having the bad one return stronger, in his opinion. He couldn't really understand why Celestial would ask him to stop, if, as she said, she could bring someone back to life. He could understand it in humans, but...
He turned away again, ignoring the pleas to stop. He would stop when he was sure that Subila would not return.
Besides, the clone of Subila had gotten up and didn't feel or act anything like the dark mage who had just fought them all, so he would have felt safe in assuming that his was the bad version even if it had mattered.
Finally, he was rewarded by Subila's scream as she vanished into nothingness.
Well, that certainly took long enough, he thought. But it's finally over.
Before he could celebrate his victory, something crashed to the floor behind him. He turned around to look, and saw Kat unconscious.
What is it with that girl? he wondered. Kat really did make a habit of falling unconscious, in his opinion.
If he hadn't grown used to Kat's fainting, he probably would have tried to wake her up. As it was, he just let Celestial do that for him. It was easier that way.
Besides, while he didn't want to let the good Subila clone know he had even acknowledged her, he also wanted to keep a secret eye on her. She might not have felt dark like Subila did, but he certainly wasn't going to trust her yet - or forgive her, as everyone else seemed intent on doing.*** ((Rider, I'm not sure who was asking Leraye the question. From context, I think it's you and not Shiva, but Hunty thinks it's Shiva and... well, I'm just confused. XD)) "Hey, um, new guy. Leraye. Can I talk to you a minute? In private?"
"Certainly!" Leraye said with a smile. "Though it might be best if we continue on towards the ship while we do so. I can use my stone to block the sound, so we should have enough privacy if we lag behind by a few feet."
As he said this, he continued walking. He really would prefer to get to where he was going without someone trying to take the gem. Kat((Mage Manor, Library, and outside))"You will be ok, I promise."The face of the blonde faded in and out of focus at the sound of those words. Kat seemed to be teetering on the fine line between dream and reality, but the voice called her to the latter side... The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was Celestial. Kat could tell that it was Celestial's magic that was bringing her back... "I'm sorry," she whispered, trying to smile crookedly. "I don't know...for some odd reason, I keep falling down like this." With a short, almost forced laugh, she added, "I find it weird too...maybe I should be thinking more about that instead of the gem..." * * * Ielle clenched her hand into a fist as she sat down underneath the tree she had been leaning against, muttering all the various swearwords she had learned. It was time to swallow her pride and ask for directions from the next person who passed her by. Cyborg"I think you guys should probably get out of here. I have no clue what's going on, but it looks bad. Really bad.... And... is it snowing?" " That is something that's not gonna happen. Now I suggest you get outta my way or I'll end your life before anyone else can." Cyborg said. " I suggest you listen to him. It will be the smartest decision you would have made all day." Midknight added as he and his brother rushed past the stranger and towards Keng and the battle. As soon as they got close enough to Keng and the commander the brothers attacked. Cyborg sent vine after vine at the commander while Midknight sent hundreds of shadow tendrils at Keng. Pyro((Outside Mage Manor)) "Very well, then." Pyro bit her lip. "We'll have to leave off finding Lord Wolf, then, because we can't do it ourselves. I think we should seek entrance to the Manor." She moved closer to the large building until she was standing in its shadow. A shiver traveled up her spine. The Manor had hardly been welcoming the last time she and the other Knights had tried to enter its magical halls. "At least we'll be able to find out what's going on." RiderShiva smiled at Leraye, revealing glistening demonic fangs. "I know who you are. I know you're deceiving my humans. Quite frankly, I've had enough of demons for today, but you are my people, so I won't turn you in to Rider if you give me a very, very, very good reason not to." He paused. "Oh, and any ill intentions towards Rider count as a reason to not only turn you in, but to trample you and eat your liver as well, demon-boy. Well, boy may be the wrong term. You're very old, but your power is less than i'd expect from a demon your age." CelestialThe purple mage's mind was dominated by a blonde's face, a face which Celestial was focusing on driving out. She concentrated energy onto bringing the mage from the other side, afraid of what would happen if she didn't. However, she didn't find out. The girl woke up and looked at her, trying to smile. "I'm sorry, I don't know...for some odd reason, I keep falling down like this. I find it weird too...maybe I should be thinking more about that instead of the gem..." she croaked, trying to laugh in mid-sentance. Celestial smiled kindly at her, slightly concerned. The gem was the last thing that should be on her mind, the blonde was a big enough worry as it was. "Hush. You need rest right now. Come on, the battle is over. Can you get up? she asked the mage. Hopefully the mage could go and rest on her own. Celestial had more pressing matters to attend to. Like a strange scent in the air coming from the forest nearby. It was worth investigating. Overlord watched the girl curse with the most horrible words and sit down beneath the tree. Absentmindedly, he looked around. Something was different to the tree he had left. He looked down at the nearest fork and it hit him like a hammer: The gem was gone!! she weewooed frantically, forgetting the girl and looked around, hoping he just got the wrong branch. No, it wasn't anywhere in the tree, just a few traces of an elf or an alchemist where it used to be. That must mean that they took it!
He took off from the branch knowing that the gem was his first priority. After all, Celestial told him to look after it before she told him to watch the girl. He took off, following the traces of darkness the gem left. The trail headed towards the sea...pirates and an alchemist working together? It was possible but unlikely.
He finally saw the ground of pirates and the elf with the gem. Shrieking in anger and bitterness, he caught up with them quickly. It was all about money for the pirates but the alchemist should know better! Binded by anger and outrage, he swooped down onto the gem, claws and beak ready for anybody who would want to stop him. The gem needed to be kept away from any money-grabbing scoundrel.((No offence Ikkin and Leraye, Overlord doesn't know that you only mean good. ) PFA((Mage Manor: library))"... Must we move along, PFA?" Bluisa asked, breaking the silence. "Cat Assassin had already left several minutes ago with my crystal ball."PFA stepped back from Bluisa and nodded. "Yeah, maybe... we need to get the gem before the wrong person does." "Excuse me... who is this?" came the voice of Omni. PFA turned her head to see that the Zafara had approached her sometime when she wasn't paying attention. "Omni, this is Bluisa," she replied, gesturing to the mentioned mage. "Bluisa, this is Omni. Don't worry, she's a friend of mine." --- ((Forest: south of Dunburrow))The arrow had lodged itself into the shoulder of one of the figures. Jernath reached to grab another arrow, but stopped when he saw a cloud of yellow engulf the fighting figures. Now he really couldn't see what he was shooting at. Things just got worse when Keng turned into a werewolf and entered the cloud of smoke as well... Wait, she's a werewolf? came a thought to Jernath's mind. But he set the thought aside for now, as he noticed Cyborg and Midknight rush into the cloud as well. Great, I can't shoot blindly when I know my allies are in there, came a thought to replace the other one. He didn't really know what to do. He could rush into the cloud himself, but with all the attacks flying around in there, he could get killed by any one of them. He preferred shooting from a distance if he could, but he couldn't shoot when he had no idea whether or not he'd hit an ally. Run away. That's what that Fraze person said to do, came a thought to his mind. If it were possible to punch a thought, he would've punched that one. I can't run away. Especially not now when Cyborg and Midknight're in there, he told himself. Can't leave an ally behind.As he sat there pondering, he almost didn't notice it had started to snow. Thankfully his outfit was warm enough that it wouldn't bother him much. Not unless the snowfall got heavier, that was. At any rate, the snow didn't concern him for now. There were much more important things to worry about. Soon enough, he decided going in was his best option. So he put away his bow, pulled his daggers out of their sheathes, and started following after Cyborg. He would fight for the good side... if he could figure out which side that was. Zari'True.' Zari walked over to stand beside Pyro. 'From there, we can formulate a plan of some sort. I've never been inside Mage Manor at a time like this...do you think it will let us in? Being Knights?' She sounded nervous, and also distinctly hysterical. 'Since we're not sure what side the mages are on.” Keng"Urchin! Requesting immediate back-" she didn't have time to finish her sentence before she found herself in a blizzard worth of shadowy tendrils. Wheww boy. thought Keng as she threw herself behind a tree, the only cover available to her. Her shield could only be so effective with it's limited surface area. Some of the tendrils hit her before she got out of the way, leaving a cold touch on her skin. It felt like frostbite and sent shivers down her spines. She didn't like shadow magic. She'd managed to avoid serious injury this time though. At least for now, the tendrils were still persisting in their pursuit of her. "What the hell Cyborg?!" she asked to the air more than him. After taking a moment to regain her composure, she dashed back out behind the tree, blocking what she could with her shield and slashing at the tendrils as she attempted to charge past them towards their creator. She stabbed forward at one of the long black snake like things but came up a little short as it's almost erratic movements granted it a lucky dodge, Not a problem Keng grinned inwardly though her teeth and jaws were clenched tightly in determination. She flicked a switch which instantaneously extended the dagger -which was already a bit long to be called dagger- to twice it's length allowing her to stab the tendril without further effort. But as that tendril distracted her another grabbed her around the ankle, pulling her to the ground. Cyborg" I'm not doing it Midknight is and I can't control him. Maybe he's angry about something like the fact that your commander was attacking one of my old shipmates? I don't know ask him." Cyborg replied as he stopped attacking with vines and now started some earthquakes and sent boulders at the commander. " You don't seem to understand Keng shadows exist everywhere and I can bend them to my will. I can turn them into solid objects, or into phantom like shadow creatures. Though I could also do this." Midknight said as the entire space around them turned pitch black. " I like to call this little ability blackout and it doesn't bother me or my brother cause we're lucky enough to be able to see in the dark." he added as he sent more shadow tendrils at Keng. FrazeAh yes, there will be blood. Strife can take care of himself, Fraze thought. He was more worried about Keng. Fraze grabbed his Table and began to run over to the two pirates, but found that everything turned pitch-black when he was halfway there. He was used to low light, having spent quite a bit of his life in deep space--but in space, there was at least the ever-present light of the stars. His mind began racing. Why didn't they install some sort of night-vision in his suit? He'd have to remember to ask the 'Fleet labs to try that when he got back He could have his suit send out intermittent sound pulses in all directions, working as a sort of sonar. The suit could interpret the signals...he hoped. He sent out his first ping, but immediately afterwards realized he didn't need to, as one of the pirate attackers began boasting. " I like to call this little ability blackout and it doesn't bother me or my brother cause we're lucky enough to be able to see in the dark."
All right, Fraze thought. If that's how it's going to be played, fine. He was planning on decloaking before attacking these two, to make the fight more honorable--but if they were going to let themselves see when no one else could, he wouldn't let them see him. After another quick sonar ping, he was behind the pirate who he thought was attacking his furry teammate. Taking his table by one hand to allow for more leverage, he swung it full-force at the pirate, flat side first. Cyborg( Okay just to tell ya in GW neither of my characters are pirates right now they're both merc's) Midknight who had been attacking Keng ruthlessly had just been ready to unleash a special attack when he felt the full-force of something hitting him in the ribs. He lost concentration and all of the light came back. Scrambling to his feet he shouted " Who the hell just hit me?" Cyborg seeing his brother knocked to the ground turned towards Keng and said angrily " If that was one of yours they shouldn't have done that." as he now sent vine after vine at his old friend. Huntress((Near the edge of the forest, by the cliff)) Hunty's eyelids were getting heavy now. It wasn't that much past midnight, but she'd gotten up early. No matter. Her ship needed her, and she could sleep later. And there it was, the end of the forest and the cliff with the black flag waving in the gaff only a couple feet below the cliff's edge. T'was a bit stupid to leave it up, she thought absently, her mind getting hazy with sleep, but then again, quite frankly, I'm all too tired of hiding and masquerading whenever we reach hostile grounds. We're pirates, dangit. The Jolly Roger is meant to be a proud token.And under that proud token, sooty, burnt yards reached out in the cold midnight air. Just a minute, old girl."Hunty," Bloody Mary warned. The captain turned around to glance at the rest of the companionship, only to notice the small white Weewoo dashing down from the sky, claws stretched out. "Couldn't things be easy for a change?" she moaned, breaking her own personal speed record in drawing, loading, cocking, and aiming the crossbow. "Birdy-birdy in the sky..." The bolt whizzed off, dripping with acid. It wasn't sharp - didn't have to be, due to the acid - but the speed alone could have some ugly consequences. Nonetheless, it was dark and the small Weewoo was fast, so she wasn't even hoping for a direct hit. But it would most likely still be enough to veer it off course or possibly just daze it. "The gem, if you please," she said, her voice heavy with tiredness. "And some instructions.” Keng"Oh yea, as if werewolves can't see in the dark." Keng almost giggled to herself at Midknight's remark, who she now knew to be Cyborg's brother. But then the darkness disapeered, " If that was one of yours they shouldn't have done that."Keng was loosing track of what was going on, apparently something had hit the other kougra. The tendrils had also diminished from Midknihgt's loss of concentration leaving clear paths for Keng to pass through. And then the vines came. She had just returned to her feet when the first one wrapped itself around her arm and began to squeeze and pull. With her free arm she slashed the vine, breaking it. But more were on the way. She was trapped on the defensive as she began slashing at more of the vines. More wrapped around her legs, she severed them, another one got an arm and she managed to pull free, but the rough surface or the plants were squeezing right down to her skin where it was exposed and some of it had even managed to cut through her gloves. Her werewolf blood began working to seal the wounds, but the vines were coming in faster. She wouldn't be able to keep this up forever...UP! She could go up! She realized spotting a branch she was sure she'd be able to reach hanging above the vines, but she'd have to push forward to get at them, and quickly before Cyborg's brother resumed his attack. With increased vigor at the presentation of a plan she snarled, growled and barked in battle cry as she charged forward into the vines, both blades fully extended and slashing in wide long sweeps. Just a little further... Her legs bent down then pushed her up and forward with their full power and launched Keng above the vines. She reached out for the branch and used the ends of her fingers, which were quite long while she was in werewolf form, to swing her forward towards Cyborg without letting go of her blades. The extra length on her fingers was just enough to allow for this. She twisted the handles as she fell forward to make use of the flat side of the blade, then flicked a switch turning the electric charge onto a low setting, hopefully it would be just enough to incapacitate him, but not kill him. SpeckSpeck scowled at the werewolf as her pickaxe was blocked by Keng’s shield. It crackled, and she withdrew the weapon, swinging it onto her right shoulder. She looked back at the commander, just as he held a wrist-mounted weapon in her direction. She could see a faint purple glow from the thing, even through the dissipating smoke. "You will turn around, run, and speak nothing of what happened here... if you value your life, that is. Otherwise I will end it, and I promise you that it will be slow and agonizing."The weapon that Strife pointed at her was strangely comforting. That’s it! That’s what you’re after. There’s a piece of the gem in there. Go after it! The voice rang in her ears once more… but she couldn’t listen to it. Not now. Her body was spent from running through the forest and from the continuous blood loss from the wound in her shoulder. No. I need time to recover… I need time to get reinforcements… She argued with the voice. Yes… Yes, of course. And then we can come back for it.But how could she remember where in the forest the Commander would be after finding her crewmates? She had a bad enough sense of direction as it was. Let me worry about that, sweetheart. If the voice had a face, she was sure it would be smirking, I was, after all, able to lead us here in the first place.It was decided then: she would run. Yet she could make no promises to her opponent. The pirate would be sure to tell her crewmates of this man, and of the sliver of gem that he possessed. He merely wanted her not to talk of what happened, not about what he held. Before she could begin to escape, however, vines and shadow tendrils sprang from nowhere. They withdrew in a few minutes, then were replaced by a pitch-black darkness. Her eyes had already been accustomed to the night, but she was taken aback by the sudden unnatural dark. Speck backed away from the darkness as quickly and quietly as she could. Her footsteps barely made a sound, even in the layer of snow that had appeared on the ground. There were still some advantages to being an ex-ninja. As soon as she felt like she was far enough away from the cloud of darkness, she hooked the pickaxe onto her belt. She took the black bandana off her head, and held it under her shirt, as close to her wound as possible. The pirate continued to walk on in the direction that she thought the White Weewoo would be in. Little did she know that the being that was contained in her body and soul was leading her in the direction of the gem. Who knows who possessed it now? FrazeThe table hit home. The attacker didn't seem too badly injured, but the light returned and Fraze could see once more. Time to stir things up a bit, he thought. Fraze didn't particularly enjoy fighting. However, he had always been acutely aware of life's ironies--this was one of the few things that had kept him sane (and alive) through the years. And, he knew, there were few things more absurd than war. Knowing this fact, he broke into a wry, almost maniacal grin, as he always did before combat. "Who the hell just hit me?" the black kougra called. Fraze saw Keng struggling to free herself from the vines. He didn't have a blade to help her cut them, but he hoped that if he could distract the two brothers, their attacks would lessen. He decided to use a suspense movie-style maneuver. Make your opponents paranoid that you could be anywhere, but be reasonably sure that they won't have enough time to attack you. It had a certain level of danger, but it had served him well before. Fraze ran between the two kougras and Keng, decloaking for a second. He made no effort to hide either his Table or his bulkier-than-an-average-pistol flechette gun. "I did!" he called after re-cloaking. He jogged to a new location, before decloaking and recloaking once more. "Keng isn't the one you should be attacking, I am!" he shouted, invisible again. He saw Keng escape and rush the vine-wielding kougra. So much for that last line, he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the pirate that Strife had been fighting begin to walk away. He now decloaked right in front of the two brothers. Keng was more intent on the gray one, so Fraze focused more of his attention on the black one. "Your friend over there is leaving. I highly recommend you do the same.” IkkinThe demon-horse smiled threateningly at Leraye with those unsettling fangs of his. "I know who you are," he said. "I know you're deceiving my humans. Quite frankly, I've had enough of demons for today, but you are my people, so I won't turn you in to Rider if you give me a very, very, very good reason not to."
Leraye's smile dropped. This was... inconvenient, to say the least. Though, at least it was salvagable.
The horse paused before continuing. "Oh, and any ill intentions towards Rider count as a reason to not only turn you in, but to trample you and eat your liver as well, demon-boy. Well, boy may be the wrong term. You're very old, but your power is less than I'd expect from a demon your age."
Leraye decided to start from the beginning. "I'm not quite sure deceiving is the right word," he said, resuming his normal smile. "They never did ask what I was, after all. And I'm sure that some of your own crew have been hiding their more unique traits, too." At this, he finally opened his eyes. They were shockingly green, with cat-like pupils.
"In any case, allowing myself to be 'revealed' by you would be highly inconvenient." He stepped towards Huntress and Rider, who were several feet away, in front of him. "Actually, I don't think I want to risk it. So, to show you that I do not have any ill intentions towards anyone, I'll just tell them myself."
Before he could do so, however, a Weewoo flew down on him, attempting to take the gem away. Leraye stepped backwards and out of the way of the bird, then noticed Huntress as she was about to shoot it with an arrow. He jumped backwards then ducked, thinking it would be much better to stay out of the path of arrows wherever possible.
"The gem, if you please," Huntrees said, sounding tired. "And some instructions."
Leraye focused on the gem, willing it to transport itself over to Huntress. It appeared right in her free hand.
"Just focus on whatever you want it to do, and it should do it," he called as he walked over, smiling as usual but leaving his eyes open.
"Oh," he said, suddenly realizing he'd forgotten something. "Your friend's demon horse seems to think I was trying to deceive you, so it might be easiest to tell you now. I'm actually a demon, though I certainly have nothing to do with that group that you encountered earlier. I just find your world to be more interesting, that's all."
He smiled back over at Shiva. Now the horse didn't have anything to hold over his head. PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Vines. Darkness. Shouting. Screaming. Threats. Accusations. Jernath could not tell which side was which. He couldn't even tell how many sides there even were. What worried him the most, though, was that he couldn't tell which side he was supposed to be on. Who would Jernath help? The former traitor and his brother? The werewolf who was Cyborg's old friend? The guy who told the mercs to run? The Commander person? The pirate? None of it made sense anymore. Well, you've got to do SOMETHING, he told himself. You got yourself in this mess.The one who Jernath was pretty sure was called 'Fraze' appeared in front of Midknight, telling him to leave. With a bit of hesitation, Jernath decided. He ran toward Fraze, preparing to stab him. For now, at least, Jernath would be on the side of his fellow mercenaries. UrchinUrchin rushed over to the battle and stopped for a second to look before she charged in. She couldn't see much of what was going on from the smoke and knew right away that it would be better if she used her Zat since it can stun. Charging in she could hear familiar voices but couldn't make out where they were coming from. CelestialAn arrow saturated with acid whistled past Overlord's tail, spattering one drop of the stuff onto his feathers. He didn't care though. All he needed to do was get the gem away from that, that demon! A demon shouldn't posses something to terrible and evil. Who knew what he could do with it.
The demon ducked away from the arrow much to Overlord's disappointment. This would make things inconvenient but he must get the gem away from here! It was too dangerous to leave it here amonst demons and money-grabbers. However, the gem disappeaed out of the demon's hand as Overlord prepared his next attack and reappeared in the hands of the pirate captain, a worse holder than the demon in Overlord's opinion. She might be surrounded by meepits but nothing could beat true determination. He fluffed up, ignoring the acid that was eating away at his thick feathers. Let it do so. Feathers can be replaced anyway and I feel no pain if they are damaged he thought. If he swooped at the pirate captain's hand from a great hieght, hoping a combination of his momentum and her tiredness would knock the gem onto the ground. Then he could grab it in his claws and fly back to the Manor. Overlord began to climb.
A final battle shriek came out of his throat as he dived down towards purple glow of the gem. Just anyone try and stop him!
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Post by GW on Oct 15, 2008 15:45:17 GMT -5
HuntressHunty clutched the gem and shot a sleepy look up at the Weewoo, then at Leraye.
"Just focus on whatever you want it to do, and it should do it."
"So if I willed this...?"
The gem pulsated with bright light, and quite literally smacked out a semi-transparent purple shield that expanded around her until it knocked Overlord off course.
"Neat," Hunty said with a lazy grin.
"Just do what you have to do, we'll take care of the birdie," Bloody Mary said grimly, nowhere near as sleepy as the captain was. "And for the love of the Jolly Roger, get a grip."
Jolly Roger.
Hunty looked at it, then at the gem. She didn't notice as the shield faded once her concentration slipped. She didn't notice as Bloody Mary hopped off her shoulder and right into Overlord, clinging around his neck in all his meepitty determination. She didn't notice as the rest of the gang followed in a fuzzy blue pile, and she didn't hear Bloody Mary's hoarse voice yelling, "Okay boys, no biting and no squishing, let's stay civilized here, ow, that's my tail!"
All she saw was the Jolly Roger in front of her, and the sooty ship below it. Her life, her home, her freedom.
She was no longer sleepy. A new rush of adrenaline brought her fully to her senses as she reached out her hand and said, all too quietly:
"Here, girl."
The gem exploded - or not, it just looked like it had. The air twisted around it. It was more of an illusion than actual effect... and yet...
And the ship responded. Waves crashed against the cliff below as the not-so-white brigantine sunk lower into the sea and then bounced upwards on the waves. The gem turned warm in Hunty's hand, the air twisted around it once more, and it sent a thick black beam right into the Jolly Roger up in the gaff.
It hit and spread like black oil, covering the masts, the yards, the sails and the lines - the sails and lines? Those had all burned. It wasn't possible. And yet the black substance slid down through the air where braces and rigging had been that same morning, leaving a trail shaped just like the braces and rigging.
The masts grew. The yards expanded. Sails and rigging grew, and black vapor began to emerge from the black ooze that had completely covered the whole ship by now. Only the deck remained untouced, still sooty after the fire, and the meepits and weasels who'd remained on board clustered together under the foremast, unsure about what to do.
The hull grew as well. Hunty watched in horrified fascination as it spurted out dramatic-looking spikes here and there.
And then it was over. Hunty took a deep breath, watching the thing in front of her. This wasn't just the White Weewoo. The brigantine was still there, but it looked more or less like it'd been encased in a spiky black nightmare, and the sooty deck was still the same, albeit covered in black vapor that was curling around the meepits and weasels. And the rigging... still brigantine rigging, but big enough for a man-o-war.
Waves splashed as the ship drifted farther away from the cliff. Well, it had to, or its new yardlength would've pierced the rock. And the Jolly Roger, still the same, edges tattered in the recent fire, flapped in the wind a good two dozen yards above the cliff's edge.
All of the new black sails dropped down at once, apparently just as tattered as the flag despite being brand new, and the ship turned a little. Hunty reached her hand out as some of the black vapor curled around it. It felt... warm, and loving.
"Wow," she said.
Bloody Mary stuck his head out of the meepitpile. "Wow indeed. Didya have to put in all those dramatic spikes? Some of those upper sails don't even have a name!"
"I didn't." Hunty looked down at him, all sleepiness completely gone from her voice. "She did. She's not as sentinent as Mage Manor, but, well... ships do become more than just a lot of wood and ropes. I just... gave her the gem's power. I think that's what she's always wanted to look like, a pirate ship as she is."
"And here everyone was worried about you getting carried away with that thing's power," the meepit grunted as Hunty turned towards Leraye, black mist curling around her feet and the gem which felt normal again.
"I'm a pirate," she said with the old cheery glint in her eyes. "We don't care what species you are as long as you're on our side... and don't get into a fight with anyone else, and no rum on board when we're at sea, the usual thing. Well, your part of the promise seems to be fulfilled. And with that Ferrari of sailships under my command, I'll be darned if I'm unable to fulfill mine."
The vapor bounced around, apparently sharing the captain's cheeriness. Kat((Mage Manor, library and outside, respectively))"Hush. You need rest right now. Come on, the battle is over. Can you get up?""I can get up...thanks. Unfortunately...now that the library's been trashed, I can't do any research," said Kat with a sigh. She slowly stood up, swaying slightly but not falling over again. "Plus, we still have no idea where the gem is." * * * A rustle from the tree she had been leaning against almost made Ielle jump out of her skin. While she had been contemplating her next move, it had been pretty quiet...at least, where she was. The mage glanced up and saw something flying away, towards a group of people. As the white creature - whatever it was - squawked, Asthielle knew that this was definitely something worth following. Perhaps her real target could wait; that creature didn't look like just another bird perched on just another tree. A spell to her feet later, she was sprinting towards the people. An arrow whooshed past the birdlike thing - coated with something, she noted. But a flash of purple instantly caught her attention, so she had no time to wonder if the bird was hit. Out of instinct, Ielle let loose a large, pale bolt of lightning, laced with dark purple, towards the people who had the gem as she slowed down. CyborgCyborg saw Keng running at him with some sort of dagger. Before he could react he felt the shocking blow to the gut and then darkness. Midknight turned to see his brother's so called friend stabbing him in the gut with a dagger. What he saw next filled him with fear and anger for Cyborg fell to the ground and wasn't getting up. He quickly swelled up with hate and suddenly both of his eyes completely turned a blood red while a black visible energy started to flow around him. " What did you do to him!?!?" the now enraged kougra bellowed at the werewolf. Midknight knew blood would be shed today, but it wasn't gonna be his. He took out his two cutlasses which also had the strange energy flowing around them and rushed at Keng as he sent hundreds of tendrils and shadow spirits at the werewolf. " Keng you will die today if I have my way!!!!!" he yelled in a hate filled manner. KengNo blood flowed from the cyborg kougra as he fell to the ground, just a slight twitch then he was still, unconcious and stunned from the electric shock. Keng doubted it would last long, unless it had fried any of his wiring... Oh please no... thought Keng as she looked at her old shipmate. But she had no time to check for a pulse or even the slight rise and fall of a chest as his brother filled with rage. " Keng you will die today if I have my way!!!!!" he yelled as a new torrent of shadow magic tidal waved towards her. She could see only one logical action to take: she ran. She saw no cowardice in this retreat, only intelligence. She was used to snow but in such a thin layer as it still was it made things slippery and slowed her run, and the shadows moved as fast at the light that seemed to retreat as she did at their approach. Once again she found herself having her limbs wrapped in a touch colder than ice. She could feel it even through her clothing and fur. The shadow spirits dived at her head, clawing at any bear skin. Her eyes were protected by her goggles luckily. But Midknight was almost on her, and the tendrils now had her arms, preventing her from using her weapons. They were gripping to tight... If only her arms were smaller... Well duh! she de-transformed, quickly returning to her human self as her implant reacted to her thoughts which gave her the wiggle room she needed to pull free before the tendrils tightened again. The spirits were continuing their barrage, a pain struck through her right arm, causing her to drop the blade. Reflexes took over at this point, her shield flarred up again and she grabed her laser gun and fired as soon as it was pointed straight, aiming for any of her assailant's limbs. BaconOh boy! I knew I should have stunned that grey one when I had the chance, Bacon thought to himself as he watched the action from a distance. Fraze had appeared and re-disappeared...if that's a word... and Keng attacked the grey one -Cyborg, was it?- unexpectedly. "Keng you will die today if I have my way!!!!!" The black one screamed, with every inflection in his voice justifying his sincerity. Without wasting a second, Bacon locked his Pulse Charger's trigger at "On", and threw it at Midknight. Whether it would hit or not was anyone's guess, as Bacon wasn't accustomed to throwing things in this manner. FrazeFraze watched as one of the kougras, in a rage at Keng's attack on his brother, threatened Keng with death. He watched as Keng ran and the kougra followed, sending out more of the shadow...spirit...tentacle...things after Keng. He was about to try to help his teammate, when he himself was attacked. Fraze's skinsuit reacted more quickly than he did, becoming as rigid and tough as a steel plate as the dagger met his back. The force per unit area of the tip of a blade is enormous--while his suit kept him from being impaled, it did not absorb the force of the blow completely. The stab translated into a painful whap, one that he was sure would leave a nasty bruise. Caught off guard, he stumbled forward and fell to his knees. Instinctively, he pulled a strangely graceful maneuver--with a small hop, he kicked one leg out to his side, keeping the other leg bent and one hand protecting his face, so he was in a sort of sideways-leaning crouch. From here, he stood and spun around in a single motion, now facing his attacker--who he guessed was another mercenary. He got up and looked around to see another mercenary standing before him. "Great, you ripped my shirt," he quipped. When he glanced back at Keng, both she and Bacon seemed to be taking the black kougra. He would have added a flechette round to the mix, but the spread of that weapon was so large that he would probably riddle both his teammates with metal needles as well as the mercenary. He turned back to his attacker, who he now thought resembled some elf of the forest. He shifted his table into a better fighting stance, waiting to see what would happen next. CelestialA purple shield came from the gem as he swooped down. He hit it, hard. The blow knocked all the air out of the Weewoo, sending him flying onto the ground. Overlord simply lay there, pain coming from his wing. There was definitely a break there. To make it worse, the pirate captain's meepits gathered around him. Overlord didn't see the gem's power being used, only felt the darkness become more concentrated in the air. For now, he just had to stay alive. Celestial!!! Save me!! he called to the only safety he had know, sending her images of what was happening. Maybe, just maybe, he could get through the dragons to her. Using the last of his energy to send the mind-message, he lost consciousness.
It was just as well he didn't see the horrific angle of the broken wing and the small spatters of blood on his white feathers.((Mage Manor Library))"I can get up...thanks. Unfortunately...now that the library's been trashed, I can't do any research, plus, we still have no idea where the gem is." the mage said as she tried to get up. Celestial was about to nod in agreement when suddenly an image entered her mind from . A black ship, pirates, the gem and...Overlord!!! He was in danger and terribly wounded! She must get to him and find the gem as well! "The gem is with pirates. They have...used it in some way. We going there right now. If you want to come, let's go. We hope you don't mind flying a-dragonback" Celestial said to the mage, already heading for the door. Overlord was there and he needed help. It was her duty as his guardian and mindsharer. How he had managed to get through to her in his condition...Nevermind that, she needed to go now. Celestial looked back towards the purple mage, waiting for her answer. CyborgMidknight was able to dodge the pulse charger, but when he dove he had taken the laser right in the right leg. Midknight fell to the ground and screamed in pain as he took the shot. Luckily Cyborg came to and saw the shot fired. He now filled with anger, but he decided to take the anger out on the person who threw the pulser charger whom he thought to be the weaker link. Cyborg went beserk sending hundreds of vines, rocks, razor like leafs and earthquakes at this stranger. " Keng you'll pay with his life!" Cyborg yelled. Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))Bluisa bowed as PFA introduced her to Omni. Though she was a dark mage, she appreciated the presence of a light mage despite the opposing affiliations with their own magic. Omni was one of those who had put down Subila earlier, and to that she was grateful. Bluisa knew however that time would not allow them to know each other. She tapped PFA on the shoulder, her eyes sparkling with an idea. "Remember the badges I gave you earlier?" Bluisa asked, hoping PFA still had them on. "If Cat Assassin gets attacked, we might be able to teleport in an instant..." A faint thought entered Bluisa's mind. " ... But if he gets killed..." * * * ((Near White Weewoo)) Somehow, Cat Assassin had reached the end of a random forest. The image in the ball revealed that of a very particular place. It was the same spot where he and a certain pink catgirl used to hang out while in the NTWF. They both would appreciated the calm and serene atmosphere of the place in every single visit. " Please don't let this madness defile this place," he wished. ((I'll add more to this in the next post. I just need to get my inspiration back... and my sleeping hours)) RoseRose had been watching and watching, now that Midknight had been injured it was her turn to help. She jumped from her treetop hiding spot and landed near Midknight and began to work her magic, literally. She began to heal him and as she did this a silver mystical energy surrounded her hands. She then having healed her comrad she took out her bo staff and ran towards Keng. Cyborg"Thanks Rose, now that I'm healed I can take the enemies." he called to his friend. He got to his feet and ran to Cyborg who was still attacking Bacon. " You're healed, good let's take this guy out of the picture." Cyborg said to his brother. " Rose let's go attack Keng, she'll try to help this guy." Midknight added to his friend as he turned his attention to Keng again. " Hey Rose it's time for me to disappear if you know what I mean." he said to Rose before he disappeared and reappeared right behind Keng a minute later with his cutlasses at her neck. " This is the great part about being a shadow mage, I can turn into a shadow." Midknight explained to Keng. Strife((The Forest South of Dunburrow))The Commander felt two other terrestrials - Cyborg and Midknight - charging towards him. Midknight summoned a flurry of dark tendrils to attack Keng, causing the surrounding area to be covered in a cloud of darkness so that nobody could see clearly. Meanwhile, Cyborg launched vines in The Commander's direction. With the wave of his hand, The Commander used his psionic energy to push the vines off-course. They wrapped around a nearby tree instead, and he chuckled at the pathetic attempt. "Savage," he muttered. Because of the sudden lack of light, The Commander didn't see Cyborg throw a large rock at him. It crashed onto his chest plating, shattered into hundreds of pieces, and sent him flying into the ground once again. The attack left a dent in his chest plating, but he himself remained unharmed. Midknight fell on the ground beside him after suffering an attack of his own. "Who the hell just hit me?" said Midknight. "If that was one of yours they shouldn't have done that," growled Cyborg angrily at Keng. He halted his attacks on The Commander and proceeded to attack Keng. By the time The Commander had lifted himself from the ground again, Midknight had jumped back into the fray and was standing behind Keng with a cutlass at her neck. Cyborg and some kind of mage girl with a bo staff were standing nearby. Leaves, vines, and rocks were scattered everywhere among the snowy dirt of the forest. I've had enough of this, he thought to himself. No more fooling around. It is time for these savages to die.It didn't seem that any of the terrestrials were paying attention to him, and Cyborg's back was turned to The Commander. This could work to his advantage, he figured. A smirk crept across his face as he aimed his Leech. He fired the weapon three times. A loud, metallic sound echoed through the forest, and bright red laser beams zoomed towards the back of Cyborg's head, Cyborg's upper back, and Midknight's forehead respectively. CyborgMidknight and Cyborg went back to back and put their hands in the air after they got up. " Fine we surrender." Cyborg said as he smirked. " Not." added Midknight. Then the two brothers then unleashed their magic. Cyborg caused massive earthquakes, vines rocks and leaves in all directions, while Midknight turned everything dark again and sent tendrils and shadow creatures everywhere. " Ok Cyborg I'm going to use the final attack, but I won't be able to use much magic for at least a day." Midknight whispered to his brother. " Alright. GO!!!!" Cyborg yelled. Midknight then used up almost all of his remaining magic to use his most powerful attack, that he knew, for now. He took control of all of the enemies' shadow and turned them into an army of shadow clones and then put all the light back. With all the light restored Midknight sent his army at the enemies. " Attack!!!!!!!" he directed. The clones began to attack their counterparts. KengHad Keng been conscious for the first guild war her reaction would have been 'Oh hell, not again.' At least she was still familiar with fighting shadow creatures. They didn't like light. And oh boy did Keng ever have a good light source this time... "CODE WHITE!" she yelled the tip off phrase that only the Fleeters would know the meaning of. It was a call to cover eyes and ears as Keng, who had managed to put some distance between herself and the Kougras, lobbed a flash bang at them. Upon it's impact with the ground it exploded. But it's strength was not in fire, heat and kinetic force, but in light and noise. The whole clearing flashed up with blinding pure white light specifically designed to temporarily blind and disorient anyone who had their eyes open, and a roaring sound filled the air for a split second, leaving anyone who's ears weren't covered with a loud, deafening ringing. The bomb was meant to disorient, and was one of Keng's favorite weapons. She herself had rolled over to face the ground, her eyelids squeezed tightly shut. She was thankful to not be in werewolf form for this one, as at this range from the blast she would have been able to do nothing to protect her ears. CyborgAll of the shadows disappeared, but what Keng had not counted on was Cyborg could still see and hear out of the cybornetic side of his head. Thank god for technology. Plus the quakes, vines, rocks and razor leaves weren't affected and still continued towards the brothers' enemies including Keng. While Cyborg was only affected on the left side of his head, Midknight could not see or hear anything and quickly dropped to the ground thinking more weapons were being thrown or shot. Cyborg made a protective wall of earth around his temporarily blinded and deaf brother and then sent a huge moving pillar or earth at Keng. The pillar snaked closer and closer towards Keng trying to squash her. RiderRider was kind of disappointed that Leraye wasn't an angel. Shiva was kind of disappointed that he wasn't winning brownie points by turning the demon in. But all that vanished when they saw the striking ferocity of their new home. "Rent would go up if I charged rent," Rider whispered in awe. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's set sail and get out of here before any more psychotic birds try coming at us like a Hitchcock film." "I better have a bigger stall," Shiva muttered. "And dinner." Rider could imagine the possibilities of the gem. It could probably make rum and gold. If it could do that, why couldn't it make a person's enemies disappear? Or create fair weather for sailing? Or even teleport the ship? Maybe it really could bring back the dead. The pirates could be the most powerful guild in the NTWF. This group of misfit vagabonds, unwelcome anywhere and chased by the law. Running, running, never free. They could be kings of this world. "Cap'n, I haven't seen Goosh or Speck in a while. You can set sail if you feel it would be safer, but perhaps it's best if I go after them. Do you know where they might be?" She stared at the gem. "Hey, does this thing scry? Does it get high-def? How about cable?" Keng"FRIG!" Keng gasped, quickly trying to roll out of the way of the pillar. She hadn't expected that. A few nearby marines were wandering around erratically, wailing about their eyes and ears. There are always a few... she had time to distractedly think before the pillar landed hard on her left arm. "AHHRRRRAAAA!!" she now wailed herself as the heavy earth landed hard. She heard a small crack, Was that bone?!Her hand and half her arm was now buried beneath the fallen soil, she tried to pull it free, but as soon as there was even the slightest bit of strain a lightning strike of pain shot through her arm. "OW!" Well, that arm's not going anywhere right now... she thought drawing her pistol. It would be a while before her werewolf blood could heal it. An hour or two if it was just a fracture, longer if it was a genuine break. She wouldn't be able to transform again until it was healed. Or at least she didn't know what the consequences would be if she did. At least she still had her right arm and the laser gun, which she now pointed warningly at Cyborg, but didn't shoot. "Remember what I said earlier about it being easier to talk when everyone wasn't waving weapons around?" she asked looking him straight in the eyes. edit: ((typo, because her arm is "noW" buried, not "noT" buried )) CyborgBased on the fact he heard shots fired Cyborg dropped to the ground, and had to stop attacking. The commander had been smart he had taken advantage of distracted opponents. The one thing he hadn't thought of was Midknight had a human shield and used it. He moved so Keng would be in the line of fire not him. " That was smart but not smart enough." Midknight said to the commander. " Rose stay back!" he added to his friend. Strife((The Forest South of Dunburrow))Much to his surprise and frustration, all three laser beams missed their targets. Two of them collided with trees, leaving giant black burns in the trunks. "That was smart but not smart enough." Midknight said to the commander. "Rose stay back!" he added to his friend. "How dare you insult my intelligence," snarled The Commander. He pointed his fist at the shattered pieces of Cyborg's boulder. The pieces floated through the air and snapped to his arm like magnets, until his entire arm was covered in a layer of thick rocks. He then jumped as high as he could into the air, and as he landed on the ground, he pounded his rocky fist into the dirt. A massive tremor shook the forest. The sound of falling trees and crackling branches filled the air, and the force of the quake left a giant crack in the ground beneath The Commander. Everyone in the vicinity fell over at exactly the same time. Nearby, the marines who were hiding in the bushes stumbled and fell over as the tremor came soaring towards them. Some of them frantically dove out of the way to avoid the toppling trees. "Emergency, emergency!" shouted one of the marines into his communicator. "Our cover's been blown!" said another, turning to Subcommander #4. "Alright, men," began #4 as he stood up. "The Commander is here. Quit standing around and help him!" With that order, groups of marines began to jump over rocks and fallen trees, surrounding the battlefield on all sides with their rifles pointed at the terrestrials. Cyborg" I wouldn't be threatening to shoot if I were you because you don't realize I can turn all that soil around your left arm into solid rock and then you won't be goin anywhere." Cyborg said to his friend with a smirk on his face. " But since you're a friend I'll talk as long as you're commander and those other people drop their guns and don't shoot." he added. KengKeng's response was to drop her own gun as a sign of good faith, and hoped the Commander would do the same. If he lowered his weapon than so would everyone else. One of the disoriented marines walked into a tree in the background and fell with a thump. "First of all I'd like to clarify why I attacked your brother and later you. Put simply it's because he attacked me and words are no good when there's a bullet, or in this case hundreds of shadows aiming for your throat. You'd have done the same had one of my family members attacked you. But I had no intention to kill him." she told Cyborg, her eyes not wavering from his. "Now I offer you a choice. Join me and togeather we shall rule the galaxy as-" ((eh, ehm. Couldn't resist ^_^; ) FrazeFraze found himself staring himself in the face. Had he not been in a battle, he would have worried for the state of his mental health. He had read Spacefleet's intelligence reports on a recent war of the planetside guilds, and this all seemed ironically familiar to him. He had nearly decided a way to kill this duplicate quickly when-- "CODE WHITE!" bellowed Keng. Immediately, Fraze had his skinsuit block 99% of all incoming sound and light--even then, he had a few bright spots in his vision, and the noise that came in was that of a crowded restaurant. When the flash bang had finished its purpose, he depolarized his vision and returned his hearing to normal--the shadow was no longer there. Or maybe it's cloaked, if it's a replica of me. But if a shadow cloaks, wouldn't that just mean it goes away? Eh, too much to think about now. He looked up to see Keng and the gray kougra continuing their battle, but--they started talking. "But since you're a friend I'll talk as long as you're comander and those other people drop their guns and don't shoot."Fraze slung his Table over his back. He walked into the kougra's field of vision, his arms spread, and his flechette gun in one hand pointed toward the sky in a classic gesture of peace. When he was in talking distance, he put both weapons on the ground--within arm's reach, in case talking didn't work. He listened as Keng told her side of the story, and decided to tell his own. "I saw the two of you attacking my friend and teammate. I wanted to help her. Even mercenaries look out for their own, so I'm sure you understand." After a pause, he extended his hand. "We haven't been introduced. The name's Fraze.” SpeckHer breathing was slowing down. Speck didn’t know if she could make it to the ship without collapsing onto the ground, unconscious. Muscles were still sore, her cheek bone throbbed with pain, and her shoulder was burning. A tremor went though the forest, knocking her to the ground. Her body fell onto the arrow sticking out of her, and a more intense pain shot through her shoulder. She winced, trying to concentrate on her breathing. If she focused on it, she might be able to ignore most of the pain. The pirate had no time to focus on her breathing, however. A tree to the left of her began to creak and crack. Her eyes widened, and she scrambled out of the way of the falling tree. Speck collapsed on the ground again, onto her back. She breathed in the cold winter air, her chest moving up and down. I wonder how much blood I’ve lost… Was the only thought in her mind. I can help you. That dratted voice again. Wouldn’t it just leave her alone? I can heal you… but you must do something for me before I can. She was listening. She doubted she could survive for much longer without medical attention. Just… take that amulet off of your neck. I’m not at full power unless that thing is taken off. I can’t heal you unless I am at full power. So that’s what had subdued the being. How could she trust it not to possess her again? When it was at full power in her body, it had easily overwhelmed her. I led you to what you desired… How can you not trust me? She scowled. It had only led her to a fraction of the gem. Despite her doubts, she stroked the amulet around her neck in thought. As soon as her fingers had touched the smooth surface of it, a tingling sensation began in her cheek and shoulder. She touched the arrow-wound: it had stopped bleeding. Speck didn’t need the being to heal her. The amulet could do it just as well. She grabbed a thick stick from the ground and wrapped it in her blood-soaked bandana. The wrapped stick was soon between her jaws. A deep inhale, and the pirate wrapped her hand around the arrow in her shoulder. She pulled hard. The arrow was tossed aside; Speck didn’t want to see the end of it. Her wound had started to bleed again. She rubbed the amulet with her fingers desperately, but the bloody thing wouldn’t close. Swearing under her breath, she felt her cheek. It still throbbed with pain, still cracked from the impact of the commander’s punch. The amulet had done nothing to relieve her pain. Its only purpose was to subdue the possessor inside her, apparently. I am going to regret this in so many ways. She thought, taking the amulet off. As soon as it was placed in her pocket, she could feel a dark power run through her veins. It went directly to her wounds, sealing them and leaving no scars. Her muscles were no longer sore, and she felt like she had had a full nights rest. Her purple irises glowed as she stretched, ready for yet another run. She was surprised to find that she was in full control of her body. The being smiled to itself; it would bide its time until the opportune moment. Pocketing her bandana, Speck made off in the direction of the gem. HuntressHuntress' head jerked up as something bright flashed somewhere in the corner of her vision range. She had barely enough time to notice a lightning bolt between the dark trees when the White Weewoo's black vapor smashed into it and grabbed it as if it was a wooden arrow. The air crackled as the load of energy was redirected and sent straight up through the demonic rigging, past the spiky yards and into the sky, gaining power in its way. A white explosion, lined with dark purple and covering nearly half of the sky, expnded in all directions. It lit up the sky, cast a second's worth of bright light on the twisted ship, and then faded. The mist thickened around Hunty's feet, stretching out to wrap itself around Rider's, Shiva's, and Leraye's feet as well. "Yepyep, everyone always follows the power," Hunty said, tucking the gem in the pouch on her belt. The vapor above the ship had changed. It was now moving like semi-transparent black fire, quickly and ferociously. The yards that were above the cliff's edge turned a little, as if the sails had eyes that wanted to see better. Maybe they did. "Bit of a problem here," Bloody Mary called, and the captain turned to squat next to the meepitgang that had now spread out a little, leaving her safety in the hands of her ship. She looked at the little Weewoo. "Nice going," she said grimly. "Wasn't us," claimed the meepit. "Your forcefield, methinks. Can't that gem-thingy heal him?" "Why should I? He attacked me, and will probably do so again once I heal him. I've already spent my today's ratio of chivalry." She got up again. "Get Boom or something." As the meepitgang's - and the whole crew's - only de-facto doctor came closer to examine Overlord, Hunty turned to look at Rider. "Cap'n, I haven't seen Goosh or Speck in a while. You can set sail if you feel it would be safer, but perhaps it's best if I go after them. Do you know where they might be?" She stared at the gem. "Hey, does this thing scry? Does it get high-def? How about cable?""All that and more - it also irons your clothes, plays Scrabble and writes letters to the goverment, fun for the whole family, only fifteen shinies and your soul," Hunty said in a voice that made it impossible to tell whether she was kidding or sarcastic. Possibly both. "I'm a little iffy about sending you off, frankly. Over here the ship protects us, but out there a war is brewing, and all sorts of folks are roaming the land, and I've yet to see the face of whoever shot a lightning bolt at us and quite possibly revealed our position to the whole land." She grimaced. "Shame, it's been a good hideout for years. Then again, it is time for the pirates to sail proudly, without hiding." She shot a glance at her pouch with the gem, encased in twirling mist. "I'd much rather send out a call than wander off looking for them and possibly getting lost all over the country again. Wonder how this whole clairvoyance-deal works?" Zylaa((Mage Manor: Wanting Cookies))"That certainly explains a lot," Ikkin said. "Though we still need to actually find the gem before it would come in handy.""Finding the gem should be easy," Zylaa said. "We're in a building made of magic. All we have to do is ask it to scry for us." She looked around until she found a mirror- simply because a mirror seemed more magically significant than a blank wal- and walked up to it, placing her paw on the glass. "Show us the gem," she commanded. A second passed, during which she realized how incredibly silly she would look if this didn't work. "..Please?" she added. The mirror's colors rippled and flowed across the surface like water, merging to form three distinct images. "Three?" Zylaa said rhetorically. "What's going on?" She examined the top image. Hunty stood there, on the cliffs where the Weewoo was hidden, and behind her- "What happened to our ship?" she cried. The monstrous, shadowy ship behind the captain... looks freakin' awesome, actually, Zylaa thought. Obviously Hunty had the gem. She scanned the other two images curiously. Speck was running through the forest- very quickly, considering the signs of recent wounds. Also her eyes were glowing purple. This was probably a bad sign. In the bottom right was a man in a metal suit, calling rocks to himself and fighting- more people, it was hard to tell. Magic was flying everywhere."Who is that man?" Zylaa asked. The Manor clock struck the hour, it's deep tolling reverberating through the kitchen. It would have been a lot more ominous if it was midnight, instead of three, but the effect was still there. PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Jernath was confused when his dagger didn't sink into Fraze's back. Instead it landed on his back and then stopped. Fraze was knocked back by the force of the blow, which was good, Jernath supposed, but he had been expecting more of a stab and less of a whack. Fraze spun around and stood up, facing Jernath. "Great, you ripped my shirt," Fraze said, just before readying his weapon, which appeared to be a table of some sort. But before Jernath could say anything, a lot of things happened at what seemed to be at once. First a girl showed up, who Jernath vaguely recognized as one of the other mercenaries... one of the ones he didn't know very well, but he'd seen her at the HQ a couple times. And then, there was an earthquake which sent everyone to the ground. Jernath instantly was reminded of the similar earthquake from not long ago... the one that caused him to come out here in the first place. Was that The Commander person who made it? Could he be the one who made the first earthquake? Then they were surrounded by soldiers. Who all had fancy looking guns. Then there were more earthquakes, this time caused by Cyborg. Then there were shadow clones of everyone. Then Keng shouted something. Then there was a very loud screeching sound, and everything went white. Jernath could no longer tell where he was, or what was going on. He didn't know if there was still a fight. He didn't know if he was still even at the fight. His ears were ringing really, really bad, and wherever he looked, all he saw was white. If someone had been talking right into his face, he wouldn't know. Everything was gone. And so, with nothing else he could do, he just sat there, trying to make sense of what just happened. He also desperately hoped that no one would try to kill him. If an attack were launched at him right then, he wouldn't be able to respond until the damage had already been done. --- ((Mage Manor: library))Bluisa tapped PFA on the shoulder. "Remember the badges I gave you earlier? If Cat Assassin gets attacked, we might be able to teleport in an instant..."PFA blinked, looking at the badges she still had pinned to her outfit. They were still there... but was it really wise to wait for Uncle to get hurt? What if it were a fatal attack? She was about to say something, but stopped when she heard the voice of the dragon. "The gem is with pirates. They have...used it in some way. We going there right now. If you want to come, let's go. We hope you don't mind flying a-dragonback."PFA grinned. So the pirates had the gem now? That was good... good indeed. Hopefully the alliance that the pirate captain had mentioned earlier would still be in tact... then they could get to where the gem (and probably Uncle) was really easily. "There's no need for that. She can take us to the gem," PFA said to Bluisa, gesturing toward the dragon. "Come on!" And then, PFA ran after the dragon, forgetting that Bluisa didn't know about the alliance. A fact that could come back to bite her later. She came up to the dragon, looking her straight in the eyes. "If you're going to where the gem is, can we come too?" PFA asked. If this worked out, then hopefully they could get there before Uncle could get hurt. CelestialThe ninja and the mage came up to Celestial just as she was about to leave. The purple mage was taking too long and Celestial didn't have much time. The ninja looked Celestial straight in the eye, a fact that she found interesting considering her eyes were a mad whirl of colours which could give anybody a headache if they looked at them. "If you're going to where the gem is, can we come too?" the ninja asked without any hesitation. Celestial shrugged, her wings lifting up with her shoulders. "If you don't mind riding upon a dragon I don't see why not but you better hurry and get outside, we can only shapeshift safely there." she said to the ninja and the mage. She then turned to the purple mage. "If you want to come, the same applies to you. If not, farewell. she told her and walked out the library and out of the Manor doors, waiting for the ninja and the mage. GooshGoosh watched as Zylaa stepped over to a mirror. Scrying. There was a good idea. Goosh scampered next to her and watched as the colours swirling around the mirrors split into three groups. "Three?" he moaned. "That's not going to help stabalize it." Huntress materialized, silhouetted against--was that the White Weewoo? It looked like a whole new ship, but he recognized the shape and size, though it seemed a lot more threatening now. And Speck, purple-eyed. That wasn't good. A renegade pirate with lemon bombs? Enough said. The bottom picture was a mass of flying magic. Goosh could vaguely see a group of metal men, a flash of fur...but it was too quick to track. The kitchen's three clocks all sounded. Three am. Goosh wasn't tired, not after being unconscious and subsequently healed. But they couldn't dillydally in the Manor any longer, knowing where the gem was. He pulled the small white thing he had grabbed earlier out of his pocket. He had forgotten it with Zylaa arriving. It was a small, smooth white stylus. Tiny sparks flickered at its point. He didn't know what it did, exactly, but if all else failed he could stab someone with it. He sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to. Strife((The Forest South of Dunburrow))As the marines rushed closer to the battlefield, everyone began to stand up from the quake and reorient themselves. However, after no more than a second or two, several aftershocks rumbled the earth, influenced by Cyborg's earth magic. Once again, The Commander felt his legs losing balance, but he crouched down to avoid falling over again. The air swarmed with violent earth magic, both from Cyborg and from the Commander himself, causing stones, rocks, and leaves to fly all over the place. The rocks the Cyborg launched never reached their intended targets, and instead began to orbit around The Commander's body in wide, erratic circles. Many of them veered off-course and pummeled some of the marines, but they fired their laser rifles at the larger stones to vaporize them before they were hit. Cyborg had summoned a large pillar of earth, which snaked along the ground and landed on Keng's arm, trapping her on the ground. She screamed loudly, and used her free arm to pull out her blaster. She aimed it at the terrestrial, but didn't fire. "Remember what I said earlier about it being easier to talk when everyone wasn't waving weapons around?"
"I wouldn't be threatening to shoot if I were you because you don't realize I can turn all that soil around your left arm into solid rock and then you won't be goin anywhere." Cyborg said to his friend with a smirk on his face. "But since you're a friend I'll talk as long as you're comander and those other people drop their guns and don't shoot."Both Keng and Fraze dropped their weapons. The marines around the area began to do the same, but Subcommander #4 motioned them to stay put. "Wait for The Commander's orders," he barked. The Commander glared at the terrestrials. Who did they think they were? Midknight was clearly out of commission from using that powerful shadow move. And Cyborg... well, his powers could easily be manipulated. Afterall, he was a fellow user of earth magic. The third terrestrial, Jernath, seemed so disoriented from the fighting that he could barely move. In any case, Spacefleet was overpowering them, and yet, the three terrestrials still believed they had the upper hand. This was yet another advantage he could use. He had an idea. "Lower your weapons," said the The Commander to his troops. #4 nodded, and signaled his marines to do the same. The rocks covering The Commander's arms loosened themselves and began to slowly orbit around his body again. "First of all," began Keng, "I'd like to clarify why I attacked your brother and later you. Put simply it's because he attacked me and words are no good when there's a bullet, or in this case hundreds of shadows aiming for your throat. You'd have done the same had one of my family members attacked you. But I had no intention to kill him."
"I saw the two of you attacking my friend and teammate." added Fraze. "I wanted to help her. Even mercenaries look out for their own, so I'm sure you understand."At that moment, in one swift burst of movement, The Commander leaped at Jernath, who was still in a dazed position. He grabbed the mercenary's arm, twisted it, and grabbed him from behind while pointing the Leech straight at his skull. He tightened his grip so that Jernath had no way of slipping out of his grasp. "If we are to negotiate, it will be under my terms," he said coldly to Midknight and Cyborg. "Remove your weapons, or I will remove your friend's head from his body. Cyborg"First of all I'd like to clarify why I attacked your brother and later you. Put simply it's because he attacked me and words are no good when there's a bullet, or in this case hundreds of shadows aiming for your throat. You'd have done the same had one of my family members attacked you. But I had no intention to kill him." " Actually I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have blinded, deafened, electricuted or nearly killed that family member." Cyborg replied getting angrier with each word. "We haven't been introduced. The name's Fraze." This Fraze had extended his hand, but should Cyborg shake it or not. Cyborg turned to Fraze and shook his hand and threatened " Now I suggest you tell your commander to drop the guns or else Keng, though she's my friend, loses a limb." Meanwhile Midknight was beginning to regain his sight and hearing but very little. Though he heard enough to know the battle had stopped ,but Cyborg was threatening to hurt Keng. Hearing this Midknight smirked. Look at what these fools have got themselves into. If Cyborg's so mad he's threatening to hurt his own friend as much as to rip off one of her limbs they are in trouble. IkkinNow that the fighting was over, Sev didn't really know what to do.
Fortunately, his answer came quickly when he overheard Celestial say, "The gem is with pirates. They have...used it in some way. We going there right now. If you want to come, let's go. We hope you don't mind flying a-dragonback"
The gem was with the pirates, hmm? Well, he could sense that Ikkin was still in the Manor - along with Goosh - so she would need to know about that.
He didn't waste any time before disappearing in a flash, reappearing in the kitchen near where Ikkin was standing.
"Ikkin, the pirates have the gem. We should probably catch go up to them now."*** "Finding the gem should be easy," Zylaa told Ikkin. "We're in a building made of magic. All we have to do is ask it to scry for us." Ikkin felt very silly for not thinking of this herself. After all, she'd lived in the Manor for some time, being a mage. Zylaa walked up to a mirror, placed a paw to the glass, and commanded it to "Show us the gem." After a few moments, she added, "...Please?" which made Ikkin chuckle. Despite the silliness, the mirror responded with three images. Zylaa seemed confused. Ikkin wondered if the gem might have been broken, since the Manor was rarely wrong. The first image showed Huntress, Rider, and the White Weewoo, which seemed to have transformed into a demonic version of itself, replete with torn black sails and more spikes than it knew what to do with. The second showed Speck, whose eyes were glowing a dangerous purple. The third showed a man in a metal suit, using some sort of magic to control stones to fight. And then, as if on cue, the clock in the Manor started to toll. Ikkin looked at it - it was several minutes too early. The hour hadn't even changed yet. The Manor sure does have a flair for the dramatic, Ikkin thought. "Well, I have no idea what's happened," Ikkin told Zylaa, "But I think it's safe to assume that all of these people have the gem - or, part of it, at least." Just then, Sev arrived with a flash of fire, saying, "Ikkin, the pirates have the gem. We should probably catch go up to them now.""Thanks, Sev," she said. "Even if we already kind of knew that." This wasn't strictly true; she really couldn't have known which of the three groups who showed up on the mirror actually had the full gem, or if there actually was a full gem to have anymore. "We should be going," Ikkin said to both Zylaa and Goosh. "The only question is, should we go straight to Cap'n Hunty, or should we try to grab Speck on our way there?” Cyborg"If we are to negotiate, it will be under my terms. Remove your weapons, or I will remove your friend's head from his body." The commander was right behind Jernath and now that Midknight could see and hear normally he could do something about it. He turned into a shadow once again and went up behind the commander and held one cutlass across his throat and one at his back. " If you even make a move to pull that trigger, I'll shove this cutlass through your back." Midknight said in a dead serious voice. Cyborg now saw Jernath in danger and had to do something so he pushed Fraze to the ground and wrapped vines around him and held a cutlass pointing at Fraze's heart. At the same time he began to solidify the earth around Keng's arm. " Commander you are in no position to threaten anyone. So I have a question how many of your recruits must I injure or kill before you drop your weapons.” Rider”I'd much rather send out a call than wander off looking for them and possibly getting lost all over the country again. Wonder how this whole clairvoyance-deal works?" "Sounds sensible, since some were last seen in the Manor." Rider poked the gem. "Um, Mr. Shiny? Please show me the rest of the pirates?" A drop of black liquid rose from the surface of the gem and expanded, creating a floating pool in which three seperate images rose in high-def picture-in-picture mode. And now we have Rider and Hunty spying on Ikkin, Goosh and Zy who were spying on Rider and Hunty. Rider could see an image of herself in the scrying bubble. It was a bit disconcerting. The second image showed a glowy purple Speck. "Oh frigate." The third image was a mess. But in the middle of that mess, there was a very familiar werewolf. "Oh frigate." "Mr. Shiny, I'd like to be able to communicate with Ikkin, Goosh and Zylaa. Like, pronto. Please." The pool shunk and expanded again, and now there was audio. "Goosh, glad to see you're up and about. guys, we're going to have to regroup, and by the way, what in the name of Davy Jones' sweaty gymsocks has happened to our Speck? And why is Keng with those shiny metal meddlers?" FrazeFraze was caught off guard as he felt himself fall to the ground. He was about to spring up, but a pair of vines wrapped themselves around his ankles and began working their way up his legs, rooting him to the ground. He knew he would fall, so he tried to fall in the direction of his weapons. More vines wrapped around his legs and torso, one worked its way around his neck. His left arm was now pinned down, and he was on his side--not the best position, exactly. He reached out with his right arm and barely managed to grab his flechette gun, doing his best to avoid the vines now grappling for that arm. He looked up, and saw the grey kougra with a sword against his chest. He resisted the urge to laugh--obviously this guy hadn't seen his friend's unsuccessful attempt to stab him. He had his entire suit go rigid, except for the hand holding the flechette gun. "Get away," he said to the gray kougra. "NOW." He waited half a second. He had seen how impulsive these two brothers were, and how eager they were to retaliate at some real or imagined attack--so if what Fraze was about to do might harm this one, he would at least be given proper warning and a bit of time to get away. If he didn't take that opportunity, Fraze would only be able to say "I told you so." Fraze found an angle well away from any of his teammates, and fired downward at himself. Thousands upon thousands of metal needles flew out of the oversized barrel. The flechette cloud ripped through the vines like so much wet newspaper. Some tore into the ground, sending up a spray of dirt and snow. If the kougra didn't move away, a few dozen on the periphery of the cloud would probably catch him in the arm. Part of him hoped that they would, part of him knew that that would not help negotiations much. Fraze tugged one foot up, tearing away the last remaining tendril from his ankle. He put another cartridge in the flechette gun, and cloaked. There were benefits to being unseen, even when people know you're still there. Especially when people know you're still there. BaconBacon coughed loudly as he rose slowly from the ground. The leaves and rocks Cyborg had attacked him with made several cuts and scratches all over, with one large red slash visible through his jacket's left shoulder. His forehead was bruised and his feet and legs sore from the earthquakes. A vine was wrapped tightly around his right arm like a splint. He recovered his stunner and hobbled towards Cyborg weakly, with every intent of stabbing him in one of the implants with the elecrically charged weapon. Strife((Cyborg, you clearly said in a previous post that Midknight would be unable to use magic for a while after his shadow army attack. I'll let it go this time, but please be careful with your future posts so that your characters don't contradict themselves.)) Midknight's body blackened, and he seemed to teleport right behind The Commander, holding one cutlass at his throat and the other at his back. "If you even make a move to pull that trigger, I'll shove this cutlass through your back."Subcommander #4 was lurking near a tree behind The Commander when he suddenly saw Midknight pull this strange maneuver. His heart immediately jumped with worry. He had to do something quickly. "Do it," The Commander dared Midknight with a cynical tone, "And watch what happens to your friends." "Commander you are in no position to threaten anyone." said Cyborg. "So I have a question how many of your recruits must I injure or kill before you drop your weapons?"Cyborg launched another flurry of vines in Fraze's direction. "Get away, NOW." shouted Fraze. He pulled out his flechette gun and fired it, causing hundreds of spikes to fly into the air. They ripped through the magical vines like tissue paper, making their way towards Cyborg. Suddenly, Subcommander #4 rushed out of the thick bushes and tackled Midknight from his right side onto the ground. In the process, he knocked The Commander forward, causing Jernath to fall face-first into the snow. Still laying on the ground on top of Midknight, #4 grabbed the Kougra's paws in an attempt to wrestle his weapons away from him. The Commander was slightly shaken up by the turn of events, but he decided to take no chances with his hostage. He stood directly above the fallen Jernath and fired his Leech right into his back. PFA((Mage Manor: library))"If you don't mind riding upon a dragon I don't see why not but you better hurry and get outside, we can only shapeshift safely there," the dragon replied. PFA smiled, and turned toward Bluisa and Omni, beckoning the two mages. "Come on, we can get there by dragon!" she called, just before following after Celestial. Bluisa, and Omni if she wanted, would be able to catch up. --- ((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Jernath was caught completely off-guard when he suddenly felt someone grab his arm rather roughly, then hold him in a position where he couldn't attack even if he wanted to. He also thought he felt something hovering dangerously close to his head... oh no, was someone threatening to shoot him? He heard what vaguely sounded like someone speaking... well, at least his hearing was starting to come back. But he still couldn't tell what exactly was going on. Without warning, Jernath suddenly felt his face make contact with the snow. Though he still wasn't exactly sure where he was, he still made an attempt to get up, or at least get his face out of the snow. He had managed the latter, promptly noticing that his vision was starting to come back somewhat. Guess whatever that was is wearing off, he thought. Before he could do anything else, though, there was a sound that resembled the firing of a laser... and a sharp pain in his back. Jernath grunted as the attack hit him, finding himself falling into the snow again. He tried to get back up, but a throbbing pain accompanied all his attempts at moving. So now I'm stuck, he thought angrily. He was starting to regret trying to get into this fight.
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:47:31 GMT -5
Vyt((Mage Manor - Library))
Bluisa nodded as she hopped on the newly-befriended talking dragon. What it suggested was way better than waiting for Cat Assassin to be attacked, she reckoned. Even a veteran fighter like him would have a hard time just trying to survive if the gem holder would appear to be hostile towards him.
She knew fairly well what the gem was capable of, and was fearing it to fall at the wrong hands.
"Let us hurry!" Bluisa squealed, her tone full of worry.
* * *
((Near White Weewoo))
The image of the gem constantly shining looked marvelous, but it did not help Cat Assassin at most. Through the crystal ball, he could see much of what was happening. The feline frowned when he saw a very disturbing image of the same bird he met from the library, bloody and too weak to even move. The last thing he wanted to see was someone, or something, slowly fading towards death due to excessive bleeding.
It was then that another flashback came to hit him.
* * *
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The rapidly-escaping sound of succeeding explosions stirred havoc among the civilians of Feline Town, as each and every single feline scampered for their very own lives. Some were trampled harshly by both scared innocent people and the marching batallions of their town's rival, the Canine City. The mixed scent of felines and canines brewed in the atmosphere, followed by the ugly stench of blood everywhere.
Cat Assassin was just a six-year old kitten then. He even did not have any name, for that same day he was supposed to be bestowed an identification for himself. His very formal dress was not fit for the sudden situation, as he quickly hid behind his father: a middle-aged cat whose right eye had been severely damaged from an accident.
His father, calm and collected even during that attack, knew what to do.
He ordered his son to run towards a large safe, the establishment he had made as an evacuation plan. His son was already inside, but even though he was expecting his father to come with him he was locked up inside... by his own father.
A teary young kitten started crying as through the thick steel of the safe entered another sound of explosion, followed by a barrage of bullets being fired.
* * *
Cat Assassin shook his head, trying his best not to be affected by the past. Since embarking on the search for the gem, he had been mentally attacked by remnants of his past. Somehow, the gem was causing all this to happen.
Still in hiding, Cat Assassin slowly approached the edge of the cliff through the bushes. He could see numerous being from afar, and thus he must be cautious.
((Hunty, I don't really know if you and your gang are still near the edge of the cliff, or already inside the ship the gem made. In fact, I'm a bit confused. Thus, I'll be waiting for you to post.)) Keng"Oww, Cyborg! Not so tight!" complained Keng as if it would make a difference. The earth was slowly solidifying as it condensed into stone. The blasted hypocrite. Wouldn't attack em eh? Hell, you don't even know what it was that hit your brother that first time and you saw it a fit enough reason to kill me. she raged, inwardly, her eyes fixed on the now otherwise occupied Cyborg. Well I'll tell you what Cyborg ol' boy: you know I considered the crew of the Weewoo my pack, my family -every one of them including you- but my crew has changed; I have a new pack and while I still hold my old crew in high regards you're a loose cannon who needs to be tied down. You have threatened my family.She was not out for revenge, she had learnt her lesson about what such actions lead to from her fight with Kya. Besides, she had no deep seeded quarrel with the Kougra. He was a greater danger to himself than anyone else in this enclave was. But that was just Cyborg being Cyborg. He'd always been quick to call for blood. He was a good guy besides that. Of course non of this made any difference while her arm was still trapped and the rock was growing denser and constricting more tightly. An idea inspired by the marines who had vaporized the rocks flying at them earlier struck her. This was immediately followed by the thought that it was a very stupid thing to do. Nevertheless, she had few options at this point. Her gun unfortunately was no longer in hand. It lay two meters to her right, to far for her free arm to reach. But she held the firm belief that hands were overrated and instead twisted her body around, careful not to agitate her trapped and injured arm, and grabbed the gun between her feet which handed it to her hand. She was already wincing as she aimed the barrel at the rock which as now almost completely solid. Maybe not quite that angle... she reconsidered then with second, third, fourth and fifth thoughts fired, leaning her body as far away from the rock as possible. It half exploded in her face. Bits of rubble knocked against her helmet and scratched at her face. When the dust cleared she saw that she'd been partially successful. Just one more shot... She winced again as she pulled the trigger. "ARG!" That one had done it. Her arm was free but it had cost her some blisters from the heat. "Uhg, that'll leave a mark." (In actual fact the mark would only last a day or two, but that's besides the point.) She rubbed the arm lightly, then holding it close and reactivating her shield, looked around to take in the chaos. "Bloody hell." Kat((Mage Manor, library...and outside, not too far away from the ship))"The gem is with pirates. They have...used it in some way. We going there right now. If you want to come, let's go. We hope you don't mind flying a-dragonback."Kat blinked. The pirates? She only hoped they were all right...they probably needed her right now to help them, and she was here, still hanging around in the library during the aftermath of a semi-epic battle. Which meant that there was only one answer for that question. "I don't mind walking all over hot coals right now," she answered. "Dragon-back it is. Though you'll have to bear with me, I'm...not exactly a good rider..." But nonetheless, she followed Celestial. "I can always find my own ways to keep up if you get tired of carrying me around." * * * Asthielle watched as the roiling black vapor from the ship took her lightning bolt and tossed it into the sky as though it were some harmless javelin. She groaned, clenching her fists, but continued running towards the group. "The gem is dangerous! Give it to me! You'll all die!" That last statement was so dramatically ironic; if it meant getting her to the mage she wanted to see, she was ready to kill anyone who stood in her way. But that was just a waste of good magic. Cyborg(Oops sorry Strife.^_^) Midknight hit the ground. And now he was being wrestled. " I hope you know these fangs aren't for show." Midknight said as he pulled his head up jaws open attempting to bite his attacker. Cyborg moved away from Fraze's shot he couldn't risk anything happening to him now. Then he heard the shot, the shot that the commander hit Jernath in the back with. Cyborg ran towards Keng and used a type of earth magic he didn't even show his brother. " Keng I didn't want to do this, but your commander crossed the line. Now I will too." Cyborg said. As he said that one of the trees closest to Keng came to life and reached out with it's branches to grab her arms legs and throat. Keng"You were out of line when you first attacked me sailor!" replied Keng, dodging beneath the branches of the tree. One long finger,( or twig rather) scraped along her cheek leaving a bright crimson line. She had no intention to stand around and let herself be held hostage by magic yet again. Keeping low so it would be harder for the tree to grab her Keng charged forward at Cyborg, leading with a shoulder and launching herself at him for a full blown tackle. Rider"The gem is dangerous! Give it to me! You'll all die!""I think you understand the power of the gem," Rider said. "Now, I'm in the middle of a phone call, you rude child. Gy-ah, everyone wants to get thier thieving paws on this thing." Rider's hand went to her dagger. "Who are you, anyway?" Huntress"Mkay, I think they got the picture," Huntress told Rider, sticking the gem back in her pouch. "Sooner or later all pirates return to the ship... not like they have anywhere else to go, anyway. Besides, that's our only way to run." "I thought you weren't planning to run," said Bloody Mary, mounting her shoulder again. The bunch of meepits had left Overlord where he was, seeing that he was no longer a threat, apart from Boom, the sooty-faced, mild-voiced pseudo-scientist who was tending his wing with methods only he knew and had possibly invented himself. "Well, that depends." Hunty looked at the cliff. A demon-ship as her brigantine may have been, she couldn't possibly sail up a cliff... right? "You're not able to sail on land, perchance, are you, old girl?" The pattern of vapor changed once again, becoming twitchier and more erratic. It was harder to read than morse code sent by a drunkard who's watching football championships at the same time. "Our lovely gem will probably take care of things if necessary," said the captain, turning to look at the blonde girl who was running towards them. She didn't mind the newcomer much, and she didn't have to, as the black mist grabbed the blonde just like it'd grabbed the lightning bolt. Though instead of throwing her at the sky, it just pushed her back. The ship now had a say in things and it was using the privileges whenever it could. "But," Hunty added without any change in her tone, "I'd rather not use it whenever I can help it." Bloody Mary gave her a puzzled glance. "Why?" "It's a tool, hon. Not some kind of a limitless source of magic. Tools don't last forever. They wear down with using, and this one's broken as it is, aaand if this ones goes boom due to overuse, we'll be unable to sell it, which is a bad thing." She grinned and turned around, marching to the rope ladder that connected the ship to the cliff. It had burned in fire, but was now back, jet-black and wider than before. It even had an added rope for holding on, though no self-respecting pirate really needed something like this when it came to ladders. The ropes wobbled when she descended to the deck, motioning the rest of the crew to follow her. Looking at the ship from deck level, it looked more or less the same as before, only with added vapor. "And what are your plans with the gem, once more for the back rows?" Justice asked, climbing to the bridge's railing. "Well." Hunty put her hands on the wheel. It was as black and spiky as everything else and looked like something you can kill criminals on, in more ways than one, but it felt just the same. No insane feeling of power, no desire to cackle madly, no warm electricity flowing through her veins, just the same old familiar feeling she always got when she took the wheel. Her ship, home and freedom. Just with a somewhat different look. "I don't really need it any more," she said. "Except to fulfill my promise to the ninjas and strengthen the alliance. After that... they can play volleyball with it, for all I care. I just don't intend to just hand it away. Besides, first I'd like to hear if any of my lovely freeloaders actually learned anything about it while running around the Manor. Right now the ship's as nice and safe as the Manor itself, so we might as well sit and wait and perhaps have a few battles, because I've no doubt more interesting people will show up soon. All the better for us." She smirked. "That way we won't have to go to them." Omni((Mage Manor, library)) "Actually, I'd prefer to fly by myself, but I'll stay nearby. I hope you don't mind." Rather than following the others out the door, Omni walked toward the window and thrust it open. She perched herself on the windowsill holding onto it for support, holding her wings ready, and shuddering a bit when she saw how high she was. Pushing that thought aside and reminding herself the she could keep from falling rather easily now, she took a breath and practically threw herself out the window, straightening her body and opening her wings. A few small flaps and she began rising, higher than the roof of the Manor even. As she steered herself toward the entrance of the Manor, she felt a familiar sensation, sort of like being pricked, but without the pain or even the pressure of something puncturing her skin. A fluid began to drip down, the snow below was stained a bright red color. Oh great, not again, she thought. This happened way too often for her liking. Taking a small bit of earth magic, she put her hands together below herself (it would have been in front of herself if she wasn't horizontal) and slowly pulled them toward her waist. Focusing, she made a small, U-shaped rock, which pinched her nose gently. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but she currently didn't have access to tissues and holding her hand to her nose would create too much drag. It would have to do. Bacon"Hey, Cyborg!" Bacon said from just behind the Kougra. Beaten and bloodied by Cyborg's attacks at him earlier Bacon jabbed the cyborg several times in whatever implant looked most vulnerable with his Pulse Charger. "You need to learn to play a little more fairly." He said, continuing to stab at Cyborg. Strife((Mage Manor - Kitchen))((Leoness had actually left the tray of cookies in the cooking area, but since everyone posts as though she has them, I will godmode the tray into her hand. xD )) "Goosh," said the pirate in response to Leoness asking him for his name. "Thank you for the cookie, really, but I have no time for pleasantries. We need to find the gem." He turned to Ikkin. "Do you know where it is?" He closed his eyes as he got off his seat. "We need to find the gem," he said again. "If someone gets too mad, goes over the edge...the gem will activate. The First Army will rise again, and I'm sure neither of you want an ancient war on the front lawn of....where are we? Is this Mage Manor? I've never been to the kitchen, actually. Come on, come on. We need to get to the gem. Now.""Gem?" said Leoness, blinking her eyes curiously. Strife retrieved a gem from the planet last week, and she wondered if the gem Goosh was talking about had anything to do with it. Once again, she began to worry about her loved one. "Hold on a second first," Ikkin said. "We're not even sure where that gem is. It kind of feels like it's left the Manor... but beyond that, I can't really tell much. And what is all this about an ancient war, anyway?"Suddenly and coincidentially, someone teleported into the room at that moment. By the looks of her, she was a weasel - a pirate weasel, at that. "Ikkin, Goosh, there's something you need to know," she said, and she proceeded to explain her knowledge of this so-called gem. The more she explained it, the more Leoness grew worried. She set the tray of cookies on the center table, too nervous now to carry them with her hand. Had Strife really discovered the gem they were talking about? She hoped with all of her heart that it wasn't true... but somehow, deep inside, she knew it was, and it scared her. Moreso because she knew that she couldn't tell anyone of her affiliation with Spacefleet. "That certainly explains a lot," said Ikkin. "Though we still need to actually find the gem before it would come in handy."
"Finding the gem should be easy," said the pirate weasel. "We're in a building made of magic. All we have to do is ask it to scry for us." She looked around until she found a mirror and walked up to it, placing her paw on the glass. "Show us the gem... Please?"The mirror's surface rippled into three seperate images. The first image was that of a sinister-looking ship, along with the pirate captain that Leoness had encountered earlier. Her image of the captain suddenly took a dramatic turn. How could she leave Goosh behind like this when she herself requested that he be restored to good health? The second image was of another pirate rushing through the woods, her eyes glowing a deep purple color. Leoness had no idea who this person was, and immediately looked at the third image. The moment she laid her eyes upon it, her heart felt like it was caving into her chest. The third image was that of Commander Strife. He and a small group of Spacefleet officers were attacking some other characters she didn't recognize. Snow, stones, and vines were flying everywhere, and she could see a look in Strife's eyes that made her tremble with fear... almost as if the person she was staring at wasn't the man she was in love with. She felt like saying something to the other people in the manor. She wanted to so badly... but somehow she couldn't. She feared the possible consequences of revealing her true identity. A bell sound reverberated through the walls of the manor. It was 3 o' clock in the morning. The people around her continued speaking about the gem, but Leoness began to zone out, her mind swimming with thoughts of The Commander. She could feel her eyes watering up, and she tried to hold them back. She didn't want people asking her what was wrong. But she could not hold back the inevitable flood of sadness that trickled down her cheeks. She quickly turned around and rushed out of the room into the hallway, not sure of where she was headed. She didn't care where she went though. Anywhere but this nightmare. * * * ((The Forest South of Dunburrow))Midknight and #4 wrestled in the snow, pushing at each other with as much muscle power as they could. "I hope you know these fangs aren't for show," said Midknight. He opened his mouth wide and sank his teeth into #4's shoulder. #4 screamed wildly and fell backwards. The bite tore through the fabric of his uniform and left a dark red spot in its wake. He knew he should have brought shoulder pads, but it was too late now. Still on the ground, he raised his blaster pistol and fired it several times at Midknight. "I need backup!" he screamed. The marines nearby began to rush to his aide, firing their laser rifles in Midknight's direction. Meanwhile, Keng had used her pistol to vaporize the rock covering her arm and proceeded to attack Cyborg along with Bacon. The Commander paid no attention to the chaos surrounding him at the moment. Instead, he looked down at Jernath, who was badly injured from his laser blast, but still alive. A smile creeped across The Commander's face, and he paused for a moment, allowing himself to bask in the feeling of power that it brought to his heart. CyborgCyborg was able to dodge the first few stabs he took one in the back as he tried to escape. Luckily Bacon didn't hit anything vital as blood ran down his back. Cyborg was knocked off his feet thanks to Keng's tackle." Keng I swear if they kill Midknight you'll pay big time. I'll hunt down and kill all of your friends and family. Then we'll see how you feel." Cyborg growled as he got up and ran towards the marines and his wounded brother. Midknight had taken two shots, one in the left arm and one in the ribs. Dark red blood seeped out of the wounds. He knew it was going to over for him if the bleeding didn't stop soon. GooshGoosh stared at the mirror, watching Rider watch him watch her. With a blink, he tapped the shimmering surface and it rearranged the light so that he and Rider were simply looking at each other. She spoke. "Goosh, glad to see you're up and about. guys, we're going to have to regroup, and by the way, what in the name of Davy Jones' sweaty gymsocks has happened to our Speck? And why is Keng with those shiny metal meddlers?""Thanks, Rider. I was healed by..." Goosh looked, and realized the lioness had gone. Oh, crud. What had happened to her? "I don't know about Speck or Keng, actually. I thought they'd be with you. In fact, where are you right now?" But Rider was conversing with someone he couldn't see and then her section of the mirror faded. Goosh frowned. Why had Rider ended the conversation before telling them where she was? He turned to Zylaa, Ikkin and Sev. "Well, in case you people have noticed, Leoness has vanished. She may need help, wherever she is. And I'd rather not chance Speck, considering that her eyes are a nice demonic shade of violet. We should find Huntress and Rider, as they have some part of the gem. I'm pretty sure I saw the Jolly Roger in the background. Let's head back to the ship, shall we?” Vyt((Near White Weewoo)) While Cat Assassin had successfully managed to shorten the distance between him and the group of people, the feline was having a hard time getting real close to them. The number of people in the group intimidated him a little, but professionalism had told him to remain calm. It was not the time for him to panic; after all, he was not well-known for that. Step by step, Cat Assassin tried to play his chances of being revealed as he riskily shortened further the distance between them. Then, a sharp noise entered his mind. Cat Assassin yelped. The pain just appeared suddenly, playing inside his mind along with the noise, and it was trying to hinder him from moving along. As the feline went closer, the pain kept getting stronger. He was just a few meters away when Cat Assassin could not handle the pain anymore. He screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to breathe out the pain. The same scream reached the group instantly. CelestialCelestial ran otuside, glad that the ninja, the purple mage and the remenenant of the renegade were also there. We really need to learn their names she thought to a chorus of dragons agreeing inside her head. Nevermind, that question can be asked before she took off. For now Celestial focused her attention on shapeshifting. With all the dragon mind's connected to her, it would be hard to keep to her original Dragon form. She fall, letting herself go limp as was usual but htis time she kept her Dragon form firmly in mind. Blue-grey claws replaced her fingers and her robes wrapped around her tightly making purple scales coat her skin. A crest began to grow seeming to shrivel her hair away and her face elongated into the draconic head. Her neck became longer and a tail grew outwards, lining her back with dangerous-looking thorns. Finally a purple dragon stood on four legs, though you would have to look closely to see different scale colours and a few small spikes on her legs. "Well climb on then, we don't have long. We fear your friend is in terrible danger." she said, squatting some that they would be able to reach her back easier. "By the way, we didn't catch your names. " Celestial added, hoping they would tell her. It was getting a bit boring calling them ninja, mage and purple mage. Hold on my dearest weewoo. We are coming for you! PFA((Mage Manor: outside))PFA watched as the dragon became even more dragon-like, becoming a quadruped and gaining a tail and spikes. The dragon then squatted down a bit, allowing for PFA, Kat and Bluisa to hop on. "Well climb on then, we don't have long. We fear your friend is in terrible danger," the dragon told PFA and Bluisa. PFA nodded obediently and climbed onto the dragon's back, holding on tight so she wouldn't fall when they started flying. "By the way, we didn't catch your names.""I'm PFA," she replied succinctly. She could have said more, but there was really nothing else worth saying. So she left it at that. CyborgCyborg continued to run though it was hard, the pain in his back wasn't stopping and neither was the blood flow, but he had to get to Midknight. He ran past the commander and shoved the marines away. " Are you gonna be ok? Where are you hurt?" Cyborg asked with a look of concern on his face. " I'll be fine if Rose gets her butt over here and heals me. I was shot in the arm and ribs. What happened to you?" Midknight asked seeing the blood run down his brother's back. " You can thank Bacon over there for that. Rose!!!!!!! Get over here there's three hurt merc's and you're not doing anything about it!!!!!!!!" Cyborg yelled at Rose. FrazeFraze listened to Cyborg's vindictive speech to Keng. He's being completely irrational. He continues to attack us, then seems surprised when we fight back? They're vastly outnumbered and outgunned--if Strife gave the order, the marines alone could turn these mercenaries into plasma vapor in seconds. It'd be best for all of them if he just gave up...Fraze watched as Cyborg ran to his brother's side. The marines he pushed away paused, startled--perhaps thinking the same things Fraze was. One of them seemed to be one of the same marines that had poked him into the briefing room. It seemed they were both too scared to do anything to separate Cyborg from his brother--a fact Fraze took pleasure in after the poking he received back at the station. "He'll be fine," Fraze called while remaining cloaked. "I've got medical supplies that will have him back on his feet in a few minutes." He paused before continuing. "But, you'll have to stand down before I give these supplies to you. And don't even think about trying to get them on your own, you can't.” Cyborg" I'll stop attacking, but I am not going anywhere with you and neither are my friends," Cyborg replied as he got up and looked around before adding " and tell your little buddies to back up I don't trust you guys quite frankly." IkkinIkkin looked on as Goosh touched a paw to the mirror and the image of Rider expanded until it filled the whole thing. Then, Rider spoke. "Goosh, glad to see you're up and about. guys, we're going to have to regroup, and by the way, what in the name of Davy Jones' sweaty gymsocks has happened to our Speck? And why is Keng with those shiny metal meddlers?"Regrouping would be good, Ikkin thought as Goosh talked to Rider some more. But then, before Rider could tell them where she was, she turned to talk to someone else, then vanished off of the mirror. That was odd. Goosh then turned to talk to her, Sev, and Zylaa. "Well, in case you people have noticed, Leoness has vanished. She may need help, wherever she is. And I'd rather not chance Speck, considering that her eyes are a nice demonic shade of violet. We should find Huntress and Rider, as they have some part of the gem. I'm pretty sure I saw the Jolly Roger in the background. Let's head back to the ship, shall we?""I don't think Leoness is in danger," Ikkin said. "At least, her magical signature is still strong, and not near any other source of magic that seems threatening. I get the feeling she just doesn't want us around, for some reason. "We should probably just go back to the Weewoo," she continued, making up her mind. "The Manor can keep a lookout for Leoness; it's pretty good at keeping those who are friends to the Mages safe." "Let's be off then," Sev said. "I don't want to be waiting around for any longer than I have to, not with all of the weird things that have been happening recently." He held out his wings, offering them to the pirates to teleport away. Ikkin took hold of one almost immediately; she had figured in advance that Sev would do that. Sev waited for a few moments for the others to grab hold, then teleported away to the deck of the no-longer-white White Weewoo. ((Sorry for the rushing, but getting back to the ship quickly would only be a good thing, methinks)) RoseRose carefully ran over to Midknight and Cyborg, working quickly and once again silver mystical energy surrounded her hands. " Okay, I've healed up the most critical parts", Rose said quickly. "Now Jernath!" She swiftly moved to him and began to heal the wound, but still kept an eye on the commander. She wasn't going to trust him yet. Cyborg" Strike that, Rose actually moved so whoever you are I don't need your medical supplies. Right now all I do need is for you guys to let me and my friends talk to Keng for more than one minute without being attacked. Oh and thanks Rose." Cyborg said as he and Midknight moved towards Keng. Hopefully Keng would convince her team to stop attacking and maybe just maybe would she join them in finding and allying with the pirates. Zylaa((Mage Manor: Kitchen))Suddenly, Rider was watching them watch her watching them watching her- Zylaa stopped herself. "Goosh, glad to see you're up and about. guys, we're going to have to regroup, and by the way, what in the name of Davy Jones' sweaty gymsocks has happened to our Speck? And why is Keng with those shiny metal meddlers?"
Davy Jones keeps sweaty gymsocks in his locker? Zylaa thought idly as Goosh explained the situation. Then she noticed the lioness- she was near tears as she rushed out of the room. Zylaa stared after her. That was odd. Why would she get so worked up by this? "Well, in case you people have noticed, Leoness has vanished, Goosh said as he ended his conversation with Rider. So that was the lioness's name, Zylaa thought. "She may need help, wherever she is. And I'd rather not chance Speck, considering that her eyes are a nice demonic shade of violet. We should find Huntress and Rider, as they have some part of the gem. I'm pretty sure I saw the Jolly Roger in the background. Let's head back to the ship, shall we?"Zylaa agreed. Ikkin seemed convinced that Leoness would be okay, so Zylaa gladly took hold of Sev's outstreched feathers. Even if the Weewoo wasn't the same anymore, it would be good to have the crew more together again. But before she grabbed hold, she reached over, plucked a few cookies from the tray, and began to eat as Sev left. "These are delicious!" she exclaimed as she hit the deck of the ship. "You guys have got to try some!” Bacon"Sure... everyone wants to heal the Mercs, but nobody cares about the poor little mechanic that got beaten up by the forest." Bacon mumbled as he limped over to roughly where Fraze's voice came from. As he got pretty close to where he thought the other was, he asked, "Hey, Fraze, where're those medical supplies you mentioned?" ZariZari waved at Ethan and Cyclops, urging them to go faster, then doubled over in pain. The Other. Crap. She stayed bent over until the pain receeded. 'One word: Frig! We have a Code Myth!' This might have sounded like gabble, but Code Myth was basically a shortcut to saying "Zari number #2's kicking around in the general area.". She hoped they'd remember. -- Strife((The Forest South of Dunburrow))After Fraze, Keng, Bacon, and the marines launched an overwhelming series of attacks, Cyborg and Midknight had suffered heavy injuries. Cyborg ran over to Midknight, and as he did so, the marines circled around the two Kougra brothers. Rest assured, if they tried to attack again, it would be impossible for them to dodge another barrage of high-speed laser beams, especially at point blank range. "Rose!!!!!!! Get over here there's three hurt merc's and you're not doing anything about it!!!!!!!!" shouted Cyborg. At once, the mercenary girl rushed out of her hiding place. At the sight of her, the marines pointed their guns in her direction. "Sir?" yelled one of the marines. The Commander let out a huff of frustration. He was still enraged at these mercenaries to the point where he wanted to kill them, but his successful attack against Jernath gave him the relief he needed. He was able to calm his bloodlust for the time being and think strategically. "Let her go," ordered The Commander. The marines stepped out of the way and let the healer through. She conjured up a spell, and her hands were surrounded with a deep silver glow as she began to heal her fallen comrades. Once their wounds had been sealed up, she approached Jernath. The Commander kicked Jernath, who rolled forward in the snow and stopped at Rose's feet. He then walked away to the side, and Rose began to heal Jernath. As she did so, she stared at The Commander with a distrustful look on her face. A long moment of tension and silence filled the air as Rose performed her magic. The fighting had stopped... for now. Look at them, The Commander thought to himself. They actually need a healer to keep their strength up against the power of my officers. Savages. He chuckled on the inside. "Right now," began Cyborg, "All I do need is for you guys to let me and my friends talk to Keng for more than one minute without being attacked. Oh and thanks Rose."The marines looked in The Commander's direction. He gave them a quick nod, and they lowered their weapons. Afterwards, he remained silent and watched from a distance. He knew that he and his men could control the situation from this point. KengKeng, despite her precautions, had landed on her arm in the tackle, and was having difficulties trying to regain her abilities of speech without yelling so loud at the pain that all the leaves of every tree within a one kilometer radius would fall off at the time. Or at least the trees that still had leaves after their normal autumn shedding and the series of earthquakes. If nothing else she might relieve some evergreens of their needles. But there was no need to take out the pain on the poor innocent trees (the one that had attacked her not included among these), so she swallowed it back and settled for a grunt. She picked herself up and as she did so she couldn't stop herself from sending The Commander an accusing look. That had been his fault that time and she had to admit it. She was embarrassed and ashamed by the crude actions of her leader in attacking Jernath. Her eyes turned slowly away from him, towards the ground then back to Cyborg. So Cyborg is ready to talk again eh? Talk about what now? What could possibly be said that could set things right after all that? she wondered. At least the commander was going to let the talk happen this time. "Well Cyborg?" Kat((Quite close to the White Weewoo, and outside Mage Manor))"Now, I'm in the middle of a phone call, you rude child. Gy-ah, everyone wants to get their thieving paws on this thing."Asthielle's eyes focused on this girl's dagger for a moment before she spoke. "This is no time for calling anyone! And I'm not thieving! I'm - " She paused in mid-sentence as a gust of the black vapor emanating from the ship before her shoved her back, her feet scraping dirt and grass off the ground as she tried to resist. The blonde grumbled, and chose to mutter a spell that summoned another bolt of yellow lightning that entwined itself around the mist as best as it could. Ielle wasn't forced back as hard as before, but it was still powerful... "Do you really want your ship to stay that way?" she asked, fighting off the rest of the black mist with lightning. * * * "By the way, we didn't catch your names."Climbing up onto the newly-transformed dragon's back, Kat simply said, "Call me Kat for now. My full name's a mouthful, really." She turned to PFA. "And, who's your friend? Come to think of it, I never really asked her for her name." Kat drew her wand again, and it extended into its staff form, just in case they ran into the worst. Cyborg" Well we're leaving and going to find the pirates. I wanted to see if you wanted to come. Now I'd just like to let you know if it weren't for you're commander being to afraid to fight us without all those marines, we would have won." Cyborg said to Keng as Midknight watched Keng with hate in his eyes. "Rose come heal Keng, but still watch those marines and especially that commander!" Cyborg added as he watched the commander out of the corner of his eye. Huntress((The White, um, Black Weewoo)) Huntress had realized in the meantime that while the helm gave a good overview on the ship, it didn't give much of a view on the clifftop, which was currently more important. So she left her somewhat disconcerted bunch of meepits to watch the wheel and climbed up the rigging, all the way to the royal yard. It was nearly twice as wide as the ship itself. The captain seated herself, leaned her feet against the footropes, took a good grip of the backstays, and gained a pretty comfortable position that way. Furthermore, she also got a good view on both the deck and the clifftop. "Welcome back, gentlemen," she shouted as the flash of phoenixfire lit up the deck. "Everyone alive and well and present? Quartermaster, report status." Another few flashes of yellow light whizzed past her head and exploded into fireworks overhead as the ship directed Ielle's lightning to the sky. Hunty leaned against the backstay and watched the blonde in vague curiosity. "Do you really want your ship to stay that way?""Apart from the fact that she's technically not supposed to float upright with such a yardspan, I don't see why I shouldn't like this ship," Hunty shouted back rather merrily. "Black is better for stealth than white, after all. Who the heck are you anyway? I like some good old-fashioned fighting as much as anyone, but even I can tell when it's time to change tactics. She's not letting you near, can't you see?” Rider“This is no time for calling anyone! And I'm not thieving! I'm - "
"Do you really want your ship to stay that way?""If you'd stop shooting lightning at my ship, this'd be a perfect time to call someone, and yes, I do like my ship this way. Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?" Three blossoms of darkness bloomed just above Rider's head. "Girls, drink some ethers. I know I've been asking a lot of you today, but I need you to provide one more distraction. Douse this mage." The Magus Sisters smiled. The most action they'd seen in weeks. Three water spells rained from the sky over Ielle. Rider made a run for the ship. "Return to me when I call, ladies," she called behind her. "No need to get carried away." She boarded. "That mage is dowright unsettling. Let's just find Speckles and get out of this firehole." PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))"Now Jernath!" the first words Jernath could understand since Keng's shout. At first he thought he was going to die right then, but then he realized that it was Rose that said that... which was a very good thing. The 'die' thoughts came back for a moment when he felt the rough kick of The Commander, which sent intense pain coursing through him. But they were gone again the instant he felt the numbing feeling of Rose's healing magic. While Cyborg had tacked 'oh, and thanks Rose' onto the end of another statement rather casually, 'thank you' was the first thing Jernath said. Mainly because he really was grateful to be healed, instead of dying like he thought he would. Even so, he couldn't help but give The Commander a really nasty glare for trying to kill him. Jernath listened as Cyborg asked Keng if she would come with them to find the pirates. Pirates... Jernath pondered over the possibility of allying with them. Pirates did usually have a lot of money, which is what all mercenaries wanted, but pirates weren't the type to actually give up their money... but if it meant less going-to-die thoughts, he wasn't going to argue. Before long, the pain was mostly gone, and Rose was called off to heal Keng. Jernath sat up, realizing that it still hurt when he tried to bend and such, but it was definitely better than not being able to move at all because of the pain. He decided to wait for Keng's response to Cyborg before doing anything else, though he was sure to keep a wary eye on The Commander. If he were to attack again, Jernath would be braced for it this time. --- ((Mage Manor: outside))"And, who's your friend?" Kat asked PFA. "Come to think of it, I never really asked her for her name.""Her? That's Bluisa," PFA replied, before turning to look at the dragon... or rather, the dragon's head, since she was sitting on the dragon. "And what would your name be?” CelestialCelestial shifted her shoulders as the ninja and two mages got on her back. She clearly wasn't used to having people on her back but these were dark and desperate times. The ninja got on first obviously skilled in stealth as ninjas should be even though she held on tightly to her spike. The mage followed her shortly and sat down quickly. "I'm PFA," the ninja replied briefly and efficiently. Celestial just nodded her head not sure how to reply to that. If a dragon could smile reassuringly she would but with a full mouth of teeth as sharp as knives, it would have the oppositee effect. The purple mage got on last, drawing her staff in preparation. "Call me Kat for now. My full name's a mouthful, really." she spoke and Celestial just blinked in understanding. If she didn't want to reveal her name, it was fine. Kat then turned to PFa and the mage. "And, who's your friend? Come to think of it, I never really asked her for her name." she said. Celestial listened carefully, hoping that she would finally learn the mage's name too. "Her? That's Bluisa," PFA replied. Bluisa. I'm glad I have their names now Celestial thought. PFA then turned to her. "And what would your name be?" she asked. Celestial turned her head around, aiming her multicoloured eyes at PFA. "We have many names right now but call me Celestial" she spoke, her name coming out without the echo. At least the dragons have some control over thier powers. Now however wasn't the time to think about such things. "We are about to take off. If you want me to go down, knock three times on our scales because we will have to fly fast nobody will be able to hear." she quickly said and took off, heading towards the sea and where she suspected the gem was. Dragon flight was fast enough to get them there in ten minutes if she put her back into it. ((I'm just flying now so if any of you wish me to go down to get someone don't wait because it will be assumed I am already there. In other words, you can godmod. XD)) FrazeFraze found his offer moot for two reasons--first, someone came to heal the black kougra; second, the mercenaries seemed to be willing to talk, finally. "Hey, Fraze, where're those medical supplies you mentioned?" Fraze heard Bacon ask. He jumped a bit, he hadn't noticed Bacon walk toward him. Now that the supplies weren't needed to establish some tentative peace, he didn't want to reveal their location to the mercenaries. "They're in my...box," he answered, knowing Bacon would understand what he meant. "Hold on a minute." At that point, he heard Cyborg offer to have Keng healed, as well. Fraze sent Keng another message via communicator. "He's made two death threats to you...I wouldn't trust his healer if I were you. I'm going to get some medical supplies for Bacon, so I'll get you some as well." With that, he walked to an area where no one seemed to be watching, and had his skinsuit slide away from his left shoulder. He was still cloaked, so it would have looked as though his shoulder were hanging in midair, had anyone seen it. The red welt was almost gone, all that was left was a slightly pinkish lump that almost-but-not-quite blended with what little musculature he had. Not having a knife, he pressed his fingernail into his shoulder. The skin broke...and kept peeling back. The lump centralized into a much more noticeable raised mound, as the box reconstituted. When it had reformed completely, Fraze picked it up, and his skin put itself back in place. Hurts like getting hit by a plasma BB, Fraze thought. He wiped the box clean, pressed his thumb against the lock, and opened it. He put the small box on the ground, and stepped into it. He was, once again, in an enormous room. There seemed to be no walls to speak of--there seemed to be no floor, for that matter, but the floor was marked by the rows of boxes and shelves set upon it. Still, Fraze knew that the room had definite proportions and walls, though they were not readily apparent. A white light that seemed to come from nothing and go to nowhere permeated the room. Fraze walked quickly down a row of shelves holding various equipment, until he came to a box marked "MEDKITS." He opened the box, and found ten remaining field medical kits inside. He took one of them--should be more than enough for Keng and Bacon, he thought--and made his way back out of the box. When he returned, he closed the box. It locked instantly. He pressed it against his shoulder, and it sank back into its previous position once more. He didn't like removing and replacing it that quickly--as it was, he was already forming a scar there from doing this so many times. Eh, think about that later. His skinsuit slid over his shoulder once more. He walked back to Bacon, who seemed to be wondering where he had gone to. Since the fighting was over for now, Fraze decloaked. He opened the box, and handed Bacon some disinfectant/dermal-regenerative ointment and gauze pads. "These should all be fairly self-explanatory. The ointment should make those small cuts heal up in half a minute or so. Put some of it on a gauze pad for that gash on your shoulder. It may burn a bit, but it works quickly." He gave some of the same to Keng, along with something that looked like it might have given him a copyright infringement suit from Star Trek to fix the break in her arm. "Should work in a few minutes. I think," was all he could say. "Keep what you don't use, it may be good to distribute this stuff among the 'Fleeters a bit. I don't know if anyone else has medical supplies handy." With that, he looped his belt through a strap on the back of the medkit. Better keep it there than put it back in the box. Keng"Thanks." said Keng accepting Fraze's help, but raising a hand up to deny Rose's. It wasn't because she didn't trust the healer, she just simply could not accept the health with what she would have to say next. "I'm sorry Cyborg, but you and your brother launched an unprovoked attack upon our officers and other personnel. True, the pirate had been hit-" she paused as she now realized said pirate had run away. "...by one of ours, but perhaps you missed the part in the message sent by Fraze about the pirate being possessed?" She took out her communicator, took a moment to scan through it then played back the relevant part of the message. "The Commander's going berzerk on some pirate who may be possessed."She paused a moment to let this sink in. "I admit we aren't free of our own disagreeable acts in this," her eyes once again flickered to The Commander "but we reacted in self defense." She held back on what she should have to say next. Under Spacefleet protocol the two Kougras would have to be arrested for their acts. She wasn't sure how, or if she would break it to The Commander that he was liable for court marshal under the pretenses of attacking a disabled opponent during a peace talk... she would keep quiet about that one for now. Vyt(( On the back of Celestial))Bluisa jumped at the sudden hostility of Kat, as the latter drew her wand into a staff upon asking for her name. She was not quite sure if she was the reason for her alarming, but wondered if answering her question would make her retract the staff once more. PFA, however, had already answered for her. With that, everyone around them gave their own identification. Bluisa then noticed blinks of light from the corner of her eyes. She then nodded down to see one of the badges shining. It was Cat Assassin's. "Is he being attacked?" she wondered, her face showing a worried expression. All she could do was wait. PFA((On Celestial)) "We have many names right now but call me Celestial," the dragon, Celestial, replied. PFA was a bit surprised at how her voice stopped echoing halfway through the sentence, but she didn't think too hard on it. "Nice meeting you, Celestial," PFA smiled, though inwardly she questioned it a bit, considering the circumstances she had met the dragon under. She soon decided that it really was nice, though, as most of Celestial's gestures toward PFA so far were good: healing her wounds, taking her to Uncle... She was snapped out of her thoughts as Celestial spoke again, once more in the echoey voice. Knock three times... PFA repeated to herself, remembering that incase she needed it for later. And then, they took off. The initial burst of speed caught PFA off-guard, and she found herself yelping and clutching tighter to Celestial. But she soon got used to it, and relaxed a bit. From there, she just enjoyed the view. It's really late, isn't it, she thought, noticing the moon above her. It was almost in the middle of the sky, but just a little to the west. Which meant that it was past midnight. This thought provoked a yawn, making PFA realize how tired she was. She considered taking a nap on Celestial's back, but she decided better of it, as she might have rolled off and landed in a lake somewhere. Which would be bad. "I hope we can rest soon," she thought aloud, though she soon remembered that nobody would have heard her anyway. But the thought remained the same. She realized it might be dangerous to go to sleep in the middle of a war, but so was trying to fight in a drowsy stupor. Cyborg"I admit we aren't free of our own disagreeable acts in this,but we reacted in self defense." Cyborg looked at her in disbelief, disagreeable acts. Her, her commander and their buddies nearly murdered him, his brother and Jernath. " Okay, so you're telling me they were disagreeable acts. First you nearly killed me and my brother on a couple different occasions. Your commander shot Jernath in the back, which could have paralyzed or killed him. Plus your commander nearly had his entire army of marines riddle Rose with bullets when Rose did nothing." Cyborg said to Keng getting angrier with every word. " Plus I know the pirate was possessed, but you may have forgotten this because you were kicked off a while ago, but pirates stick together and help eachother. Oh and I suggest you let us leave or there will be more trouble than some scratches, breaks or cuts. There will be death. Let's go Jernath we're goin to find the pirates. You too Rose!" he added as Midknight walked up to him. PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Jernath listened as Keng said she wouldn't go with the pirates. She said how the pirate was possessed, and how Cyborg attacked unprovoked. Cyborg replied by pointing out that the group attacked even the mercenaries who couldn't/didn't do anything, and how pirates always help each other no matter what. Both had made good points, but Jernath decided to side with Cyborg on this one, if just for what The Commander did to him. "Let's go, Jernath, we're goin' to find the pirates. You too, Rose!" Cyborg called. Jernath nodded in response, and started to stand up. He stood slowly, to avoid as much pain as much as possible. Once he was on his feet, he walked over to where Cyborg and Midknight were. "Lead the way, Cyborg," he muttered. "You'd have a better idea where the pirates would be than I would." He realized he had been holding his daggers this whole time. But he wouldn't put them away just yet; he wasn't sure he trusted this group to not attack while the mercenaries were leaving. Best to be prepared, just in case. Kat((Near the White - ah, BLACK - Weewoo, and on the back of Celestial))"Black is better for stealth than white, after all. Who the heck are you anyway? I like some good old-fashioned fighting as much as anyone, but even I can tell when it's time to change tactics. She's not letting you near, can't you see?"Ielle sighed. The pirate captain did have a point there, now that she was behind the wheel of the ship and it didn't seem to want her off. Strange, really. "Girls, drink some ethers. I know I've been asking a lot of you today, but I need you to provide one more distraction. Douse this mage."Water spells began raining on her, but with one wave of her wand, Asthielle created a bright, sparkling yellow dome over her to keep her dry. Three other mages had arrived on the scene, and it looked like they were hell-bent on keeping her away. But within the shield, she wove a complicated spell with her hands that would summon the gem to her. * * * "Pleased to meet all of you," said Kat, who instantly read Bluisa's expression. "Oh, sorry...I didn't mean anything, I was just getting ready. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of action.” RoseStill watching the army of marines, Rose walked over once again to Cyborg. “Just choose carefully, not everyone is fully healed and it won't do us any good to start a useless fight. Don't let your anger cloud your judgment is all I'm saying, or it will be the end of us. I'm ready to go when you are," she added. Celestial((The Skies of NTWF)) It felt good to be up in the skies again even if she couldn't do the same acrobatics as she was used to because of the three passangers on her back. Not that she minded really, this was a war after all. Celestial flew on, the sail-like flapping of her wings almost hypnotic if you weren't used to it. She hoped PFA, Kat and Bluisa wouldn't go to sleep on her back. They wouldn't fall off but it wasn't exactly very appealing. After all, everyone had to be there if the guilds were to survive this war. A Black ship, coating with some sort of...dark fog came into view. The Jolly Roger was flying on the mainmast, giving Celestial no reason to doubt that this was where they are. Near to it, on the plain was a white patch almost like a spread eagle.... Overlord! she screamed inside her mind. His wing looked terrible and she almost shuddered just thinking of the pain he must be in. She hovered to a stop and gently decended to pick him up. He made no movement as she touched down. Reaching over with her caws, Celestial picked up the limp body of the Weewoo. His wing looked terrible and there were acid burns on his tail. At first glance he was dead but she could feel his shallow breathing through her claws. Celestial would have to heal him later, for she couldn't use her power in dragon form, no matter how great it was. "We're sorry for stopping but...we had to pick him up. He is my Weewoo after all." she told PFA, Bluisa and Kat. Taking off again with Overlord in a cup made by her claws, she flew towards the pirate ship, clinging onto the hope that no more blood would be spilled. There had been enough for one night.
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:49:42 GMT -5
KengKeng couldn't help but reflect on a time just before she'd left the pirates when Dragon had been possessed. Huntress had stabbed her with an arrow, right at the heart. Everyone had freaked out, Dragon had nearly died, but it had worked out. Keng herself would have been possessed had it not been for her near immunity granted by such attacks granted by her werewolf attributes. However Keng knew that had the demon succeeded, she'd have been perfectly willing to accept a solid beating on by her fellow shipmates. She would not deny them the right to defend themselves. She had lost control of her instincts on more than one occasion, and when she did she thanked the people who subdued her. Keng was no stranger to being out of control of herself. "Cyborg, if I was still with the crew, and I lost control and went feral again POSSESSED by the wolf, would you stand by and let me run rampant?" she called after him though he had not gone far. It was a rhetorical question, "You act without thinking, such actions," she paused and took a deep breath "have consequences. You'll have to face them one day. As for me I have a duty to my team to keep them safe... I'm sorry." And now the part she dreaded. She looked to The Commander, and gave him a nod, the talk was over. The decision to let them go or arrest them now fell to Strife. Cyborg" You know what one of those consequences was Keng? Trusting you." Cyborg said as he lead the way into the forest. " I suggest you not try anything as we leave. It will be the last thing you do." Midknight added. RiderThe Magus Sisters were irritated. The blonde mage seemed to have erected some sort of Reflect-like spell barrier. Since they were, in fact, a horrible Final Fantasy reference, they went about it the way any FF player would go about contering an unknown spell. Bite it and see what happens. Or rather, Cindy bit it, Mindy cast Dispel and Sandy cast Thunder. They were the distraction team, and by golly, they were gonna be as cute and vicious and distracting as possible! RoseBefore departing Rose turned to Fraze to clear something up that had been bothering her. " I'm not a hot head like Cyborg, I don't live for blood lust like the others", she said. "So I don't know exactly why I can't be trusted?" PFA((Near Weewoo))PFA noticed as they started getting closer to the ground. She didn't know why at first, but then she noticed the white Weewoo that Celestial was scooping up carefully. "We're sorry for stopping but...we had to pick him up. He is my Weewoo after all," Celestial explained. That made sense... she was concerned for her Weewoo. PFA couldn't blame her; the poor thing looked really beat up. "It's alright," PFA said simply as Celestial started toward the White Weewoo - the ship, not the bird - which looked... different. It was now black instead of white, and was riddled with deadly looking spikes. It made PFA a little worried, to be honest. She just hoped the pirates hadn't changed their mind about the alliance. Strife((The Forest South of Dunburrow))As Keng wrapped up his coversation with the mercenaries, they turned around and began to walk off into the distance. "I suggest you not try anything as we leave. It will be the last thing you do."The Commander couldn't help but find that statment to be amusing. He never thought he would encounter someone with even more arrogance than himself. What was even more amusing, however, was that these Kougra brothers did not have the power to back up their threatening words. It was almost as though he was being threatened by a group of furry children. So what, then. Let the kids have their fun in the snow. The sound of his deep laughter echoed through the air, loud enough for Midknight and Cyborg to hear as they distanced themselves from the army of Spacefleet officers. "Commando," he said, turning to Keng. "You're a capable officer. Do what you see fit with them, as long as they're justly punished for their actions under Spacefleet protocol. I have more important matters to attend to than to play word games with a bunch of primitive terrestrials. The planet is at stake here." The Commander immediately turned around and marched toward the group of marines. "Come with me, Subcommander #4," he said while marching past him. "We have work to do. Anyone else who wishes to follow me may do so." As he marched, the ground beneath him was an ugly mess of snow, rocks, leaves, vines, and uplifted trees. Merely a taste of the destructive power of Spacefleet - or, more accurately, the shimmering fragment of evil inside his Leech. Cyborg" Keng, I pity your commander. You see he actually thinks that I'm scared of him. He thinks he's seen the worst of the mercenaries' skills. There's still so much he hasn't seen. Stuff that can kill. Earth and shadow skills beyond belief. Jernath might not have powers, but he can kill in one or two shots. And of course Rose who is not afraid to whack you upside the head with her staff." Cyborg said to his so called friend. " So Keng how are you gonna punish us?" Midknight asked in a fake scared voice. " Now Keng I know you're with this army of marines and the commander and even Bacon and that other guy, but I seriously want to see how you're gonna stop us from leaving," Cyborg added before he continued walking, " let's go guys." BaconBacon took the medical supplies from Fraze when he reappeared. "Thank you..." He tended to his shoulder first, as it was in the most pain. Fraze was right, it did sting... and not just at first. "What's in this, habaneros?" He continued to treat his more minor injuries as he listened to the 'negotiations'. "We have ships." Bacon said to Cyborg when he overheard Cyborg say he wanted to know how the 'Fleeters could stop them from leaving. "We can shoot you from the safety of a metal shell while you throw all the sticks and stones at it that you can muster.” PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Jernath followed after Cyborg and Midknight, annoyed when he heard The Commander's deep laugh. He almost killed me, and now he has to flaunt it, he thought angrily. And then Cyborg and Midknight started shouting threats again. "Don't tempt them, please," Jernath growled. He really didn't want the Kougras' insults to start a fight again, especially after his little brush with death just seconds before. He really did not want to repeat that. We can get back at them... he added silently. ... Just not now. KengKeng whistled loudly and spun her right arm in a circular motion above her head. Immediately the remaining marines rushed and made a fresh circle around the mercenaries, Keng herself ran forward to stand directly in their path herself. The immediate reaction of the marines was of course to raise their weapons and aim them at the mercenaries. "Hold fire!" commanded Keng, accompanied by the associated hand movement. The commander was moving away quickly, along with Subcommander #4, leaving Keng as the ranking officer. Keng took a moment to watch and see the last boots of the party disappear from view. Now what would she do? She was under direct orders to see to their punishment, she would have to do something with the marines present. She trusted Bacon, Fraze and Urchin -did they stay here or go with The Commander?- but did not know the others. Either way, they were now her responsibility. "Under Spacefleet protocol Cyborg, you and your associated allies have committed crimes of unprovoked assault on Spacefleet personnel, attempted killing of Spacefleet personnel, and unruly conduct. - let me finish-" she interrupted herself before any of the mercenaries could. "Under these charges you are subject to punishment in the form of imprisonment- please, let me finish- for a maximum sentence of 15 earth years -let me finish-" she now pulled out her communication device, twiddled a few knobs and a holographic screen popped up. "Cyborg do you take this... wait a second... that can't be right..." Keng paused to check if she was reading it right, "Who replaced the list of rights with a wedding ceremony script? Eh, whatever, you have a bunch of rights. Something about a lawyer, a court of law, and remaining silent. The last of which we both know won't happen." mostly Keng was just stalling for time while she tried to make a decision, but the wedding script actually was there. There had to be a loophole somewhere... The communicator granted another moment of thought as it began playing "Here Comes the Bride" She hit a knob to switch it off and was greeted by a new screen which conveniently had the loophole she needed. "Oh." she said simply, leaving the mercenaries hanging in suspense. "According to this with the sentencing left in my hands I am allowed to provide an alternative punishment as I see just." she smiled. "As I see it -Rose and Jernath was it?- committed no unprovoked offensive and are free to go. The continued fighting after the attempted peace talk was provoked by... unethical Spacefleet actions. Which brings us to just the first half of the fight left to be answered for. Do you have anything to say in defense before I continue rambling?" she finally stopped speaking to allow either of the Kougras to respond. Before doing so she pertained to the original conditions of the first attempted talk, and had all present marines lower their weapons with another hand command. AmneigerAmneiger tapped a knuckle against a control panel impatiently. Several minutes had already gone by, with no word from any of the other Spacefleet officers. Finally he reached over and switched on the radio. "Fraze? This is Amneiger. What's been going on since your last transmission?” RoseThis is what happens when those two get so reckless, now what can we do, Rose thought to herself. Most of them are to injured to fight again. " Can't we work out some kind of trade or something, or are the crimes charged on my friends too high for that? Rose said hoping to find a way out. "There must be something of a worthy trade or value?" Cyborg" Rose let me handle this." Cyborg said as he stepped so he was face to face with Keng. " Now if we should be imprisoned under these terms: unprovoked assault, attempted murder and unruly conduct I believe not only should we be imprisoned, but you, your commander and the other two should be imprisoned as well. First of all all of you attempted to kill us. Secondly your commander kicked Jernath while he was down: unruly conduct. And thirdly your commander unprovoked, decided to attack when a peace talk was occurring and threatened the life of Jernath who was aiding an ally and did not attack the commander," Midknight declared, " this is why law school is important. So I believe that would mean you and the other three should be imprisoned." " Rose, Jernath go find the pirates! Tell them Cyborg needs help!" Cyborg added. Keng"First of all, raising a shield in defense of a leader was in no way an attack on anyone. Second of all, I did not try to kill anyone, only disable. Thirdly, my offensive actions only occurred because you were attacking me. Fourthly you and Cyborg tried to kill me first. Sixthly you're forgetting a score of marines in you accusations. Sixthly under Spacefleet jurisdiction Commander Strife is liable to receive court marshal for his actions in the peace talk despite his leadership (he is expected to plead insanity). Seventhly that is the first of these list numbers the spell check seems to think is wrong I .. uhh.. lost my train of thought... oh yes, Seventhly," Keng, who had been quite pronounced in her articulation suddenly quieted, "seventhly as Spacefleet announced a state of war, if certain conditions are met the charges on you can be waived. FrazeFraze saw Rose walk up to him. It looked to Fraze as though her feelings were hurt. " I'm not a hot head like Cyborg, I don't live for blood lust like the others," she told him. "So I don't know exactly why I can't be trusted?"Well, it was a perfectly valid question. "I hadn't had much time to observe you," he replied. "You might have been just as impulsive and quick to anger as both of them, I didn't know. I preferred to err on the side of caution." What he didn't want to say was that he put more trust in Spacefleet medical technology than healing magic. Bacon saved him from having to say anything more, as he yelped "What's in this, habaneros?"Fraze stifled a snerk. "I've wondered the same thing. I think it's mostly that the body repairing itself at such a rapid rate isn't a very pleasant feeling." Fraze saw the Commander begin to leave, and followed him. He wasn't sure whether the Commander's order for Fraze to stay on his team was still active or not, but he preferred not to take the risk. He jogged until he caught up with the group. After they had been walking for a minute or so, a voice chirped in his ear. "Fraze? This is Amneiger. What's been going on since your last transmission?" Fraze wasn't aware that the communication he had sent to Keng had reached the rest of the 'Fleeters. He'd have to see if Spacefleet labs could do something about the encryption method in his skinsuit communicator. "We encountered three mercenary hostiles," he replied verbally. If his commlink wasn't completely secure, he thought it might be better if he just spoke out loud. "One was subdued quickly by a flashbang, the other two--two kougras who were apparently brothers--were belligerent and continued fighting after we tried to begin peace talks." Not quite what happened, he knew, but with Strife listening he had to watch what he said. He'd set Amneiger straight on the details when he saw him face-to-face. "A fourth mercenary, less belligerent, showed up during the peace talks. A couple of the mercs sustained injuries, as did Keng and Bacon, but they've both been treated. The Commander set out with the subcommanders and some of the marines, I'm with him now. Keng stayed behind with the rest of the marines to decide on a punishment for the mercenaries for their attack, according to Spacefleet policy. I'm not sure about everyone else. He paused to look back. He could barely see the other group through the trees. It was still dark out, but the snow on the ground provided some additional light. "We're about 100 meters northeast of Keng's group now, and traveling away from them. I'll send you a ping giving our location." He paused and did so. "Should I send them regularly so you can catch up with us? And what's your status over there?” PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Just when Jernath thought the fight was over, Keng whistled, and suddenly the mercenaries were surrounded by soldiers again. He grimaced, gripping his daggers a little tighter, as Keng came up and started into a rather official-sounding speech about... Spacefleet protocol? And... crimes? What, was she arresting them?! "According to this, with the sentencing left in my hands, I am allowed to provide an alternative punishment as I see just," Keng said after a... minor mishap... involving Here Comes the Bride. "As I see it -Rose and Jernath was it?- committed no unprovoked offensive and are free to go. The continued fighting after the attempted peace talk was provoked by... unethical Spacefleet actions."Well, that was a relief... but Cyborg and Midknight were still being arrested, for 'unprovoked assault.' Rose protested, but Cyborg stopped her. Midknight insisted that Keng and this... Spacefleet group should be arrested as well, for their own actions of unprovoked assault, and for unruly conduct. Jernath couldn't help but agree, seeing as most of those actions were against him. "Rose, Jernath, go find the pirates! Tell them Cyborg needs help!" Cyborg called. Jernath was about to protest with something about never leaving allies behind, but he decided it was better to go off and get help than to try and fight a bunch of soldiers while injured. So he nodded, turning to Rose. "We'd better hurry," he told her, just before sprinting between two of the soldiers that were surrounding them and headed in the direction Cyborg was leading them earlier. He regretted that action though, as his back protested with the sudden movements. He would have regretted it even more if the soldiers decided to not let him leave. He just hoped Keng's decision of letting him and Rose free would keep the soldiers from doing that. Amneiger"We've landed near Mage Manor. Ethan, Cyclops, and Zari left five or ten minutes ago; I've stayed behind to watch the shuttle. They still haven't come back..." Amneiger frowned. "Keep sending the pings, I'll contact Ethan and try to see what's keeping them. I don't know how to fly this ship, so any chance of us catching up to you is dependant on their finding Leoness and getting back here." Amneiger reached for the radio, but stopped. "Wait, what about the pirate you mentioned earlier?" Bacon"Please! I never attempted to kill either of you." Bacon replied to Cyborg's arguments. "I threw the stunner at your brother only to incapacitate, and only when he threatened Keng's life. Then I attacked you, only intent on causing serious pain, because you, quite unfairly, threw every earth magic spell known to man at me." He watched the bulk of the Spacefleet forces leave the area. He had stayed behind for two reasons: first, his left shoulder was still healing and he didn't want to slow the others down. More specifically he didn't want the marines to overreact when he slowed them down. And secondly and much more importantly, he didn't trust these mercs to not kill Keng as they had already threatened at least twice before. Bad comes to worse he could always switch his stunner back to the "neural" setting and have everyone on the floor in convulsions. Vyt((Near White Weewoo)) Cat Assassin was both fortunate and unlucky. For starters, no one recognized his scream of pain. That was good, considering that otherwise he would be outnumbered by the hostility. However, he watched helplessly as a dragon soared right above him. The combination of severe headache from an unknown source and the running line of thoughts through his mind did much to irritate the feline. * * * Bluisa had no time to react towards Kat's kindness. The badge that was dimly lit earlier now shone much brighter, even more than enough to catch anyone's attention. Only the mage knew why it reacted that way. Desperately, she knocked three times on the dragon's back, hoping she could get its attention. "Please, stop! Cat Assassin is nearby!" she breathed out, gasping for air later on. Huntress((The White Weewoo)) "Listen, you crazy blonde," Huntress said, fidgeting around for a more comfortable position as she saw Ielle stop her attacks, "if you just, youknow, stated your business instead of going ballistic on my ship, I might let you in. As in, the ship might let you in. Either way. I may be a pirate, but I'm familiar with courtesy, and blatantly attacking my ship doesn't fit with it." The fog thickened around her as a huge dragon with passengers flew in. Hunty got up on her perch of black nightmares while the ship once again took her defense systems to the fullest and wrapped its shroud of mist around the dragon, catching it mid-air. "Kat?" she shouted. "Took you long enough, girl. And the ninjas? Let 'em through." The mist waved around, showing no signs of letting anyone through. "Desperate times, buddy," Hunty said sternly. "Let them through." The mist parted, forming a kind of annoyed, hesitant, and very reluctant corridor down to the deck. The rigging creaked in nearly nonexistent wind. "Ships really do get a temper in time," Hunty muttered, sitting down again. Kat"We're sorry for stopping but...we had to pick him up. He is my Weewoo after all." Kat shrugged, grinning. "If I had a Weewoo, I would definitely stop to pick him - or her - up too. No problem, really." But as they hovered in the air, she stared down and saw a ship that she recognized as the White Weewoo. And yet...it was so much different, definitely not like the ship she had always known. For one thing, it no longer fit its name, and looked even less like a Weewoo than it usually did. What had the other pirates been up to while she wasn't around? If only she had gotten there sooner... There were other people down there, by the Weewoo...and there were even some already on it, most notably the Cap'n. "Kat? Took you long enough, girl.""Sorry," Kat called back. "You could say I - " But her words were interrupted by a blinding flash of light somewhere below them. It looked as though something had exploded, bathing anything within a seven-foot radius in the brightest shade of pale yellow ever possible. There were three girls who looked like mages on the scene, but they didn't seem to be casting that particular spell; Kat would know. In fact, the magic seemed to be coming from a blonde girl, who was glowing with magical residue, and reaching out as though summoning something. It was a summoning spell. "I think even if you hand the gem over to me, your ship can stay that way," said the blonde. "If you want it to, of course. It'll destroy you all!" And at the sound of her voice, Kat let out a gasp, unwittingly lengthening her wand again, and screamed the blond girl's name out for everyone to hear. "Asthielle?!" And at the sound of her name, Ielle whipped around and fired a lightning bolt at them. With a wave of her staff, Kat dispelled the bolt with a tongue of violet fire, and the two spells collided with an even more dazzling flash of multicolored light. In a word, it was shiny. Nature((Sorry if I'm a bit lost. )) The Manor stays silent, remorseful, alone in the vast dark mists under a foreboding, dark-purple sky. Its halls are even quieter, nothing but air filling the emptiness of marble known as hallways. The silence is frightening. A little too frightening. It gave a sense that, any second now, something unexpected might happen. Something dark, foreboding, evil . . . All of a sudden, it happened. A scream. A loud, hair-raising scream filled each and every corner of the manor, breaking the eerie silence surrounding it. It reached everywhere -- from the guest room, to the library to the kitchen. No area was spared from the loudness from the yell. And it came from the guest room where Nature was in. The Zafara was awake now, showers of sweat falling from her face. Her eyes quaked with fear, her breathing was heavy, her lips quivered, and her heart pounded wildly, dancing to the beat of nervousness and fear. She had another nightmare. It was horrible. Lots of shadows . . . darkness . . . fighting . . . blood . . . Nature shuddered as she remembered every single detail of the dream. It was too detailed and too terrifying for words. All she knew is, it involved deaths. Lots and lots of deaths . . . ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ Somewhere in a small, dark corner of the Manor, a small Elvish Dragon egg stood still. It was a very beautiful albeit odd egg -- metallic blue with yellow lightning-bolts and sea-green waves embedded on it. The egg stood there, unmoving, silent. Nothing seemed to happen. All of a sudden, the surprising happened. A small crack appeared on its shell. It was about to hatch. CyborgSecond of all, I did not try to kill anyone, only disable." Fourthly you and Cyborg tried to kill me first. Sixthly under Spacefleet jurisdiction Commander Strife is liable to receive court marshal for his actions in the peace talk despite his leadership. Seventhly as Spacefleet announced a state of war, if certain conditions are met the charges on you can be waived." " Ok I'd like to point out some things Keng. Firstly you did try to kill someone, Cyborg with the electric dagger, and you nearly did. Secondly Cyborg may he tried first, but you still attempted it and so did Bacon who aimed at every wital spot on my brother's body. And thirdly court marshal, seriously, if it were the merc's unwritten code, we should get around to writing that sometime, anyways all four of you would be executed on the spot. " Midknight replied as a smirk appeared on his face. " Oh and what conditions Keng?" Cyborg asked. RoseRose quickly followed Jernath between two of the soldiers that were surrounding them. "Are you sure we sould leave them?" Rose asked Jernath worried about the two. "If they start another fight they'll die or they'll die of blood lost, before we can even get to the pirates." "Also I hope you know your way aorund here cause I'm not very familiar with these parts! Rose added. PFA((Near Weewoo))"Please, stop! Cat Assassin is nearby!""What?!" PFA yelped in response to Bluisa. Uncle was nearby? How would she know that unless... aw, shoot. The mist that blocked them was enough to slow down Celestial enough to let PFA get off. The mist let them through to the pirate ship, but PFA instead hopped off Celestial and started heading the other direction. "Go on, Celestial, I'll be right back!" she told the dragon, just as Kat and some weird blonde girl started throwing magic at each other. PFA could help out Kat later; for now, she had to find her Uncle. --- ((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Jernath sighed in response to Rose. "There's really nothing we can do... they outnumber us and have faster weapons." He didn't really like admitting it, but it was true. Any one of the soldiers could fire a laser much faster than Jernath could grab an arrow. And he knew that the lasers were enough to paralyze someone, which was almost what happened to him... And then, he had a thought. "Look, Rose..." he started. "You're a healer, right? So you can stay back here, and if they start attacking, you can heal Cyborg and Midknight. And while you're back here making sure they stay safe, I can go and see if I can find the pirates. That way, we can both help them, and find help at the same time. How's that sound?” RiderThe Magus Sisters went in with a vengeance. They ahd spent enough time around the weasels to be unaffected by shiny objects. So while the mage's hands were occupied, they started biting. The largest, Cindy, went for her right arm, while the other two grappled for her neck and face. Watching the fireworks display from afar, Rider let out a long string of words that the Cap'n would frown at. ((Psst, it's OK to attack the Meepits. They've been through worse.)) Celestial((The "White" Weewoo))There were three knocks on her scales and pleading which the wind snatched away. However, Celestial knew that three knocks ment something was wrong. Before she could decend however, black mist wrapped around her torso, squeezing her roughly. Shoot, we didn't let them know we weren't enemies! she spat but didn't struggle as this would bring harm to her passangers not to mention make the pirates certain that they had hostile intentions. However, it relented and let go, reluctant as it was. A blinding flash of light caught Celestial's attention. It seemed to be coming from a blonde girl. Celestial seemed to laugh a little and, making sure Kat, Bluisa and PFa were off went limp, turning back into a human and gliding down onto the deck, her glow of power making the mist receed a little. Overlord was still in her hands, healing magic working on his mangled wing and acid burns but somebody had taken care of the numerous scratches and flesh wounds on him for which Celestial was grateful. "I think even if you hand the gem over to me, your ship can stay that way. If you want it to, of course. It'll destroy you all!" the blonde girl shouted and Kat suddenly looked up. It didn't take a genious to know that Kat recognised her. "Asthielle?!" Kat gasped. At the sound of her name, the blonde whipped around and a magic battle began. Celestial hesitated, letting her magic heal her Weewoo completely. However, the flame and lightening was creating an amazing effect which she was sure she could top, hopefully stopping any more blood from being spilled. "Go on, Celestial, I'll be right back!" PFA shouted as she the and Bluisa ran towards what Celestial could see was some sort of feline who was there when Subila had attacked her. So this was their Uncle... "Alright. But..." she said, urging Overlord to wake up. He was fully healed now and maybe, just maybe he would be of use to them. Overlord awoke to the sounds of battle and a mindcall. He fearfully streched his wings to find that they didn't hurt anymore. In fact, he felt better than ever. Overlord let out a happy "weewoo" and looked up. It was Celestial! She came and healed him! His heart felt like it could burst with joy. However duty in the guise of Celestial, called him to follow the ninja and mage who he was told were called PFA and Bluisa. He flapped both his wings, not feeling anything wrong with them at all and followed them both, trying to stay hidden. It was time to get back to business again. As Overlord took off, Celestial looked towards the magic battle. It was time to join in the fray and end it. With a flick of her hand, the lightening from the blonde Asthielle faded. Celestial smiled and ordered the air to wrap tightly around Asthielle. Holding out her hand, she lifted the blonde high into the air, arms pinned to the sides so she couldn't cast any spells. If she somehow managed, Celestial had power enough to counter them. Draconic power boosts are wonderful."Who are you and what do you mean by all this?" she said to Asthielle, the colourful whirl in her eyes tinged with the red streaks of anger. Ikkin"Welcome back, gentlemen," Huntress said as Sev teleported Ikkin and the others in. "Everyone alive and well and present? Quartermaster, report status."Before Ikkin could report anything, however, she was distracted by a mage who seemed to be attempting to get onto the ship with little luck. The Cap'n seemed to be just as confused about who this mage was as Ikkin was, and asked her who she was. Well, at least she hadn't missed the start of... whatever this was, Ikkin thought. Rider sent her Faerie Meepits after the mage to harass her with Final Fantasy spells and the mage shielded, seeming to continue to work magic inside of the shield. Ikkin wondered if she had to do so to keep the shield up, or whether she was trying to do something else entirely. She wasn't about to do anything yet, though. The Meepits could probably handle the situation, and she didn't even really know whether the mage was hostile or not. Sure, the Weewoo didn't seem to want to let her aboard. But, as if to cast uncertainty on this, Celestial and Kat arrived with a ninja and a mage and the ship didn't seem to want to let them on, either, even after Hunty told it it was okay. Ikkin really did wonder why Hunty would let a ninja aboard, though. Pirates and ninja generally didn't get along very well. Sev, on the other hand, was just annoyed that he had to deal with Bluisa again. Even if she wasn't really the cause for his annoyance, he'd rather forget that whole incident. Just as Huntress started to welcome Kat back, Kat seemed to notice the mage, and her reaction showed a lot more familiarity than Huntress' had. And not in a good way, either. "Asthielle?!" Kat called out. Almost immediately, the mage - Asthielle - responded with lightning, which Kat blocked with her fire, creating such an enormous amount of light that Ikkin was forced to look away. Well, that settled it, Ikkin thought. Asthielle was hostile, and an enemy of a friend. There was no way she could just sit and watch now. "I'll go help deal with her so we can be off sooner," Ikkin told Hunty with a grin. "I've been expecting a fight all day anyway; might as well get some of it out of my system." And with that, she leapt into the air, allowing the wind to catch her, then flew down to where Kat and Asthielle were fighting. When she got there, she realized that there really were a lot more people fighting Asthielle than she had thought. Kat was there, of course, along with the Faerie Meepits - who seemed to be trying their best to bite Asthielle, but Celestial was fighting, too, apparently a full dragon now. "Who are you and what do you mean by all this?" Celestial's voice boomed as she held the enemy mage in the air with some kind of air magic. This left Ikkin without too much to do. She'd rather have an answer than attack the mage while she was seemingly helpless. But, then again, it was easy for a mage to seem helpless when they really weren't, so Ikkin focused on her fire magic so she would be ready in case the mage made any move. *** Leraye summoned up a magical couch with his stone, using the magical energy from all the spells being thrown around to avoid losing any more power from his stone than he had to.
The couch floated at just the right level to watch the fight from on-board the Weewoo. He sat down on it, resting his arms against the railings as he looked on at the proceedings below.
If one hadn't known any better, they might have thought that he was just watching television. Vyt((Near the White Weewoo))PFA yelped in response to Bluisa's discovery, her love for her Uncle overflowing from her system. Somehow, the black mist that was surrounding them started slowing the dragon down, giving her and Bluisa the chance to jump off. They watched through the thick fog as the dragon slowly shifted back to a human girl, forcing the purple mage to jump off her as well. Bluisa turned towards PFA, who she had almost missed due to the hindrance the mist was causing to her eyesight. " Go on, Celestial, I'll be right back!" she exclaimed as she started rushing off towards the opposite direction. The mage quickly followed, the amount of her concern for the feline almost as much as that of PFA's. Seeing that the black mist completely complemented Bluisa's darkness (but most certainly not evil, as most of us know)affiliation, she concentrated her mana on herself. Her body was merging with the mist itself. * * * As much as Cat Assassin would want to move, the headache had been successful in putting him down. Alas, the feline could not think anymore. It had made its way through his system, fatally mingling with his brain. If no one would interrupt, the feline might die of frustration. Cyborg" Wait both of you can stay I'll send quicker messengers." Cyborg calledf to Jernath and Rose. Then he whistled and after he did about fifty to sixty squirrels ran by the marines and went to Cyborg. " What do you need boss.?" the lead squirrel Hazel asked. " I need all of you to go get the pirates and tell them the merc's need help and are looking for an alliance with them. " Cyborg responded. " Got it. Let's move out!" Hazel called as her and the rest of the squirrels took to the trees and darted off into the forest. Strife((The Forest)) The Commander and his band of troops marched through the dark forest. Roughly half of his marines stayed behind to help Keng deal with the terrestrials, and Fraze joined him and Subcommander #4 at the front of the pack. The rocks that were covering The Commander's armor earlier had loosened themselves and were now orbiting slowly around his body again. While they marched, Fraze recieved a transmission from Amneiger, and he updated the Professor on what just happened. "Where are we headed, sir?" asked one of the marines by The Commander's side. "The southern gate of Dunburrow," he replied. "Those oversized felines back there halted our progress, so we have missed our opportunity to confront the demons and the lifeform. Nevertheless, we will head there and establish a solid base of operation. The forest is too insecure." "Agreed," said #4, who was also by The Commander's side. "But we cannot just set ourselves in front of the gate. We would be too open to att-" "I didn't say we were going to do that, you moron. We will enter the city and search for the most secure location available." "I see..." "Isn't there a castle in the middle of the city?" asked another one of the marines. "Yes," replied #4. "That's one of our options. If the castle is relatively unprotected, we could infiltrate it. We'd have to perform a few scans before attempting it though." "At this point, it's our best option," said The Commander. "I hope for your sake that you have brought scanning equipment." "I don't leave home without it." #4 smirked and pulled a portable scanner out of his pocket. ((The South Gate)) When The Commander's group reached the gate, it was completely deserted, as they anticipated. None of them had experienced the choas that took place roughly three hours before their arrival, but if it hadn't been snowing, the burns and black patches on the ground would have given them a small idea of what occured. However, since the ground was now a blanket of frosty whiteness, it appeared as though nothing strange had happened here. "Are we within scanning range, sir?" asked a marine to Subcommander #4. "Yes," he responded, looking down at the dots and blips on the screen of his scanner. "Commander, there are lifesigns in the town surrounding the castle, but the castle itself is strangely empty for a building of its size." "Almost as if everyone just got up and left," said a marine, chuckling lightly to himself. Empty... The Commander figured it must have had something to do with the storm. Then again, it seemed that everything unusual was being caused by it. Not that he was complaining, though. The castle seemed like the perfect opportunity to set up a Spacefleet outpost. The fact that it was made mostly of natural stone sweetened the idea even further. Through his growing psionic powers, he determined that he would be able to manipulate the castle as if it were an extension of his own body. Everything from the tall watch towers to the stone staircases would bend to his will. As he thought about the possibilities, Lt. Marzia's voice returned to his mind. Power, Commander.His mouth curved upwards and opened, revealing his now infamous smile. "Let's move, then," he said to his officers. "We'll enter the city and make our way to the castle as covertly as possible." "On that note," added a marine, "Special Ops Fraze's cloaking technology will come in handy." "Exactly." The Commander chuckled. Huntress((The White Weewoo)) Hunty raised an eyebrow as the blonde said, "I think even if you hand the gem over to me, your ship can stay that way. If you want it to, of course. It'll destroy you all!""So that's what you want. Not that I'm too surprised." She leaned her back against a backstay, as wobbly as it was. "Well, I don't see why my own ship would want to destroy us. This spiky nutshell here isn't a demon-spawn, it's just using what it was given. And, well, if you really-" She didn't get further as Kat shouted, "Asthielle?!" and jumped into a sparkly battle with the girl. Hunty grimaced out of pure survival instinct and leaned back even more, the flashing magic was all of a sudden too close to her face for her liking. But then again, she was looking at the battle as if through a constantly moving smoke screen, and the ship's mistshield had already proven itself as effective in keeping Ielle's attacks at bay. "Yeah, do get back to me once you've sorted out your differences," she said, though not loudly enough for the girl to actually hear her. At this point she had plenty of time. All of a sudden, the smoke screen stopped. The whole black shroud around the demonic ship seemed to freeze for a moment. Then it jerked back into moving - twitchy, violent, furious moving. Then the ship shook. Violently, from the hull to the very ends of the yards. The rigging loosened up and stretched again with a twing, sails flapped around, a dull vibration ran through the yards, and the ship itself turned a little like a bolting horse, bobbing up and down in the process. It was a surprisingly fast maneuver for a ship that size - if you could call it a maneuver. It was really more like bolting. Hunty clung to the yard for dear life, too flabbergasted to wonder what had happened. She got her answer fast enough, though, as the black fog thickened around the mage on the deck. And the ship spat. She really couldn't find a better word to describe it as she watched how the waves of mist lifted Bluisa up and sent her flying up and off over the clifftop in a remarkably neat arc. The captain sat up slowly. The shaking hadn't completely gone, she still felt a vague vibration in the yard under her hands. It was very much like the tremble of a scared or angry animal. "There, there," she muttered clumsily, patting the yard, then looked down. "Anyone able to tell me what this was all about?" Cyborg"Okay Jernath, Rose I have an idea. What if we jumped up into the trees over their heads? It would be extra cover and quicker, well for me and Midknight anyways." Cyborg whispered to the other merc's. " The only problem with that would be if Jernath's healthy enough to jump from tree to tree. Hey would you be able to do that or not.? If not we could figure something out." Midknight asked Jernath in a whisper. Surf((A guest room in Mage Manor)) Surf woke with a start, having heard a shriek, and leapt into a fighting position. Her tired mind began to register what had happened, and she realized that Nature was awake, and most likely what had woken her. She felt sorry for the poor mage, who was breathing heavily and looked terrified. “Nature, are you alright? What happ-” She glanced out the window, and saw what could only be described as a huge shiny off in the distance. “What is that?” PFA((Near Weewoo))PFA headed toward Cat Assassin, barely noticing Bluisa fade into the mist. What really caught her attention, though, was the mist reacting in a rather violent manner and spitting Bluisa out. "BLUISA!" PFA yelped, watching the mage fly over her head. She was about to run where the mage landed, but then she remembered Uncle... Well, Bluisa can take care of herself better than Uncle, I think... she told herself. So she ran off toward Uncle, determined to help him out. Once she was done with him, she'd go help Bluisa if she needed to. Once she got closer, she saw the grim expression on her Uncle's face. He looked like he had a really, really bad headache. She sprinted a little, so she could get to him faster. She just hoped she wouldn't be too late. "Uncle, are you alright?" she asked him, once she was close enough that she could tend to any wounds he might have had. That way, if he were to respond with saying he broke a leg or something, she'd be able to help. --- ((Forest: south of Dunburrow))"Wait, both of you can stay, I'll send quicker messengers," Cyborg called, then whistled loudly. Suddenly, a huge group of squirrels zoomed in, surrounding Cyborg. Jernath, a bit curious, moved back into the circle of soldiers to get a closer look. One of the squirrels asked Cyborg what he wanted - which surprised Jernath a bit, since he hadn't until just then known any squirrels that talked - and Cyborg told them to find the pirate ship. With that, the squirrels were off again. "I wish you'd remember these things sooner," Jernath muttered, as he came up next to Cyborg and Midknight again. Instead of respond to that statement, though, Cyborg started into something else. "Okay Jernath, Rose, I have an idea. What if we jumped up into the trees over their heads?" the Kougra whispered. "It would be extra cover and quicker, well for me and Midknight anyways."
"The only problem with that would be if Jernath's healthy enough to jump from tree to tree," Midknight whispered in response. "Hey, would you be able to do that or not? If not, we could figure something out."Jernath sighed. Moving from tree to tree was the kind of thing he would do all the time... though Midknight had a point. With the injury, it was a lot harder to move, which Jernath really didn't like at all. But even so... "...I probably could," he whispered back after a while. He was sure that he could do it... though whether or not it would be easy was another story. He left that part out, though. "We'll have to be quick if we do... who knows how trigger-happy these guys are?" Rose"I'm in," Rose whispered as she too joined the circle once more. Hearing about Jernath's health Rose whispered to them all,"Once we get far away enough I'll treat Jernath's wounds some more, it might help. And of course Cyborg's and Midknight's. We'll have to do it carefully remember we are surrounded!" Fraze"Wait, what about the pirate you mentioned earlier?""She just...ran off, from what I saw. I don't think anyone knows where she went," Fraze responded. If Strife had anything more to add, he would. If he didn't, Fraze knew it would be better for himself if he didn't ask. Nonetheless, he continued sending homing pings every minute or so as they walked on. ----- Fraze had downloaded an ebook onto his skinsuit a few weeks earlier (only 5 shinies for the first month!), and called it up to read as he walked. Something about a Homeric scholar who was resurrected thousands of years in the future by the Greek gods to watch the events of the Iliad unfold. Good book, Fraze thought, but not nearly as good as a previous series by the same author. The text hovered in the middle of his vision at a good reading range, with his suit occasionally flashing various statistics--temperature, energy remaining, and so forth--in the periphery. Most of the marines and subcommanders seemed more interested in talking with Strife than him, so he was able to read more or less undisturbed. He read more to take his mind off of what was going on than to pass the time, but it did both quite well. They came to the end of the woods. Reluctantly, Fraze saved his spot in the book and turned it off as they walked toward what Fraze supposed was the South Gate mentioned in the message. The gate, the castle, and the surrounding town reminded Fraze of something out of a book or movie. He took a moment to laugh slightly at the irony of this thought in light of what he had been doing. "Commander, there are lifesigns in the town surrounding the castle, but the castle itself is strangely empty for a building of its size," Subcommander #4 said. Fraze wouldn't have known that this was Subcommander #4, but he had the number embroidered on his uniform, right above his insignia. Fraze wondered briefly why everyone was in uniform if they were meant to blend in--before remembering that he himself appeared to be dipped in metal. "Almost as if everyone just got up and left," came the voice of a marine. This got Fraze wondering--what would cause them to leave? Even if all the Knights went off to war, there would still be attendants and such there. If there was an attack on the castle, it might clear out pretty quickly--unlikely though that possibility may have been. He turned to #4. "Sir, how many life signs would you say there are? Are any injured? I rather wonder if the castle had been attacked. If it was, whoever or whatever did it may still be there." He added quickly, "Though I doubt it would be much of a problem for us, it's still good to know." Before #4 could reply, Strife gave the order to move into the city covertly. "Special Ops Fraze's cloaking technology will come in handy," one of the marines joked. Fraze turned around to give a mischievous grin to the marine, and cloaked a moment later. He had been sending out their location at intervals to Amneiger, but now switched to a constant signal. "We're at the South Gate, where the entity told us to come," Fraze thought into the communicator. The message went out to Ethan, Amneiger, and the rest of their team, as well as to the team he was with so that they could add anything if they wished. "We're moving to get into the castle as quietly as possible. We have not encountered anyone else since the run-in with the pirate and the mercs. If you message us, please send 'listen at your leisure' messages unless it is an emergency. That way, we won't have a screechy communicator give us away during the infiltration." With that, a few of the marines in the group who had been listening to the message go out grabbed their comms, turned the volume down, and set them to vibrate. Amneiger"Ran off? And nobody went to see where she was headed? Hmm...In any case, I'll see what the others are up to." Amneiger cut the connection and set the radio to Ethan's frequency. "Ethan? This is Amneiger. Strife, Fraze, and the marines they brought with them have arrived at the Knight's castle. Where are you all?" IkkinSev almost laughed as the mist on the White Weewoo congealed around Bluisa and spat her violently upwards and away from the ship. The crazy bucking of the ship was less than comforting, but seeing Bluisa blast off, Team Rocket-style, after what she had done earlier overcame that feeling completely.
"Anyone able to tell me what this was all about?" Huntress asked.
"The ship doesn't like her," Sev said bluntly. "And for good reason, too. Back at the Manor, she turned into something that tried to kill us all, then somehow managed to separate herself from it before I could finish her off." This wasn't exactly true, but Sev wasn't about to tell the full story. "She's also apparently related to Vyt in some way.
"In any case," he continued, "we'd be best off without her. She probably still wants our gem, regardless of whatever separating from the other part of her did to her." Cyborg" Wait.... Midknight could we?" Cyborg asked his brother. " We could. Hey Jernath would you object to hopping on Cyborg's back and have him carry you at the beggining? After a while we could either have you hop on my back or have Rose heal you. So what do you think?" Midknight asked. " And don't worry I would be able to carry you." Cyborg added. Meanwhile somewhere in the forest the squirrels continued their search to find the pirates. " How are we gonna find them?" Cashew asked. " Easy find the scent of the ocean and follow it and then just look for big pirate ships." Hazel replied as they continued on. Bacon((Forest South of Dunbarrow)) Bacon looked at the snow on the ground, how it was mixed with dirt that Cyborg had unearthed during his attacks, along with a few dying vines and leaves. One leaf was lodged into a tree trunk. How boring this place was... when it wasn't being destroyed. Nothing he could tinker with at all, except for his trusty Pulse Charger, and messing with its internal components was a mistake he swore he'd never repeat. He pulled a couple of quarters out of his pocket and tried, quite unsuccessfully, to juggle them with his right hand, while humming "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))... Carry me? Jernath didn't know how to properly respond to Midknight's suggestion. Riding piggy-back out of a battle sounded so... unmanly. "...No thanks, I'll be fine," he decided on eventually, glancing away from the Kougras. He could live with the pain. He didn't need to be... carried. He was a mercenary, and mercenaries could look after themselves. Omni((In the air around Mage Manor)) By the time Omni had flown back around to the entrance of the manor, she had already lost sight of Celestial. So much for keeping up, she thought as she landed on the roof. Now what was she to do? Celestial said the the gem was with the pirates, but where were the pirates? Near the ocean was the most likely answer, but which ocean?As she pondered this she looked around. She spotted something, but it wasn't the pirate ship. A relatively-short distance away, she could see something flying through the air toward the Manor, from the shape, it looked like a human(oid) with wings. There was also something following it from the ground, a small dark shape against the white snow, but it was too far away to make out an identifiable shape. The airborne shape seemed to suddenly double over in pain, midair. She also heard a scream, she recognized the voice as Nature's. For a moment, she wondered whether she should go see if Nature was okay, of if she should be ready to fight incase those approaching were hostile. Then she remembered that the manor could keep out hostile people on its own. Now for the hard part: getting back into the Manor without being seen. She couldn't just jump down to the front doors, as she would likely be seen, have a hard time slowing her decent from such a drop, and just plain have a hard time getting herself to drop in the first place. So she decided to fly back through the window. She crept near the edge of the roof, took another breath to calm her nerves, and jumped off the roof. Once she had got herself horizontal it wasn't to hard to start gliding. She made a wide turn to her right, keeping an eye out for the window to the library. By the time she spotted it, she was a few dozen feet or so away from the Manor. She took advantage of this distance to align herself so that she would fly directly to the window. When she came to be within a few feet of the window, she pulled herself upright to slow herself. The wind was knocked out of her as she ran into the wall, but she still managed to grab ahold of the windowsill. She flapped her wings a few times to help herself climb up, and practically fell into the library. She took a moment to make sure her pebble tissue was still secure before running off, making a mental request that the Manor guide her to Nature, and make the trip quick. "Nadure?" she said as she came into a guest room, talking as well as she could with her nose still plugged. "Are you ogay?" ---------- ((In the fields near the Manor, following Zari)) One of the nice things about being a cyborg with a built-in radio was that he didn't have to say things outloud to send a message. Otherwise the following message to Amnei would have included a whole lot of heavy breathing as Ethan did his best to keep Zari in his sight: "This is Ethan, yes, I heard Fraze's message. We're still heading for the manor. I can see it now, we're getting close." There was a pause. "Zari appears to have just been in pain, I'm not sure why. I'll check with her about it A.S.A.P.
"By the way, do you know of any waterproof materials I might be able to wear under my clothes? Cyclops has a death grip on my back, and it's not the most pleasant sensation.” Zari((Forest, Near mage Manor)) ((Zari has just landed)) Zari blinked as Ethan came closer and gradually slowed down. 'We need to recover Leoness. Hopefully without our names being asked for. All my ID cards except one have Identity she knows. She only knows my nickname. Maybe if I omit the chosen name and switch the two given names, and leave the clan name alone, I should be fine.' she trailed off and look anxiously in the direction of Mage Manor, where, just visible, was her...Other. She didn't have a name for what connected them, only for the name given to them both. The Lifespeaker and The Storychild. KatAsthielle gasped and screamed. Three faerie Meepits had her in their grasp, breaking her concentration on her summoning spell. She swatted them away, one by one - a Herculean task, as any remaining Meepits would keep biting. But once they were off, she created a wave of energy that would push them away the way the mist had done to her - only this time, it was a mass of dark purple shadow, no longer the dazzling pale yellow light she was slowly becoming famous for. Kat had jumped down from Celestial's back, a gust of air buoying her as she landed. Just as the faerie Meepits were away from Ielle, Kat took their place, spinning her staff and creating a massive blast of sparkling purple fire. It met Ielle's shadow spell with a resounding boom, and both mages were forced backward. At that moment, Asthielle seemed to be...rising. Kat clutched her staff, ready for anything, but was astonished to see that the blonde wasn't moving - or couldn't move. "Who are you and what do you mean by all this?"Asthielle grinned, making no move to escape. She looked like a pirate who had been promised an endless supply of gold and other shinies to last a lifetime...or two. "The gem," she whispered so that only the dragon could hear. "All I want is the gem...besides, you have no use for it. If you let me go...I can tell you how to destroy it." While Asthielle was hovering overhead, Kat stared at the ship. It seemed to be behaving strangely, especially when it recoiled and hurled Bluisa off its deck. "Cap'n," she called out, "whether you want me to fix your ship or not, I'm ready. Will that thing spit me out too?" She paused, and added, "After all, it looks like I'll probably be needed here...to take care of something." Kat glanced up at Celestial, who still had Asthielle in her grip - or more appropriately, in the grip of the air currents she controlled. "Don't waste your time. She is mine to confront."
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Post by GW2 on Oct 15, 2008 15:53:08 GMT -5
Vyt((Near White Weewoo))Bluisa felt the mist did not want to accomodate her in its gaseous form, as it launched her in every direction. The mage had no choice but to return to her original form, but she was too late to recover from the last push. The right side of her body received harsh contact with the rocky ground as Bluisa skidded down. From that, Bluisa felt she was not welcomed. "But why?" she questioned herself, disbelief filling her entire mind. " I'm not evil! Why am I being rejected?!" she ended. The mage tried to convince her that it was her affiliation with the shadows that conflicted with the spell's purpose, but the magical mist might only just push away those with evil intentions, not with potentially dangerous magic. Struggling to stand, Bluisa glanced at the mist that was surrounding everyone else. "I'm no evil!" she repeated, her voice louder than before but keeping it as nice-sounding as possible. "This is madness!" * * * The appearance of PFA beside Cat Assassin did little to subdue the headache, as it continued to haunt the feline's mind. His screams of agony were stronger than ever. "The gem!" he barely let out, the constant struggling to fight the pain trying to hinder his chance to communicate. "It's attacking me for some sort!" Kwoiffei(( )) Something told Drakhé that he shouldn't be here.
He wasn't quite sure what it was, or why it was telling him this. It didn't even have a voice. All he knew was what was around him: the greyscale ballroom, and the ghostly dancers. Given how silvery they were, a black dragon guest would stand out sorely, especially with a white suit.
The dragon barely had time to finish his glass and place it on the table before a familiar hand took his.
"How long do you think I've been waiting, Drakhé?"
To him, it was unmistakable. That canine head with bat's ears, that grey-tipped lion's tail, that virtually white fur, those grey eyes, that low female voice... those wings of dark magic... they all added up to someone very important to him.
Kwoiffei led Drakhé into a slow waltz, easily passing through the other guests - after all, they were all spirits, even this other-than-human coupling.
"Kwoiffei..." The dragon whispered, feeling his face go red. "I... I don't think I... I..." There was a lump in his throat. Somehow, the words wouldn't come.
And then another hand took his - this one feeling much more alive. It was warm. It was solid. It was covered in the skin of a human being. And it had passed right through Kwoiffei as if she weren't there.
Drakhé looked at the chimera, but already she was vanishing. He whimpered.
"Come on, you silly ghost!"
The sound of that voice was unmistakable. He turned to look and saw—((Mage Manor: Drakhé's room)) WHUMP!That was the sound of Drakhé rolling off of his bed, still in yesterday's outfit, and landing on the floor. This jolt was enough to wake him up, and sure enough he groaned, opening his eyes and rubbing his face groggily. What... was that? Cyborg" Ok let's go then!" Cyborg shouted as he and Midknight jumped up and over the spacefleeter's heads and onto a tree nearby. " Ok now we have to wait for those two," Midknight said, " but we also need to keep moving to escape so what are we gonna do?" " We'll have to wait, but watch out cause unless all those fleeter's are blind they would have seen that." Cyborg replied. Meanwhile Hazel and the other squirrels had found the scent of the ocean and now headed towards the smell they all found heavenly. Keng"HOLD FIRE!" bellowed Keng again. "darn it CYBORG THERE YOU GO AGAIN! HAVE A LITTLE PATIENCE FOR THE LOVE OF THE SEA!" She was really loosing patience herself at this point. Surf((The guest room with Nature)) "Oh my god!" exclaimed Surf, jumping in surprise. "How'd you get in here? And do you know why there was a giant shiny out there a minute ago?” Strife((Mage Manor - Outskirts))Professor Amneiger had sent a transmission to Ethan asking about their current status of retrieving Leoness. "This is Ethan, yes, I heard Fraze's message. We're still heading for the manor. I can see it now, we're getting close." There was a pause. "Zari appears to have just been in pain, I'm not sure why. I'll check with her about it A.S.A.P."Cyclops remained nestled underneath Ethan's cloak. He felt concerned for Professor Zari, as she was the only person who could understand his telepathy at the moment. Without her, he'd have no way to communicate. "By the way," continued Ethan, "Do you know of any waterproof materials I might be able to wear under my clothes? Cyclops has a death grip on my back, and it's not the most pleasant sensation."Cyclops snorted amusingly. He climbed up from Ethan's back to take the pressure off it, and instead curled softly around his neck like a gooey scarf. If his body wasn't made of transparent slime, he would have looked rather cute at the moment. As Ethan caught up with Zari, she began to speak. "We need to recover Leoness. Hopefully without our names being asked for. All my ID cards except one have Identity she knows. She only knows my nickname. Maybe if I omit the chosen name and switch the two given names, and leave the clan name alone, I should be fine."Zari turned around. The manor was now clearly within eyesight, and she could see a figure in the distance that Cyclops didn't recognize. After looking for a moment with his eye, though, he could make an educated guess. That appears to be some kind of knighthood counterpart of Zari. Professor? he asked telepathically, tilting his eye socket in her direction. CelestialThe ship moved stragely and Celestial almost lost her spell's grip on Asthielle. She lfelt the ship rock from side to side as it seemed to be trying to get rid of Bluisa. Celestial couldn't concentrate on the spell with such rocking going on but at the same time she couldn't let Asthielle go. Still holding her hand out, she created a floating cushion of air for herself to stand on while the ship bucked like a mad creature. The fog curled around Bluisa and almost spat her out and away. Celestial twisted her neck in an draconix expression of confusion. The phoenix said something but the whoosh of air from the decending and dissipating cushion drowned it out for her. The air currents of the spell were still keeping Asthielle in her grip until the answer came. However, Ashtielle turned and whispered to Celestial. "The gem, all I want is the gem...besides, you have no use for it. If you let me go...I can tell you how to destroy it." she told Celestial. The reds, oranges and yellows in the Dragon Mage's eyes almost answered for her. "Destroying it would cause even greater suffering that what is happening now. It should be restored and returned to it's proper owner not some greedy moneyhogger." she snapped at Asthielle with barely disguised malice. "Don't waste your time. She is mine to confront." Kat said and Celestial smiled. "Anytime you wish to do so, I can lower her down" she said quite cheerily. For some reason, Celestial looked at the sky. The stars looked so beautiful up there. She wondered if maybe she could ressurect an old dragon ability that existed only in legend... A flash in the sky drew her attention. It was gone now but there was something not quite right about it. It was...metallic. Zylaa((The Weewoo formerly known as White: Deck))So. A bunch of people were trying to get on the ship. The dragon-girl, Kat, one of the shadow-girls, and a ninja... a ninja? Odd that Hunty let her through. But the ninja didn't come onto the ship, instead turning to walk along the clifftops. Celestial and Kat departed to fight a girl on the cliff, one that the mist also didn't wish to let in. And that shadow-girl attempted to get onto the cliff, but instead was hurled by the mist off into the water. Zylaa watched her skid down the cliff, and she raced to the railing overlooking where the girl had fallen. "I'm no evil!" the girl called, not sounding terribly offended by her slide down the cliffs. "This is madness!""Madness?" Zylaa called back. "This is the Weewoo!" She paused, considering the girl. "I don't think the mist only kicks out evil people, just people that aren't pirates," she continued, as mist curled up from the ship's railings and wrapped around her hands, feeling strangely warm and fluffy. "I've got no proof that you aren't evil, though, so I'll have to talk to the captain, sorry." She paused again. "Actually, last I saw you, it looked like our side was about to kill you. Care to explain?” PFA((Near Weewoo))"The gem?" PFA blinked in response to her Uncle. The gem was hurting him? Well, that was certainly a problem. How are we supposed to use the gem if it doesn't like us?As if on cue, Bluisa started shouting just then. "I'm no evil! This is madness!" So the gem thought they were evil? This was certainly... interesting. How could she convince the gem they weren't evil? She turned toward the no-longer-White Weewoo, squinting as Kat and the blonde's magic attacks collided with a rather spectacular effect. She had to do something. "Please, Mr. Gem, we don't mean any harm!" she called out, not really sure what else to say. Wait, is the gem even male? she thought silently. Maybe it's a female? Or has no gender?She shook the thoughts out of her head; it really didn't matter, unless the gem decided to be offended for being called the wrong gender or something. --- ((Forest: south of Dunburrow))"Okay, let's go then!" Cyborg exclaimed, as he and Midknight jumped into the nearest tree. Jernath sighed inwardly; he was expecting Cyborg to start insisting on carrying him. He was glad he didn't. Keng started shouting things, quite obviously on the very edge of her temper. So Jernath promptly pulled a flower from his cloak, handing it to her. "Happy Valentine's Day," he said with a smile. ((*dagger'd* x_o)) Not wanting to get too far behind the Kougra brothers, Jernath hopped into the tree and started climbing. He did his best to ignore the pain, as he made his way to the top branches where Cyborg and Midknight were. He didn't have supernatural jumping skills, so he had to take a slightly slower path up. Soon enough, though, he was up. Now just to wait for Rose. Huntress((The White Weewoo)) Huntress had to admit that this was getting pretty amusing, especially now that the trembling of the ship had almost ceased. She couldn't blame Leraye for getting a couch to watch the show; in fact, she would've liked a couch herself as there are plenty of more comfortable places to sit on than a ship's yard. But at this point she needed a good position, so she moved towards the end of the yard and closer to the land. She decided to leave Kat, Celestial, and the meepits to deal with the blonde and later talk to whoever would win the battle, in order to save time and energy, and instead focused on Bluisa. This was an interesting case. She'd felt the ship tremble under her, tremble like a mad horse, and then it'd sent the mage flying off like a pebble. And it hadn't wanted to let them in in the first place. Granted, now that everyone was outside the ship, the brigantine didn't seem to care any more, and reverted back to floating quietly. She listened to Sev's explanation, then Bluisa's and PFA's part, and a disbelieving smile slid over her face. Was everyone really playing their own game by their own rules here? Then again, should've expected that. Hunty stopped her move towards the land as she heared Kat call, "Cap'n, whether you want me to fix your ship or not, I'm ready. Will that thing spit me out too?"She smiled again, the disbelief more or less gone. So this was it. The demonologist had apparently really been onto something. Bit on the sad side, really, but might come in handy later on. "Dontcha worry about the ship!" she shouted back. "She's fixed. Does she look like she needs any more fixing? You just be so nice and get that blonde back to her senses, or squish her or dissolve her into atoms, whatever, either way, finish what you have going on there, then we'll see about the rest." She edged on again and got up, clinging to the lifts. Oh for the love of seagods, how did pirate tale heroes do that? You can't run back and forth on the yards, footropes were created for a reason. At least the black mist got her back, thickening around her feet. She focused her glance on Bluisa. "Yep, you do owe us an explanation," she said. "Like what exactly you did before you flew off so nicely. Saying that you mean no harm is nice and all, but actions speak louder than words." Cyborg" Rose get up here and stay here, and Jernath stay here Keng wants to talk and if anyone attacks me run!" Cyborg said as he jumped off the tree and landed near Keng. "Cyborg get back up here!!!!" Midknight shouted. " No, so Keng what do you want?" Cyborg asked. Back on the ranch (that means like meanwhile in a different location, I think), the squirrels had finally gotten out of the forest and started to look for ships. Vyt((Near White Weewoo))"Actually..." butted a female voice, one that Bluisa did not bother to turn to. "... last I saw you, it looked like our side was about to kill you. Care to explain?" Bluisa thought the voice mistook her for Subila, as she closed her eyes in disgust. "You don't know everything! The person you are talking about was not me... She's NOWHERE close to me..." Through the thick mist came another female voice. "Yep, you do owe us an explanation, like what exactly you did before you flew off so nicely. Saying that you mean no harm is nice and all, but actions speak louder than words," it said. Bluisa thought whoever spoke those words was referring to her. "... I... don't know!" she babbled, her own voice mixed with nervousness. She could feel the helplessness she was in: trying to get the gem and being stopped only by a ward of some sort. She kneeled down, her eyes getting teary again. "... Why can't the gem let me revive my friend..." she added. Bluisa tried shooting a glance at a direction, hoping she was facing the gem. "Please! Let me have you! My only wish is to revive someone whose death came prematurely!" she begged. At her state, the dark mage looked pitiful for having to beg for the gem to be used. Oh, how the mage wished she could make everyone around her understand. * * * Amidst his mentally chaotic state, Cat Assassin overheard the words from a familiar voice. Looking around, he saw a very strange figure facing the mist. He could not really tell... Was it Subila, or Bluisa? Though the feline was still being attacked by the same headache, he had no choice but to see for himself the real identification of the mage. Slowly, he crawled towards the mage, his right hand filled with focused energy. Whether Cat Assassin would use the energy to push the mage away or not was all up to him. Goosh((The Black Pearl Weewoo)) Goosh swayed on the deck of the Weewoo, eyeing the ship's rather extreme makeover. Ikkin and Zylaa had leapt into action, quickly talking with the Cap'n and shouting insults at random people, but Goosh had not been on the ship for a while and was getting his sea legs. The Weewoo was anchored next to a tall cliff face, and he could see people up there, moving frantically. Goosh stumbled over to Huntress. "Like what exactly you did before you flew off so nicely. Saying that you mean no harm is nice and all, but actions speak louder than words.""Speaking of which," Goosh said, waving his paw to indicate the people at the top of the cliff and the girl in the water, "There seems to be a lot of action going on. Either you or Rider has the gem, I assume, or else a lot of free time and much black paint." He gripped his cutlass. "But we can discuss this later. What are my orders?" CelestialOverlord's heart was touched by the plight of the mage and the fact that she was saddened by somehting which could bring her no relief. But he knew something that could. Slowly, he landed on her shoulder and weewooed gently, looking at her with honest and kind eyes. He entered her mind and placed this mesage, hoping that she would understand.
Don't be sad over something so fickle. The one close to you can be brought back without the gem but it woud require great sacrifice. he whispered in her mind. It was amazing how forgiving Weewoos were. RoseRose quickly jumped, almost missing the tree branch she reached out and grabbed another one. As she pulled herself up she muttered," I hate jumping, I can't jump to save my life!" Then she saw Cyborg jump down to hear Keng's demands, Rose was also eager to hear Keng's demands. So Rose took a seat on a sturdy looking branch and watched carefully. KengKeng calmed down considerably once Cyborg came down. Crazy loose cannon. "First of all, some sort of truce/alliance papers need to be signed and a statement has to be written declaring a formal apology and some fancy words about peace and prosperity and all that mushy stuff." began Keng. "Annnndd, " Keng looked at her communication device, "some sort of token needs to be exchanged on both sides as a sign of good will..." she looked through it some more, "and that's just about it. It's the conditions of the alliance/truce thing you'll want to know about mostly." Keng twiddled a dial and the screen presented itself for Cyborg's viewing. "With the declaration of the forming of an alliance all charges for acts against Spacefleet are dropped. The alliance puts the allied party in a position of symbiotic protection with Spacefleet; we help you, you help us. Basically we ask for help in defense you're supposed to lend a bit of aid in some way. This applies to defensive situations only and-" Keng looked up from the projected screen at the tall Kougra. Her insides still boiled in annoyance with his earlier actions and rampant nature, but she couldn't help but... she shook herself off."and you are allowed to decline under reasonable circumstances. It's unlikely for the most part that we would call on help, however we do have a history of-" she paused for a breath and found herself looking into his deep (brown?) eyes, "letting slip past histories. I'm proof of that." There was an odd pause in the air as if everything around them had fallen asleep. (As a matter of fact one of the marines who found law to be particularly boring actually had, but such are the tendencies of NPCs to be unhelpful.) Cyborg had been leaning in close to the screen to read it, then her looked over at Keng. She could feel his breath on her face they were so close. Their eyes looked into eachother's. She could see him searching her for deception and then...
before Keng knew what was happening the soft fur of the Kougra's muzzle was brushing against her face and their lips met, and they kissed. She wasn't sure if it was she or Cyborg who had made the move, but what did it matter? CyborgMidknight perched in the tree, saw his brother drop down to Keng and then the two of them begin to talk and then..... they kissed. " Cyborg what are you doing? She's the enemy!" Midknight yelled to his brother. He had been talking and then suddenly Keng began to kiss him and it seemed to go on forever, and oddly he didn't mind, that is until his brother yelled down to him. " She's not the enemy we might have another alliance forming." Cyborg replied. Meanwhile the squirrels had found the now Black Weewoo and had began to run across a bridge to get to it. PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Jernath's eyes widened as Cyborg actually jumped back down to speak with Keng. Midknight spoke the words he himself was about to say, so he decided to just silently watch as the two discussed. He got the shock of his life when the two kissed. The nerve of Cyborg, making his moves when Keng was still holding the flower Jernath had given her! He wanted to cry, for he had just been rejected by his true love......But instead he punched the narrator for writing that very OOC paragraph. x_o Oww. Stupid Valentines, messing up people's posts, he thought in annoyance. Proceeding to get back in character, he kept a wary eye on Keng, in case she were to suddenly attack Cyborg. With them being that close to each other, any sudden movements would be impossible to react to. RoseRose almost fell out of the tree, she was shocked, yet kinda expected it a little. Jernath and Midknight seemed to be taking it a little hard. "Well looks like we have a new alliance,"Rose said. "Bet Cyborg couldn't be happier," she added. Amneiger"Wait, what? No, my true love is in danger! Check for anything that might be an automatic defense, Zari might have gotten hit with something. And, uh, waterproof materials? I'm not sure..." Amneiger looked around the inside of Zari's shuttle. "Maybe there's a poncho in here, but I'd rather not touch anything without asking first." ((What? They were the ones who were making joke Valentine's posts first! =3)) Zari'Nope.' said Zari, the pain in her stomach making her cynical. 'It's a time-warped gender-bent Cupid on a diet. Of course it is. Surely, being #1 subcommander, Strife would have let you know this information?' (Then OOC Zari read Keng's post and started laughing. 'Oh my god, did I ever get suprised by that...but cute...very cute...youhavenowstarvedmeofbreathiproceedtodie.') -- At that current point in time, One of the Zari(Krahia)'s escaped emotion-creatures snickered at Cyborg and Keng. Mortals were just too funny for words. Silly things. She wondered if the Storychild would be intersted in this, since the female seemed to be wearing the attire of Storychilds...not clan. She racked her brains. Ah. Occupation. Nevermind, she'd tell Storychild later. Since while letting out her three messengers, Ailura had unknowingly released the entire contents of her book. Her emotions were running wild. ((Hence end Zari's valentines involvement. lol@ Keng, Cyborg and Jernath. Amnei's true love? XDDDDDDDDDDDD You unsalted flying circus maniacs, you.)) BaconBacon coughed to himself. "Okay... that was... unexpected..." He said as he went over the events in his mind. Cyborg and Keng try to kill each other, then they start talking, then they try to kill each other again, and then they started talking again, then Cyborg and crew try to escape, then Cyborg and Keng start talking again and then they kiss. That makes every sort of sense in the galaxy... oh, no, wait, maybe not. For no aparent reason he began to think about how hard it is to express sarcasm in a written medium such as an online forum. "Anyways, are the two of you quite done? We may need to contact the Commander if we have, indeed, made an alliance." Rikku((Mage Manor, Rikku’s subconscious [or is it? *spooky Christmas Carol music*])) “Wake …” “Shut up. I’m sleeping. I got up at six this morn … yesterday morning! I am not going to regain consciousness just yet, thank you very much!” “In case you hadn’t noticed, you arguing with me and being able to string a sentence together means you’re conscious.” The voice came from a faintly glowing and kind of familiar in a vague sort of way figure, who fitted all the criteria of a ghost and sounded a little peeved at that moment. Rikku yawned. She wasn’t entirely sure this was happening, but wished that it wasn’t, still feeling remarkably tired. “This is me we’re talking about. You never can tell. Once, I slept-walked, and ended up delivering a speech as a mayoral candidate.” She scratched the back of her head thoughtfully. “The scary thing was that I got quite a few votes … who are you, anyway?” The ghost’s voice took on a distinctly haughty air. “Don’t you recognize Charlie, your old business partner?” Rikku blinked. “… I’ve never run a business. And if I did, I would never work with someone named ‘Charlie’. It’s kind of an ethical thing.” Charlie stared at her, looking bemused, and then flipped through the papers on a semi-transparent clipboard. “You’re Ricky Dinfy, aren’t you?” “I’m Rikku Dianthe, and please don’t tell me you have problems with bureaucracy! You’re a ghost!” “Oh, so you think paperwork ends in the afterlife?” He flipped through his clipboard again. “Hey, you’re a necromancer! You ought to know these things!” “… Paperwork. In the afterworld.” “Mountains of the stuff. Burning lakes of it. A nightmare to categorize, too.” “O … kaay.” Rikku shrugged. “Alright, Mister Figment Of My Imagination, why are you here?” “Well, for Ricky it was to tell him to mend his miserly ways. I had notes and everything,” Charlie said, in a resigned sort of way. “Speech all prepared. Ah well. I am here to warn you …” He paused for dramatic effect, and Rikku stuck her tongue out at him. “Oi!” He regained his composure with a little effort. “If my notes are correct – and of course they always are – then I am here to warn you to stay away from a certain male who you have been paying a lot of attention to lately … I believe you know who I’m talking about?” “I don’t …” Rikku began, scowling, and then she stopped. Images flashed through her mind. A voice, so deep that the earth almost seemed to rumble in time, yet stuttering phrases with such charm … a flash of dark dragon wing, and dark wolf fur, and white eyes, seeming so shallow at first glance but then, so deep … “Are you talking about Drak –” Charlie interrupted her, not noticing the name she’d begun to say. “FRED!” he said triumphantly. “… The zombie?” Rikku said, surprised. “Yes! He seems to love you, but his heart is fickle and –” The necromancer stared, incredulous, and then burst out laughing. Charlie, looking offended, faded out of her vision, and she slipped back into her deep, dreamless sleep. Kat((Quite close to the not-so- White Weewoo)) "Destroying it would cause even greater suffering that what is happening now. It should be restored and returned to it's proper owner not some greedy moneyhogger.""You don't understand," hissed Asthielle, her fingers twitching expectantly, as though hoping for an opportunity to blast the dragon clutching her. "The gem is mine. Only I can control it..." "Anytime you wish to do so, I can lower her down.""Anytime now would be nice, thanks," Kat called back, her staff already glowing a dangerous purple. "You're better off helping PFA and Bluisa and everyone else." She then turned to Huntress, who had answered her previous question. "She's fixed. Does she look like she needs any more fixing? You just be so nice and get that blonde back to her senses, or squish her or dissolve her into atoms, whatever, either way, finish what you have going on there, then we'll see about the rest."Flashing the thumbs-up sign, Kat called back, "Sure, no problem. I'll let you know when I'm through here. But when you need me, you can always just send me a message. You know that, Cap'n." She twirled her staff, idly waiting for Celestial to drop Asthielle - that mage was perfectly capable of dealing with a fall, anyway, which meant that Kat's business just wasn't finished yet. She was done collapsing and having people fawn over her. Celestial((On and near The "White" Weewoo))[/color] "You don't understand, the gem is mine. Only I can control it..." Asthielle hissed and Celestial noticed the twitching of her fingers. The spell would have to be tightened. Before she could do so however, Kat spoke. "Anytime now would be nice, thanks, you're better off helping PFA and Bluisa and everyone else." she said and doubts entered Celestial's mind. Kat was right but at the same time, Asthielle was the much bigger fish to fry. In the end, Celestial knew what was duty and what was for her own pleasure. She began setting Asthielle down. "Be careful, ok. We will not be far if something goes ill." she smiled at Kat and ordered the air currents to unwrap before jumping off the ship's rail and shapeshifting into her Dragon form, flying up the sheer cliffs that surrounded the "White" Weewoo. She had to admit, the pirate captain was exceptionally skilled to drop anchor in such a good location. She flew over until she saw PFA and Bluisa with some sort of feline and Overlord on Bluisa's shoulder. She landed and shapeshifted back hoping not to scare the feline thought hsi wasn't easy with the draconic features of her power boost.Which was annoyingly useless so far. She looked at PFA and Bluisa and then back at the feline. There was something similar about them... "Is he the uncle you were talking about?" Celestial asked while she regarded him. There was something about him which didn't feel as if it should be there. Pain possibly? Nature"Nadure? Are you ogay?"Nature almost jumped at the sound of Omni's voice. Flashbacks of her horrible dream came back to her. And her mentor was involved. "I-it's horrible . . ." Nature stammered, cold sweat flowing down her light-green fur. "T-there was a war . . . lots of swords and magic and guns and stuff . . . blood . . . deaths . . . K-Kit killed Ikkin, Seline was burned down, Omni's head was chopped off, Hunty's hand was mutilated, the sun stopped shining, there was a blood-spattered moon . . . the NTWF! It was pure bloodshed . . ." She gulped. "No hope, no hope . . ." All of a sudden, to her great embarrassment, just in front of Omni and Surf, she broke down sobbing. ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ All that was left of the egg were little fragments of metallic-blue shell. The Elvish Dragon had hatched. Cyborg"Anyways, are the two of you quite done? We may need to contact the Commander if we have, indeed, made an alliance." " Ya I think so." Cyborg said as he stepped away from Keng looking embarrassed all those people saw what happened. " I guess it's a new alliance, but what about the squirrels?" Midknight asked. Speaking of the squirrels they had reached the Weewoo and began to look for any pirates they recognized. " Hunty, Rider, Goosh!?!" the squirrels hollered. RiderThe squirrels were talking. To top it all off, the squirrels were talking. "It's three in the morning. This has to be due to a lack of sleep or soemthing. I'm dreaming. I fell asleep and I'm dreaming about talking squirrels and transforming ships and Kat wanting to blow up a blonde mage. Crud." Rider called the faerie Meepits back. No need for them to get hit by a stray spell or something. Inwardly, she cursed magic. Too dangerous, too complicated. And Speck was out there caught in the middle of it. "Girls, I know I've asked a lot of you, but I'll have to ask one more thing. I want you to scour the countryside for Speck. I'll send a ground-based patrol," she summoned Nalia and Offsephious, and ushered Ventratta out of her pocket, "to aid you. May the wind be in your sails ladies, gentlemen. You three sisters will be paid time-and-a-half for this." The Magus Sisters stared. "Okay, double. Now go! And be careful!" And in a flittering of wings and a scampering of paws, they were off. CyborgHazel yelled at Rider, " Hello talking squirrels right here!!!! We're here to give you a message from Cyborg!!" All of the other squirrels started shouting for Goosh or Hunty. PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))So wait... the mercenaries were going to ally with Spacefleet now? Because of a... kiss? This chain of events still seemed just a little too strange to Jernath. "We can't be allied with both the pirates and those Spacefleet guys if they're fighting each other," he thought aloud. He then looked straight at Cyborg, who looked a bit embarrassed over the whole situation. "So who are we allied with?" Jernath called to the Kougra. "The pirates or Keng?" He wasn't going to move from the tree until he got the answer. If it was the pirates, he'd continue to the next tree. If it was Spacefleet, he'd hop back down. Either way, this was going to be interesting. --- ((Near Weewoo))"Is he the uncle you were talking about?" Celestial asked, looking over Cat Assassin. PFA nodded in response. "He says the gem's hurting him," she said simply. "Is there any way to get it to stop?" She was pretty sure Celestial didn't know the answer, but right then, PFA was desperate. She didn't want her Uncle to die because she couldn't do anything. That was... no. Cyborg" mI don't know we already sent the squirrels to the pirates, and Keng was a pirate, but now the possibility of a Spacefleet alliance sounds good too because of the numbers and power, plus the technology. We'll have to decide as a group." Cyborg said to mercenaries. " Personally I don't trust that werewolf. I say the pirates." Midknight declared. RoseAs Rose jumped out of the tree she said,"I think we all know what Cyborg wants," teasing him. She had landed right behind Cyborg and said, " I'll go with what the group decides, doesn't matter that much to me anyways." Bacon"So who are we allied with? The pirates or Keng?""'The Pirates or Keng'? Am I included in either of those groups?" Bacon asked Jernath with a raised eyebrow. He couldn't really see Jernath from this angle because too many branches were between them, but he raised his eyebrow anyways, out of habit. PFA((Near Weewoo))((...I gotta start paying more attention to posts. >_>;; Ahem.)) PFA suddenly noticed that her Uncle was crawling toward Bluisa, focussing energy in his hand. Her eyes widened, and she turned toward him, stepping away from Celestial. "Uncle, no!" she called, not even sure if he could hear her or not. "Don't hurt her; that's Bluisa!" --- ((Forest: south of Dunburrow))"Pirates," Jernath said simply. Like Midknight, he didn't really trust Spacefleet, what with the fight they had a few minutes ago. Who's to say they wouldn't attack the mercenaries while they were convinced they were allied? That, and if they were allied with Spacefleet, they'd have to fight the pirates, which Cyborg definitely wouldn't want to do. He had shown just earlier that he would defend the other pirates no matter what, and that had another Cyborg betrayal written all over it. Which Jernath really wasn't looking forward to. To Bacon he added, "Well, if we were both on Keng's side, we'd be on the same side, right?” Cyborg" Bacon obviously you're in the Keng group, but Jernath it's called the Spacefleet. And we know what I want do we? I wouldn't mind the Spacefleet if it weren't for the commander. And of course the pirates are friends of mine. So I don't know. I think I'd trust the pirates more than the spacfleet cause of the commander, but I trust Keng more than I trust most of the pirates considerring some of them thought I should be left on a deserted island. I'm saying I'll go with the 'fleet, but I'm not attacking any pirates." Cyborg said to the rest of the merc's. BaconBacon counted the vote in his head, "Uh, wait, thats... two for Pirates, one for Spacefleet with one abstention... that is, one person not voting." Looks like we lose, he thought. He carefully reached for his Stunner, wary if either side should start fighting again or, more likely, try to escape... RoseRose started to think, then said "actually I think I want to ally with the spacefleets sounds like more fun, but I'm with Cyborg on not attacking the pirates!" PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))"Jernath, it's called the Spacefleet.""Okay, Spacefleet, whatever," Jernath sighed, crossing his arms. He knew what it was called, he just decided not to say that. He was starting to think he should've, though. "I'm saying I'll go with the 'fleet, but I'm not attacking any pirates," Cyborg said. Exactly why we shouldn't ally with them, Jernath thought silently. As he reasoned before, that pretty much ensured that Cyborg would betray them again somewhere down the road, seeing as Spacefleet and the pirates seemed to be against each other. Rose spoke, stating which side sounded better to her. "So we've got two for Spacefleet and two for pirates," he said to no one in particular. That was a tie. Well, this is going well, he sighed inwardly. Vyt((Near White Weewoo))"Don't be sad over something so fickle..."Another voice appeared, now echoing inside Bluisa's mind. The dark mage almost jumped in surprise. Why would Bluisa not be sad if she could already feel helpless? She then noticed a Weewoo land on her shoulders, trying to comfort her from the depression she was having. "The one close to you can be brought back without the gem but it woud require great sacrifice."It was almost certain to Bluisa that it was the bird who was talking to her. She could remember it being around Celestial, way back in the Castle Kestrel. "What do YOU know about resurrecting?" Bluisa said, glancing at the avian on her shoulder. "It doesn't like you can do something about it..." she pessimistically continued. "Uncle, no!" Bluisa turned around as the voice of PFA caught her attention. She could see PFA trying to stop the crawling Cat Assassin from reaching her, and the mage could also notice focused energy in both his hands. Bluisa spoke nothing in response. Cat Assassin was just a feet near Bluisa when PFA mentioned something about the mage not being what he thought was. Immediately, the focused energy on his right hand turned blue, while that on his left reduced its size to that similar of a bean. The feline then reached for the mage's hand with his right hand, his red eyes gleaming with the moonlight. Upon contact with the focused energy, Bluisa could feel her stamina slowly regaining. The focused energy wasn't meant to hurt at all! In fact, the energy given to her was so great that she felt completely refreshed. ... Energy given to me?However, Bluisa widened her eyes in despair. Judging by the stamina she had just recovered, the mage thought it was too much on the part of the feline. She then looked closer and confirmed the worst. Cat Assassin was too fatigued to continue. He laid down. Unconscious. "CAT ASSASSIN!" Bluisa screamed in horror. With her energy recovered, she immediately attempted to carry Cat Assassin, but her frail body proved to be too light for the feline. Surf"Aww, It's okay, Nature, it was just a bad dream. Everything's okay, don't worry. C'mon, cheer up!" Surf smiled cheesily, and began to sing. "Grey skies are gonna clear up, put on a happy face! Brush off the clouds and cheer up, put on a happy face!" ((I'm sorry, I just had to go there. XD)) Celestial((The the "White Weewoo[/i]))[/color] "He says the gem's hurting him, is there any way to get it to stop?" PFA said. Celestial was about to reply when the feline started moving, blue energy in his hands. He was moving towards Bluisa. The dragom mage cursed and prepared her own enhanced fire energy for battle. PFA herself looked panicked and terrified. "Uncle, no! Don't hurt her; that's Bluisa!" she cried and ran towards the feline. At least that answered one question. However, the was no time for that. Bluisa could be in danger from her own uncle. However, the blue energy was harmless, nothing but to give Bluisa stamina. Celestial could see that she was less tired already. The feline however paled and fell down. Something was said in Dragontongue which certainly would have earned a bleeping on on any TV show in that language. She scolded herself: This was no time for foolish and stupid curses! Flying over to the feline's side, she put her hand on his head, willing her energy to flow and revive him. "Hold on" she whispered to him. "Don't think about the pain, focus on my voice and magic. Reach out for it for it can save you" "What do YOU know about resurrecting? It doesn't like you can do something about it..."[/b] the mage said to Overlord. He just blinked at her and smiled inside. "But I do know somebody who can and in her state, she could bring anybody back. But like I said, it would require a great sacrifice on your part. he whispered in her mind, hoping that she would figure out for herself what it was.[/color] Keng"Uh.... what makes you think we'd be attacking pirates?" asked Keng. None of Spacefleet yet knew about the gem's relation to the Demon issue accept for Strife, and even he didn't know that the pirates had taken the gem. For now she'd practically forgotten about the kiss already, this is partly because she couldn't quite yet believe it had actually happened. It had just sort of come out of nowhere. A few marines still had their jaws hanging open. Bacon"Well... The Commander was attacking that one pirate, although that could have been just an isolated incident." Bacon suggested, still not quite sure what had happened. Rider'We're here to give you a message from Cyborg!!""I was hoping you were a figment of my imagination," Rider groaned. "Okay, what's the message?" Meanwhile, the Meepits had decided to split up. The faeries took the clear areas while the ground patrol took to the woods. Insert time lapse here. PFA((Near Weewoo))PFA jumped when Uncle grabbed Bluisa's hand, but calmed down when she realized he wasn't attacking her, but rather giving him some of his energy. ...But then she realized that it wasn't really some of his energy that he was giving, when he suddenly collapsed. "CAT ASSASSIN!" Bluisa screamed, and at the same time PFA yelped, "UNCLE!" And then, Celestial flew over to Uncle's side, placing a hand on his forehead. She whispered something to him, too quiet for PFA to understand. PFA, concerned about her Uncle, walked slowly over to where Celestial was. "Is he... going to be alright?" --- ((Forest: south of Dunburrow))"Uh.... what makes you think we'd be attacking pirates?" asked Keng. Jernath was about to say something, but then he stopped to think about that. The pirate that Spacefleet was attacking was apparently possessed, which meant they didn't really have the choice to not attack her. That also meant that they weren't actually against the pirates... though that didn't mean they wouldn't be later on. Then again, it didn't mean they would, either. And then, Jernath had a thought. He hopped down from the branch he was perched on, ignoring the pain that came from doing so, and landed on one of the lower branches in the tree, where the Spacefleet could see him better. "Alright, if we're going to have an alliance here, then fine. But..." he paused to look over the crowd, "...You're going to have to make it worth my while." Jernath couldn't believe he didn't think of it earlier. He still didn't fully trust Spacefleet, and he had no idea what their objectives were, but... he was a mercenary. With enough of a reward, a mercenary could be convinced to do almost anything. Keng"Well if you're mercenaries of course you'll be payed if you actually do anything in this alliance other than just not attack us." Keng rolled her eyes as if this should have been obvious. "I mean I HAD been about to offer you a job before the whole fight thing broke out. Or more specifically been in the middle of doing so... I think... I can't remember if I was just thinking of doing so or if the proposition actually made it out of my mouth."
The Invisible Guild “Is that it?”
“There aren’t many massive castles in this general area, Trilby.” Marzia sighed. “I’d say that’s it.”
“No need to be condescending, I was just asking an innocent question.” You could almost hear the smirk in his voice.
“Trilby, ‘innocent’ isn’t in your vocabulary. And neither is ‘soap’, it would seem.”
“It’s funny, you’re always going on about how I don’t have my mind on the job, and now you’re wasting time on insults?”
“I –” Marzia started, his tone angry, but then he stopped and frowned. “What are Spacefleet doing here?”
“What?” Trilby looked around, and spotted them. “Maybe they want to destroy Castle Kestrel?” he suggested.
“No, I don’t think so. But Castle Kestrel has a strong strategic position, and it is a good base. Maybe they want to take over.” Marzia laughed quietly. “That Commander, ever power-hungry. It makes this all so … easy. ”
Trilby let Marzia have his gloat, and then coughed. “Tigereye’s there, too. And Sickle, and Oak.”
Marzia started and stared at his comrade. The ex-Knight was using all the normal stealth techniques, but Marzia and Trilby had come out at the top of a hill. They could see everything, and because of the phase-shifters, no one could see them. “Huh. Guess that means the Lord already knows most of what’s happening … saves us a report, anyway.”
“Any way to get out of standing in a room for two hours being quizzed by that paranoid –” Trilby began, but Marzia shushed him.
“Quiet! You never know who’s listening. Our tech’s great and all, but you’d be surprised how easily bugs can be slipped into joints and blaster ammo.” Marzia would know. He had almost single-handedly invented the phase-shifter, albeit using old Spacefleet technology. One of his eyes was bionic, and the rest of his senses were enhanced. “That’s why I only allow phase-shifters to be worn by me and anyone with me. I say it’s because the controls are complicated, but really it’s so I can make sure they’re not messed with.”
Trilby filed this under ‘useful information/blackmail’. “So I guess they’re here to stop Spacefleet?”
“Or to help them, and go against one of the other Guilds. Or to pretend to belong to one of the other Guilds and attack them, or side with the Knights then stab them in the back, or just go around making things explode. They aren’t exactly known for their subtlety.” Marzia’s contempt was easy to discern. “Guess we’d better help them, hmm?”
“Hello there.”
Tigereye immediately drew his sword and glanced around, but he saw nothing. Then he recognized the voice.
“Marzia, stop trying to mess with my head. It isn’t going to work.”
There came a laugh. “Oh, believe me, your head is messed up as it is.” Sickle and Oak, who had been lurking around behind Tigereye, turned to listen to the conversation. “Now, tell me what you plan on doing here.”
“Because of course, you want to be just as helpful as you can.” Tigereye drew his tattered brown cloak around him. It was already cold as it was, and Sickle’s presence did little to warm the air.
“But of course!” Marzia’s voice was earnest and sincere. “Anything I can do to please you, oh greatest of the Invisible Guild.” Scorn entered his voice. “Now, seeing you don’t seem to have answered my question, I repeat: What do you plan to do here?”
Tigereye gritted his teeth, but answered simply. “Cause chaos.”
Trilby shimmered into visibility next to Oak. “Good,” he said shortly, gripping his knife.
Marzia chose to remain unseen. “Then what are we waiting for?”
They sneaked into Castle Kestrel through the small scullery door. After that, there was nothing to do but wait.
Marzia smirked, holding his own modified blaster lightly in one hand. They could cause chaos all they wished; he’d done plenty of that here already, and wouldn’t want to get stuck in a rut.
The Spacefleet officers had to come from somewhere, and he had plenty of experience flying their ships. Causing chaos in Castle Kestrel was good, but causing chaos on the Spacefleet HQ was infinitely better. Cyborg" The message is Cyborg is looking to form an alliance with the pirates." Hazel said. Meanwhile Cyborg told Keng " Of course we wouldn`t attack and we`d do something, we aren`t totally lazy!" PFA((Forest: south of Dunburrow))Jernath smirked upon hearing the words "of course you'll be payed." Now they were getting somewhere. "Sounds good to me," he said once Keng had finished speaking. Cyborg spoke, and then Jernath continued. "So if we were to go with you, what would we be doing? And... how much would you be paying?” Kat((Near the not-so-White Weewoo)) "Be careful, ok. We will not be far if something goes ill.""Oh, don't worry, If I die, three entire guilds would kill me," said Kat, watching Asthielle drift down in front of her. The blonde's hands were twitching again; it was obvious that she had been waiting for an opportunity to cast a spell. And she took it instantly. Kat was blasted off her feet as a wave of darkness engulfed her, hurling her backward the way the ship had tossed Bluisa off it. She gasped, her staff clattering some distance away from her, and staggered back onto her feet to retrieve her weapon. But she didn't get her chance, as Asthielle sent a bolt of pale yellow lightning tinged with very dark purple headed her way, and she dived aside to avoid it, getting even farther away from her staff. Shoot, I have magic...why don't I fight back even without my staff? Kat asked herself, creating an amethyst fireball which she hurled at her opponent. But Asthielle, with a flick of her wrist, changed its course and made it head towards Celestial, PFA and Bluisa. "NO!" Clenching a fist, Kat made a wall of purple flames erupt in front of them, and as the fireball collided with it, everything disappeared in a puff of sparkling smoke. However, since the group was quite far, it had taken a lot of energy to make the wall, and Kat clutched her chest, breathing heavily as though she had ran a marathon - or two. But she kept on standing, determined not to fall this time. "Always the goody-goody hero, aren't you, Kalianne Triss?" Asthielle crooned mockingly. "Did it ever occur to you that I actually sent your spell towards them on purpose, so you would waste your magic protecting them?" With a snap of her fingers, Kat's staff rose from the ground, shuddering, and zoomed straight into Asthielle's other hand. "You may be a pyromaniac, but unfortunately, your knowledge of summoning spells is beneath mine." "But you can't kill with summoning alone!" "Oh, it's easy - when you know exactly what to summon!" Asthielle raised the staff high, and chanted strange words of sorcery that stung Kat's ears. With her left hand over her left ear, she freed the other hand to cast a spell. Meanwhile, the gem, wherever it was, began to quiver and twitch, itching to answer Asthielle's call. Strife((Dunburrow))Fraze turned to #4. "Sir, how many life signs would you say there are? Are any injured? I rather wonder if the castle had been attacked. If it was, whoever or whatever did it may still be there." He added quickly, "Though I doubt it would be much of a problem for us, it's still good to know.""Slow down, soldier," said #4. "According to my readings, there are several dozen lifeforms inside the castle. Considering its size, though, I would have expected it to be swarming with terrestrials. An attack on the castle may be the cause, as you have said." He turned to The Commander. "Sir, we should exercise extreme caution. If Fraze's predictions are true, we must be prepared for the worst." "That is why we will proceed with an infiltration," said The Commander. "A frontal assault isn't logical at this point. We must first secure our location in the heart of the castle, and tear them apart from the inside out. There can be no survivors." Subcommander #4's heart jumped. He had always been loyal to The Commander, but even he began to question the motives behind this attack, and more importantly, what it had to do with Spacefleet's primary mission. "But Sir, I thought we were trying to maintain peaceful relations with the terrestrials." "Open your eyes, Subcommander!" The Commander marched towards #4. "We are at war. Standard Spacefleet protocol only applies during times of peace. Under the current situation, I am obligated to do what is necessary to ensure the very survival of this planet." He paused for a moment, turned towards the castle, and stared up into the stormy sky. "This world needs us, just as much as we need it... and I will not stand by while these savages destroy everything we have worked so valiantly to accomplish. I will not stand by while th-" All of the sudden, The Commander felt his body begin to twitch, especially on the wrist that his Leech weapon was attached to. He began to hear the voice of a woman inside his head who was chanting some kind of sorcery spell. He immediately covered his ears, trying to drown out the chanting. The crystal inside the Leech started to vibrate, as though it was trying to break away from the weapon, but the more it did so, the more The Commander felt like his heart was being pulled out of his chest. What are you doing to me!? he thought to himself in an attempt to communicate to whoever was chanting the spell. Stop this immediately, you monster!"Sir!" shouted Subcommander #4. He immediately rushed towards his leader, but before he could do anything else, The Commander's strange symptoms faded as quickly as they came. Both the crystal and The Commander himself stopped vibrating. "Sir, are you okay?" #4 repeated. The Commander's mind and body calmed down. He took several deep breaths, but didn't say anything. What was that all about? What was the chanting he heard inside his head? Just when he thought he was growing stronger... Just when he thought he had things under control, something like this just had to happen. Once again, he felt like he was losing control of everything. At the same time, he knew he couldn't show weakness. Not now... especially in front of his officers. "I'm fine, Subcommander," he said sternly. "Get your equipment ready. Let's move.” Vyt((Near White Weewoo))
As much as Bluisa wanted to respond to what the Weewoo had just said, she was too nervous to react. Instead, the mage focused her attention on Cat Assassin, as he was tended by the dragoness she just confronted earlier.
Even with the distance so small between Bluisa and Celestial, the dark mage could not hear what the dragoness had just whispered in the feline's wide ears. However, by the way she touched his forehead with her own hand, Bluisa convinced herself that the dragoness did not mean any harm and was even trying to help.
((Afterlife))
Hmmm...
... I think I overdid it.
... I killed myself with the amount of energy I gave Bluisa...
... I'm so foolish...
Thinking that he was dead, Cat Assassin let himself feel lifeless. His body was floating for some reason, and because of that the feline convinced himself his life had just ended.
... Is this the afterlife? So silent... So gloomy...
"... Yes, this is."
Through the ears of Cat Assassin entered a voice he reckoned very familiar.
"... But it's not too shabby. Why don't you open your eyes? See for yourself, and do not be blind to what you can really see."
Indeed, Cat Assassin obeyed the command given to him, letting his red eyes regain his line of sight. The scene that met his eyes was not how he pictured out afterlife to be: a very colorful dimension without any floors, walls or ceilings. Right in the center was a figure of a person, someone who he was waiting for.
"... Vyt?"
No, he was much different. The cat ears and tail of his had disappeared, and his usual child-like personality was replaced by that of a matured person.
"Vyt... I have so many questions for you..."
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