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Post by BloodValkyrie on Apr 20, 2012 15:25:36 GMT -5
Racamgi Outskirt Wasteland Riz Ruins
The black sky was beautiful. There was an absence of clouds that allowed the many stars above to shine unhindered, illuminating the wasteland below. Pieces of street and ruins of buildings littered the land with an occasional skeleton. Once could definitely see that this particular area had once been a bustling metropolis, once filled with hundreds of thousands of people. But time was over. The tragedy that caused it scarred the planet forever and its people along with it.
But all was not lost. At this particular time, there was a small group of soldiers..."knights" if you will. They had traveled to this very city of ruins to slay a group of demons plotting to attack one of the few city-states still alive on the planet. Usually such a mission would be quick and easy.
Tonight...tonight was different.
A dark-skinned woman with black hair and bright green eyes flipped through the air, gracefully landing on the ground. Her feline ears twitching as she watched her opponent. A black beast charged at her, its flesh similar to rusted armor and its head the shape of a horned helmet. However, it had no face. Instead of that, it had a large gaping maw, filled with razor-sharp teeth littered with the blood if its most recent victim.
The catgirl's eyes briefly shifted to the body behind the demon. It wore bloodstained blue and white armor and slowly rolled on the ground holding his right arm. Said arm was bleeding profusely and it seemed the fallen knight did not have much time left. The attacker was mere feet from the catgirl now. She glared at the beast and dashed towards it, leaning to the left as she ran and avoiding its chomping mouth. Her azure katana pierced its chest and she pulled it out with her as she passed it, cutting through the demon's side.
She briefly looked behind her and saw the demon was freezing quickly, ice spreading from the cut and engulfing it. Taking this as a victory, she ran towards her now-still comrade, crouching down next to him and holding up his head.
"Johnson...come on, stay with me."
The knight looked up at his superior, his silver helmet cracked and revealing the left side of his face. He was a relatively young man, probably in his 20s, handsome, with a thin mustache and messy black hair.
"Ha...Major... You kill that thing?"
"...Yes. The demon is completely frozen. Now stop talking. You must save your strength."
"That's why...that's why we all think you're the nicest one, Major. Even when one of us...is, agh, messed up this bad...you still try to keep out hopes up."
"Johnson, stop. It's just an arm. We can get that fixed up no problem at the city. Just stay alive until First Lieutenant Kigan gets back."
The catgirl activated her earwig. "Kigan! Where are you?! Johnson's badly wounded and we lost track of Kowalski! However, the target is down."
Static could be heard for a brief moment before the voice of her ally and friend came on. "I'm on my way! Kasshu and Rei are with me and we'll be there within a few minutes! We're being met with some small resistance, so yeah."
Yarashii felt Johnson shuddered in her arm, noticing he was looking behind her. She looked behind and saw five wolf-like demons had appeared, their fur purple with red markings, while their entire head was a large mouth. She then looked ahead in front and saw four more had appeared.
Johnson laughed quietly. "That's fantastic, eh Major?"
"It'll be fine. I can handle them all."
To her surprise, the injured knight stood up, ripping a piece of cloth from his undershirt, now exposed from a large slash in his abdomen armor, and quickly tying it around his injured arm. "That should...keep me up for at least a few minutes."
The catgirl stood up as well, holding her blade tightly and glaring at the five beasts behind them. "You can't do anything in your condition. Stand back and let me handle them."
The knight shook his head, facing the other four demonic canines with his scimitar. "Probably, but I'm gonna die anyways. You know that. I know that. But I'm not gonna die lying down while one of my fellow knights fights a bunch of these damned things." He backed up, touching Yarashii's back with his.
"Just give the word, Major, and I'll attack when you do."
"......Very well. Who am I to deny someone's final wish?"
The two knights prepared to strike at the demons in moments.
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Post by Greed on Apr 20, 2012 19:49:52 GMT -5
Japan ~ Train
Yu Narukami sat quietly in the train back to his hometown, pondering the events of the previous few days in his head, and the farewell his friends had given him on the way out. In his own mind, he was already planning out ways to go back, spend his summer in Inaba with Yosuke, Yukiko, Chie, and the others. Naoto and Kanji would probably still be there as well... as for Rise, she had said she would be going back to show biz. And then...
Well, hopefully everything would stay quiet for awhile. Suddenly, in got darker in the cabin he was in.
"Ah... we're going through a tunnel." Yu closed his eyes, thinking back to all the shadows he helped his friend vanquish in the TV world, and where all that had led in the end.
"Well done, children of man!"
The last words the goddess Izanami had spoken to them. Some how, they were humbling, and the same time, they filled him with pride. Yu and his friends had prevented a goddess from clouding the world with the fog of deceit, and turning all the humans in it into shadows.
Dark. Suddenly, everything was dark.
"..." Yu raised his hand in front of his face. He couldn't see anything. All the lights in the train had gone out as well.
"... hello?" There hadn't exactly been a whole lot of people in his cabin, but now, no one answered. The only thing he could hear was the train still in motion. A bead of cold sweat formed on his head; it was suddenly very frigid in the cabin, as if all the heat had been sucked out of it. Yu shuddered slightly, shivering from the cold, and turned to look out the window.
The window was staring back at him.
"What the-!?" The highschooler was forced to raise his arm as the train barreled out of the train barreled out of the tunnel, emerging at a beautiful lakeside. Yu blinked, trying to sort through what he'd just seen... eyes? He surveyed the surroundings by the train as it barreled on through... a lakeside, with a mansion on a island. Mountains everywhere. What was going on? This wasn't the scenery he had seen-
*thump* *thump* *CRASH* *WHAM*
Something bounced across the roof of the train, drawing Yu's eyes away from the scenery... and just as soon as the train had exited the tunnel, it was back in. A void of staring eyes and darkness. Except this time, the trip didn't last.
Racamgi ~ Outskirt Wasteland - Above the Riz Ruins
Suddenly, Yu felt himself hurtling towards the back of the cabin. Instinctively, he grabbed one of the poles. A black, night sky rushed past the train outside, as it hurtled downwards. No. No way. This could not actually be happening. But it was. The train was hurtling through the air, presumably towards whatever ground that awaited below. And when it did, he would presumably be splattered all over the shattered inside of the train.
... No! He had to try to escape... and there was only one long shot, one way that ensured his survival. He had to summon a persona outside of the TV world.
"Seth!" Yu stretched his hand out, attempting to grasp the tarot card, but it burned, and fizzled out. Something was wrong.
"Lucifer!" He didn't come either. Why!? Why weren't his persona working!? Yu shook his head, and steeled himself for one more try. It seemed like he could summon persona in this place, but some didn't work for whatever reason. But this one would work, no matter what.
"Izanagi!" The tarot card shattered, and the ten foot tall swordsman was summoned. Yu didn't have time to think, only time to act. On his instinct, the large swordsman sliced through the roof of the train, kicking it off and grabbing Yu around the waist. Their cabin was almost vertical, and they were almost at ground level. Acting quickly, Izanagi sprung out of the cabin and in short order, landed on top of an old building. The train began to crash into the ground below, far from what appeared to be a battle going on below.
"That... was close." Yu muttered to himself, and then cursed as a train car smashed into the building behind him, causing the entire structure top start crumbling down into the street below as the train cars rained from the sky. The world around him looked ruined. It was similar to Magatsu Inaba, but it was more... real here. Yu didn't have the pleasure of dwelling on this fact; Izanagi had already grabbed him again, getting him away from the crumbling structure, rapidly trying to get him down to ground level again. Of course, none of this answered an important question to him.
Where the hell was he?
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Post by Advix on Apr 20, 2012 23:05:56 GMT -5
A beat. In the darkness, there was a beat. A steady beat could be heard, and felt. She could feel the beat. She could feel it in her chest, as if it was... The beat picked up in pace. It was beating a little faster now, and growing faster still. It was an odd little beat, but it was still growing faster, faster and louder. The beat pounded away, faster, faster, louder, louder, growing evermore persistent, evermore desperate, until she was yanked from the darkness, gasping for air.
She sat up, drenched in sweat as if jolted from a nightmare, but was that the case? She continued to gasp for air as if she had been submerged to her limits, and as she choked and gasped, it was all she could do to blink her eyes, over and over again. Something was wrong. She could... see?
As she caught her breath, she lifted her hand to see it, her half glove still on it. The other one? Yes, it was still there, too. She looked at her tough legs, her worn jeans with painted black flames still covering them. She wiggled her toes in her white and black sneakers. She grabbed her long and shaggy brown hair, held it to her face as if to confirm it was hers. She squeezed her breasts, felt her broad shoulders and thick arms, and the black jacket that covered them. She slid her hand down her pants to brush and pinch her... Yeah, she was all there. She could see and feel everything, smell her own sweat, hear her own breaths. It didn't make sense. None of it made sense. Had it all been a dream? But she could have sworn she had...
She checked her stomach. Her white T-shirt had a tear in it, and as she felt her toned abs, there was a large scar, as if she had been stabbed and burned. That wasn't there before. She reached to her left hip. The metal saya was still there, and she quickly found the tsuka of her weapon, and pulled her nodachi from it's four-foot saya. Something else was wrong. The resistance of blade-on-sheath ended MUCH too soon, and as she looked at her nodachi she could see that it was broken, snapped ten inches from the habaki.
So it wasn't a dream. The scar and her broken sword were proof. But then, what was she doing here, wherever she was? It was all wrong. Everything was wrong. She should have been dead. She was supposed to be dead. She held the grip of her broken friend to her forehead as she squeezed her bright green eyes closed, trying to understand what was going on.
Trying to make sense out of everything.
She was still alive. She was supposed to die, but she was still alive, she understood that. Where was she? Not home. She could tell she wasn't home, but she stood up anyway, and looked around the roof she was on, peering out into the desolate city ruins below. Parts of home where still as ruined as this, but no, this wasn't home. This wasn't the air she loved to breath. It was thinner. Weaker How did she get here? She remembered fighting with her pupil... She remembered bleeding. Yeah, that was how it was supposed to go. But... she couldn't figure out how she ended up wherever she was. It didn't FEEL like the afterlife, or at least, not how she would have imagined the afterlife to be. Everything was so...
"...So now what?" She was alive, not dead, and somewhere completely different from home. Then, to her surprise, there was a disturbance in the weak air, and a loud crash reverberated off the silent ruined buildings. It was something, so she might as well check it out. She turned in it's direction, stretched her tall, muscular body, and felt the air a little more closely. Yeah, she could still use it. She placed her broken blade in it's long saya, got a feel for the roof she was standing on and the air she was breathing, and started to run. She leaped from the tower's roof, sailing through the air, and as she reached the peak of her jump, she kicked off the air behind her, propelling her far enough to make it to the next roof below. She landed softly on it, softer than she should have as she barely kicked up dust. She felt the structure creak a little underneath her, but it held. She was tempted to see if she could survive falling down to the ruined street below, but she didn't trust the earth quite yet. She thought it safer to get down the long way. So she jumped and kicked her way from roof to roof, wondering what it was she had heard.
Or if someone was there.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Apr 20, 2012 23:49:07 GMT -5
Racamgi Outskirt Wasteland Riz Ruins
Johnson looked up at the sky, his single exposed eye widening. "..Major, I think-"
"Falling train carts. Yes, I'm aware."
One of the train carts then landed on the demonic canines in front of the catgirl, crushing them with a sickening crack. Red and purple smoke could be seen seeping out of the rubble as the dead creatures deteriorated. The Major let out a near-silent sigh of relief, then quickly moved in front of her subordinate.
"That was luck. Another cart landing on this group would be pushing it."
Johnson looked around the area, getting an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. Possibly related to his blood loss, but still. "Major, what's going on exactly?"
"There's a time and place for everything." She stepped to the side as one of the demon lunged at her, cutting it in half as it passed her; its frozen halves shattering on the ground.
"Right now, we need to just stay here until the First Lieutenant arrives. Falling train carts isn't that weird anyways, considering the world we live in."
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Post by Greed on Apr 21, 2012 0:13:57 GMT -5
Racamgi ~ Outskirt Wasteland - Riz Ruins
As Yu landed, jumping down from Izanagi's arms, the building collapsed behind him. Somewhere in the distance, the last train car fell with a dull crash. And again, there was little time for him to rest, because it looked like a battle was about to break out directly ahead of him. It was night, and he didn't have the best view, but Yu could just barely make out two humans and several... decidedly not-humans.
"... what are those things? They don't look like Shadows." They didn't have the same... vibrance of shadows. Their bodies moved like feral animals, and there was something else about them. Then again, he also didn't know the situation, or even if the two people fighting were friendly. He glanced back to Izanagi, standing silently behind him, and then looked straight ahead.
"Ziodyne." As he spoke, Izanagi raised its hand, and a large lightning bolt crashed down between the monsters with a deafening boom. He needed to get their attention to verify anything, and this was by and far the easiest method.
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Post by Advix on Apr 21, 2012 1:11:37 GMT -5
Lightning. For a moment she heard the crash of thunder and the flash of lightning in the distance down below. There weren't too many people who could use lightning back home. She continued to jump from roof to roof, even more curious now. Eventually, she leaped from a ruined apartment complex, and landed lightly to the ground, in spite of the incredible height and her apparently heavy frame. She could see two figures in the distance. Some guy, and a much, much taller guy. Who was floating. She ran in their direction, using the cracked road to push her strides further. The earth wasn't so bad after all. The air was a little weak, and the ground seemed somewhat desolate, but it was fairly solid, and absorbed and repelled her weight well enough. She was quickly growing closer, close enough for her to shout at them.
"HEY YOU GUYS OVER THERE!!!"
And as she shouted, she then realized that she could feel something else going on. Some sort of conflict. Maybe they could hear her, too. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Maybe the three of them could fight whatever was making a fuss further down the road. That could be fun. Or maybe those two would turn and attack her along with whatever else was around.
That could be fun, too.
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Post by Tokrochiru on Apr 21, 2012 1:46:28 GMT -5
Racamgi
People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually—from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint—it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly...timey-wimey....stuff.
Point is, it's fragile, and most importantly, it's not linear at all. It's a complicated thing.
And if time's a complicated thing, just think of how complicated dimensions must be.
The Doctor woke up with a splitting headache. The TARDIS was in complete disarray; the fylogonic synthesizer was out of place, antromatic polytazer was....nevermind, you get the point.
As soon as he could find the energy to stand, he got up, and checked where he was. The pressure outside the TARDIS seemed nothing unusual, and there was a large supply of oxygen. Worth taking a look at.
The Doctor made his way to the exit, and opened the door. He was subsequently greeted by a 7 foot tall canine, which proceeded to roar and spread alien dog spittle all over his face.
He decided to do the most sensible thing and slam the door in its face.
The Doctor wiped some sweat off of his brow and began to look. For what? He didn't know. Maybe something sharp.
He found something sharp on the underside of the TARDIS. A piece of broken equipment. Such good fortune, he thought.
The Doctor then proceeded to open the door once again and swiftly, accurately stab the giant wolf in the gums, causing it to run off in a whiny fit.
"Sorry!" he shouted as he watched the creature take off.
The Doctor stepped outside of his machine and surveyed his surroundings. Either it was night time, or there wasn't any sort of daylight on this world. The area wreaked of rank and death. Skeletons were piled in the streets, large skyscrapers looked like they had recently been torn asunder....
"Well, it looks I've arrived at some sort of Armegeddon," he said to himself. "But which one?"
A bolt of lightning struck a nearby area. Fascinating! The Doctor decided to move in to get a closer look. Probably not the most careful thing he could do at the moment, but hey! It was the best lead he had. Might as well follow it.
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A strike to the shin, a sweep to the leg, and then an elbow to the spine. That was all it took to put down the ape-like demon that thought itself worthy to combat him.
"Pathetic," he said to himself. "These demons are as weak as regular humans. People think the Earth will end at the hands of THESE things?"
Kazuya's vocal bashing of the local monsters was interrupted by a loud roar behind him. Another ape, this one likely 13 feet tall, attempted to swat him like a fly.
Kazuya dodged the strike swiftly, allowing its palm to slap the hard, concrete ground. He followed it up by punching its wrist, breaking its hand in the process. While the monster was busy wailing at the pain it was now experiencing, Kazuya landed a jumping uppercut on the ape's chin, knocking it out cold and sending fractures of its jawbone scattered all across the inside of its skull.
"Anything else feel like going to hell today? Hm!?"
Kazuya taunted nothing but the empty space surrounding him. It seemed that finally, all the nearby demons were disposed of. Good. His progress could no longer be halted.
Kazuya turned to move down the street when a bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from the sky, hitting a nearby area. It couldn't have been the weather. The sky was too clear. It had to be something else.
Mildly curious, Kazuya decided to move toward it and investigate. It was better than wandering aimlessly through this rubble-pile of a city.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Apr 21, 2012 13:53:13 GMT -5
Racamgi Outskirt Wasteland Riz Ruins
One of the demonic canines was struck with the lightning, dying and dissipating immediately. Yarashii took this opportunity to move forward and shatter another one with her ice-elemental blade. The final one looked at Yarashii, then at Yu and his Persona further away, and jumped away from the group before the catgirl's next strike could touch it. It landed several yards away and began howling. However, it wasn't beautiful like a normal wolf's. It was...distorted. Sickening.
Yarashii's eyes widened as she realized what it was doing. She wanted to run to it and quickly shut it up with a blade through the mouth, but she couldn't risk leaving Johnson to fend for himself. He was in no condition to do so. The major looked towards Yu and pointed at the demon.
"Hey!! Take that thing out with another lightning shot! NOW!!"
Meanwhile, Johnson's eyes moved around as he surveyed the area. He had faced these demons before. He knew why they howled and what was coming. He also knew that, even if one of the canines got the smallest part of a howl out, it would still be heard. It was pointless to try and stop it at this point.
All he could say was a quiet "Damn..."
Before the beast finished howling, loud footsteps could be heard. They were a fair distance away, but still approaching nonetheless.
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Post by Greed on Apr 21, 2012 14:21:02 GMT -5
Racamgi ~ Outskirt Wasteland - Riz Ruins
That howl was easily one of the creepier things Yu had heard in his life. There was some other woman yelling at him, but first things first; stopping that devil wolf... thing from howling.
Izanagi made a giant leap, landing directly in front of the wolf. Immediately, it shut its trap, and attempted to flee. The large, trench coat clad figure bent down, and grabbed the wolf by its neck. With one hard squeeze, the demonic canine's head flopped to the side, and the persona threw the carcass away, as Yu ran over to the pair. One was a woman with... cat ears? It earned little more than a raised eyebrow strangely enough. The other, a man, was badly wounded, and Yu didn't know if he could do anything to help him.
"... I don't suppose this would be a bad time to ask where I am, would it?" Izanagi returned from killing the wolf demon, standing directly behind Yu, its yellow eyes scanning this way and that. To a certain degree, the persona acted autonomously until Yu needed something done.
But now Yu heard the footsteps as well. He knew that they would be outnumbered and out-matched if they didn't have some sort of edge.
"Izanagi, Rakukaja, both of them!" At Yu's command, the persona casted a spell on both of them... it felt as though their bodies had suddenly become tougher, more resilient. Odds were, they were going to need it.
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Post by Advix on Apr 21, 2012 18:27:01 GMT -5
As the woman grew closer, she could sense two more people, one of which wasn't doing so well. Then those guys from before disappeared behind the corner of a building as something let out a howl, and promptly had the life choked out of it. Well, at least whoever they were seemed to be against whatever creatures she could feel, which was fine by her, they didn't feel like anything she could sync with. They gave off a sinister vibe, much unlike the four figures she could feel just around the corner. But then she stopped herself. Was this really a good idea? She didn't know anything about these people. But did she need to? They were bound to be better company than whatever creatures were on their way. And one of them felt hurt. He could die, and any death was better than being ripped apart by animals.
And she could help him.
But what if these guys weren't so great, either? Meh, she had made bad friends before. And she couldn't talk her way around demon things. Everything pointed toward helping these guys, so she darted around the corner, and turned her back to the kid and the big guy behind him, covering their 6. "Hey, you guys need any help? That one guy doesn't look so good." She gripped the long tsuka of her broken nodachi, as if ready to draw it. She didn't forget that it was broken, it simply didn't matter much to her. Sparks began to arc and dance across the saya at her hip.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Apr 21, 2012 21:38:06 GMT -5
Racamgi Outskirt Wasteland Riz Ruins
Yarashii sighed, her feline ears pointing downward, and looked at Yu. "Honestly, I'm not even sure what's going on with you. You don't look like you're from around here at all so I'm just going to assume you had something to do with that train falling."
Johnson noticed the tall woman with the sword show up and looked at his feline superior. "Major, we have another one."
"Bah, it's fine. They're here to help it seems, so I'm completely fine with this." She looked from Yu to the newcomer. "Listen up. We have something big headed this way. If you get hurt, stay back and let me handle it." The major wasn't trying to sound overconfident in her abilities. She just didn't want anyone else to die. Too many of their knights had been lost already.
The interior of a nearby supermarket exploded, showering the area with glass, cement, steel, and various other debris. The front of the building was blown apart by a powerful strike and a large black minotaur emerged. It looked about fifteen feet tall and its eye and veins glowed a bright purple. The beast held a large chunk of metal with a sharpened end and its eyes quickly darted towards the small group. It roared and charged.
Yarashii narrowed her eyes and held her bled tightly, the azure aura of it intensifying greatly. "Hey, new girl. Grab Johnson and get him out of the way. Kid with the floating spirit? Lightning the living crap out of that thing." It should have been obvious who this "Johnson" was since the only other people present were the catgirl, Yu and his Persona, and an injured man in armor with a severely messed up arm.
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Post by Greed on Apr 21, 2012 21:53:30 GMT -5
Racamgi ~ Outskirt Wasteland - Riz Ruins
"I didn't cause that crash. I was just a passenger." Yu spoke very matter-of-factly, as though the crash hadn't bothered him.... well, it was more like he couldn't let it both him.
And then a bigass minotaur popped in out of nowhere to say hello. Instinctively, Yu knew Izanagi was outmatched. But there was something that wasn't... the only problem was; would it answer his call?
"Switch." Izanagi nodded, and vanished, and a tarot card began to fall into his hand.
"Kohryu!" To Yu's relief, the persona did answer his call... and as always, it was magnificent to behold. A gleaming chinese dragon, with scales that looked as though they were made of gold, came into existence around the group. It was large enough to surround them several times, and its aura was comforting, protecting somehow. The dragon looked towards the charging minotaur, and a low, thunderous growl issued from its throat.
"Ziodyne!" As Yu gave the command, Kohryu followed. It was a similar attack to what Izanagi had used, but there was a good bit more OOMPH to it. Lightning arced down from the sky, and crashed into an intercept course with the minotaur.
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Post by Advix on Apr 21, 2012 22:11:52 GMT -5
The tall woman turned around as she was asked to help the injured "Johnson". She watched as "Kohryu" was summoned, and couldn't help but drop her shoulders.
"...Heh. 'New Girl.' Well, it looks like I'm back in grade school. Fantastic." She shrugged, as she made her way to the injured man, and without so much as a word, she quickly scooped him up in her arms. "Just hold on a bit." The tall woman jumped into the air, and as she reached the height of her jump, she kicked off the air below her, and repeated the process until she landed on a nearby roof. They landed lightly on the roof, and she lowered the man to his feet.
"Now before you say anything, lie flat on your back. I'm gonna work on your arm, and it needs some work. Alright?"
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Post by Tokrochiru on Apr 21, 2012 22:45:49 GMT -5
Quite the fight they were having.
The Doctor watched from a distance as the group fended off the minotaur. He would have jumped in to help if he had a weapon, or if the woman wasn't already tending to the injured man's wounds. For now, he had no place getting involved in this quarrel. He simply continued to observe, think, and take another bite out of his banana as the battle commenced....
...and apparently as a new player entered the field.
"Humans," he muttered to himself as he came into view of the group about to engage in battle with a demon. One seemed injured. He must have been extremely weak to have been injured by these things. Regardless, Kazuya needed information, and you can't interrogate a dead man.
Kazuya charged toward the minotaur. Lightning struck from the skies before he could reach it. Taking advantage of the blinding light caused by the lightning, Kazuya slipped underneath the monster and attempted to deliver an electrified spinning dragon punch to its jaw. If that lightning bolt didn't fry the creature, then Kazuya's blow should have at least give it a broken jaw, an electric jolt, and a massive headache.
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Post by Smash-Kun on Apr 22, 2012 3:15:46 GMT -5
Aurnion~ Terca Lumireis
Alone sitting in a grassy field, a young man with long purple hair looked upon the night sky. His gaze never wavered- not even for a moment. For what his eyes looked upon was an otherworldly calamity that hovered just above the world's atmosphere, slowly but surely feeding off of the world's energy. A woman with pink hair approached him from behind, bearing an expression of concern.
"It's almost time." she said.
"Yeah... I start to think about it, and... I can't sleep." the man responded, his peripherals still affixed on the sky.
"You get that way, too?" she said smiling, surprise present in her voice.
He looked back at the girl this time. "You say it like I'm made of steel or something."
The girl's emerald eyes drifted downs toward the space next to the man. "... Would you mind if I sat next to you?" she asked. He shook his head, and the girl politely knelt down beside him. The man's gaze went back up toward the sky above, themselves filled with determination. The pink haired woman looked at the man, and then to the same object he was staring at almost this entire time. "Tomorrow we fight that Adephagos*." she spoke finally.
"It's ironic that we're using Alexei's research to fight it." he replied, giving off a hint of sarcasm.
"If only he'd come up with another solution..." She lowered her head, showing pity for the deceased.
"Yeah. But he's made his choices. Nothing we can do about that."
"Choices..." she looked back to the young man. "You've always made your own choices, haven't you?"
"I always figured if anyone's gonna choose in my life, it might as well be me. And I won't find out if I made the right choices until the end." He answered her, laying back as he gazed at the moonlit calamity.
"But Yuri, that's wonderful... Making a choice sometimes can be so difficult."
Yuri closed his eyes, and smirked. "Hey, you've made choices on this journey too."
She shook her head, retaining her modesty. "I merely learned it from traveling with all of you. To live, means to make choices. And... to have the resolve to carry out those decisions, no matter how dire or hard they might be."
"I think that's kind of overdoing it a little." Yuri differed. "I mean, we've all went through and discovered a lot of things, but I think it's important to just, y'know... Be yourself. Enjoy life while you can, things like that."
"Yes. I feel like I'm here doing what I am because it is my choose- my wish." she agreed, smiling back at Yuri. "... I'm glad I came on this journey with you."
Yuri opened his eyes, turning his head to face her. "... Me too, Estelle." He got up at this point, and stood before the bountiful green rolling plains. "I like traveling. Lots of different people, lots of different experiences... I think I'll keep on going around, even after we finish the Adephagos."
"... And helping people in need, right?" Estelle asked him. Yuri chuckled in response. It was the same Estelle he'd always known- always holding those in need above all else.
Suddenly, a brilliant light shone from inside Aurnion. The citizens of this newly founded settlement awoke to a panic, and soon shouts and cries for help echoed throughout. Yuri and Estelle looked back, being alerted to the developing situation.
"Speaking of people in need." The young man remarked, grasping the strap on his scabbard. Estelle quickly picked herself up, and nodded back at Yuri.
"Let's go." she said simply.
_________________________________
Back at the village, people scurried around for help. The light radiated from a supposedly broken blastia- a stone that contained energy of Terca Lumireis. The energy that poured fourth from it was extremely dense; if a normal person were to so much as go near it, they would collapse under the weight of its immense power. Amidst the chaos, a knight with blond hair spotted the two from afar. That knight was Yuri's friend from childhood: Flynn Scifo.
"Yuri! Lady Estellise!" he cried out. "The blastia's out of control! If we don't do something quick, it's going to explode!"
Yuri grunted in frustration. "Dammit Flynn, I thought that thing was busted! Where's Rita!?"
"The mage from Aspio tried to disable the blastia, but the concentrated aer was too much for her! Your other friends evacuated her to the inn after she lost consciousness."
Yuri wore a look of discomfort, eying Flynn, and then the blastia gone berserk. Estelle bared concern for him, having knowledge of how he has reacted in situations not too unlike these.
"What do we do, Yuri?" She asked him, unsure of exactly how he'd answer.
"Well... We can't just stand around waiting for a miracle. If we can't stop it be deactivating it..." Yuri stated plainly. He ripped his blade from it's sheath, his resolution clear. "We're gonna have to destroy it." He quickly dashed toward the crystallized energy mass.
"Yuri, wait! It's dangerous!" Estelle cried, reaching after him. But it was too late.
Yuri had made considerable distance, and was about to strike it with all he had. All she could do is watch as he lept into the air, and as his cold steel collided with the blastia.Almost as a given, the stone grew all the more unstable, and its force battled against Yuri's. The light it gave off gradually shone even brighter upon the sword's impact. So much... it suddenly burst.
"YURI!!!"
~~
Racamgi~ Outskirt Wasteland
Yuri laid on the ground, seeming to have lost consciousness. His sword was implanted in the ground next to him. He slowly awoke, and looked up. He remembered what'd happened and how Estelle had reached out for him, but... the setting surrounding him wasn't that of Aurnion at all... In actuality, it was unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was desolate; devoid of all life. Damaged buildings and ravaged roads as far as the eye could see. Yuri got up, and dusted himself. It must of been one hell of a landing.
"Heh, it figures something like this would happen." He scoffed, pulling his blade from the ground, and back into it's scabbard. "Looks like this place is history, but... Wonder if someone's still around."
(*The Adephagos is an ancient calamity that feeds off of worlds' energy, until they decay into nothingness.)
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