FIR 15 History

==Log Dates==
===2.21.11 (continued)===
Splartch.
The Black 'min paused in slicing Infinites from the sky to peer over the side of the Gunzack, where another Infinite Spawn had just got its head slammed against the plating, splitting it open like a melon. Who else but Black Scythe climbed up over the corpse.
From atop a mountain of corpses.
That reached all the way up Gunzack's legs to the platforms on the upper body.
"Got enough bodies there, boss?"
Black Scythe himself was currently bleeding from multiple wounds. His wing was torn, a couple corpses were stuck to the spikes on his upper back, and there were numerous weapons sticking in him, out him, and through him. This did not appear to slow him down any.
"I was thinking maybe a few thousand more ought to do it," he growled, stomping past. His tails flicked irritably behind him, slinging thick blood everywhere.
"Incoming," the trooper noted, firing off his special skill, a scissor-like blast that bisected one of the incoming Infinite Spawn. The other one landed on Black Scythe's back and stabbed its lance through his throat.
There was a momentary pause, then the Black leader reached up with his left hand, grabbed the Infinite, and squeezed, popping him like a grape. Thick, gritty blood oozed between his fingers as he chucked the sack of meat to the side, yanked the lance from his throat, and then threw it into the sky, where it seamlessly went through one Infinite and impaled itself in another through brute force.
"Overkill isn't within your vocabulary, is it?" Scissor quipped.
"It is, I just prefer not to acknowledge it," Black Scythe grunted back, continuing his climb up to Gunzack's head.
2.23.11
My ideas been any help Ultra? Sorry if I wasn't... I don't know any more about that riddle than my guesses right there. On a side-note: it took me all of ten seconds after seeing the phrase to figure out that first bit.
~Matthew~
I continued progressing down after Willy. The terrain was very rocky and uneven. There were a lot of rocks that were loose, but being held down and in place by the plants. If the plants were gone, it would not have surprised me if the cave collapsed of its own accord.Meanwhile, the light-min was still fighting his way forward... more like running through the gauntlet by now, evading hungry plants. I had to strangle some plants back from him to keep him from being eaten at points. As strange as it will sound coming from something like myself, I didn't want him dying if I could help it; especially not him.We finally came to drop and the light-min darted down it, basically following the cave's contours. I followed him on down on the wall. He zipped around a plant on that tried to snap him up and I went right past its roots, which I could feel the life pulsing in. That hunger was starting to gnaw at me again... it was faint for the moment though.The light min encountered a pile-up of rocks that was blocking the way forward but plant roots and vines could be seen slowly but steadily removing the blockage.Willy sped up the process, violently blasting the pile out of the way, no doubt convinced I had retreated through the gaps in the rocks. Of course, I was still just behind him.
I followed him onwards and we entered a room that was half-collasped and bare of plant-life. The walls and ceiling were solid rock where it hadn't collasped and I imagined this room was bigger once but the cave-ins here and there had "shrunk" it down.Willy proceeded to soar about the room, hunting for me and I was unwise enough to follow him into the chamber at all. At one point, in attempting to find me, he expelled a blast of light in all directions.It had the effect he had probably been aiming for: I was blown out of the shadows.~Log Paused~
2.24.11
Runa Log
I had finally made it down onto the ground and that was after I shifted back to my old pikmin form. I hadn't seen any one in the vicinity and I was really good at finding anyone hiding and that included illusions and anything that had to deal with magic. I looked up towards the treetops and saw the sky beyond that. I let out a sigh exactly like a child. I had to keep this little persona up and so the voice just had to match. Of course it wasn't hard to have the voice changed to fit how old the body looks. I looked around again and walked off. I would just have to find some of the natives of this dimension and ask them if they saw anyone of Eronza's description. I, so, dearly miss her. It was with this thought that my walk turned into a mad dash across the forest floor. I was real good with keeping my form. No one would know that I was anything less than a simple pikmin in a cloak that hid most of her body from view. I had fooled all of my own kind with these forms many times over and so not even a kitsune could see that I was anything but what they called this creature. I think they were named pikmin or something along those lines.
End Log
She's in or at least somewhere around Awakening Woods. Kurt, if he spots her, wouldn't be able to see that she's a kitsune like him. All that he would see is that she was a pikmin of some sort....
Runa is very good at keeping her cover.
---
~Kurt (a hour or two after Runa's teleport)~
My ears, overly sensitive to sounds when things were silent, couldn't help waking me up from a nap I had just finally dropped into.
I silently grumbled about this just a bit... I had just gotten settled down and calm after getting so worked up like that...
I stretched where I was and then glanced around at the ground below for the source of the noise.
A single pikmin, who was a slight variety of colors, was trying to get through the brush and keep on the path (which wasn't very big and wouldn't have supported someone fat at all). This one had a pretty look to her I had to admit...
I watched her wander around the forest a bit... if she was looking for a way out, she would have already left I judged since she had been near the edge more than once already. That possibility eliminated, I figured she must be looking for someone or something.
I yawned quietly and, trying to ignore the slight noise she made every now and then, I settled back down.
~End Log~
Unless Runa tries to get his attention or she makes a big commotion of some sort, Kurt will just snooze his time away.
2.25.11
Kane log
Ahh, much better... we just finished eating our food back at Zankrieg, and have now been posted to search areas for any other colours. Right now, we are stationed at the Perplexing Pool and are searching to see if there are any coloured towns that we should be aware of.
End log.
Blue log
Pish pish, it seems like a bunch of brutish bullies have been sent here by someone to look for something! This can be great for target practice and amusement. I quickly hid up a nearby tree, and took aim at the leader of the group with my love bow and arrows.
End log.
Looks very nice. There's still stuff to be ironed out but as you've said: it's a work in progress (and I'm not talking about just the T.A.L. stuff).
~Matthew~
The light-min turned to face me as he saw where I was.
"Trying to sneak up on me were you?" he asked, ready to try and kill me. Swell...
"Hardly..." I grunted, still trying to shake off the stunning effect of the surprise-flash "I've merely been following you in."
This didn't please the guy any more than my presence.
"Alright, I wanna know: who are you? Really?"
I smirked...
"Funny... I don't recall properly introducing myself... but then again... I don't think I need any introduction... for you anyways." I managed to straighten up and get movement back. Again, Willy wasn't amused... least of all by my "skewing" statement.
"How about you give me some straight answers and tell me why you don't need to give your name, shadow?"
I twisted my neck around, working out remaining kinks and gave the light-min a bored look.
"I guess you wouldn't understand, but given our relationship, you should know me... only too well."
The light-min chewed on this mentally for a moment and then asked:
"Demetri?"
For reasons I didn't understand at the moment, this brought up a severe rage in me that was quite disporportionate. I later reflected that, since I knew Demetri was another shade, this was some natural rivalery in me. But that's beside the point; before I processed what I was doing, I had snarled:
"Don't you dare compare me to him!"
Also, I had taken up a very aggressive stance. Willy took this as a very clear sign I was about to wipe him from existence and took the initative to strike first.
I shadow-melded back into the ground and fled from the light that was flying my way.
I wasn't about to come this far in to retreat from the cave because this annoyance was chasing me so the only way for me to go was further down. I shot off down the cave, Willy in pursuit.
~End Log~
2.26.11
~Matthew~
Willy chased me going as fast as he could. Despite being a light-min, he couldn't go at the speed of light or I'd have been caught right away. I imagined he might be able to but that's beside the point.
He was shouting insults and other exclaimations at me that were clearly aimed to anger me and get me to fight him head-to-head. Once or twice, he actually did yell something about me against Demetri but I managed to ignore these and continue running.
He nearly tagged me at one point, knocking me out of the shadows and I continued running, now subject to plants attempting to eat me as well. I ran right up the wall and proceeded to run along the ceiling where quite a bit less could reach me.
Willy charged up a ball of light-energy to fire at me, but I decided to see if I couldn't get him to give up the chase. I did a sudden 180 on him and jumped off the ceiling and swiped at him. He had to cancel his charge to avoid my shadow claws and fired an array of lasers at me from his hands as I landed on the floor. Plants that had been trying to snap him out of the air were blown back and away.
I resumed my dash down the tunnel, evading the lasers and sprinting when I was in the clear from them. We came to a section of tunnel that was very rocky and sloped downwards steadily. The rocks shifted as I stepped on one and I found a layer of nectar, thickened with dust and dirt. I then noticed the shade underneath the rocks and decided to take cover under them again.
The light-min blasted my former location seconds later and I zipped down the tunnel.
We arrived at the bottom of the slope and there were the withered remains of a plant that had been crushed in a previous cave-in, of course, it was under rocks but a lot of the rocks had been lifted away by other plants.
I swept into a hole in its base that lead down. I then came out of the shadows and allowed gravity to lower me quickly.
A blast of light overhead indicated the furious light-min had violently destroyed the plant-remains and was still after me.
I landed in the chamber below and looked around. There was a tunnel that had a pile of rocks in front of it. It probably had been solid wall at one point but now...
Before I could head towards it though, the light-min "beamed" down and resolidified in my way.
"You're not going any further without getting past me." He declared, ready to fight.
I wasn't amused...
~End Log~
Runa Log
I stopped right in front of a creature that looked at me with its strange beady eyes. It was a red spotty thing with two legs. I dodged out of the way as it lunged towards me. It looked perplexed for a moment before turning and coming after me. I ran off giggling as this creature chased me. I hid behind a tree and waited a few moments before I looked around the tree to see the creature still standing there looking around. It spotted me and started walking around the tree. I dashed off again and it continued to follow. I bumped into the legs of another similar creature as the first and ran off before it could try eating me. I had two of these creatures chasing after me now. I turned around and ran towards them. I took a running leap onto one of their backs and off again. I took off running again. It was after awhile before I had a herd of these things following me. I giggled at the thought of all of them chasing me. They thought that I was prey. I giggled at the very thought of it. I once again used them as stepping stools as I turned to charge at them again.
I landed on the other side of the group and took off running. I jumped up to the first tree branch that I could see and landed perfectly on it. I turned around to look at all the creatures down there staring up at me. Some of them left while one just seemed to stick around for a little while longer and then left as well. I waited until all of them were gone until I jumped down and accidentally used some of my powers as I landed. I looked to my right to see that I had blown a huge hole into the trunk of the tree and the part above the hole was tilting dangerously. I decided to push the tree forward and it started its descent towards the ground.
"Timber!" I exclaimed with excitement as it hit the ground. *Thud!!!*
I giggled as it hit the ground. This was just so much fun. I looked around before setting off once again.
<Three Hours Later>
She definitely wasn't here after so many hours of searching and so I should be on my way out. There wasn't much more here to interest me. I walked off as I hoped that I would be out of this place soon.
<Two Hours Later>
I stopped as I smelled something close by. It wasn't Eronza but then who was it. I finally settled my eyes on what I smelled. It was some pikmin snoozing away above me. I giggled quietly as I climbed up the tree as silently as I can and then landed on the tree branch that the being was on. This being was facing away from me. I had a strange feeling that this pikmin was much more than I was seeing. I poked his head with a finger several times. I jumped back when he stirred a tiny bit and without realizing it, I had morphed back into my small kitsune form with one tail. He hadn't turned to face me yet or gotten up. I kept on poking him with just for fun and giggled every few seconds.
End Log
Runa is quite playful when she is in her kitsune form. If she notices someone sleeping or trying to sleep she's going to bother them by poking them endlessly until they wake up. She usually doesn't resort to violence unless she's really in danger. Runa does sense something is off around well, the sleeping figure (aka Kurt)...
If you want to change events around then go ahead be my guest but this log only really works with him sleeping or close to being asleep that it would take him awhile just to be somewhat awake to respond....
The tree that fell down was on the opposite side from where Kurt was.
The bulborbs were on the opposite side as well.
Kane log
*POING!* YOW! What was that? I think I might have been stung by something. Funny, I feel... kind of cuddly. "You know what..." I said, as I turned to my min. "Free hugs!" I said to them. They gave me several disturbed and confused glances at first, before deciding to hug me. "Bossu..." I heard one of the supervisors say. "Yes?" I asked, as I turned and she smacked me over the head with her megaphone, and I snapped out of it. "You are looking like a fool." She said. "Alright, what the heck was that? I wasn't acting like that on my own." I said, as I pondered about what just happened.
End log
Blue log
I giggled as I watched the leader try to give his min hugs, only to get conked by one of them. He seems confused about what happened. Hopefully they don't see me up here...
End log.
~Kurt~
Zzzzz... go away...zzzzz, shoo...
I was half-awake as someone was prodding me and giggling about it. I blearily mumbled a few things every now and then (like the above).
Finally she (with that giggle, it had to be a "she") prodded me once again and I convulsively got up. I turned to face the pest, who had quickly hopped back a foot or so. I was faced with another fox, like myself.
The two of us sat there a moment while I looked over my "alarm clock" and got my head back together from my nap.
...
I yawned and then commented:
"You're the pikmin that was going under this tree earlier, aren't you?" I asked. She looked surprised that I had identified her.
I gently raised a finger in a non-aggressive manner and traced certain parts of her body with the tip. I mumbled about a few points...
"Similar markings and body designs, same eyes... foxes can't avoid showing a certain appearance like that..." I pointed out, with a small smile.
"Impressive illusion I must say since I didn't see through it. Nonetheless, it just takes a bit of logic and knowledge to figure out who you are."
She blinked, stunned.
It was my turn to laugh, so I chuckled about it.
"Of course," I said, transforming into my own fox-form "it helps that I'm one myself."
I continued to chuckle, now about the still-stunned look on her face.
When I finally got ahold of myself and quit, I introduced myself.
"Name's Kurt by the way. I don't mean to be impolite. What, if I may ask, brings you here?" I said courteously, sitting up straight and looking directly at her.
~End Log~
Shadow, if there's any problem with how I did that, you can change events a bit.
Kurt can be a bit of gentleman/min when he's faced with a vixen of any age.
===2.27.11===
Runa
I stared at the finger tracing me from a distance and growled. I didn't care if it was a non-aggressive manner. I stopped growling stunned that he figured it out so quickly but then again the scent was off. I wasn't really stunned the second that I saw him transform back into his own fox-form. I still didn't trust him. I backed up and growled showing my teeth. I knew that he was a kitsune. I stopped with that activity as he introduce himself as Kurt (yes, he was definitely male considering that he had a male's voice). He asked me a question as well. I blinked as I stared at his fox-form. I knew who he was then, a kitsune like me, no; he seemed to have this dangerous scent about him that made me very uneasy.
His scent told me a few things as that he didn't seem to want to hurt me, he was friendly, and he was acting too calm despite my threatening growls. I looked back at my one tail that I had kept while staying in a childish/young form. I could just lay him off like any of the other kitsune back where I lived but he seemed nice and there was that face. I could say that he was a tiny bit handsome. I quickly got rid of those thoughts. I had to serve my master until she saw fit to let me go. I couldn't waste any time with strangers. His eyes seemed to tell me that I could trust him. I already felt like I could trust him but why did I trust him so soon after I met him. I wouldn't reveal much of anything to him.
"I don't know. I'm not familiar with this place. I cannot find mum" I whined in a child's voice.
I looked past him and saw his tail moving. I quickly ignored the tail as I wasn't going to get in trouble for biting down on another kitsune's tail. It was something that I did when I was a little too curious for my own good and nearly was killed by a fellow fox.
"Could you help me, Mister Kurt?" I begged giving him that look.
End Log
~Kurt~
I had to hold in more laughter as I could see one or two of her emotions flashing across her face. If I had it right, she was feeling a bit conflicted. Her growling and facial expression were rather at-odds with each other. That wasn't my intention but...
She claimed she was looking for her mom...
I had my doubts on that. Kitsune could detect each other fairly well (unless they were under heavy disguise and even then there was still a chance).
Nonetheless, I played along.
"Lost are you? I do suppose you haven't been seen in this area before so, I can't deny that you might be." I said thoughtfully.
She proceeded to ask if I had seen anyone else strange to the area (that is, wasn't normally around). I honestly answered "no". I then took the opportunity to offer:
"Perhaps I could help you search. I'll just tag along behind or along-side you at whatever distance is comfortable to you. Don't think I haven't noticed you don't really trust me." I finished with another soft chuckle as this last bit was quite obvious because of her growling.
She seemed uncertain at this point...
"Don't worry," I said "I take no offense at your mistrust and if you don't want me around... well, I'm content to just let you wander on your own. Your choice."
~End Log~
I'm guessing from Runa's log, Kurt's charmed her a bit (though she's trying to fight off that emotion).
---
<Project Strosek>
Silence again. Sand again. Strosek rolled over, uncomfortable on the dry sand, but it wasn't like he had anything else to lay on.
Why did he even really try? Was there any real point to continuing on? Or were the Book and EC-Divider forcing him to? Idly he wondered if they'd stop if he were dead, but discarded it; they'd likely just find someone else to torment. Better that he suffer through it, then. He'd never really thought himself a martyr, but apparently that's what he was.
"Hostile detected," the Book chimed. Here we go again, Strosek thought to himself. The blasts the Book fired ended with dull thuds rather than the typical explosions.
"Target undamaged. Preparing defensive measures," the Book declared. Strosek felt more than heard something impact against hastily-erected magical shields, and felt a few flecks of sand brush him. That immediately turned into intense pain when those flecks of sand burrowed straight through his skin like razor blades and came out of the side of him, like being pierced through by dozens of little needles. The Book erected a stronger shields just over his skin to prevent another assault like that.
"Please... just go away," the green 'min begged.
"... I'm afraid I can't just leave this. Not as long as you're on my turf," a grainy voice responded. Sounded like...
"Delta...?" Strosek ventured. He was answered only by the ground beneath his feet shifting tremendously, then all sound was blotted out as he was encased in a dome of sand, kept safe only by the Book's defenses.
"... Calculating proper response," the Book said after a moment. Strosek laid down and tried to get comfortable. He sure as hell wasn't escaping on his own.
________________
<Delta>
The brown Pikmin looked over the huge dome of sand he'd piled over the Green 'min. That'd hold him... for a while. He hoped. Delta pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in frustration.
"I thought as much," he growled, then sat down atop the dome to wait. Omicron had some explaining to do.
---
Runa Log
I calmed down and sat down looking at him. I knew what he was thinking based on his expression on his face that he doubted that I was looking for my mom. I asked him if he had seen someone strange in the area and he answered no. I perked my head up as he made his offer. I was at a complete loss but I didn't show it. I know that I had to trust someone in this foreign dimension and might have well been with a fellow kitsune. I looked down at the ground below the tree branch and then looked back at him. I looked around trying to find which way was north.
"Foreign dimension...screwed up big time with the jump" I mumbled too quietly for most beings to hear and probably even too low for anyone with very sensitive ears.
Kurt asked me what I was mumbling about.
"Maybe I should tag along with you since it would take too long on my own to search this world. Unknown area. Mum doesn't want herself to be sensed right now" I answered quickly as I caught the cloak that I was wearing earlier with a paw just as it was blowing by.
I brought the cloak down.
"Name's Runa" I said introducing myself as I kept hanging onto the cloak with my paw.
It looked a little big on me but well I had my answer for that too.
"My mum gave me her spare cloak" I explained as I looked past Kurt. "Now lead on, mister."
End Log
Yeah, Runa does have a tiny bit of feelings for Kurt but she cannot pursue any personal objectives. It's because she's very obedient to Eronza and anything that gets in the way of completing their objective is annoying. I bet that you already made the connection that "mum" is Eronza.
Uh-huh. It's kinda obvious Runa would refer to Eronza as "mum" in an undercover sense.
As for Kurt's own feelings (just an FYI), he does like Runa but not in a loving sense. He just has a sense of compassion and he does think she looks pretty.
~Kurt~
I had noticed during our conversation, her eyes had followed my tail though she tore her eyes away a moment later, likely trying to keep focused. I kept my face as straight as I could... she could be quite young. I didn't have any idea of how many tails she actually had so I had no indication of her age thus far. But if she was tempted to try clamping down on my tail, that would indicate her being rather young. I'd had more than one little scamp kitsune bite my tail or tails before. I usually just gave them a gentle cuffing over the head with the tail afterwards... but with this vixen's distrustful attitude, doing that (if she caved) would likely make her run or counter-attack.
She caught that cloak of hers, then told me to lead on.
She did give her name first though before we went. Runa... hmmm...
I got up, stretched a bit more, and walked to the end of the branch, before leaping silently to another tree and proceeding from there, through the forest at her pace, looking for anyone she recognized.
I took the time meanwhile to think over how I should react if she did get interested my tail like that...
~End Log~
The fact that she's tempted (whether by curiousity or otherwise) to bite his tail is the one thing that is really convincing Kurt that she's young. He takes this behavior in stride (being used to it by now after at least five experiences) and reacts gently (though not neccessarily without a bit of violence).
By the way, Runa also seems primarilly cautious because of a "dangerous" aura about Kurt. Don't mind filling me in on that? Is it just the power he's hiding?
2.28.11
Blue log
I giggled as the leader stomped around wondering about what happened, until... uh oh. "GRAH!!!! I don't understand it!" I heard him say, as he stopped towards this tree. "Maybe if I take some of my anger out on this tree, I will feel better." He said, as he started bashing the tree I was on. I tried to balance for a few seconds, before I tripped. "WWAAAGGGHHH!" I screamed, as I flailed in midair for a few seconds before falling. "What the-" I heard the leader say, as I landed on him. *CRASH!* "OOF!" He said, as he pulled himself out from under me. "Who are you?" He said, as his min arrived and stared at me, angrily. "Um, err..." I said. "BLAH!" I yelled, as I started firing love arrows at him like a maniac... and none of them hit him. "Uh, try aiming?" He said, as he turned to his min. "Right, turn this tin can-" He stopped as he saw that his min had hearts in their eyes and were smiling at him suggestively. "Bossu, bossu!" They cheered, as they started stepping towards him. "Oh..." He said, as he ran away, and they stampeded after him. "AAHHH! I want to be hugged, not flattened like a pancake!" He yelled, as I giggled in amusement and headed towards the Wistful Wild. I don't want to be around when those maniacs snap out of it.
End log.
~Rahu~
Another day had gone by and the leaders were still deliberating about where to strike next.
I decided to take the time to go investigate the area I had had a run-in with that unknown ripmin attacker. Of course, I brought along someone else [nameless] just to be safe.
After some looking around, I noticed something very vague hiding at a distance from me. I barely saw it in the shade but I darted at it immediately. I crashed through the bush and attempted to pounce on whatever it was.
However I tackled nothing but shrubbery and the entity took off at high-speed.
"Not this time... not losing me this time..." I muttered and gave chase, sprinting as fast I could possibly push myself.
After several seconds of pursuit that covered several yards of ground fast, someone who was undeniably a ripmin attempted to intercept my course. As fast as we were moving, my attacker's strike wasn't entirely accurate and though I was hit, the blow was a mere graze and I slowed perhaps for a second but I was going full speed again in no time.
I heard the attacker proceeding to chase me in turn. No turning back... I was sandwiched between two... one a ripmin... the other only possibly (although given their speed, likely) one as well.
A minute more and I was starting to slow as the high-speed of the pursuit became too much for me to continue. This was going to be trouble...
I changed directions and turned about a nearby tree. My pursuer didn't react fast enough and I came around just behind them and came down on them.
*Crash*
We tumbled and when I was I going to be pinned under them, I kicked up over my head, shoving my quarry over my head and I flipped onto my feet too.
I whipped around, my tail raised to fend off any immediate attacks as I turned to face them.
This was a different ripmin... the body proportions were clearly different as this female ripmin was clearly bigger than me, likely only a little older than myself.
She attemped to bull-rush me to knock me down but I stood my ground as she hit. She wasn't as strong as I had expected, as she didn't even shift me slightly. I had overestamated this one's power.
I was about to counter-attack and end this fight very quickly when someone snarled at me and I was knocked sideways!
"No one takes the life of my tribesmin as long as I'm alive!"
The attack was quite powerful and I was slashed in several spots. I guessed though that the new combatant's evident rage had taken from their accuracy as the majority of the wounds weren't fatal.
~Rahu (Continued)~
"Didn't I tell you only observe and learn? Go!" The black ripmin ordered the other. The other ripmin recoiled as the harsh look the black pikmin was giving her before retreating.
She then turned her attention on me as I was getting up.
"Alright then, you want tangle with someone: try me." she growled at me, menace in her tones.
I had no real idea of this one's abilities but considering I was sure she was the same one I had chased a day or two back, I was sure I was likely outmatched.
It then occured to me that she had come from the direction I had been running in... she was also the one I'd been chasing just now too.
She didn't attack, somewhat to my surprise, but stood there, evidently waiting for me to attack.
She spoke up when neither of us acted:
"Lucky for you, I couldn't attack you as effectively with my companion in the way."
I blinked... if this was an attempt to intimidate me... I was afraid to say that it was working. I worked my nerves down and responded:
"Who are you and why are you spying?"
A shadow of smirk twitched on my opponent's face but it was barely there and was gone immediately.
"You're brave, I'll give you that. Name's Ritzoa if you must know. As for why I've been spying... I'd think that the fact that a war is going is obvious. I am merely keeping an eye on one of the largest armies on behalf of my tribe. If you get back alive, which I am willing to allow, do tell Zaliss that the Terrorclaws are keeping on eye on his progress in this war. We have no desire to fight but we will defend ourselves."
I wasn't sure if Zaliss even knew anything about this particular tribe... if it was a minor tribe, he might have considered it beneath notice... I didn't know Zaliss so I couldn't be sure of anything.
Ritzoa backed away and then seemed to just vanish in the brush.
As for me... I started on my way back towards home base... I was ready for anything to come at me...
~End Log~
Whether Zaliss knows much or anything about Ritzoa is up to you Shadow... although I will demand that he (and anyone else) is unsure of the tribe's leader.
3.2.11
Malice Log
I dodged out of the way just as it zoomed past me. I looked behind me to see that it was turning slowly but when it finally gained momentum it was incredibly fast. I had to use the surrounding area to kill it. I looked up to see nothing of much use and then looked around for something. It was then that I noticed a few black spheres here and there but out at the corners of my eye. I couldn't see them directly which meant that I had to use my skill rather than my power to knock that statue into one of them. I dodged out of the way again just as it swiped at me coming by. I counted down from five and then dodged again and smiled. I had this thing's charging strategy down. I would just have to use it.
The only bad thing is that it seemed like this statue seemed to shift positions each time it slowed down at the other end of the arena. It meant that within the five second it does all of this plus that. I ducked as it passed by with a stone sword stuck in its hand. Yep, it was getting an idea of how to kill me. I waited and looked around as I got back up to see that it was charging straight for me. I stood there and grabbed onto the blade just as the statue got within reaching range. I jumped into the air and pulled the statue up into the air with me. I gripped the blade even harder and then turned the statue around into a spin around me. I looked out of the corner of my eye as I looked for one of the black spheres from the corner of my eye. I threw the statue just as the statue was by the black sphere at least in my vision.
I watched as the statue flew through the air and collided with the black sphere. The sphere exploded and the statue came out relatively unharmed except that half of its right wing was blown off. I dodged out of the way as it shot towards me but now it seemed like it was going even faster now. This meant that I had less time to dodge. I was suddenly struck from behind and as I hit the ground hard, I saw the statue fly past me from an entirely different direction. The darn thing was warping itself around the battlefield after each charge. I dodged to the left barely avoiding its next blow. I looked to my right seeing it come right for me. I grabbed onto the statue and threw it towards another one of the black spheres. It collided into the black sphere. It was the same as before with the explosion and this time, a half of the left wing was gone. I was about to move out of the way just when lasers shot through my right wing. I clenched my teeth in pain and that little distraction allowed for the statue to stab its sword into my other wing. I grabbed a hold of the blade and without a second thought; I tossed the statue up into the sky. I heard a resounding explosion from above. I looked upwards to see the smoke clear away and see that half of the statue was now missing. *Buzz.*
I looked around me to see several saw-like blades pop out of the ground and started moving around and I saw strange black lines in the air around. I growled as I realized what they were. Those lines separated everything from within their boundaries from everything outside. It also meant that I couldn't escape and had a much smaller room to dodge or even throw the statue. I still had to fight on. I held out my hand and started to manipulate the demonic energy covering my body forming thousands of tiny tentacles and I started to let even more of my energy out to make sure that I could use this to my advantage.
The demonic energy shifted around me and those tiny tentacles became solid darkish red tentacles. I grinned as I immediately sensed the statue's approach. Three hundred of my tiny tentacles shot out and wrapped themselves around the statue. I tossed the statue this time with no problem at all at high speeds directly into two of the black spheres at once. Twin explosions occurred and I smiled as I saw only that the head of the statue was alive. I took a step back as lasers were coming out every direction possible. I had to finish this off now. I jumped upwards and beat my wings going at incredible speeds.
I grabbed the floating head that remained of the statue with my claw and pushed it into a black sphere that I saw from the corner of my eye earlier. I dropped back just before the explosion occurred. I landed back down and barely touched the invisible barrier. I felt a tremendous amount of pain rushed through my body as if I was being shocked by merely touching that space-time barrier. The barrier disappeared but I had this sudden sense of foreboding like that the statue wasn't finished off just yet and I was right. I dodged out of the way just as I heard a hissing sound. Something had shot a laser down from the sky. I looked up to see only the stone eyes remaining. I fired off a demonic energy ball straight at the eyes. The floating eyes were sent even higher up into the sky and spinning at the same time.
I took this chance to run over to my axe. I placed my hand on it and started to pull on it. The axe wouldn't budge and so I applied more of my strength into pulling it out of the offending pedestal. I was just about at my limit with my strength when it slowly started to be pulled out. I continued at it with one hand as I had done before. The axe finally came free and I swung it across the air causing a tremendous amount of energy to be released all at once. I looked upwards to see the pair of eyes hit directly by the crimson energy and before I knew what happened, an explosion happened. I smiled as the smoke cleared to reveal nothing was left. I held the axe up high and grinned.
"This world will feel my wrath!" I exclaimed evilly as I held the axe up high (still with one hand).
I, within a few moments, moved the axe with an expert's grace until the flat side of the axe was resting against my shoulder. This axe wouldn't leave my side again. No one would be able to take it from me. I had filled a void that was there when I took on my second form. The shell that was a part of me during my first form seemingly stared at me.
I walked over to the edge of the tower and looked down. I tossed my axe into the open air in front of me and watched it starts its plummet towards the ground. I grinned as I turned around, closed my eyes, tilted my feet backwards, and soon found myself falling. The shell followed me as well. The solidified energy turned back into energy once again and my grin became even bigger.
"It's time to go a slaying!"
End Log
3.4.11
Zaliss Log
I had recovered fully from my last battle and I was mostly bedridden due to the aftereffects that I suffered from both the black magic that I was hit by and the white magic that I used. The whole being bedridden part is not a pleasant experience since almost everyone in the combined tribe had tried to kill me at least once. Yeah, I didn't get much sleep at all. All of those new guys from the darkeye tribe have been successfully assimilated into our tribe and were taught to see me as their leader. There were still some close calls though like last night. One of them got very close at killing me. I had gotten rid of any remaining doubts about whether I was the right leader for such a large tribe by putting the head of that ripmin on a pole just to show them who was boss. I even talked to them for a little bit and showed off a bit of my new found power while being carefully being guarded by two most trusted guards.
I was currently in a meeting with several ripmin who were quite sharp with both strategy and tactics. I had comprised this entire council of ripmin from all the different tribes that had been assimilated into this one. All of them got to have their say but I had the final say. I sat there watching them talking amongst themselves. The current meeting was the general strategy against the last major tribe and its current leader Ryuzu Wisetalon. It seemed that hardly anyone knew much of this ripmin leader at all. The only known fact was that it was a female ripmin and the name. I would have to be able to change my tactics on the fly as this last leader was probably one of the smartest of our kind. I had no doubt in my mind that I would be fighting against much greater odds then what I had been fighting against before.
I had sent a group of sentinels out today to scout out the lands to the northeast and another group to the northwest. I needed to know the landscape better and hopefully how many ripmin that the last major tribe had specifically. I listened to the conversations taking place around me after being lost in my thoughts for the last few minutes. I smiled as I heard one of the ripmin speaking up. She was a great tactical mind and was a former tribe leader. I smiled at her comment of what we should do when we faced off against the last major tribe. I listened keenly to what she said. Her previous words indicated that she had much more knowledge about this last tribe leader than the others here.
"...Ryuzu isn't known to be violent or have a certain blood lust like other tribe leaders have. She's calm and resolved in battle. She's known for using a variety of different tactics that look like they shouldn't work at all but she can pull them off at any point. She is descended from a ripmin who once had united our kind together in the past. Her tribe is by far the largest and even without knowing the exact numbers, her tribe still outnumbers us" she explained knowingly. "It's best that we try to outsmart her or if possible come to an agreement. Her tribe will win any battle against us in the long run since she has the numbers to do it."
I nodded in agreement and the other ripmin here in this council were still wary.
"I don't think we need to outsmart her. We just need to beat her at her game, psyche her out, and then shatter her tribe's will to fight. There's more than one way to win in a fight and I think that's the best possible solution" a green scaled ripmin pointed out coolly. "It's not about the numbers but how you mess with the moral of the other tribe."
"That's a bit underhanded way of dealing with the enemy and isn't honorable at all. I'd rather kill them and have their blood on my talons. We should be able to use brute force and strike at the place where they are' weakest" another ripmin said viciously. "It's a way to stop the enemy from backing up and getting into a more favorable position."
"Thanks for your opinion, Seran. Thanks for everyone's opinions on how to do this. I think we should follow the female ripmin's idea but we should implement multiple plans against this final tribe. All the minor tribes that are still resisting will join us once we take over the last major tribe" I replied with a calm look on my face. "There's going to be a lot to work out over the next few days but I say that we will be moving out tomorrow. The last tribe is just past a few hills and fields. We should go around the last field as the last one is too dangerous."
I walked off just as the others were beginning to leave as well. Each council member didn't really agree with each other and so I had to make them all happy by accepting all of their plans. I looked around at the current tribal grounds before looking to the north. I could see clouds in the distance. A storm was coming...
End Log
----
"Get out of my way," the black leader growled, crushing an Infinite's skull with his clubbed tail. Another few jabbed at him from behind; he extended the spikes on his back and shredded them. A particularly intelligent one attacked from the left to avoid his signature arm, but Black Scythe simply grabbed it by the throat and crushed its windpipe to a pinpoint, then chucked the wheezing creature aside. All the while, gradually making his way up Gunzack, toward the head.
"Eight hundred fifty nine! Eight hundred sixty! Eight hundred sixty one!" a voice shouted over the din. Ark'thugal, counting off his kill tally on an increasingly shorter path to one thousand, as he cut Infinites down one at a time. The death knight himself was beaten, bruised, and had a large spear sticking through an opening in his armor plating. It was going straight through his right shoulder, but he didn't seem to notice it and was in fact siphoning blood from the wound to fire at his opponents like little acid darts. His armor and body were likewise entirely devoid of blood; any that landed on him was promptly launched away as a weapon to inflict more casualties. Truly an upward spiral of violence; the more damage he caused, the more blood he had to work with, the more damage he could cause. Amazing, really.
In a rather stark contrast was Barricade, who was coated head to toe in gore. Most of this was caked on, having been there for a while, because the Infinites had learned after their first major assault that his hide was nearly impenetrable and he'd simply smashed any Infinite that landed on him like a fly. A similar fate befell any that came within his reach.
Yet the Black Pikmin weren't the only ones inflicting heavy casualties. The Infinites were almost just like their name; there were enough corpses that the mountain of them would need to be cleared before Gunzack could even move, yet there were still so many as to seem limitless.
---
~Rahu~
I arrived about a half-hour later back at the tribe. My wounds had clotted over by now and were healing of their own accord. My body in general had developed this slight healing ability through my time surviving alone.
It wasn't too long before I found Zaliss keeping an eye on things and keeping alert for ambushes on him. I already could see more new scars on him where he had been nearly wounded fatally by some other ripmin.
It didn't surprise me that he was a bit... jumpy (for lack of a better word).
Once he was sure I wasn't out to claim his head, I delivered the Terrorclaw ripmin's message and left Zaliss to take how he would.
I knew a big war was coming... but oddly, I wasn't particularly nervous... perhaps I was just used to life on-the-edge. I proceeded to go find something to do to keep my wits and claws sharp for the upcoming fight.
~End Log~
----
A pale orange pikmin stood over his latest kill. The victim was sprawled in front of his murderer, minus the majority of his organs, being hungrily devoured.
Noah watched them from the trees. There was no point in rushing in, the killer had already proved himself as dangerous and elusive, might as well leave him to enjoy his meal.
Something rustled in the leaves behind Noah, what it was didn't matter, but the effect upon the orange was much more notable. His head shot up toward Noah, large, obscenely sharp-looking claws shot out of his fingers, his teeth mutated into bloody blades, seemingly too big for his head. Without warning, he jumped. No, he lunged at Noah, throwing himself into the tree with ease, knocking them both to the floor. The pikmin missed with the first swipe of the claws, and the second jab got lodged in the ground, inches from Noah's face. He was launched telekinetically off, followed by a jet of flame. The shock on his face said it all, and he shot off through the trees at an astonishing rate. Noah, now on his feet again, slumped forward. Why couldn't it go as planned for once?
He pursued, floating just off the ground. After a small while he caught up. The orange spun midstride and threw a large rock, easily blocked by Noah. He returned in ffavour with a sound blast, which exploded directly under the animalistic killer. He fell forward, and landed on his hands, holding his legs up, claws towards Noah. A large gash was ripped into his shoulder and he spun off to the side. The orange kept going, as Noah struggled to his feet once again. He shot off after the target again.
He burst out of the forest and emerged onto the lip of an empty slate quarry. He could see the orange in the middistance, facing him. They both thought the same thing at the same time, and both headed towards the quarry. They reached the edge at the same time and jumped. The world became a blur as they exchanged blows on the way down, before Noah kicked off, heading towards the floor of the quarry. He hit the floor feet first, crouched down, shooting fragments of slate into the air, where they stopped. They then began to swirl round, creating a whirlpool, a vortex of razor-sharp blades, reaching out to swallow the orange. He saw the gaping maw looming towards him, and jerked violently in midair, desperately attempting to defy physics, before plunging into the gateway with an unearthly scream cut short. A coarse red mist settled to the ground, along with the slate.
Noah slumped forward slightly. He could relax now...
---
Dao Log:
Not many know of me. That's alright; I'm ageless already, so I don't need legends to immortalize me. And a shadow never has to worry about wars, as it can still be cast by bones.
Sadly, I am not as much of a shadow as I wish to be. I cannot ignore all this bloodshed. I've seen all sorts of motives in this war: greed, chaos, order, defence, indirect defence, bloodlust, power-hunger... nothing surprises me anymore.
So how am I going to do something about it?
I paused from my flight and looked down. The charred remains of a town eradicated by an explosion were below, and there were rebuilding efforts happening. It then occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I could actually help people. I let gravity take its course and moved to assist.
~End Log~
---
3.5.11
~Calcifer~
Meeting Kratos like that had me a bit concerned for a reason I couldn't set my finger on...
I decided to pay a visit to the Temple of Fire... it usually helped me calm down and set my mind in order to think.
Interestingly enough, I just happened to be near the Temple. It was right here near Hybras.
I flew up a bit of a lava-fall that was oozing out of a hole in the wall. The wall below was too slick and smooth (and covered with lava) for someone to climb and the hole I was looking at... one would have to fly just above the lava to go in without taking a lava-bath; only a fire elemental or something very similar would be getting in. Taking said bath wasn't a problem for me so I flew right into the hole.
It turns out, I was mistaken that only a fire elemental could get in. Something that was made of dark energy was just in front of the temple when I arrived. I yelled out and the figure just chuckled lightly.
"Perfect timing..."
The figure disappeared and I saw what looked like a ruby glowing in the air in front of where the figure had been. I looked around very quickly, trying to see where the figure had gone but they weren't anywhere to be seen.
That was the least of my concerns though as fire exploded from the ruby.
I recognized the forming entity from descriptions... ****!!!
I took off back out the hole and shot for the surface! I didn't want to be getting the Bloodseed involved in what was likely to become a fight, and a serious one at that.
~Log Paused~
~Calcifer (continued)~
I used the lava and some of the power I had drawn from it to boost my power and facilitate my shot-for-the-surface. I needed to get above ground fast!
I reached the surface after just seconds of blasting through ground. A small eruption like a hidden volcano followed my emergence from the ground. It was cold out though and the lava I had made cooled fast.
That didn't stop the guy following me though...
The ground turned molten again soon after and I flew away from the site.
*Ka-Booooooom!*
If you didn't know better, you'd think a natural volcano had just erupted. The explosion of lava and hot rock was a lot more impressive than mine (but then, I had been aiming for less damage to the landscape).
Another fire demon shot up to my level and halted, glaring me down with one nasty grin...
"Hello, Firus..." I said tonelessly.
The former fire-elemental gave me an appraising look... he was apparently sizing me up.
"So, you're the current fire elemental, I gather? You ran from me as soon as we locked eyes back there so I would guess as much." His grin widen "C'mere Sparky." He gestured with one hand...
"Not on your life or anyone else's for that matter." I replied firmly.
I think Firus wanted his grin to go further but he was no cheshire cat so it just remained approximately the same width.
"Fine by me. I've always liked a good fight." he chuckled.
I barely evaded Firus as he suddenly rocketed at me in an explosion of flames!
~End Log~
Leda Log
I chuckled as the little bout started between me and this guy who had tried to insult me with his petty words. He was a typical fellow bloodseeder. This is why I left them because they were too ignorant. I don't know why I wanted to come back here in the first place. Now that I am here, there is nothing to stop me from going crazy on their fighters. It was perfectly legal. I dodged his first few blows with relative ease as I moved my head around and chuckling at the same time. He took this up as an insult and tried even harder to punch me with what I would call anger-filled punches. He wanted to make sure that there was nothing but an unrecognizable corpse. That's why I hated my kind. They thought too much with their fists. I dodged finally out of the way of his last punch before grabbing the arm and lifted him up into the air. I tossed him into the air. I looked up and grinned as I had tossed him up a little too high. It would still work out. I slapped my hands together. Lava spouted up from the ground at several spots. I stood there as I rode the lava. I watched as he was coming back down as he released electricity from his hands at me but I formed a molten shield from the lava quickly blocking the attack and then formed two giant molten lava hands by simple manipulation. I held my hands out and the gigantic lava hands mimicked my hand movements.
I slapped my hands together just as my opponent was between them. Lava splashed everywhere within the arena and none in the stands as I watched from my spot on top of the lava. I shifted my hand to the right to block another attack coming from this opponent of mine. He had survived being cooked by the lava which meant that I would just have to try something different. I let the lava settle back down and turn into black rock. My opponent hit the hard rock and bounced tumbled a little bit before getting back onto his feet, clearly bruised from the fall. I closed the distance between us and hit him in the head with one of my fists sending him flying back from the mere force in the blow. He got back up and showed that he was not in the least bit hurt by that attack of mine. He was only a tiny bit bruised.
"Kentala's Fang Activate!" I commanded coldly.
I laughed as the sickly blue aura surrounded my body entirely. I took off all the weights on my body and thus getting rid of all inhibitors. They all hit the ground pretty hard. My opponent's eyes widened as he heard all the noise coming from those things and how fast they actually went down. He quickly got over his shock and dashed straight towards me. I allowed for him to come to me and he came in swinging. I grabbed his arm stopping him from punching me. I squeezed the hand until I heard the sound of bones being grounded into dust and I felt his blood gushing through the spaces between my fingers. I released him and he backed up looking shocked at the state of his hand which was now entirely useless.
"You should really try thinking with your brain then your strength. I didn't want to do this and truthfully it makes me want to throw up" I said truthfully. "This match will be over with my next attack."
He looked at me and once again tried attacking me. I stood there as I took the blow not really feeling it at all. I pulled my fist back and then sprang forward with my fist. I hit him square in the chest and found my fist going straight through him and with the force of my blow instantly spreading outwards from its contact point. I stood shocked as my opponent's body entirely exploded and the blood flew everywhere. I felt some of it land on me. When it was entirely over, I saw blood splattered all over the place and the guts of my opponent spread far apart from each other.
I put a hand over my eyes and groaned. I really hated this strength of mine. I walked off with my fellow bloodseeders giving me very impressed looks and shouting the words, "blood queen" when I walked off. I let out a sigh at this. I had earned another stinking nickname. I had plenty of those. They liked the violence so much so that they gave me that name.
I came back into the lobby and waited there. I had used another ability of mine which was unusual since I didn't activate it at all. I must have activated it without even thinking about it. The very thought that my opponent's entire body had exploded with blood and guts spilling everywhere. I had several more matches after that. They weren’t really at all that tough. I didn’t even get to use most of my abilities. This meant that the one that I had to activate two of my gifts against should have been in the third or fourth tier of fighters. I got to see where I was in the current lists. I was surprised by my current standings. I was apparently in the second tier and was second from the top on the second list of fighters. I had a ways to go but I was heading for the top. I would show my fellow min that they had gotten overconfident with their skills. I had fought in the arenas in the past but the fights were way tougher back then. I had been knocked out in the third tier when I fought here in the past. All the fighters were tough and there were none of these weaklings here.
End Log
3.6.11
~Matthew~
I decided to try and get around the light-min rather than have to take him down completely.
I didn't want to waste my energy fighting him when I was anticipating a completely different fight ahead. No, I needed to conserve my strength so I couldn't waste it on this annoyance.
Besides that as I've already stated: I didn't want to possibly kill him and if he got on my nerves with his persistence... well...
I attempted to sweep around him, he countered by blasting a screen of light in both directions, effectively blocking me with a wall.
"Get out of my way!" I snarled and hurled a glob of dark energy at him. He evaded it (his light wall vanishing) and, keeping his annoying place in my path, he counter-attacked.
I shadow-melded under the ray of light that came sizzling at me and attempted to go under him.
I was fully prepared though to go the other direction though, because he didn't disappoint my expectation that he'd blast the floor with light to drive me of the shadows.
I moved away from the light and zipped back again.
A laser came at me and I had to dive out of the shadows as it blasted a hole in shade of the room.
"Who are you? Are you Demetri? If not him, then give me your name Shade!"
Annoyed as I already was, mention of Demetri caused that rage to flare up in me again and I reacted with violence I hadn't intended for Willy.
"No!" I roared automatically and I unloaded a mass of darkness into the room from my very being. This surprised even myself as I didn't know I had that kind of power in me, I had thought I had less.
I could tell that the light-min was blind now save for inches in front of his face, but I could see perfectly and I actually felt more powerful now.
My body (still in a sort of "auto-pilot") almost proceeded to ambush the light-min in the dark but I halted myself and snuck around behind him instead.
*Wham!!*
An explosion of light dispelled the field of dark I had created and the light-min looked around wildly for me. The explosion had hit me like any other: it had floored me in one-hit and it burned.
He spotted me quite fast and made to capture me while I was down, but I scrambled to my feet and dodged out of the light-energy that attempted to grab me. I then took off down the tunnel, dark energy clustering on my back, healing the burns from the light.
"You get back here Shade! I want answers!" Willy yelled after me and so the chase resumed.
I had no intentions of giving him answers; he didn't know it, but he'd be happier without them.
~End Log~
<Sigma> (Forgot about him, eh?)
A whole lot of guys hit a whole lot of walls. Several landed in the arena seats, bowling over spectators. One went flying clear out of the stadium.
And in the middle of the carnage was a rather unhappy Sigma. Rather unhappy, because he'd heard the news mere hours beforehand, and was now looking for an outlet to vent his frustration. So he'd quietly requested a free-for-all arena match.
One that he was currently dominating, even if he wasn't really paying much attention. One brave or stupid Bloodseeder rushed him, but Sigma merely sidestepped and threw him face-first into a wall.
"Moronic kid," he muttered. He'd only heard the news when Rho had stopped by to inform him.
Red had been killed.
The next contender got a vicious backhand to the face. Sigma felt a tooth fly loose. All of that, for nothing. Idiotic kid...!
"Oi, what's gotcher panties in a bundle?" a familiar voiced called over.
Sigma didn't react until the crowd started booing and a loud thump signaled someone leaping into the arena. At that he looked up to eye his new opponent.
"You seemed a good deal calmer last time I fought ya. Somethin' happen?" Broxigar the Red asked, leaning on his axe. Sigma tilted his head back down.
"Stupid kid... got himself killed," was all he offered. He largely ducked the following swing of Broxigar's huge axe on instinct.
"And what's that mean, eh? Folks die all the time! You get over it and move on!"
Sigma didn't reply.
"Alright fine, then I'll just beat some goddamned sense into you," the red huffed, brandishing his axe. For the first time since entering the arena, Sigma's energy blades sprouted, yet he still refused to look up.
"Heh. Yer confidient, aren't ya? Well come on then, bring it. First sh-" Brox was abruptly cut off as Sigma rushed, raising his axe to parry at the last possible second, then punched Sigma in the face to shove him off.
"Livelier than you look... Guess some people just can't stop kicking ass!"
And yet another first, Sigma smiled.
3.7.11
~Matthew~
Once again, the light-min chasing me would not be shaken from my trail and I tried several times to get him to think I had gone another route.
About a half-hour of back-tracking later and both of us were getting tired of this.
"Will you just leave?" I called back at him. I had to evade a ray of light energy that tried to tag me... I guess that was my answer.
Then I actually noticed that the plant life was actually dead around us... I hadn't been paying enough attention and we'd charged right into a site where the plants were for some reason, all dead and brown.
*Zap!*
My distraction proved my undoing and another laser from Willy tagged me in the shoulder and I stumbled and fell.
My pursuer attempted to pin me but I got to my feet fast and coated myself in dark energy to grapple with him.
I caught him and wrestled with him several moments before overpowering him and hurled him around and back down the tunnel. I turned to run again but he evidently shot at me as a laser and tackled me before I could get moving again.
My patience with this pain in the behind ended right there.
I dove into shadows as we went down, slipping right out of his hands into the darkness and I resurfaced a couple feet from him, glowering. I didn't see past my own fury that I was exuding an extreme aura of darkness.
"Alright, you wanna play hard-ball? Well, here it is!" I growled and dashed at him, fist raised.
He ducked under my attack and tackled me again, this time lifting me from the ground and neither of us saw the hole he was charging towards. We both tumbled down the hole (he was clinging to me so he fell with me).
On the way down, I forced him under me and slugged him hard across the face.
I didn't stop there though and, opening my hand, I attempted to slash him.
He caught my hand and attempted to blind me with a blast of light but I reacted to instinct and next moment, I had encased him in a sort of coccoon made of shadow. The container was blown apart but the blast's effects never reached me.
If I still had my more rational senses about me, I wouldn't have tried biting him, but that's just what I attempted to do. His hand halted my attack by grabbing my neck and shoving me back.
He smartly removed his arm from its position when I attempted to grab it (I would've otherwise broken it in several places) and lunged forward in a head-butt.
This was accompanied by a burst of light that utterly dazzled me and left me dazed for several moments with a blistering headache that was much worse than what the head-butt would've otherwise caused.
Willy was smart enough to move around me and place himself on top of me before attempting to capture me with bands of light. I came to before he could though and caught the walls as we dropped. I slowed very fast, my arm straining and the light-min collided with me, which knocked him senseless for a moment while I grabbed him.
I tried to get ahold of myself right then because I had been about to drive a hand into his chest and tear him apart in my rage, literally. The result was that I just held him for that moment, trying to calm down.
He recovered during that time and I got a faceful of light that nearly KOed me right there. Our drop down the hole resumed and finished moments later as we landed at the bottom of the hole.
I got up rather fast, driving him away from me but also causing me to sway as I recovered from the light-blast. In the meantime, my fury had died away in my vertigo.
"Why... do you want to know so bad anyways?" I panted, regaining my balance.
"You stole from a friend of mine, even if he's dead. I want a very good reason if you're going to be doing that." The light-min said hotly.
I gave him a very baleful look...
"A friend you don't even properly remember?" I said coldly.
This struck him dumb with surprise and some shock.
"Yeah... I know about you Willy even if you don't know a thing about me..." I said bluntly... I knew in myself though... I was lying on one count... he did know me... he just wasn't aware of it.
He recovered from his shock then and spoke again.
"So who are you? Why won't you at least give me a name?"
I turned away, I didn't want my expression betraying anything to him...
"I've left my original life behind and giving my new name to you... I feel would be admitting to that defeat. I never wanted to come back but I came down here to halt a possible catastrope, even if I had to damn myself by doing so."
"Wasted your time and your soul then I imagine..." someone else said in the room.
We both looked up to see another shade in here... and that primal fury rose in me at the sight of him...
"Took your time getting down here, didn't you Willy?" Demetri chuckled from atop a rocky mound.
~Log Paused~
~Willy~
Demetri looked like how he had originally... when we'd first met.
The other shade (who wouldn't give me his name) seemed about ready to pounce on him now.
Demetri seemed to be ignoring him though and was looking at me.
He finally glanced at the shade:
"I've already dealt with the little plant-princess down here that you planned on taking out." Demetri explained to him, standing and holding up the corpse of what appeared to be a disfigured pikmin. I recoiled slightly and it actually didn't surprise me too much for some reason that the shade did too.
"Since you came all this way, why you don't you serve me and finish killing this annoying little bright-spark right here?" Demetri offered the shade, indicating me as the "bright-spark".
The shade leapt at him and attempted to strike him.
Demetri caught him or rather his entire body in a grip on his dark energy with a derisive snort.
"You? A fellow shade? Taking me on? Get real!" I punctuated this last sentence by hurling the shade into the wall at the side with a wave of his hand.
He then turned his attention to me again.
"I originally came down here looking for someone else and I got side-tracked with the pretty princess here who thought she could command me to become fertilizer. I obviously taught her that I'm the one that feeds on others here. But you..." Demetri grinned in that way that I just hated "You're just a nice bonus for me. Even if that waste of dark power won't help me kill you, he's broken you down on your fight down here. That and I'm brimming with power now... this ought to be a piece of cake."
Then a rather large ball of dark energy hit Demetri which he withstood rather like someone resisting a tidal wave. He was completely unharmed afterwards but he looked mildly irritated as he glared over at the shade he had thrown aside.
"Piece of cake? Not while I'm here Demetri." The shade growled at him.
Demetri now looked bored with him.
"This has nothing to do with you and yet you insist..." The shade said something else but Demetri then sighed "Very well. I'll take both of you on." and I flew out of the way as a wave of dark energy swept the room!
~End Log~
3.8.11
~Willy~
I started showering the area with all the light I could. It wouldn't be enough to harm either shade but it was intended to clear out the darkness Demetri was flooding the room with.
Demetri shot of the darkness from the floor, attempting to seize me and I shot backwards to avoid his grip.
A trap of dark energy attempted to snag me and I flew down to evade that too. Demetri started to move to intercept my course when the other shade leapt out of the darkness and tackled him.
Demetri let out a furious roar and started trying to shake his assailant off.
I took the opportunity in that moment to blast both of them with light, hoping to wipe both of them out at once.
Demetri was too strong to hope for that though and he was knocked to the floor with a yell of pain. The other shade meanwhile had been somewhat shielded by his body though not entirely as he was also knocked away trying to shield his eyes. He got up quickly and yelled at me:
"What do you think you're doing attacking me too?!"
I attempted to skewer him on a laser.
"Why shouldn't I? You're no different are you? You're both shades." I said coldly.
The expression on his face was one of utter aggravation.
Demetri then suddenly called up the shadows on the walls, ceiling and floor of the room and grabbed me with them.
I burst out of the shadow-prison a moment later to see the other shade attempting to reel Demetri in with a lasso of dark energy, much to Demetri's annoyance.
Why is he focusing on Demetri so much anyways? Aren't I the bigger threat to both of them? Then again, considering how he'd been reacting to Demetri's very name when I mentioned it, maybe his competitive streak was getting the better of him and he wanted me all for himself.
He grappled with Demetri again, who was clearly stronger in a fight he was prepared for as Demetri rather quickly threw the shade off him and hurled him away.
I blasted Demetri with dark energy, but he held up a hand, blocking the light with a shield of dark energy.
"Time to die Willy. Your light ends here in this nice, dark hole in the ground. Perfect..." Demetri snarled, a grin forming as he spoke. His next action was interrupted though by the shade jumping at him again and attempting to claw him.
Demetri's patience seemed to end as he let out another furious yell and exploded with a wave of dark energy. I quickly raised a defensive wall of light and the wave washed over me.
"You are quickly getting on my nerves whelp!" Demetri's voice snarled in angry tones, it was now echoing with dark power. I looked up again to see them wrestling yet again. It seemed that the shade knew that only his physical attacks would have any effect on Demetri.
I charged up a ball of light energy while they were occupied with each other.
"No! Don't go throwing that at both of us! It's not enough to kill Demetri!" the other shade yelled when he noticed. I ignored him. Why should I trust him when he wouldn't even give me a name for any reason?
I fired the ball at the fighting shades. The unnamed one dove away to avoid it and Demetri, free from his assailant again, also dove away in another direction. The ball of light shot through where they had been and exploded against the distant wall.
"That could've hurt..." Demetri muttered, getting up and quite suddenly, shadows jumped up and grabbed me again.
"Now where was I? Oh yeah... getting you out of my hair permanently..." Demetri growled, walking over to me, a dark sword forming in his hand. He was about to behead me and the other shade wasn't up yet when Demetri's eyes seemed to lock onto something else behind me.
Next thing I knew, Demetri had just hastily knocked me over the head and charged past me.
"Get back here you!" I heard Demetri roar and then he was gone.
The other shade rose up from the ground again and stomped over to me, looking just as furious as Demetri had been.
"Why in seven Hells didn't you listen, you bleeding idiot!" he shouted at me.
I got up, grateful Demetri had been distracted. I moved to blast the only shade remaining here but he grabbed my wrist and twisted it around so I was at his mercy now being that I couldn't overpower him physically and I didn't have any strength left to really blast him with light.
"Do not even try it." He snarled.
"Well? You going to kill me where he didn't or not?" I demanded, fully expecting him to execute me.
"I never wanted you dead and I never even wanted to fight!" the shade said, still clearly furious. He twisted my arm, causing pain and I could swear that his words were in conflict with his actions.
"You just had to follow me down here and cause me no end of trouble, and then on top of that, we find a reborn Demetri down here and you get in the way and let him escape! What is with you?!" he continued to yell.
"You wouldn't answer my questions and on top of that, you did attack me." I said in reply.
He shoved me to the ground muttering a long string of curse-words. After a minute of pacing and furious muttering, he finally turned to me again.
"Right. You want answers, then answers you'll get." he spat.
"Name's Matthew if you're so eager to know and I came here to halt what the plant pikmin here was doing. I didn't expect Demetri to show up and we might have killed him here before he got started if you had just cooperated with me!" he said, very quickly like he wanted to just spill it that fast.
"The plant pikmin down here has been planning to trying to taking over the surface for a long time now but she's not the problem anymore." The shade finished. "Happy now that you've got your answers?"
I got up.
"You still haven't explained your reason you needed Red's spear for any of this." I pointed out.
The shade's eyes narrowed as he gripped the entirely metalic sword on his back and held it out in front of him, showing it to me.
"I know this is Red's spear..." the shade said simply "I wanted it in case I needed the light infused in it."
I blinked...
"Yeah... I know about the light fluid on this weapon... I'm surprised that you haven't come to think about that... So, have you figured out the truth yourself yet?" the shade said... he no longer looked angry but solem now...
I was trying to discern what was going on but my mind was in too much chaos to think straight about it.
"Think about it and don't go looking for me until you know who I really am. I don't want to see you again unless you do." The shade put the weapon away again and vanished.
~End Log~
3.9.11
Valdis Log
I pulled the cloak that I had borrowed from some random pikmin in some village in the snowy lands of the Valley of Repose. I had decided to take a shortcut through this area instead of walking around it. I, now, regretted my decision entirely. It's freaking freezing out here. I had only been in this area for a short time and I felt a little lethargic. I hated cold conditions. I trudged onwards through the snow and ice knowing that I had to reach the paradise that I lived in for so many years. I had left behind this paradise before just so that I could go out and see the world but I was ready to go home now. I tripped over a snow-covered rock and fell face first into the snow. The cold nature of the snow assaulted my body. I pushed myself away from the snow, got back onto my feet, and continued onwards. I looked around seeing that the weather was getting much worse at a rate quicker than I expected it. I heard something growl by my left side and I looked in that general direction to see Bisera, a white small dragon, giving me this worried look.
I could tell from her growl that she offered to carry me the rest of the way but I declined the offer quickly. I told her that she didn't need to carry me and besides I could make it on my own. Bisera stopped after that and continued to trudge through the snow along with me. I looked up to see a hill. I knew about the predators around here but they were apparently missing today. It was definitely not a good sign but I continued onwards regardless of that fact. I didn't have time to worry. I arrived at the bottom of the hill and continued on my way, hiking up the hill. I knew that I was nearly there now but how long had it taken me to across this snowy land at the slow rate that I was going. I decided that I didn't even care about that. All that mattered was if I arrived at my destination. At a few minutes after, I arrived at the top of the hill and immediately began my descent down the steeper side of the hill. I smiled as I saw my destination over a hill or two more and the edge of this snowy land. I would soon be in a much warmer place. I hoped that my body could hold out for that long. I was probably too busy thinking about my destination to even consider that my limbs were entirely numb. I continued on my way feeling a little weird when I couldn't feel my legs beneath me.
I slipped on the way down, lost my footing, and tumbled down the hill. It was soon over but I laid there in the snow, not hurt badly, but I was bruised all over. I pushed myself off of the snow, shaking my head a few times, and got back up. I wobbled a bit as I took a few steps forward, not even being able to see. I heard a whistling sound and groaned. The wind was picking up and my vision was being reduced quickly. I punched my own head a few times as I cursed my own luck. Snow started to fall and a blizzard started. It is almost always this way.
"You hope for the best and then reality has to shove its ugly face into you and give you a very hard time about it!" I whined as I continued on my way as I had no other choice.
Bisera growled in agreement with me and then let loose a number of juicy expletives while she was talking in her race's tongue. I didn't even want to translate what she said. It was way too vulgar.
I took each step carefully and held the cloak even closer to my body, hoping that I could get out of this cold weather. This stinking weather was a little too much for me. I wasn't going to be defeated by something as lowly as a blizzard. All that stopped me from right there and then falling over and letting death overtake me was an overwhelming will to live. I strode forward with this will and didn't look back. I petted Bisera on the head while we were still moving.
---
3.10.11
~Matthew~
Undistracted, it took me only a few minutes of shadow-travel to get to the surface again.
I arose from the darkness to Red's body... it was still fresh and basically in one piece. It hadn't started decaying yet...
I had originally planned to return his sword to his side when I had finished dealing with that plant-pikmin but now... it looked like I'd need it a bit longer to deal with Demetri now.
And like calling the devil... the other Demetri arose from the ground. I knew this one was the elemental of darkness and evidently, he had eluded his old self... not that he cared about that if his blank expression was anything to go by.
We gazed at each other for a few minutes and it was just when I had an idea that he turned and flew off. I called out to him but he either wasn't listening or just didn't care or something...
I sighed and walked back over to Red...
I knelt down and looked it over... I might've been able to help him if I'd returned to this world sooner...
I might've shed tears but it seemed that was beyond the capablities of a shade as all I felt was just sorrow and some shame in myself. At the same time... that hunger that had been gnawing at me again was repressed...
I figured that was just my soul being defiant against the darkness that was trying to possess it... that was what that hunger was from after all: the darkness trying to be the master of my soul.
I knew a lot... I knew what it meant to be a shade... I knew my true identity and who and what Willy was...
I spent several moments thinking this over and reflecting... before I got up and started my hunt for the old Demetri. He had to be stopped, whatever he was doing now.
I put Red's weapon away and got up...
"Sorry Red, but I need to borrow this a little longer..." I said, apparently to the corpse "Then I'll be sure to return it..."
I then shadow-melded and raced off over the shaded ground.
~End Log~
3.11.11
Malice Log
I beat my wings shooting myself downwards even faster. I grabbed a hold of Imorin (my axe) as I was passing it by in the air. My shell formed around me again but it wasn't going to limit my powers at all now. I saw the ground fast approaching and where I was going to land was dead center in a large city. I was still far up in the air though. I held out my axe to the side and then released my grip on it. It stayed in the air and I righted myself in the air. I beat my wings fast to slow my descent. I stopped in the middle of the air when I was a hundred meters up in the air above the city. I held my hand out and felt my axe's blade slap into it. I grinned as I tossed the axe upwards as I looked at the city below me. I juggled the axe while I pondered what I wanted to do with this place. I decided that I would show off the powers of my axe. I grabbed a hold of the handle and twirled the axe a little. I held up my axe with one hand and then tossed it up into the sky.
"Unos Cascade!" I ordered coldly.
The next thing that happened could only be described as pure chaos for whoever was down below. The ground was erupting, the sky was coming apart, and large red demonic beams of energy shot down from the sky and crashed into the ground, explosions were everywhere, rubble was flying in every direction, and I saw blood spurting up from several places as the streets ran red with blood. I laughed at this and then with one final motion, the attack exploded outwards in a red dome of death and destruction. This expanding dome destroyed everything that it touched. The dome touched the very edges of the city and then retracted quickly. An explosion engulfed the city just as the dome disappeared. I chuckled evilly as I saw the blood from all the dead bodies had flowed down into the crater that remained of the city and amazingly there was enough blood to fill the crater. I landed down on the surface of the bloody lake and groaned to myself. I didn't know my power as well as I did back then. I grabbed my axe just as it was about to touch the blood. The sky healed completely as the portal to hell closed completely.
I cupped my hands, bending over, and reached down into the blood. I brought my hands out, still in the cupped fashion, but with blood there. I put my hand to my mouth and tipped it. I drank the blood. I repeated this action a few more times to quench my thirst. I heard something at the edge of the "blood lake" while I was doing this. I turned my head after taking one more gulp of blood and saw a yellow pikmin standing there. It had its hands on its head, its entire body shaking in fear, and apparently was saying something that I couldn't hear. I took a step forward and was immediately by the pikmin side. This pikmin was a male. I looked at him for a moment.
"I wonder what I should do with you" I said darkly as I looked at him.
"Please spare me...please spare me...oh god, please spare me!" the yellow pikmin muttered fearfully as he rocked back and forth.
I stared at him for a couple more minutes as I was a little conflicted at what I should do. I could kill him but was it really worth it to kill such a weakling. He wasn't any threat to me. He didn't have any special powers. He was a regular pikmin.
"Run!" I ordered as evilly as I can.
He turned around and ran off. I turned around and walked across the small bloody lake. I licked my fingers as I grinned sinisterly. I didn't need to kill that pikmin and so I spared him. The pikmin would be my messenger that something had happened here.
I reached the other shore and stepped onto the land. My shell broke off of me and reformed by my side. I held my hand out over the blood and sent several clear energy balls into the blood turning the color of the blood to a clear color quite similar to that of water.
"Tainted Sanctuary" I said with a grin as I touched the lake itself.
Absolutely nothing happened to the lake itself but I knew what I had just done....
This lake was more or less a conduit for my power. This would be the first of many of lakes that I would create.
I walked off after that as I headed for in the direction of where Lilith and the others were waiting for me. It wasn't before too long that I spotted someone or at least something in the distance. I was still carrying my axe over but I had currently placed it against my shoulder. I loved using my axe. It just felt natural to have it. I was a fair distance away from the blood lake that was in the place of the city when I spotted a pikmin ahead of me. I correct myself as it was a demon that I was looking at. I looked at my axe and then back at the demon. The demon didn't even know that I was coming. I could tell that this demon was a male from where I was. He seemed pretty focus on heading to wherever he was going. I cracked a smirk as I decided that I would mess with him. I wouldn't kill him but I didn't want him to run away. I had something to discuss with him. I looked at him from where I was. I could tell even from here that he looked very draconic and that he was red in color. He even got scales, a tail, wings, and claws. Yet, he differed in appearance from being truly draconic.
I appeared by him as I swung my axe from its position on my shoulder straight into the ground in front of him. He jumped back in response to a gigantic axe crashing into the ground in front of him He immediately turned towards me and backed up a little. He definitely wasn't one of those moronic demons that would pick a fight with me when I did that little action of mine. It was more or less my way of greeting fellow demons just to show them who was boss. The more violent demons usually greeted other demons with violent behavior. I was pretty violent when I put my mind to it.
"Now that I have your complete and undivided attention, I have a proposal for you. I'm Lord Malice Narzaris and I have a proposal for you" I declared coldly as I pulled my axe out of the ground. "I want you to render yourself to me and become one of my esteemed demons that serve under me. You'll have more power and I don't expect you to do very much until the day of reckoning."
I turned around while keeping my eye on him.
"It isn't a request but an order. Come with me" I remarked coldly as I started juggling Imorin with one hand. "What's your name, fellow demon?"
End Log
Drake~
Eyahahaha...
I think every ounce of blood in me went cold when this guy intercepted me.
He straight-up ordered me to follow him and give him my name.
Quite frankly, he was intimidating enough with that axe alone, nevermind the power he swung it with.
"Uh...um..." I was still getting over my shock but finally blurted "Drake. Sir. Uh... or Lord..." I shut up before I gibbered something that would possibly earn me an execution.
I didn't know which to refer to him by and I didn't dare ask. I didn't know if he was truly a Demon Lord or not but with that much power, I was sure he could back up that claim.
After a moment, the fact that I was being recruited by a Demon Lord finally sunk in and I felt a little honored...
~Log Paused~
3.12.11
~Ryu~
Vrael and I had been fighting for a hour or so now and I was merely having fun playing with him. Of course, given Vrael and his personality, he was all too serious and was out for blood. The difference between the two of us was so uncanny that it was hard to believe we were the same type of being.
I tumbled with Vrael and ended up on top of him. I decided to end this and planted my hind legs on his stomach and, struggling with him a bit more, I managed to pin his arms to the ground under mine and we were finally just face-to-face.
"You haven't change a bit Vrael. You still can't overpower me it seems." I chuckled.
Vrael roared furiously and tried to bite, I just moved my head away.
"How 'bout we both revert to pikmin forms and have a more civil conversation, hm?" I suggested.
He struggled a bit under me before he finally seemed to decide he really had little choice.
I got off him and put some distance between us.
I waited for him to start reverting first and as he did, I reverted as well.
Soon, we were two pikmin facing each other.
"So, dinner escaping aside, how've you been?" I said conversationally.
Vrael still had a grudging look on his face but he answered:
"Been fine up until you dropped in to visit... filth..." he muttered the last word under his breath. I just ignored it and smiled like I was sincerely happy to hear of his good health.
"Good to hear." I glanced around at his latest abode... not a bad place really. Perfect for him I think... "Nice place." I commented with a nod.
Vrael seemed to lighten up a bit at this flattery.
"Yeah... found it some years back and just been kicking back down here. Pikmin that get down here are usually quite entertaining and all... they have be fairly tough afterall..." he said all this in a bit of murmur like he was shy about speaking, I could hear him just fine though.
Our conversation carried on for a while and when I was ready to leave, Vrael was at least in a neutral mood and he didn't interfere with me heading for the geyser.
~End Log~
3.14.11
~Demetri~
I was still fuming over my other escaping me.
I barely had a perception of where he was and when I was too far away, he was frankly impossible to locate.
I might have continued to quietly rage about it for some hours if one of the gems with me hadn't started acting up.
I pulled them out and, looking them over, I found the blue one: the Sapphire was glowing slightly.
Hmmmm... this might improve my mood...
It didn't surprise me that water was below at this point... perhaps the temple of water is down there...
I turned downwards and dove on in.
On my way down, I was clasping the gem in both hands, carefully infusing dark energy into the gem... preparing it...
To my surprise though, I didn't come across a building, but another pikmin when the gem was reacting strongest. He was hard to see apart of the water, though a good percentage of him was a clear red that stood out and his eyes were a vivid green.
I judged from the still-weak signal from the gem that this wasn't the present elemental...
"Interesting..." I unintentionally murmured, finding it interesting that a past elemental was still alive and not revived. This utterance got the water-min's attention and he turned to face me. His face was quite distrustful.
"What's your business here?" he clearly didn't trust me... that was probably due to my appearance.
"Easy there. I just heard about you around and here and came looking around." I raised an empty hand in peace. Of course, I was lying about hearing about him but he seemed to take my statement to be truthful, though he raised an eyebrow, apparently curious what was so interesting about himself to draw someone's attention.
I pressed on:
"I just happen to have something you might be interested in I think." and I showed him the Sapphire, the dark energy hidden quite well inside it.
He floated closer to look at it but I just spoke up again.
"Here, you can just take it for yourself to look." I then just tossed it through the water towards him. He caught and took a minute to look at it. I kept my face straight as I focused in that period of time.
He was about to hand it back when it shot into him (through my prompting). He was unconscious for about 2 seconds and then woke back up, to see me acting like I was putting it away.
"Well, nice meeting you and all... name's Demetri." I added on the last bit with a courtious tone.
He didn't seem to realise he had briefly blacked-out and returned the courtesy with his own name: Vanada.
I smiled and nodded.
"Very good. I'll see you around Vanada."
I then turned and floated back off for the surface, my smile widening. Perfect...
~End Log~
Austin Log:
... Did that seriously just happen?
I scratched my head as I saw Sedacia walk straight past L'ran without so much as a twitch. She was still bubbly as ever, and L'ran didn't seem to be upset or anything, so that rules out emotional issues... Whatever. I'm just going to let them forget about those ridiculously long hugs and go back to being sane.
Besides, those waffles smell delicious. After her first few flaming toasters, she got really good at making them.
After breakfast, I found the two of them talking about something. Naturally, due to the sudden change in behavior, I listened in.
"... mind if I go see if a blacksmith can make anything out of this starstone ore?"
"Can't you just bring one here?"
"Well, yes, but I'd still have to go out to find one. Besides, the Emperor scares people."
"Yeah... But then why can't I come?"
"You scare people. Mostly young parents."
"Hey!"
"Your tail, remember?"
"Yeah, but... I... ... Fine. Couldn't I just wear a cloak or something?"
"Sure. I'll pack the stuff, you tell Austin what we're doing."
Naturally, she jumped over the back of the couch... right onto my spine. I knew I forgot something.
~End Log~
~Kurt~
We'd been searching for an hour or so now for Runa's lost mother... if that's who she really was looking for...
She tended to playfully swat anything that apparently caught her curiosity. I'd finally decided that if she found my tails so interesting that she bit one, I'd be forgiving and just give a look (though if she did it twice, then I'd give her a soft cuffing over the head)... although I would keep an eye on her and move my tail out of reach if she did try it.
In the process of the search, I happened to notice a couple of pikmin down below... I knew those two from the town... and an immediate irritation with them emerged from my memory. Those particular two had pushed me quite far once and I'd given them quite a fright once when I'd displayed all nine tails.
The two were just exploring it appeared but they still caused me to bare my teeth in some grudgery. A couple more of my tails appeared, flicking and lashing slightly with my temper.
Runa noticed of course and I quickly got a hold of myself and calmed myself down, the tails vanishing.
Didn't stop me though from dropping a couple dozen acorns on their heads as we went by overhead.
~End Log~
3.16.11
~Ritzoa~
It wasn't very long before I arrived at home again.
The leader was around, making sure everything was at peace... as much as you could have it under these conditions.
She turned and nodded in my direction.
I returned the nod, slowly as a sign of respect. In truth of course, we both were showing respect for one another... just one law among us here: to respect all fellow tribesmin. I had punished more than one insolent tribesmin for biggotry...
Shanon greeted me as I arrived at her place of residence that was set-up.
"I imagine the young one you were watching over gave you trouble?" she said this with a small smile.
My cold gaze was all the answer she needed as she continued a moment later.
"She returned before you... something that doesn't normally happen with anyone compared to you... except for the Changers of course..." she spoke frankly... a habit I didn't particularly care for but at least she got to the point usually.
"One of Zaliss's newest has gotten my attention lately... I do not know who he is exactly but he has spotted me twice already..." I growled "I may need to deal with him personally or he could be a danger in a fight."
Shanon's face didn't really change but she commented:
"Best reserve that plan for the case in which Zaliss actually attacks. Were you to kill one of his tribesmin... well, I think you can guess his reaction to that without my help." she continued to smile in that manner that seemed to be hiding several emotions all at once... I swear... Shanon puzzles even me at times...
~End Log~
3.17.11
Eronza Log
I found myself by a hole of some kind in the ground after hours of traveling. It was strange but I sensed the one that I was searching for down here. I was pretty sure that Runa would be fine since with her powers and her mastery of deception. She's probably looking for me. I didn't really care at that moment as I needed to hunt down a certain someone. I jumped down into the hole and fell through the air for a minute or so and I landed safely down on the ground without being hurt from the fall. I guess it was lucky that I had this cloak with me. The dang thing was so useful. I walked forward as I looked around at the place. I could see runes covering the walls and there was something else at the end. It looked to be a door at the end. There were a bunch of pillars here. This place probably boosted the power of the earth element even further.
I walked to the door and saw the runic symbols on the door as I approached them. This was the Earth Temple from what I could read of the runes on the door. I stopped and looked down to see a tan-colored creature in the shape of one of those creatures called a pikmin. I sensed something that was in this pikmin that made me simply want to kill it. I shook my head a couple of times as I realized that it wasn't the escaped being. It had to be a creation from one of his sick and twisted experiments. I leaned over its body as I looked at its body carefully. Its eyes opened up and stared at me. I was hit in the stomach by something hard and I took a few steps back winded. I looked to see a smooth pillar of rock there. I looked back at the tan pikmin to see that it was now standing up and obviously on the defensive. I breathed slowly as I started to regain my breath back.
"I don't mean you any harm" I said quickly between breaths as I held up a hand just as a sharp piece of rock shot out of the ground towards me.
The sharpened rock piece broke apart before it reached me and the parts fell down to the ground. I felt a hand on my shoulder and so I turned in that direction to see that tan pikmin staring at me.
"Sorry for reacting like that. It's sort of in my nature. By the way, the name's Marble" the tan pikmin replied apologetically in a voice that definitely made it a male. "What's your name?"
"Eronza" I replied shortly. "If you don't mind me asking, was the guy who created you?"
"I don't mind at all, Eronza. My creator is Keijo" Marble said calmly. "He created a bunch of experiments and well I betrayed him for certain reasons."
"Did you find anything strange about this Keijo character when you were with him?" I asked him sternly.
He seemed to have noticed the change of tone in my voice and had a faint smile on his face that was barely noticeable. We were both in the dark and so what we could see of each other was barely much at all.
"He seemed a bit off and always seemed to be using some sort of foreign energy that shouldn't have any right being on this world. The energy seemed like he was pulling it out of his own body and then using that energy to help along with his experiments" Marble explained smoothly.
I turned the information over and over in my head as I thought about what he was saying. It then struck me that this Keijo character might be the one that I was looking for.
"Can I come with you please?" I asked him politely.
"Sure, you can" he replied politely. "Meet you on the topside."
It was after those last words that he disappeared but I felt something moving away from me. I jumped up and with a beat of my wings I flew upwards. I still had that robe on me and it hadn't fallen off. The wings, that I used to fly in this little deceiving body of mine, did not rip it or knock it off. I was still able to fly perfectly with the robe on me.
End Log
3.19.11
Aesir Log
I walked through the center of the town not really caring about anything. I grew tired of this life as a whole and wished that I could cast this world into the flames of hell. The only thing is that I couldn't do that and so I had to bicker to myself about why I couldn't. It was always the same argument and I seemed to always lose in that regard. No, I don't have a split personality syndrome. It's just how I roll. I turned and ran right into a wall. I fell backwards, landing hard on the ground, and I heard the pikmin around me laugh. I growled in anger as they started to talk about what an idiot I was or that's what I thought I heard. I'd show them.
"Overlimit: Beam Burst" I stated firmly as I held out my hands.
Multiple invisible portals opened up everywhere, pointing in every direction, and I smiled as I prepared this town for hell. I turned to look at them and then decided to spare them. I had no reason to kill them yet. The invisible portals closed down until there was only one left and it was facing the wall that I was by. The invisible portal became gigantic as I stood there watching. A gigantic beam of pure white energy shot through the hole, going straight through the wall and beyond, the beam carved a path of pure destruction in its wake. I watched as it died down and then closed down the portal.
The pikmin around me stared at the glowing pathway. I knew that they were doing just that. I stared at the glowing pathway and smiled before turning back to them. They looked at me and I looked at them. I watched as they screamed and ran away from me. I heard some of them call me a freak but I didn't care in the least. I showed them that it was not cool to laugh at me. I was alone once again as the pikmin slammed the doors shut in the town. It was then that I heard a strange drumbeat inside of my head. It was exactly six beats in a row. I didn't hear that sound anymore. Yet, it bothered me. I was usually never bothered by something so trivial but I felt afraid.
"I'm afraid of some freaking nonexistent drumbeats. That's just pure nonsense!"I remarked angrily to myself. "I'm not afraid of any single freaking thing on this blasted planet!"
I strode off through the glowing pathway that I created with my beam of destruction. I was soon out of the town completely as I headed off to wherever I wanted to go.
End Log
Glaive Log
I looked at the sky as I pointed one of my blades directly at the sky. I didn't have anything against this world or maybe I did. I did have something against this world. I swung my blade arm down cleaving straight through the earth below me. I moved forward again as I thought about where I was heading and why I was even bothering to go anywhere. I hated this body and I wanted something more but I couldn't figure out what it was. It had something to do with six drumbeats in a row. It was always the same pattern every now and again. Something was calling to me but I wasn't going to come. I wasn't some lapdog. I found myself in a small village when I finally decided to look around after being lost in my thoughts. Every pikmin was looking at me strangely and then they rushed towards me. I prepared myself for any attack coming from them. I was soon picked up by them and they rushed off towards what I thought was the village square.
They threw me on top of this small stone-like platform. I landed on my feet and looked at the stone below me and then looked behind me to see a statue of some sort but I didn't really pay much attention to it as I turned swiftly around to seek vengeance upon those who threw me on top of here. I held my twin blade arm up and was about to strike one of them down when I saw them kneeling face down with their heads facing towards me. They weren't afraid. They weren’t covering their heads. They were praying and from that I was catching bits and pieces of what they were praying like "avatar of the almighty one" and "he has returned, our almighty one has returned." It seemed like they were praying and thanking the gods for bringing me here. I groaned as I stood there and wondered what I should do. I just had to be inside of a village that somehow viewed me as some sort of god but why though...
I turned completely around and looked at the statue in question to see that it was made in the exact image of me down to the exact detail. They even included all of my tails. I turned back around as one of the pikmin, a red one was standing up. I noticed that he was a male pikmin.
"What do you want us to do, almighty one?" he asked me sincerely.
I pressed the flat side of one of my blades of my left twin blade arm against my face as I let out a sigh. I just had to be inside of this village with some religious lunatics.
End Log
Raoul Log
I stood on the cliffside as I watched the village nearby. There was some commotion going on but I wasn't going to go there. I hated religion in general. All gods were just mortals pretending to be gods. They were nothing more than that. I walked off away from the cliffside as I headed for my next destination. I needed to get rid of that drumbeat going on in my head. I wondered if the others had this exact same problem or maybe I was the only one. No, it had to be happening to every creation that Keijo created. I walked across the plateau as I headed for a single building in the distance. It was some sort of temple. It was after a few hours that I found myself at the doors of the temple. I experimentally pushed at one of the doors and both doors swung inwards revealing to me that this wasn't just some normal temple. I had a hunch about what this temple was but I would soon find out. I walked inside and I turned around to see the sky turning black and the clouds gather in the skies ahead. Those clouds seemed to be caused by some natural phenomenon.
It was probably some lightning storm or other but I didn't really care. I was about to turn away when the lightning struck the same place continuously. I turned around and watched this unnatural occurrence and counted away. The lightning stopped striking after it hit the ground two hundred times. That's definitely not something that you see every day. I smiled as I turned away and walked entirely inside. The doors closed behind me and I grinned as I stared at the inside of the temple as it lit up. I knew I recognized this place. I came here before and now I'm back again. I strode forward past everything that was happening around me to head deeper into the temple.
End Log
3.21.11
Eh.
In Blazing Buttress
CER-RACK
The sound attracts the attention of every Red Pikmin nearby. The crack hadn't seemed much to worry about before, but now it was huge and rapidly growing larger. Soldiers were alerted and drew close... just ebfore the crack exploded violently, the death throes of some foreign dimension spewing otherworldly flames. A small black blob was ejected from the hole before it collapsed on itself, forever sealing itself away.
The blob jiggled a bit, then slowly began building itself up, shaping itself into a Pikminoid form. From its left hand grew a double-bladed weapon, and from its face, two glowing green eyes.
"Ah... Hahahahaha. Even a dying dimension... cannot destroy us. Black Nectar is truly indestructible, isn't it? We are... invincible," Black Art murmured to himself, before finally noticing the rather unfriendly looking Red Pikmin surrounding him.
"Hmm. So hostile! And I've not even attacked anyone yet!" he proclaimed in what he hoped at least sounded friendly.
"You don't fool us, monster. We know what you are. What your kind are like," one of the red soldiers said, brandishing his sword.
"Oh come now, that's not very nice. Last I recall we were trying to be friendly," the shade replied, inspecting his fingers.
"The army you have at war with everyone says otherwise."
Black Art looked genuinely surprised for a moment... before grinning evilly. "Oh, we're back to war with everyone now? Good! Now I don't even need an excuse," he declared, and then impaled the red soldier with his left hand. Black veins bulged from the wound and rapidly overtook the Red 'min's body. Black Art twirled his double-blade weapon as he turned to face the other assembled Red Pikmin, who were now considerably more on guard, as the Red Pikmin behind him morphed into a bulky shape, and a long, thin tail sprouted from it.
"Feeling up to some indiscriminate slaughter, Shadow?"
"When am I not?" the large shade replied gruffly, metal plates forming over it from Black Nectar. The tail lashed out lightning quick, impaling several Red Pikmin like a coiled spear.
"Then let's begin the killing time," Black Art practically sang.
~Demetri~
My search was continuing when I noticed a nice little bloodbath commencing at a red town.
I smirked as I contemplated diving in.
The single black min massarcing the town was evidently a spell-caster as he was taking a bit of time between attacks. He had a companion though evidently.
As I flew closer, I remembered that guy.
I cackled right there and then. Funny how we keep running into each other.
I dropped on a cluster of reds, scattering them as I hit the ground with the force of a meteor.
I got up and just started walking towards Art over there.
Reds attempted to attack me but I impaled one on dark energy and beaned another with the topaz gem I had, the red immediately was fried to a crisp. More I just simply blasted out of the way with a wave of darkness.
Art noticed me and, looking mildly annoyed he readied a spell to throw at me. I had a shrewd guess what he was going to throw.
Sure enough a beam of light came flying at me but I was quite ready for it. I held up a single opal that I had, it was accompanying the topaz I had and the others as well.
The light beam hit the gem and vanished into it; the gem glowed brightly and it was warm to the touch.
"After all this time, not even a 'Hello' Art?" I said with mock disappointment "You're being far too predictable." Having said that, I used the opal to fire the light-blast back at him.
He raised the best guard he could and absorbed the blow.
I smiled broadly.
"Want a rematch by any chance?" I asked with a small chuckle, half-ignoring the reds, who I just skewered with dark energy when they attempted to get close. I would have to evade the next light-based attack he launched at me. That elemental gem was being stubborn and, though I was hiding it, it had taken me a lot of concentration to pull that counter-move. I wouldn't be doing it again too soon.
~End Log~
3.22.11
Raoul Log
I walked forward as I kept my sights straight ahead. I knew that this temple was a replica of the real thing. This temple was built by those infernal machines. Those machines that were brought here by the one I was cloned from. I moved further inwards and found myself walking downwards through a lit passageway. I stepped onto a flat surface and turned around a corner. I stopped immediately as I came into a massive room and from here I could tell that there was a lot of electricity being gathered at one spot but for what. I looked to my left to see a single computer monitor that seemed completely unfazed by the electricity being generated in this room. I turned around and looked up into a single eyeball that was staring back at me.
I looked at it for a few more seconds and then turned back to the computer. The eyeball was not very interesting and the computer was. I walked over to it and smiled. I couldn't be harmed by any level of power coming from this electrical field. I could hardly bottle up my excitement. I put my hand down on the keyboard interface as the computer turned on. It scanned my entire body. I blinked a few times as it did this. The computer let out a beep as it was done scanning me. It let out another beep to tell me that I had full clearance to look on the computer. It showed me a white screen with several yellow folder icons on it.
I blinked a few times as I looked at each of the files before deciding on one that seemed the most interesting, it was a file named "Converting the Elements for the Benefit of all Beings". I found myself staring at a bunch of programs that seemed to be all running continuously. I heard something behind me and I turned to look back to see nothing there. I heard something moving again and I looked around trying to find out what was causing the sound. I still couldn't see whatever was causing it. It just had to be the background noise. I looked upwards to see that same eyeball looking at me.
"What are you?" I asked coldly.
The computer beeped twice and I looked down at it again to see a picture of some sort of black figure being depicted on the screen. I quickly dodged to the side and found myself staring at a stinger attached to a tail. I followed the tail up to see some sort of creature there clinging to the ceiling. It was illuminating itself with the very electricity that it had absorbed from this room. I dodged again as it struck with the tail once more. I had to dodge several more times as it started jabbing its tail in my direction but after that it stopped completely. It looked at me and then changed into the shape of a bird filled with electricity. This electrical bird grew smaller and smaller until it was smaller than I was. It flew down from the ceiling and landed on my shoulder.
"Tell me your name, clone?" it asked me coldly as its body crackled with electricity on the inside and outside.
"Raoul. Yours?" I replied as I stared at it.
"I have very little use for a name. You can call me, Dart." It said politely with a much more masculine voice as it bowed.
"What are you, then?" I asked Dart while keeping my eye on him.
"I'm a being of pure electricity" Dart replied as he flew off of my shoulder.
"Why are you here?" I asked sternly.
"I was trapped here by these infernal machines. You see, the machines that line this place keep me locked up by using my own powers against me. I cannot escape from this place as long as the shield is still running and I'm giving power to the thing that traps me. Not that I'm doing this willingly" Dart replied angrily as sparks flew off of him. "I wish I could escape but that's not entirely possible. Hmm..."
I wasn't too sure why Dart was looking at me closely. I thought about it a bit more and then it hit me. He was going to use me to get out of here. I didn't really care all that much. This being was not too unlike myself and so I wasn’t too worried. He seemed to cool down from being angry rather fast as he stared at me. He seemed to have come to a decision as he opened his mouth.
"I think I'll be hitching a ride with you for the time being. I won't be taking no for an answer" Dart stated coldly.
"Fine" I said coolly.
Dart flew straight at me. He disappeared and I felt him suddenly appear perching on my shoulder. I turned around and headed off. I walked through the shield and Dart cried out in pain a little and then let out a sigh of relief. I looked back to see the shield still up somehow.
"Don't tell me...---" I began to say but Dart interrupted me.
"Yeah. My twin is still in there. I don't really care about him though" Dart remarked icily. "Don't even say anything about it, if you wish to continue living!"
I grinned as we left the lower levels of this place.
End Log
~Serris~
It hadn't taken much time for me to recover in the Temple of Water.
The main reason I had been hanging around was just enjoying the moment.
The locals also liked me hanging around; they felt I was their leader... something I just bore and let them do as I had found they wouldn't have it any other way.
They, of course displayed some disappointment that I was leaving when the time came.
I finally just jetted out of Atlantis and headed out into the labrinth to look for any intruders or unwelcome pollutants or whatnot. I checked the surface last of all since they would be hardest to deal with if there were any.
Deep down though, I felt that I actually just did this just because I enjoyed drifting through the water. It was mine and I was one with it... how could I not enjoy it?
~End Log~
3.24.11
Vanada Log
I met with some being named Demetri and well he showed me some sort of gem. I found myself just staying around in this one pool of small body of water as I looked up towards the surface. I was heading off somewhere for some reason. I didn't really know the reason. If there was anything that annoyed me more was forgetting why I was going somewhere. It had something to do with a certain individual. I think it had something to do with my sister or something like that or was it something else. I moved upwards until I reached the surface as the rain started to fall heavily. I summoned my trusted water serpent. I climbed on top of it until I reached the top of its head. I told it to go off in the direction that I wanted it to go and it immediately started moving. I had something that I needed to do. My trusty companion started moving across the landscape after leaving the body of water. The rain continued to drench the landscape below us. There were some pretty dark gray clouds above and I enjoyed just watching them. I only had to concentrate on the water pouring down from the sky so that I wouldn't be away from water for the whole time that I'm traveling.
This wouldn't last forever and so I would have to restock at the nearest water source. It would last a couple of hours though and so I was safe for the moment. The nearest water source I think was the Perplexing Pool or was it that other body of water. I turned my head to look from the corner of my eye to see what was going on. All I could see from up here were some moving dots on the landscape. They were all probably some creatures that were moving away from this serpent and they knew that it was better to move away then being crushed. I commanded the serpent to avoid crushing any of the dots below and avoid the towns. I closed my eyes as I laid there against the top of the serpent and enjoyed the ride. I would be at perplexing pool within the next hour or so. I would restock up there and then move to Listless Lake since it was the nearest water source after Perplexing Pool.
End Log
3.25.11
Lambda Zero Log
Scanning....Scanning...
I looked around at all the dead bodies before us. I mean by us is the three of the Lambda series robots. I was scanning to see if one of the enemies was still alive. There was little to do around here. It was pretty much just finish off any survivors within sector 442. They were rather idiotic for even trying. The fact was that regular pikmin couldn't even get close without being horribly killed. That's the word. Apparently, some were smart enough to loot some sort of shield device but that didn't really last very long due to concentrated firepower at one single point. We were quick to find the weak point and so any advantage that they had was gone in an instant.
Scanning Complete. Bringing up Results....
I turned away as I looked at the results as they flew by. It wasn't hard to see what the result was. All living signs were gone. All of the beings here were completely dead and not just by the defenses. It was done by the defenses and us.
Result: All Life Forms Eliminated.
I pressed my foot down on the dead body of a yellow pikmin.
"Silly flesh-and-blood creatures. They thought that they could just storm in here being all high and mighty" Lambda 0.1 remarked as he came by my side as it skewered its hand right through one of the pikmin's heads.
Lambda 0.1 pulled the pikmin's skull out.
"Flesh and flood creatures lack the higher thinking processes that metallic beings have" Lambda 0.2 replied as he smashed the skull to dust with one blow.
"Ain't that the truth" I said monotonously as I stared at the two of them. "These creatures are weak. Rating of Trio Formation Zero Delta is 67%. It needs work."
"Shouldn't that be seventy percent?" Lambda 0.2 inquired as he sent one of the dead bodies flying into the air.
"Negative" I answered him. "Seventy percent is illogical. Our formation still had several faults within it. It couldn't have been seventy percent. We were not in sync for starters."
"I really don't like working with you two. Lambda series or not, you two are too slow for me" Lambda 0.1 replied. "Our formation is messed up because you two won't adapt to my speed."
I slapped my head to see if it was some sort of malfunction in the processors but it wasn't. This was happening before like it always did. These two were never very close at all. It was because of these two that our formation was not working out. One was a complete power-nut and the other one was a speed-nut. If I had the emotional processors to hate them then I would hate them. I didn't have those emotional processors and so all I could do was wish I could hate them. There was still another formation that we were closer to perfecting. It was the Trio Formation Flash Delta X. I rated it at 96%. We still had a few kinks to work out in that one. Perfection was not always easy but once we got the formations down right then enemies of Keijo beware. The trio would kill them.
"You two shut your speech units. We're failing at perfecting that formation because someone doesn't want to slow down just a tiny bit. And you, Lambda 0.2, have to be faster. I'm the middle of the road already. If I try to change what I do then there's going to be problems" I explained as I was completely dissatisfied.
They looked at me and then looked at each other. They both walked away from me in the opposite direction. I had a whole lot of work to do and so little time. Our master was not going to be happy if we didn't get our act together. I didn't want our personality units turned off and be forced to work as factory drones. I moved away from the other two and headed back towards the base. I entered in the codes, watched the door open, and walked inside as the doors closed behind me. I turned around the immediate corner heading down a ramp and around several pillars. The pillars were there for decoration more than anything else. I turned the corner again finding myself in a rather annoyingly long hallway. There were no doors at all on either side except a code-locked one at the very end. The entire hallway was entirely made out of metal.
I walked through the hallway and quickly noticed myself being scanned by something but I didn't really care at all. The door at the end opened up just as I was halfway there. I walked through the door and into a much larger room. I looked around for a moment and then up towards the big monitor. I walked forward until I was in front of it and pressed a single key on the keyboard. The computer brought up a confirmation pop-up and I clicked okay. The computer quickly ran through a few diagnostic tests. It was soon done with that. Several pop-ups appeared on the screen and I grinned. I leaned back against one of the smaller computers as the computer began the long process. I would wait here until it was done.
End Log
(((Black Art)))
Did a shade manage to survive that mayhem...? Whatever. I fired a beam of holy energy at it nonchalantly. I didn't quite catch what it did, but I think it absorbed it. Huh. I refocused my attention on the shade, ridding myself of an attacking Red Pikmin with a Prismatic Spray.
Now wait a second. The shade introduced himself, although that was entirely unnecessary.
"Hmm. Last I saw you, you were in the process of exploding along with your pocket dimension. Just got out of it myself. Now how is it YOU'RE back, eh?"
"I pride myself on being... resilient," the dark elemental responded.
"Hm, yes. Well, unfortunately, I'm a bit busy at the moment, have an auxiliary army to build up here and all! So I'll leave you with this instead. Prestidigitation," I intoned malevolently, pointing at Demetri. Outwardly, nothing seemed to change... except a thick scent entered the air.
"What was-" was as far as the dark elemental got before Shadow punched ten kinds of everliving crap out of him. He was currently about three times his regular size, all of it muscle, his tailing flicking about agitatedly and protruding spikes all along its length.
"See, Shadow's... not overly fond of the smell of ozone. So I just made you smell like that. He IS so delightfully easy to manipulate," I quipped cheerily. Shadow gave me a very malevolent glare, apparently maintaining enough of a mind to know when he was being insulted, but nevertheless turned his attention back to the O3-scented Demetri.
"Just holler when you're done playing. Oh, but do take your time, I DO have business to attend to," I called over, injecting more Black Nectar into a Red Pikmin, turning him into one of us. I do wish I could have done this sooner...
~Demetri~
Very funny of Art...
During the brief moment I had to act in response to this turn of events, I pulled out the jade I had and raised it.
*WHOOOSH!!*
The air cleared of the stench of ozone in a hurry.
At any rate, even if I still smelled like it, this Shadow-guy would have to be millimeters from my skin to even smell it, being that the air was being whisked or cleared away before it really went anywhere.
The effect wasn't immediate, but after I made some swift movements to evade further attacks, the guy seemed to settle down if only slightly and wasn't quite so enraged.
"That better big boy?" I simpered and when he attempted to punch me again with all speed, I reacted even faster, catching his fist in a ball of dark energy. He didn't have time to pull his fist back out as I flipped him over my head and slammed him into the ground.
He hit with a loud splattering noise and I realized he was made of the black nectar substance I had worked with before. I muttered somewhat to myself:
"Alright... Art wants me to play with his pet monkey; then I'll show the chimp a..." I paused to think of the right words
"...A good time."
'Course, being called a monkey enraged this Shadow-guy a bit but I was onto him already and started playing keep-away. His tail came swinging around to tag me and I spin-dodged around it and, gathering energy in a fist, I slugged him clear in the face. For good measure, I released the ball and allowed it to surge back, dragging him along in front of it.
*Crash!*
It smashed him through several houses and ended by slamming him into a cliff-face. He wasn't dead of course but I was throughly enjoying myself already so I was quite happy he wasn't dead.
~End Log~
---
3.25.11
~Demetri (Continued)~
Shadow came charging at me like a bull and I had to manuever while he was coming down on top of me to avoid his fist. In all honesty, his fist technically connected, however he didn't hit the... "right" area, so his fist went through me.
He attempted to fall on me and shoved him back up with a pulse of dark energy and then I had avoid his hands when he attemped to grab me. Once again, his hands missed the "right" area and while he would've normally gotten my legs, his hands passed right through. With his speed, it was impossible for me to avoid everything but only the hits that pretty much hit everywhere were actually hitting.
I fried a group of reds with the topaz when they attempted to subdue both of us. Shadow simply sent any on him flying in all directions. He grabbed one resilent one and tossed him towards Art who got the message, whatever it may have been, and turned the red into a black moments later...
That's what he's after, eh? If I follow through with my own plan though... that won't matter...
I paid for my moment of distraction when the giant's fist connected with my entire body and he sent me skidding across the ground.
He attempted to impale me on his tail but I deflected it with a dark shield and I took an instant to circulate some dark energy before I bowled Shadow over with another large blast of dark energy.
"Sorry, I forgot the ape still wants to play." I said to Shadow, making it very clear I was referring to him.
~End Log~
3.26.11
Shadow
"Show you a fuggen ape," I muttered, slamming my tail into the ground tip-first. A line of spikes sprouted from the ground and raced at the dark elemental. He merely stood there as they rose up through him, entirely failing to cause damage. I snorted. Enough of that.
"He's intangible, Art," I barked over at the mage. He looked from from where he'd impaled a Red 'min with his weapon.
"Oh right. Of course. Holy Weapon," he intoned, pointing over at me before resuming whatever it was he was doing. The claws on my gauntlets and the spikes on my tail lit up with an ethereal light. When the spikes came back around at the elemental this time, he moved, skipping backwards. The spikes followed after him, carving an interesting path through the dirt. Yes, that's right, just a bit more.
"Ape this," I growled, and heaved. My tail - all of it - burst up from the ground as one huge coil of spikes, surrounding the dark elemental like brambles.
"Ah," Demetri pondered, looking at the glowing spikes surrounding him from all sides. "That's actually sort of clever for a monkey."
"Hmph," I grunted, and contracted the whole mass around him. Works better on fleshy things, but this guy's like smoke; he slipped out between the cracks and reformed, looking slightly worse for wear and overall a bit more pissed off. I whipped my tail back, coiling its entire length about me like barbed wire and shredding any Red Pikmin that was too close. And by entire length, I mean its entire length. Demetri actually did a double take at how much of it there was. My light-empowered cage of spiked tail covered a fairly significant area. This is because my tail is over a hundred feet long.
"I suppose chimpanzee would be more appropriate, then? Where, praytell, were you hiding that?" the dark elemental said incredulously. I snorted at him.
"I have no reason to tell you," I said, coiling it into a tighter ball around me. And then I simply charged, because now I was a big ball of spiky death.
~Demetri~
Art's sadly mistaken if he thinks that feeble glimmer can hope to rid himself of me.
I drew more power out from myself, circulating it back into my body like I was directing electricity.
I then used that power to catch the giant spike-ball that was rolling at me. If had hit me directly, it would've hurt... though could easily heal that kind of damage.
As it was though, I used a sort of dark-net. I then flexed the "net" outwards, firing Shadow back the other way like I was firing a stone from a slingshot. I had a little chuckle as he ran over (and mutilated) several reds and houses on the way. He redirected himself towards me again but I was ready.
I pulled out the diamond in my little jewel collection and played a bit of hacky-sac with it while getting it ready. The temperature around it dropped rapidly.
"Hey chimp! Chill out!" I yelled and directed a spinning-kick at the diamond, sending it shooting at Shadow.
The diamond impacted into the spike-ball and after several moments, the ball froze solid.
"Irk..." Was about all Shadow managed to get out before he was now a ball of ice. He proceeded on his course at me, unable to control himself until he thawed himself out.
"Hey Art! CATCH!!" I cackled and knocked the spiny ice-ball at Art at high-speed.
Art's alarm on his face was clear and he was forced to dive aside to avoid his ally running him over.
I sent a ball of dark energy after Shadow yet again. This one was loaded to deal concussive force so the result was that it hit Shadow's solidified-liquid body so hard it shattered.
I jerked on an energy line I had on the diamond and pulled it back to me again.
Without the diamond to keep him frozen, Shadow melted down again fairly quick and took a minute to reform.
"I can't remember the last time I enjoyed so much havoc." I said, commenting on how enjoyable I was finding all this. The gems I was using were circling me, providing me with more power. Not that they wanted to but I was extracting it without any real effort required.
~End Log~
Greg had been tied to many chairs, and this one was commendably uncomfortable. He had been picked up by a group of yellows, and they were pressing him for information. This was a rather ambitious move, as nobody had any idea what information they knew or were trying to learn, and the interrogation technique consisted of yelling at him, occasionally throwing punches, and waving sharp objects/guns threateningly. It should've been painfully obvious that he wasn't trying to avoid them as they spotted him, but anyone willing to interrogate for no tangible reason shouldn't be expected to work that out.
Greg snapped back to attention as another pikmin entered the room. The yellows recoiled, as if magnetically repulsed from the intruder. The pikmin was another yellow woman who exuded threat. Even her walk seemed intimidating and purposeful. This was who Greg was here for. She wasn't very old, and hadn't been working very long, but she had shot up the ranks for gathering information quickly and gruesomely, and this had obviously made her enemies. The yellows simply referred to her as The Word. She barked an almost incoherent order at the yellow troops, and they shot out the door as quick as could appear fearless. She spun and called after the crowd "Not you, Fraser", obviously tired of having this effect on her subordinates. Fraser's neck stiffened, and he turned reluctantly, held his shotgun closer. Greg looked at it. An I17, affectionately known as the Defender. Stripper clips, could be fixed to shoot pellets, buckshot, you name it. It was a Pandora make. Ironic, being threatened by his own weapon... On the wooden stock, the nickname was engraved lovingly down the side. Fraser stroked the letters for comfort as The Word glared him back into the room.
3.27.11
Cobalt Log
I stared at my creator as I smiled at him. We had him outmatched but there was something troubling me about his robotic companion. There was something off about three different spots on the robot's chest. I had a strange feeling but that feeling was gone almost right away.
"Xericia and Quasi" I said swiftly to get their attention. "I'll take him on!"
They merely nodded and stepped back. They knew that if they tried to take the lead position they would be sorely beaten. I held up each of my fingers as I pointed them at Keijo. Keijo quickly dodged to the side and ducked as my fingers shot outwards from their sockets. I punched the floor in the next moment as my fingers came back to me. Thousand of blue sparks raced across the floor. Keijo dodged each one flawlessly without missing a beat and as I kept on adding attacks, he just dodged them. I stopped my attacks as I held out my fingers again. He seemed confident and I realized that the robot that was by Keijo's side wasn't there anymore. I turned my head around to see my two companions looking straight up. I swiftly turned my head face up to see the robot crawling on the ceiling. It was a sneaky bugger, that's for sure. I held out my hands sending ten black lasers at the robot that blocked them with some sort of shield. No, it wasn't activated by the robot. I turned back to face Keijo who smiled as he held out his arm. He had some sort of weird looking device in his hand.
"Sorry to say but you won't be harming him" Keijo remarked snidely. "This base obeys my command and with that shield being generated, you're beat."
I tried to attack him but he laughed as my attacks bounced off of thin air before him.
"I forgot to mention that one is over me as well. If I were you three then I would give up right now" Keijo pointed out shrewdly. "When it comes to my own experiments, I know how to defeat all of them with little effort. You three, who hold the three infamous nightmare creatures, are no different!"
I glared angrily at him. He was quickly testing my patience. I felt something cold embrace me as I allowed the nightmare creature to lend me its power. Purple markings appeared across my arms. I charged straight at him, ramming into his shield. It may have protected him from my attacks but he was sent flying back from the invisible force behind my attack. This invisible force pierced through any shield or barrier no matter what it was. Of course, it didn't damage the target. His head slammed against the wall, breaking through it and landing in a separate room. I turned around to face the robot who was heading straight for me. I held my hand out sending a beam of chaos energy straight at him. He was quickly knocked back and seemed surprised for only a moment before absorbing the energy into his body.
His body seemed to glow with the power for a moment and then in a flash he was by my side. I tried to attack him but he punched me with one of his fists at blinding speed. I found myself bashed against the wall. My fellow Ikana stepped in immediately. I slowly stood up to face my opponent. Quasi held up his device and the device in his hand glowed. The robot moved but this time he was a lot slower. Xericia held up her arm as a thousand tiny lasers shot from her hand, hitting the robot directly before he could react. I was up again and so I sped towards where he was going to fall and then jumped upwards bringing my fist to send the robot flying backwards and straight into the room where Keijo had landed in. Keijo came out a second later and seemed to be glaring at us.
"Yeager, proceed to phase two. Kill all three with that weapon. The activation code is zero-nine-six-eight-tango-bravo" Keijo commanded to his robot companion who swiftly moved back to his side.
A portal opened up by the robot and I stared into it feeling an immense power from within. I looked at Quasi and then at Xericia who were both taking a step back. I glared at the portal to see some sort of energy starting to gather in front of it. I couldn't survive this attack if it hit. It was time for the back-up plan.
"Quasi, get all of us out of here now!" I snapped at him.
"Got it!" Quasi exclaimed.
He started to work on opening up a portal. I stared at the energy still being gathered. I turned back to look at Quasi who was about midway done with his portal. I turned back to face Keijo and his robot. I turned around to see the walls were shielded meaning that all the damage done with this beam would be kept in this large hallway. It wouldn't spread. Keijo was certainly smart or maybe he was just plain crazy since he was sealed into this room as well meaning that if the shields made stuff bounce off of them then that would mean he and his robot pal would be killed off. No, that just couldn't be it. He was smiling and so I knew was wrong about th3at. I turned back to face Keijo again as I heard Xericia exclaim her delight which meant that the portal was complete. I heard the two jumping in. The beam fired and I jumped backwards into the portal. The portal closed behind me and the beam rushed past. I regretted jumping into the portal as I found myself in some sort of spatial zone. I was only there for a second more and then light filled my world as I found myself standing on a tiny piece of rock that was floating in the air. I saw both Xericia and Quasi both with me and they were also standing on tiny pieces of floating rock. They weren't exactly tiny but I guess due to being influenced by the nightmare creature within me that I viewed everything as tiny. We were in our own dimension but I couldn't tell where. I guess I would find out when I searched around a bit.
End Log
Note: Everything after this will be in a weekly grouping:
3.28.11 to 4.3.11
Now the fight had drawn a bit of a crowd... in two varieties. Red Pikmin too stupid to stay away, and Black Pikmin that Black Art had been forming from his collected Nectar. To Shadow's immense chagrin, he was kind of losing here.
"Save yourself some embarrassment, Shad. Tag out," Black Art advised from the sideline. The other Black 'min cackled and jeered and booed, but more than that, looked excited. Combat! After so damn long!
Shadow listed off the available candidates. His eye settled on one in particular. Perfect.
"Split, tag in," he shouted. A Black 'min carrying a single-edged sword cheered and leapt down as Shadow jumped to the rooftops, not wanting to be anywhere near this.
"Ape's had enough, eh? So, what's YOUR deal, then?"
"Oh, nothing too complex, I'd think. Room," Split rumbled, projecting a large translucent barrier around himself, catching Demetri and a few Red Pikmin within. Demetri gave it a disinterested look.
"Really? And what's this supposed to-" was as far as he got before he suddenly found his torso replaced by a large brick. Mad cackling arose from the Black Pikmin. Split, meanwhile, tossed Demetri's torso up and down in blatant defiance of elemental physics, then chucked it sideways with a flick of his wrist, replacing one of the Red Pikmin's arms with it. He now held the arm and used it to wave, then threw it off to the side and was holding a Red Pikmin's suddenly very distraught head.
"Some people really ought to know better, eh?" Split asked. The Red Pikmin's head started screaming. Split tilted his own head to give it a confused look. "S'alright?" More screaming. He shrugged and tossed it aside, finding himself with Demetri's torso again, as the Red Pikin it HAD been attached to found himself screaming along with his suddenly acquired second head. Split gave the torso a shove and was once more holding the brick he'd originally replaced Demetri's torso with.
"In this Room, I control everything. You lot were screwed the second I formed it," Split explained calmly. He proceeded to demonstrate this by making a swipe with his sword and taking Demetri's head off from twenty feet away. The shadow elemental calmly caught it and replaced it on his shoulders, looking completely unamused.
"Tough crowd," Split noted, then equally calmly deflected Demetri's bolt of darkness with a wave of his hand, replacing some Red 'min's head with it. The bolt exploded, leaving the rather horrified head gazing over at its decimated body.
"Wait, how am I still alive then...?" the head asked. Split shrugged.
"Beats me," he replied, then chucked the head out of the bubble where it rolled to a stop, still perfectly alive.
"Hey, you can't just leave me like this?"
"Eh, care," Split shrugged.
~Demetri~
I twisted my re-affixed head left and right, pretending to pop it.
I noticed when someone this new-guy didn't want escaping, tried to escape, he'd do something to draw them back in. This was after several minutes of watching and dealing with his antics.
He seemed somewhat disappointed that I seemed mostly immune to any form of torture he attempted on me. Anything he misplaced on me, I just calmly reattached to its proper point.
After I while, I tired of this.
While he was having fun dismantling a red and leaving the living parts scattered all over the place, I charged up energy, circulating it. Art was just yelling at "Split" to pay more attention when I exploded with a wave of dark power. He jumped well over the wave and then landed within the black cloud that it had left behind.
"Good luck trying to split this darkness." I spoke, using the darkness to have my voice come from everywhere. "You can move it, but it will take you a lot of work to get it all out of your way."
Indeed, as soon as Split shoved one "block" of dark cloud over his way, more flooded in to continue clouding his vision.
After a moment of enjoying his mild frustration, I jetted at him.
He didn't see me coming until the last second and didn't have time to react by "displacing" me, he was forced to evade me.
I didn't mind this, in fact it had been my intention. I shot right past him and before he could stop me, I shot through the wall of the "room" and came to a halt outside the box.
After a minute or two more, the sunlight cleared away the dark-cloud and Split cursed under his breath as he realized I was outside his little play-pen.
"Next!" I yelled. "Not you." I followed up when a red came at me. I encased him in a coccoon of dark energy, crushed the red's body down to a husk and pulled the soul in to feed to the dark energy. A little energy boost.
"Next black pikmin, thank you very much." I amended, dusting my hands off.
~End Log~
Split looked a bit unhappy, but nonetheless muttered, "Shambles." The bubble that formed his Room shattered... as did everything in it besides him, leaving a mess of limbs and rubble, neatly excised from the nearby buildings. He then hopped up to the rooftops and looked around a bit before settling.
"Scratch, you're up," he said, pointing to one who seemed to have a number of holes running through his arms. His stalk appeared to be a musical note. Scratch shrugged and jumped to the ground.
"Treble," he said as he rose, making a motion with his arm like he was scratching a record. Somewhat more disturbingly, this produced a sound exactly like scratching a record. Every Red Pikmin on the block fell to the ground with bleeding ears at the high-pitched sound wave. Demetri looked about at the sudden carnage.
"Well now, I'll admit that's actually interesting. But do you really think you can hurt me with sound?"
Scratch shrugged, a motion that caused interesting noises to spout from his arms. "You tell me. Bass," he said, his voice taking on a very deep tone. He clapped his hands together in Demetri's direction, producing a sound more like an extremely loud, directed clap of thunder straight in your face. The sound wave tore down any building in its path and flattened every Red Pikmin it hit. Demetri himself was swept off his feet and blasted through a wall as a full-body blast of sound hit him head-on.
Scratch, meanwhile, took the middle and ring fingers of his right hand in his mouth, grabbed his right arm, and began playing it like a saxophone for no readily apparent reason other than that he could.
~Demetri~
Sonic attacks. Impressive.
The fact that he could put Louie out of business with that kinda sax sound didn't hurt either.
I almost started tapping my foot to the beat he had going but I held myself back from that and flooded the field with dark clouds again.
"Scratch" as he was called, just started blowing the clouds away with more sonic attacks. I could feel the vibrations he was making rippling the energy I was composed of.
I then decided to see how loud he could get.
I started yelling myself, making the clouds produce high-volume sound that sounded like yelling. I further facilitated this with the jade I had, making the air vibrate on the same frequency and escalating the noise even further.
It goes without saying, any reds that weren't floored already fell at this point, clutching their ears... it was only going to get worse for them.
Scratch seemed to take my yelling for a challenge (just my intention) and started making that high-pitched record noise again, only louder.
The noise was almost tangible in the air as it caused the air to visibly ripple.
*Crack!!*
It so happened that the vibrations got so intense that the ground itself was torn asunder.
Fortunately for myself, I had voluntarilly made myself deaf (no ears, no sound) and I was floating off the ground so the only thing about this that was affecting me was the waves hitting me. I simply withstood this.
Finally, one of the other blacks knocked Scratch off his feet, I stopped making noise as well and as I restored my sense of hearing, they were yelling at him about making their ears bleed as well.
I chuckled to myself. The reds around had now died. Some heads had literally exploded. Nice.
"Most amusing." I commented with sincerity and a smile.
"Get loud enough and you hurt both sides of the conflict." I then gave the lot of them a little wave and flew off.
"I enjoyed our little competition! Perhaps we'll meet again!"
~End Log~
-~=L'ran=~-
After we got Austin's spine back in proper alignment, Sedacia and I went to Kittith to see if the blacksmith there could do anything with the lump of ore that I had been carrying around for a while now. We expected at least some problems, but nothing came up on the way there. Nothing happened at Kittith, either, until...
"So, what do you want me to make out of this?"
I then realized that I had absolutely no idea. I looked at Sedacia to see if she had any ideas, but she was in the same situation that I was.
"Uhh..." I started. "About how much metal can you get out of that?"
"Roughly five pounds."
"Well... I have no idea how to use a sword... hmmm... Sedacia, do you have any ideas?"
"... Well... the only thing in short supply these days is weaponry... but what could we use that for?"
"Opening large letters?" I swiftly got a punch in the shoulder for that. "Ok, ok. Maybe some kitchen knives. Our old ones are getting kinda dull."
The blacksmith waited for Sedacia to speak against that, but took the ore and went to work with it when she didn't.
"Come back in a couple of days. I'll have some progress by then," he said before the ore started drawing various odds and ends to it. He started again, "Great, it's magnetic. I'm going to charge you extra for that."
Oh, great. More dishwashing for me.
<Omicron>
Beep beep beep
I brought my left arm up and tapped at it. Strosek's close... good.
"I think we're closing in on him. Get ready... but try not to hurt him."
"All that carnage and you don't want this guy hurt? Really?" Sloth prodded. I had the decency to look ashamed of myself.
"Should be right over this dune... ah, that'd explain it," I muttered, noticing the big lump of sand poking up conspicuously. Atop it sat Delta, looking mighty peeved about something. As we approached, Delta hopped down, stomped over, and sock my machine in the face.
"This thing has no force feedback, that doesn't hurt," I noted as Delta threw another punch.
"You care to explain what I've got trapped in there, huh?"
___________________________
<Project Strosek>
"Course of action determined," the Book chimed. Strosek sighed.
"Initiate Zero Effect," it intoned. EC-Divider glowed.
Strosek froze for a moment, then croaked, "Crap..."
___________________________
<Omicron>
"I assure you there's a perfectly rational explana-"
"RATIONAL? You call that RATIONAL? For god's sake, man, that's G- ack," Delta cut off, clutching at his chest. Sloth similarly went down, gasping. The spines along his arms rose up and began sparking, channeling electricity toward... Omicron looked back at Delta. Both of them were suffering from heart attacks!
"Dammit... deploy defibrillator units!" Omicron shouted, dispatching two orbs from his shoulders. One floated down to Delta and delicately extended a pair of cords, then let out a high-pitched whine followed by a shock. Delta sucked in a deep breath and rolled over, looking dazed. Sloth waved the defib unit off, charged electricity through his arms, and slammed them against his own chest, performing his own defibrillation. Delta, however, had lost focus, and the dome of sand began falling apart. Omicron peered over at the collapsing structure.
"Zero Effect won't work on this thing, Strosek, it's a machine. No heart," I called through the settling dust. Strosek slowly came into view, appearing exactly as I'd expected.
EC-Divider had morphed into a much larger form, the original gun wedged in the center of a large, wireframe-esque lade. Attached over his left arm was some kind of gauntlet, with a circular formation, working as a guard. The EC tattoos covered his whole body now. The Book of the Silver Cross hovered just over his shoulder. All in all, he looked pretty terrifying.
Sloth looked less than amused. Green. Strosek was green. A bipedal green Pikmin. There were exactly two of those.
"You're kidding me, right?"
"He came to me, Sloth. He didn't want to hurt anyone, I... I thought I could help him. But EC is like nothing I've ever seen, and that damned Book took over halfway through. Now..."
"SERIOUSLY?" Sloth roared. "You're gonna tell me that Strosek is Gamma Mark II?!"
Black Scythe
Coated with blood of all varieties and still with a few weapons poking out of him, Black Scythe finally made it to the top of Gunzack, finding Chi... a lot of him... and the hourglass. The black leader snarled.
"Get these damn creatures off my Gargant," he demanded. One of the younger Chi's shrugged at him.
"I would if I could. Kinda busy with that guy, though," he said, pointing at Aeonus, floating a fair distance away. Like the eldest Chi, he was flickering, engaged with the cyan Pikmin in a battle through time and space.
Black Scythe didn't exactly care about this. He had a target and it was within reach. Solution: tear it to shreds. The Supreme Warboss snapped his wing open and shot at Aeonus like a rocket, ignoring the protests from the various Chi's.
A plethora of Infinite 'min blocked his path as they saw him coming. Black Scythe snorted and tore the first he came upon in half, followed by smashing one's face in with his right tail and impaling another with his left, slinging him around and into another with enough force to break bones. Another Infinite ran him through with a blade from behind; Black Scythe swiveled his tail to point at it and embedded a large Needler shard in its face, causing the Infinite to vanish in a puff of pink mist. He then drew the blade from his flesh and swiped it at an incoming row of Infinites; the Infinites and the blade liquefied from the force, and Black Scythe chucked the tiny handle hard enough to embed it in someone's kidneys. Both of them. Don't ask how that worked.
The rest he dispatched by simply cleaving them in half with his right arm on the path to Aeonus, who he attempted to deal with similarly. The blade passed through him harmlessly, however, eliciting a growl of rage. More swings yielded similarly fruitless results. Engaging his brain over brute force, he then stuck his blade through where Aeonus was floating and left it there. That got him to scoot aside, so Black Scythe followed him with it. Sure enough, he couldn't stay in the same position as the scythe blade for long. So he had to teleport back here with nothing blocking his position. Simple enough.
"Aim Gunzack's main cannons at this guy and unleash hell!" He roared back at the gargant, moving out of the way. Deep within Gunzack's innards, the engines roared into life, superheating the pyrite storage containers. Gunzack's main cannons raised up and fired great globs of liquefied pyrium clean through Aeonus's location. Sure enough, he was once more forced to move, now sporting a look of deeper concentration.
"Fire EVERYTHING!" Black Scythe roared over the din, and Gunzack's main cannons were joined by all of it's mounted guns, a variety of elemental blasts, and a whole bunch of other stuff that may or may not have been classified as projectiles. Anyone without some kind of ranged attack stuck to defending against the waves of Infinites. A huge beam lanced from Gunzack's right shoulder, signaling Epsilon's location. Arkthugal hopped atop Gunzack's head, placed his axe on his back, and began concentrating. The air temperature lowered noticeably and a chill wind began blowing, centering over the battlefield...
Several minutes of this seemed to produce no result, with Aeonus simply moving between the many projectiles, though the rest of the airspace was pretty well cleared. And then Ark made his move.
"Prepare yourself! HEIMDALL!" Arkthugal shouted. The temperature plummeted and the air filled with a cold crackling sound. Accompanying this was the formation of a rather large iceberg, hanging impossibly over everything.
"Now then... DODGE THIS!" Ark roared, swinging his hands down. The iceberg followed suit as gravity took notice of it and promptly pulled it downward. Aeonus maintained his look of concentration until the iceberg was just upon him, then snapped his head up and belched a wave of sand at it, disintegrating the mass of ice in seconds. It took him only an instant, but that was all that was needed.
Chi moved. One instant he was atop Gunzack. The next, he'd taken a notch out of Aeonus's ribcage, cleaving him almost in half at the chest. Aeonus coughed once, then wrapped himself in his wings and vanished. The rest of the living Infinites followed suit. Atop Gunzack, Ark collapsed just as Black Scythe landed beside him. Chi popped up next to him.
"At least you make yourself useful when it counts," the Supreme Warboss grunted. Epsilon and Trombe joined him.
"I came to your aid only because Aeonus was against you, Black Scythe. As I've known you for so long, though, I'll at least give you a warning: The next time we meet, I won't be on your side," Chi stated plainly. He promptly vanished as Black Scythe attempted to decapitate him. Epsilon swore.
"Oh great. Chi against us. That'll be fun," Trombe muttered.
~Demetri~
I landed elsewhere where I was sure I'd have privacy and looked over the gems I had with me...
Five... Plus the fire, water, and earth ones, which I had controlling the other three... well, at any rate, they were keeping the earth and fire guys active.
I had no interest in the light-gem... I was searching for the dark one's... wind I had no ideas... lightning or electricity... that'd be tricky... and ice...
I focused on the diamond and brought it in front of my face so I could concentrate on it...
I normally didn't care for silence like this but I needed it to focus properly.
After several minutes, my eyes snapped open... the glacier of course; should've been rather obvious I'd think anyhow... being that I didn't have a very direct connection to the gem, the feeling wasn't very strong but if I bonded to it on some level, I could feel it. But really... I should've guessed...
It was when I disconnected myself from it again that I realized ice-crystals had been forming in me. They melted away soon enough and I was on my way.
Time to visit the iceberg. I shot off.
~End Log~
4.4.11 to 4.10.11
Kane log
I ran all the way back to Zankrieg, and... am trapped in a corner. Great. "Um, can't we..." I was cut off as I was stampeded by my min. "Ahh!!!!!" I yelled, as i was flattened like a pancake. My min snapped out of their trance. "Hey, wheres... oh, sorry bossu." They said, as I reinflated myself. "I am staying in Zankrieg from now on unless boss tells me to leave!" I said.
End log.
Blue log
Grr, this is boring. There is nobody for me to mess with, and there is nothing to do. I am going to the Awakening Woods, hopefully there will be something for me to do.
End log.
~Kurt~
We finally came to an edge of the forest after a day or so of searching...
No trace of this person... Runa's "Mom"...
We hadn't talked all that much; the vixen seemed mostly focused on her search... mostly.
"Well." I started, coming to a halt and turning to face Runa "We can go two ways from here: we can search the forest again... just to be safe in case she got by us (something I severely doubted could've happened with my search-pattern), or you can go off on your own beyond the forest. If you want me along out there... well, I think I can do that for someone like you. Anyway you go, I'll let you have your way." I explained to Runa.
~End Log~
~Kurt~
Runa took some time thinking things over and I just patiently waited for her to make up her mind.
I happened to glance out at the plains before the outside of the forest... I was contemplating how I'd never really left the forest; I then noticed the figure on the approach towards the forest.
Runa seemed to notice too because she took cover and hid away.
Curious about the incoming entity, I transformed to my pikmin-shape and remained standing where I was, awaiting them.
~Log Pause~
Blue log
It looks like someone is there. I went closer to him. "Aah..." I said, as I looked at him. "Ooh!" I said. "Who are you?" He asked. I smiled and slicked my hair back. "Waleria. You can call me Blue, though." I said. "Lets shake." I said, as I stuck my hand out. As soon as he grabbed it, he got a little shock and his stem and leaf stood up on end. "Heeheehee!" I giggled, as I ran away. "So its a trick fight you want, its a trick fight you'll get!" I heard him yell.
End log.
~Kurt (continuation)~
I jumped into the air over the flying pikmin and vanished from sight with a *pop*.
Blue looked around for me before I came down on her.
*Whooom! Crash!*
I came down as a hefty statue with an unneccessarilly large base and buried the electric-min in the ground.
About a minute later, the min lifted me off of her.
I changed back mid-flight.
"That... Hurt..." she grunted.
"So did that unneeded shock." I commented, in fox-form now. Blue took a minute to realize what she was looking at but then she got a faceful of fox-fire.
I bounded away up into the trees, tail raised high and charged with power.
"Well c'mon!" I called.
When she wouldn't come near, trying to avoid any more tricks from me, I teleported behind her and tackled her, purposefully tumbling with her and kicked her off towards the trees.
She halted herself in air and I crouched low as if I was going to pounce on something.
Blue hung there, fully expecting me to come at her again but she instead got speared by the blunt end of a branch shooting out of a tree behind her. Of course it didn't go through her or even pentrate the skin (I'm not that kind of animal by a long shot) but she was knocked forward and in her surprise, she dropped from the sky.
It was evident to me that I had gone too long without eating when I was tempted to pounce on her there but the fact that she was clearly a machine of some sort helped drive off that thought. It helped that I was far too nice a fellow to do anything of the sort.
She got up again, likely a bit befuddled but she got to her feet and proceeded from there.
~End Log~
Blue log
Man. Foxy here plays rough. "That hurts, country boy!" I said. "Now prepare for some real magic!" I said, as I vanished in a puff of blue dust. "You can teleport too?" He said. "One, two, three, YAH!" I yelled, as I suddenly appeared behind him and slammed the ground with my wand, sending out a burst of magic dust out which sent him slamming into a tree. I saw the tree starting to fall down on him. I quickly teleported next to him, grabbed him, and teleported him with me out of the way of the tree, him reappearing holding my hand (Not electrified anymore). "Wait, what?" He said, as I jumped back.
End log
~Kurt (slight remake of events)~
Blue pulled me out from under the falling tree's path... unnecessary but nice of her.
I pounced on her again and tumbled some more. The action was really more gentle than I could've otherwise been (the case was the same for last time as well).
I bounded away from Blue and teleported behind her before she got her bearings again.
I looped my tail around her waist and pulled in such a manner that I sent her into a fast, but brief spin.
While she was dazed for the couple of seconds, I ran up to her and pushed her back with one paw. Being unbalanced at the moment, she stumbled back and tumbled right into the hole in the ground that I had "magiked" into existance. I just parted the ground and kept it covered with plants using my power; with only one tail, it was a bit draining but not too hard.
I ran up the lip of the hole and looked down at her.
"That all you got?" I chuckled.
~End Log~
Blue log
"I don't think so." I said, as he turned around and I bonked him with my wand. "Wha..." He said, as he noticed how the Blue in the pit had disappeared. "Its magic!" I said, as I disappeared and reappeared... with four of me. "Guess which is real!" We said. He moved right up to me and whipped me with his tails. The clones vanished. "How did you know which one I was??!" I asked. "I use illusions, you know..." He said. "Ohh, right..." I said, as I blushed.
End log.
~Kurt~
"I wonder if you're nearly as good at spotting illusions." I commented and jumped over her head.
Her eyes followed my path but when she turned around to watch me land on the ground behind her, there were five of me. Five foxes that had one, two, three, four, and five tails respectively.
"Not really identical but effective nonetheless." all of me spoke at once.
Blue went with the obvious first choice and pointed at the single-tailed me.
"Nope. Sorry that would've been just too obvious." I chuckled as the fake vanished in a puff of magic.
Blue shrugged and looked over the remaining selection more carefully.
She finally pointed at the four-tailed me.
I smiled warmly and the other three vanished and I reverted back to one-tail.
"Second time. Not bad." I complimented her "You make a nice play-mate I must admit."
Blue, after getting over her brief bout of abashment, made to fool around with me some more but I vanished on her again and reappeared in the tree I had been in originally.
"Sorry I can't play more but I've got other business to attend to. Maybe another time Blue." I was quite sincere.
She looked a little disappointed that I was cutting the fun short early but accepted it and waved me goodbye before flying off with a smile.
I glanced in Runa's general direction and spoke up.
"Alright, I think she's gone if you find her that much of a concern." Runa was next to me before I had finished, I just continued on as if I hadn't noticed "Now then, back to what we were thinking on before that robot came to play. Another search through the forest, or are you going out there (indicating the plains)? I'm willing to tag along if you want, either way." I then just sat and awaited her answer.
~End Log~
Blue log
Well, that was interesting. Where shall I go now, hmm... decisions, decisions...
End log.
Runa Log
I smiled though he seemed to know my general direction, he was entirely wrong. I popped out of the sky, landed on his head with one paw, and then flipping off of his head in one motion. It got his attention immediately but well I didn't really care. He was a little surprised by the fact that there was two of me there. I was still playing the child here so I was keeping to an energetic kit. The other me went poof letting out only a tiny amount of smoke as I did that.
"Plains" I said simply as I pointed towards where he pointed. "Let's go out there. I think mom might be searching for someone. Don't know name."
I looked at him cutely.
~Kurt~
"The plains, hm?"
She seemed to be waiting for me to take the lead... I mentally sighed here because she was expecting something that was a bit beyond my experience.
"I ought to tell you Runa, I've only ever been in this forest. I consider it my home and I've honestly never gone out this way or really ever left the forest. So, I won't know where to go." I pointed out.
"Then again I suppose you're likely to get lost just as much as me so it's better to be lost with someone else than alone. I just suggest you don't trust me to know where I'm going out there unless it's back to the forest." 
A faint smirk started on Runa's face but was quickly banished and she had that innocence about her again. I was pretty sure by now that there was more to her than met the eye, just like myself... so it wasn't all that unusual anyhow.
I got up and jumped down from the tree I was in and landed quietly on the ground. We then just proceeded out from there.
~End Log~
Keijo Log
I groaned as I looked up at the red light blazing. I had a headache after that attack went off. It didn't help at all that I couldn't stop those three from escaping. I still had to be impressed by my own work unlike some other guys' work. I would just have to step up the firing schedule. I looked around to see that there were no other holes here from the beam and such. I laughed a little as I realized that I had placed shielding on the inside of these corridors as well. It just didn't seem to work with physical bodies though or maybe there was a slight disturbance in the internal shielding at that exact spot. I wouldn't really know until I tested it further. I walked forward and turned the corner as I heard the announcement. We were currently surfaced in one of the caves pocketing my continent. I found myself back at the control center of this mobile research lab and made a call to an "abandoned lab". I waited a few minutes until a holographic 3D image showed up in front of me. I stared at the figure before me. It was a vermilion-colored pikmin wearing a weird pair of goggles over his eyes. He was one of my more useful 'min. I had ironically given him the nickname, Goggles.
"Is the device ready to fire, Goggles?" I asked promptly.
"Yes sir" Goggles replied as he stared straight at me. "Do you want me to fire it?"
"Not today, Goggles. But, I'll be firing it about a day from now. It needs another test run" I answered coldly as I started to tap my fingers on the chair in front of me.
He said something underneath his breath but I hardly cared. I closed down the communication channels and sat down in the big black chair as I sat there to think about what had currently happened so far. I had a couple of messages from Oracia along with a few of the others that served under me because of obedience. No, it was something other than obedience. I knew that there was something else that drove them to serve under me. I knew what it was and it was merely this. The stronger my technology grew and my standing defensive forces grew the more that they wanted to off me and take charge. This only applied to some of my most ambitious minions. I didn't really like the word "minion" to describe those that served under me but until I had a better word for them, I would stick with it. I cared deeply for whoever served under me. I couldn't get rid of that feeling and well I cared even for those that betrayed me. I'm not what you would call a normal mad scientist and that's for sure. I opened up a few files and then opened one that was named Zaliss.
The file opened up and a bunch of information flew by until it settled down in a profile for this being. I placed a hand underneath my chin as I pondered the qualities that I could use from this single being. He was certainly becoming much more powerful than I had originally thought. My sources were entirely correct on the tribe that he now commanded would be facing off against the final major tribe. If my predictions were correct then he would become the third contender and that's what I wanted. The battles and deals between the ripmin tribes were all playing out according to plan. Those ripmin tribes that weren't involved were also playing accordingly to my plan. I closed down the file and shut off the monitor. I got up from my seat and soon found myself outside in the cave.
I walked up the steps built into the cave wall until I reached a solid metal door. There were exactly ten devices that I could enter in passwords with. This was one of my favorites for security. The thing was that only one of these devices would accept the password. All the others would cause the one who picked wrong would be killed by a being too powerful for them to even beat. The same thing happened even if they picked right but got the password wrong. I quickly chose the correct one since I knew which one it was and entered in the password. *Ding* I walked through as the door slid quickly to the side. I was now inside a lit passageway. It was about time that I got things started but first I would have to deal with Xi and his minions. I pressed a button on the device around my arm as I sent a few commands through a wireless connection to the mainframe of this lab. The commands were pretty simple. The computer would send out the orders to two bio-metallic spheres that would then go out and search for Kei and Aura. I rubbed my hands together and laughed with glee as I continued to head through the passageway to the room up ahead. Things were about to get very interesting in the days ahead and I would be sure to monitor all activities.
End Log
Kanaedolph log
Argh, why do I bother... we are now searching the south coast of the continent, even though I don't want to as I have been having rather bad luck lately. Hopefully this doesn't go wrong...
End log, I plan to do something with Kane and Claude soon.
Black Scythe
Most of the Boyz had been given the rest of the day to kick back and relax while the main group caught up. They were now mostly here, in all their smog-spewing mechanical glory. Honestly these guys couldn't be a more comical attempt to destroy the environment if Looten Plunder drove the whole fleet over Captain Planet.
Now, the more pressing concern at the moment was how we were going to move out of here.
"As I'm sure you may have noticed," I drolled somewhat redundantly to a gathered group of Warbosses (Arkthugal's three primary disciples standing in his place, as he was a little unconscious), "Gunzack is up to it's goddamn armpits in corpses. Makes moving kind of difficult. How do we deal with this?"
Epsilon immediately turned to the three death knights. "Think you could resurrect all of those?"
All three shook their heads. "Too many," Karrak spoke laconically. Koltira nodded, but Putricide looked thoughtful.
"... Meatgrinder?" Putricide suggested. Karrak and Koltira turned their gaze on him.
"Meatgrinder," Koltira nodded sagely.
"Meatgrinder," Karrak agreed.
"Meatgrinder!" Putricide shouted over the side of the gargant.
"Will you clowns stop saying Meatgrinder?" Barricade rumbled at them. He wasn't heard over a sudden and extremely loud roar as... something trawled out of the pack of trukks.
If the rest of them were a comical attempt to massacre the environment, this thing took it to the next level. It was absolutely huge, situated on a pair of large tank treads, with what appeared to be a pair of crude, grasping arms at the sides, individually controlled by a death knight each. The real attraction, however, was the thing on the front. It appeared to be the unholy love child of a lawnmower, circular saw and chainsaw orgy, a maw made entirely of spinning sharp things.
"What in god's name is that?" I asked, giving the thing a once over.
"It's a Meatgrinder! Just watch."
The Meatgrinder, apparently, used the pair of arms it had to begin scooping up corpses... and dumping them right into the rather aptly-named meatgrinder, mulching bodies into little giblets of blood, meat and bone. As if this wasn't enough, it was joined at the corpse pile by another... and then another... and yet more, gathering up bodies and turning them into constituent parts.
"I... I think I'm in love," Trombe admitted. He was summarily ignored.
"Okay, so is there some point to these things besides being the most terrifying pieces of heavy machinery in existence?" Epsilon directed to the Death Knights. Putricide just grinned knowingly.
"We'll show them off during our next assault. I think you'll be pleased with the results, they're horrifying. Bet we could scare the better part of an army off just by bringing one of those onto the battlefield."
"Yeah, if they didn't move just slightly faster than an iceberg," Barricade noted. "Then again anything stupid enough to be in the way of one of those deserves what it gets."
The DKs pouted (Well, Koltira and Putricide did, Karrak blinked). "Stop pointing out the flaws! We made the engines as big as we could without sacrificing too much cargo space, couldn't make 'em much faster. Not that they really NEED to be..."
4.11.11 to 4.17.11
~Claude~
When I saw that guy again, he seemed to be a bit more right in his head...
Didn't stop him from wanting to duel...
I ain't Japanese so I didn't really have a problem with fudging this.
Behind my own back, I used the spell "Speed".
Normally, this would produce a bit of an aura, but this bunch didn't notice.
When we charged and met at the middle, my enhanced reflexs allowed me to sweep under his blade and whirl around to strike him from behind.
*clash!*
I continued my spin and, just for the typical "after-shot" of the event, I stayed posed.
Interestingly enough, we apparently had a draw on our hands, he had attempted to attack me but still had the speed and time to block my own attack. He had no wound on him and no injury made itself apparent on me either.
He turned and started backing up to repeat the procedure but I wasn't interested in his little honor-game.
I cast "Crush", causing a large, stone-like fist to come down on top of him.
I then cast "Energize" on myself and proceeded to run with all the speed the Jaguar Ring I had would provide.
~End Log~
Kanaedolph log
A giant stone hand came from above and tried to flatten me, but I managed to jump out of the way. I laughed, as I closed in to turn him into chop-suey. We clashed blades and traded blows, before a final one knocked us back away. I pulled out my bomb launcher and he pulled out his bazooka, and we both fired at each other. He managed to dodge mine, but the explosion from his knocked me back a bit. I was still on my feet, though, and gave him a "bring it on" gesture with my hand.
End log.
~Claude~
I casted another spell called "Lance".
The black expected something to come at him from some angle but it was me that came.
It was after a minute of exchanging strikes when a large arrow of metal came shooting down out of nowhere and impaled him while he was still trying to block attacks from me. I landed more direct blow on him and shoved him back.
"Evade this." I said darkly and used some iron and ash.
A cloud formed and only took a second before it shot a jagged line of electricity directly down at the black.
*Zzzzrrt!*
I whipped out an axe and swung hard!
*Whack!*
"Energize" still causing my muscles to buzz with energy, I glanced around at the others.
"Anyone else?"
~End Log~
Kane log
Urgh, that didn't feel good. I slowly got back up to my feet, injured. "Bossu, we..." My min said, as I grunted. "Stay out of this!" I said. My sword started glowing with a purple aura... "DRAGON STRIKE!!!!!" I yelled, as I fired a large, dragon-shaped blast of dark energy from my sword at the white. "What the-" He said, as the dragon slammed into him, and with a flash of white, he was sent flying and slammed into a nearby tree. He slowly got back up, also injured. Now we are even...
End log.
~Claude~
Alright... I've had enough...
I hurled a Blast Bead at the ground, and having seen how effective lightning had been, I roared
"Storm!"
Another, more sinister-looking, cloud formed.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Three lightning strikes later, the black was back to his knees.
He got to his feet again and attempted another energy-based attack, only bigger. I didn't catch the name: I wasn't paying enough attention this time and last time, I'd gotten hit too fast to catch it.
I didn't particularly care though.
"That won't work on me again." I growled and openly used iron and grease together.
A column of light dropped over me as the wave of power came at me.
With an unneccessary yell, I made like I was smacking the wave with my hands, and it was knocked back at him. He caught the energy and attempted to "tennis-rally" it back to me.
He's fighting a losing battle on that front.
I raised my arms like I was guarding from the attack and then hit the energy again when it pressed on my reflective shield.
*Wham!*
My opponent was knocked back from his own attack.
"Asking again: Anyone else?" I said, tensely to the watching crowd.
I didn't want to use another Blast Bead but if this lot tried to mass me, I'd have to take measures that would floor any non-reds.
~End Log~
Kanaedolph log
Argh, I am losing this... time for something special. "Prepare yourself..." I said, as I unsheathed my sword, which flared with a light blue fire-light aura. "TAKE..." I said, as I raised it over my head and behind my back. My eyes glowed a bright yellow. "THIS!!!!" I said, as I brought my sword down, and a large yellow beam-like burst of energy travelled through the ground towards him, kicking up smoke and rocks along the sides of it as it went. He managed to dodge it, as it kept on going until it eventually stopped. It left a large crack in the ground where it had travelled, and had SPLIT THE WATER IN HALF which it had traveled through. It went back to normal after a few seconds, though. "Holy!!!!" The white said.
I sheathed my sword, dashed towards the white and hit him with knee to the gut which knocked the wind out of him, followed by a jump kick to the face, a backhand, and finally a uppercut. He flew backwards and landed on flipped on the ground for a while, eventually landing on his back. As soon as I got close to him though, he got up and grabbed me from behind, and then slammed me into the sand, head first. "Argh!" I grunted, as my eyes bugged out and the weight of my armor caused me to fall backwards, creating a anvil-like clang as I hit the ground. I slowly got back up, and wiped sweat from my head. This is getting tiring...
End log
~Demetri~
I arrived at the glacier and flew low over the ice, searching.
Shortly into the search, I found even though I was going large distances and in a sensible pattern, the signal from the gem wasn't changing much, if at all.
That indicated to me that I was more or less staying the same distance from my target at all times.
Then the gem, while I was staying put, reflecting on this, started to glow violently...
This coincided with the blizzard around me becoming thicker and more aggressive.
Theta...
I quickly evacutated the zone and tried looking for somewhere to duck into...
That wasn't likely though. I was only too aware of Theta's general abilities.
Finally, I just pointed myself down and shot into the ice.
It was somewhat of a surprise when I found myself in an ice-covered room.
When I paused to look around and try to figure out where I was, I noticed the diamond was pulsing now...
This is the temple then... it's pulsing because it's resonating with the structure itself and gently drawing power from it.
However, it soon began to glow violently again while still pulsing... Theta seemed to be chasing me. He's probably wondering who I am and why I'm intruding as I am.
I evaced the room and took off into the temple. I needed somewhere a bit more private, but given what Theta could do... that might be impossible here.
I wasn't about to just give up though.
~End Log~
<Theta>
Theta walked into the temple... through the wall. Beings capable of doing this love to do so at any available opportunity, especially when an audience is present. As it so happened, he currently had one.
"To what do I owe your presence in my home?" Theta rasped at the Elemental of Darkness. Stall, then guide him away, sounded like the best plan. He certainly wasn't going to let Demetri go any further in this place.
~Demetri~
Theta caught up with me, walking right through the walls effortlessly...
He did the logical thing and asked me what my business here was. He was ready to attack if he needed to.
I knew that here of all places, it would be a lost-cause trying to defeat him... especially if he knew how to use the temple's power to aid him.
If I told him the full truth, that would get me the same result as attacking or running from him.
In effect, it didn't really matter what I did as he'll likely see through any lies and he would attack me no matter what then.
So I responded,
"I think you'll find out quickly enough." and then darted off into the ice-temple. The elemental silently pursued but I felt the hostility now.
I didn't pay much attention to the direction I was headed, I just made sure I was going away from Theta and going towards my destination as much as possible.
Theta seemed to realize my general direction though and made several attempts in the course of the pursuit to cut my route off.
Tunnels would seal with ice as I approached and sometimes, I had to stop and fly around and evade Theta's attacks as I backtracked to go another way.
At one point, Theta forced me to use brute force to proceed as I had no other faster way forward and I blasted a fresh wall of ice out my path. It sealed up as I went past and Theta continued after me.
I finally arrived after an hour or so, at a large room with a thick column in the center. It seemed like a hub for the temple.
The diamond in my hand was pulsing and glowing as bright as ever and I could tell that it was more than Theta making it react now.
I flew down, circling the column and focused on the diamond. I was running out of time and if I didn't hurry, Theta wouldn't be too merciful for my trespassing here.
However, I found that I couldn't draw any ice-elemental's spirit into the gem or call on one...
I had to move fast at that point as Theta's sword came down and made a giant ice-crystal where I had been.
"Get out..." Theta said, his voice possibly colder than himself.
I glanced around, trying to figure out what was making the diamond react if it wasn't the room itself.
It was after more minutes of dodging Theta's furious attacks that I noticed the column in the center of the room...
There...
~End Log~
~Demetri (continued)~
It was hard to see in the ice but there was a figure stuck in there...
That must be it!
Theta attempted to wipe the smirk that was forming on my face as he sent a zone of absolute-zero at me.
I used the diamond itself to shield myself from that, making the temperature around me stay at tolerable levels.
However, I couldn't do it again, the gem was being obstinate against me and I had really forced it to do that last thing for me.
Then again, I wouldn't need it.
I focused dark energy into the diamond and fired it into the column.
I ducked under Theta's sword and kicked him in the gut and then quickly put distance between us.
It would take a moment but...
"I'll ask one last time Demetri: What is the meaning of this?" Theta rasped.
I smiled.
"Thought you might like to meet with an old friend of yours."
*Crash!*
There was the ear-splitting sound of glass shattering and the column between us broke in several fragments. I took a mild amount of damage when some shards hit me but I withstood it.
I thought I might've had Theta then but when I realized something was wrong, I got defensive.
The figure that had been in the column punched the ground he was on and ice crystals formed like lances in all directions!
I ducked under the wave and Theta caught one headed for him, halting it.
I found myself actually stuck for the moment and that's when Theta melded through the ice and, forming a ring of ice around my neck, seized me by it.
"Release your control." Theta hissed.
I winced a bit as the ice spread through my neck. I managed to get out what I needed to say:
"Sorry to disappoint both of us... but I'm not controlling him... I wish I were but it seems I overestamated myself."
Theta might have attempted to execute me right then but the recently thawed figure hurled several large shards of ice at both of us and, interested in self-preservation, I unleashed a blast of dark energy that blew Theta away from me and deflected the ice.
~End Log~
~Glacius~
Demetri rubs the area of his neck that had been frozen before commenting:
"And sorry to cut-&-run, but now that I look at him: I know this guy. I ain't sticking around when he puts a layer of ice on the entire planet. Later!"
Theta's about ready to give chase when a voice of the winter enters his mind.
"Theta..."
This brings Theta to a halt and he turns to look at his predecessor.
"Prove... your worth to me... withstand my wrath... or die in supreme cold."
With that, the revived Glacius lets out what sounds like a howl and charges!
~End Log~
Sorry about taking so much control like that but I felt I just had to see how'd you'd work with this.
Frostmourne can harm Glacius but it will need to get through his ice-shell first. Also, if Theta makes a hammer made of ice or something along those lines, that will work to crack that shell.
Obviously, Theta's other ice-based abilities will be useless here. Attacks by either one here will need to be physical on some level or they will only heal the other.
As for Glacius's voice, it would seem that his only can be heard by those like himself: someone of the Ice.
Glacius's Battle Theme:
Sword Duel Vs. Ganondorf - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
<Theta>
Well, the good news was that he'd managed to corral Demetri to the complete opposite side of the temple. Good, he didn't need the dark elemental snooping through his personal business. The bad news was that Glacius was on this side of the temple and Demetri had gotten it in his head that reviving him would be a great idea. Theta made a mental note to not ask questions and just destroy the dark elemental next time he saw him.
The temperature in the room dropped so hard new ice began to form over walls that were already cold enough to be called permafrost. Theta found that, for the first real time, he was at a severe disadvantage in a fight. Nevertheless, Theta sealed all of the exits... by completely freezing over all of the halls on this side of the temple. Maybe he caught Demetri with it, would serve him right.
He skidded aside from Glacius's initial charge, then formed a thick wall of permafrost over him. That'd hold just long enough.
Planting Frostmourne into the floor, Theta shed all of the armor he typically wore; it would do him no good here. He pulled Frostmourne from the floor and pointed it at Glacius as he emerged from the shell, alighting each of the runes along its length.
"You will not leave this room," was Theta's only response to the former elemental of ice. Any further words would simply be superfluous.
Glacius's first attack was to simply produce a mass of frozen spears and launch them at him. Theta skidded about through the barrage, finding himself unable to actually wrest control of the ice that Glacius formed. Frostmourne's runes glowed a sickly red as he approached the former elemental, and his first counter-attack actually gouged a fairly deep hole in the wall as a wave of energy broke off the slash and traveled through Glacius. The slash itself, and the energy wave, however, appeared to do only superficial damage. Theta skated backward at high speed, narrowly avoiding a mass of frost descending from the ceiling, followed by another... and another, and another. Having had enough of that, Theta took another swing and neatly cut through each of the newly formed pillars. Glacius didn't even bother to dodge, stoically taking it as the energy wave washed over him.
Frostmourne's ethereal glow turned to a sickly green as Theta skated a lazy circle around Glacius, keeping an eye firmly on the former elemental. Growing bored of that, Glacius rapidly formed a ring of icy spikes at Theta's ring, but the current elemental jumped away and made a rapid approach, slicing into Glacius's barrier as he passed then hoping over the ring of spikes and out. This time, rather than a wave of energy, his strike left a pale aura on Glacius's barrier, which began slowly eating away at it. Frostmourne's glow turned an icy blue as Theta took up another lazy circle around Glacius.
_________________
~Glacius~
Glancing down at the aura attempting to burn away his ice-shell, Glacius raises a hand and seems to drain the aura of all power with sheer cold (he's not actually drawing energy from it, just sapping it). The aura flickers out like a flame in the wind.
Just as Theta is about to jump in for another strike, Glacius then unleashes a whirlwind filled with innumerable ice-shards.
Theta is forced to cancel his attack to raise a measure of defense against this move before the ice attempts to perforate him.
No sooner do the ice shards stop, then Glacius raises one enlarged ice-hand and slaps Theta in a back-handed fashion.
This knocks Theta skidding across the floor, over the field of ice-spikes (taking out a line of them on the way), and he comes to a halt when he slams into the wall.
Anyone else might've groaned or said something along the lines of "Ow".
Disengaging himself from the wall, Theta resumes his skating pattern, a bit more cautious about timing now.
~End Log~
~Claude~
The black was clearly getting tired as he was staggering about on his feet.
However, he continued with his persistence and got up, sweating profusely.
I gave a dead-pan look and pulled out clay and crystal.
"Take a nap." I drawled and hurled the ball that formed in my hand.
His eyes crossed as the ball went speeding at his head.
*Whack!*
He swayed...
"Eh heh... two million and nine... I love cookies. Oooo..." He blabbered nonsensically and then tumbled over, out like a light.
I huffed out a breath, rolling my eyes and walked off as the crowd was clearly not going to challenge me.
~End Log~
Kane log
I blithered incoherently as my min closed in to check on me with looks of shock. Some were even crying. My sword was embedded in the sand. The white walked away. I blacked out...
End log, now for something...
Kane log (Dream/flashback)
I was a kid and a blue in the middle of a flowery meadow. I was running through it following a young female blue pikmin with orange hair. "You can't catch me!" She said, as she hid behind a tree. I went around the other side and caught her. "Gotcha!" I said, as we both fell to the ground giggling.
End log
Zaliss Log
I didn't really care that some other minor tribe was watching us. Terrorclaw wouldn't know what hit them once the last major tribe was put under my control. I may be moving my tribe for battle but I'm hoping for a peaceful resolution. I have run countless strategies and tactics and each one I feel ain't going to be good enough to best Ryuzu's moves. I was currently moving ahead of the tribe. The various ripmin in my tribe were carrying the crude tents along with them. I wasn't too concerned about my own tribe since they did this for a reason. I was carrying a tent as well and on my head was Zara. She sure was a little scamp. I stopped as I felt some sort of dark presence somewhere around the area. The rest of the ripmin halted as well likely feeling the presence as well. I started to move again but I stopped once more as I realized that my tribe wasn't following me. I looked around to find the source but I found nothing around me and in broad daylight as well.
"Don't even bother looking for me as it would be futile to do so. I just wanted to congratulate you for that victory over Erina Darkeye though it may be a little late doing so. And I wish you luck on your further endeavors" a deathly cold voice said by my right side.
I looked around and I heard whoever it was laughing.
"I told you before and I will tell you again. No ripmin or being alive can find me. And before you blurt out something about what my name is, I'll give it to ya. The name's Dusk. Dusk Deathclaw" the voice said coldly but the voice started to lighten up towards the end as it ended in a cheerful, almost laughing tone. "Pleasure to meet you, Zaliss."
"Dusk?" I asked pondering as I tried to figure out where I heard that name before.
Mimoza walked up beside me and put her claw on me.
"Dusk Deathclaw was pretty much well known for being the brother of this tribe’s leader back when it was known as the Deathclaw tribe. There was some sort of fight that went on that he was a part of he disappeared a long time ago" Mimoza answered my question knowingly. "I don't know how he's still alive but something is up. If my sources are correct then he was one heck of a warrior."
"Ah, you're a descendant of Marizas. Let me guess, you're Mimoza" Dusk's replied coldly and I tried to look for him again before giving up on that hopeless endeavor. "And thanks for the compliments. I got to go now. Bye tribies! Terrorclaw tribe, it's time to see how they're doing!"
The dark presence vanished and the rest of the tribe started to move again though they were mostly just paralyzed from fear or so it seemed. I wasn't too sure of what was going on. Dusk definitely wasn't one to mess around with. Mimoza seemed to have some information on him but from what I could tell, it was of him when he was a tribe leader and not now. It seemed that this guy was a shadow of some sort. I refocused on looking ahead of the rest of my tribe as we continued to move. We were currently towards the end of one of the valleys. I was nearly out of it as I had taken the initiative to leading the tribe.
Actually, I had a few sentinels searching around ahead of me and every so often one would come back to report in on the landscape before us. The sentinels in my tribe were all being used to catch sight of anything before it even comes close. It was a mere safety precaution and I knew that I was well protected even though it didn't seem like it at the time. I finally got to the top after a long arduous hike. I turned around to look at my tribe still moving but had slowed their pace considerably. It was only natural since we had been moving for almost an entire day without rest. I turned back to look ahead and saw the looming dark clouds ahead. I guess it was time to settle down for the day. I looked up at the sky seeing the sun was starting to head down again.
This was about the 28th time that it had done so after we left which would mean that it was almost the end of the 28th day. I whistled and the ripmin behind me stopped recognizing the signal to hurry up and set up camp. I stood there as I waited until the last one to get onto the high ground before I took the collapsed tent off of my back. I put the collapsed tent down as I looked around at everyone else doing the same. I grinned as I turned around as I set my tent up. I had my one done quickly and so I turned to watch as the last rays of daylight diminish as the darkness overtook everything. Ripmin were well adapted to being in the dark. I could see perfectly well even with there being no light sources left. I walked into my tent and laid down. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.
End Log
~Ritzoa (Redo)~
My usual daily task of making sure all was well with my tribe was interupted when a familiar chill touched me.
No one else (except possibly Shanon) noticed... he would probably have get closer before others would notice. I just noticed first since my own senses were among the most honed.
I stepped out of the settlement and headed out a ways before I spoke up to the air in general.
"Dusk, I take it? I didn't feel that others needed to be bothered with you."
Dusk's voice had it's usual formal tones.
"Ritzoa t-"
I bared my teeth as he was speaking and uttered an unfriendly growl. Dusk got my message, and though both of us knew I couldn't really stop him, he nonetheless had the courtesy to change his sentence.
"Ritzoa, how does this day find you?"
I shifted back to my usual expression and responded:
"Fine, and to what do I owe your most-chilling visit?" I said, still a bit of edge in my tones.
I didn't particularly trust Dusk. To be begin with, I didn't nor did anyone else know what he looked like. Second, he knew a bit too much for someone like myself to be comfortable with. And third, on a personal level, his skills obviously rivaled or easily beat my own... some dislike for that on my part.
"Oh, I just thought I'd see how your tribe has been." Dusk's answer echoed in what I suppose was to be a polite tone.
"I think you can see fine enough from here yourself without me telling you. Now, anything else you wanted?" I said with a bit more bluntness than really needed.
~Log Paused~
<Theta>
Theta's seraphic side twinged and went to work on his ribs; a few of them were cracked. No real trouble to him, he'd deal with it.
That still left the question of how to deal with Glacius. Theta's eyes drifted to Frostmourne. Really, that'd be his only hope... felt like cheating, but desperate times and all that rot. Theta flipped the blade in his grip and stabbed it into the ground, cracking the ice beneath him. The runes glowed purple... and a well of dark energy sprung up beneath Glacius, rapidly growing in size as it fed off his ambient energy. The former elemental leapt from the vile pool... only for Theta to intercept him by battering him with a wall of ice. That in itself did no damage, but it punted Glacius back into the defiling pool of energy, which immediately set to work draining his life force to grow in size.
Using an immense force of will, the elemental formed a pike of ice and thrust it at Theta, knocking him away from Frostmourne and pinning him to the wall. Theta simply pulled it out and threw it aside, the wound already closing over, as Glacius attempted to sprint from the pool of energy and attack Frostmourne itself. He cleared the pool, but his following attack on Frostmourne got him nothing but a soul-searing whiplash of energy to the chest, forcing him to back off. Nevertheless, he formed a wall of spikes between it and Theta, forcing the current ice elemental to veer off course. Theta countered by forming a pillar of ice and chucking it at Glacius. To both of their surprise, this actually smashed a hole in Glacius's barrier, something Theta capitalized upon immediately in the only way he knew how: by flooding the hole with seraphic energy.
Rakuen Maigo supervisor's log
Hello there, my name is Sandy. It seems bossu has gotten his jollies by that white shaman guy. We are now forced to carry him back to Zankrieg so he can recover. Not an easy task, as this guy weighs alot. He is mumbling something about somebody called Alice, who I don't know. He is also our best mahjong player, and me and the other girls will get rather angry if he doesn't wake up for it in time...
End log
~Glacius~
The onslaught of Seraphim energy being blasted at the breach in his armor knocks Glacius back and slams him into the wall, the rest of his armor cracking and shattering away from expanding weakness.
With some desperation, Theta presses his attack, getting closer so he can strike a finishing blow.
However, Glacius proves himself persistent; he manages to get a hand forward and starts absorbing the damage with his hand, before finally forcing Theta to evade a powerful attack launched at him, cutting his pressure-attack short. Glacius, in his truest form: a teal with a heavily frosted leaf and eyes that look frozen, his arms hang limp.
Several moments are filled with Glacius's heavy breathing, as if he can hardly breath. [Remember Ganondorf's breathing after being beaten once in Orcarina of Time? Something like that.]
Theta recovers from evading the sudden attack and charges at Glacius, hoping to end this fight now.
The elder elemental though evades the attack and gathers a phenominal amount of power before unleashing it in a cryo-blast.
"Ggrrraaaaaaaaahhhh!!" He yells rather incoherently and unleashes an "Absolute Zero" blast.
*Ker-Krack!*
Theta is forced to protect himself from the explosion of cold and to contain it within the room too (lest the outside world from the glacier get frozen too).
Glacius's armor has reformed, however it's not as strong nor as thick as before. It seems though that Glacius cannot operate unless he is frozen like this.
The former elemental forms an ice-blade and, diving into the floor, he reemerges and attempts to slice Theta, who has to jump back to evade.
~End Log~
4.18.11 to 4.24.11
Dusk Log
I listened to Ritzoa and I laughed after short part where I and her didn't say anything. I was very amused by how obvious her distrust of me was. She seemed to be on the defensive as I saw her muscles tense up and her eyes looking this way and that. She was obviously prepared for me to attack her. I laughed again and she muttered something under her breath that I couldn't understand but it was probably something about why I wasn't answering her question.
"Ah, there's time for small chit-chat and there's time for formalities" I answered politely as I observed every one of her movements as I moved around in a circular pattern around her. "Cool down, ain't gonna attack ya. The presence that you felt was merely my way of telling you that I was coming. I don't allow my presence to emit like that with the other things that I do. Don't ask because I won't tell you."
She stood there as I circled and she did seem a little irritated or maybe not.
"Interesting that you're asking me with that tone. This is a civil conversation and we can be civil about it. There's no reason to be so tense. Relax" I replied just as polite as before. "I know about your little parting of information that ripmin who is currently a part of the Scareye tribe. That's not what I'm here about though. I'm giving you a little advice. If you're offered the chance to integrate your tribe into one of the major tribes then I highly suggest that you take it."
She immediately glared in the direction that she thought I was and I chuckled in response.
"What do you get out all of this then?" she asked bluntly.
"All I get out of it is rather very simple. I'm merely looking out for the wellbeing of my species. The wars fought between any of my species threaten the lives of my kind. Ripmin killing each other is wrong unless it is for the gain of power. All-out war doesn't help anyone. The bringing together of all ripmin tribes through peaceful means will secure the future of ripmin kind forever. My blood will continue to flow as long as ripmin survive on this planet. I may not get anything out of this personally but I will cut off one way towards extinction" I explained coolly as I held a claw up as I wagged the finger. "There's a very likely chance that the last two remaining major tribes will not fight each other considering the circumstances at hand."
I don't know what she was thinking as I continued to circled. I looked at her and noticed that she was pondering my words. It was about time to wrap this up.
"Try to stay alive until the next time that we meet, ripmin who carries my blood," I told her as I stopped my circling around her.
I ran off after that. It was time to meet with the Wisetalon tribe. I knew Ryuzu Wisetalon personally. I started her line and there weren't any muck-ups when I did so.
End Log
~Ritzoa~
I headed back to the settlement, Dusk's words bouncing around in my mind as I reflected on them.
Well... I couldn't see this tribe causing much trouble for ripmin-kind anyhow... we were peaceful despite what our name might've indicated...
Additionally, I was pretty sure the Wisetalons were the only tribe that kept a reliable eye on us. Whenever we moved, we'd give little indication of where we had gone and our settlement, wherever it happened to be at the time, was well hidden.
Speaking of which, it was about time that we moved again. I had words with the leader of the tribe and it was arranged for all to begin preparations for the journey.
This took little time; the youngest were the ones to take longest and even they took only a minute or two, it then took another minute or two for all to gather in formation to move.
Speaking as the leader of the congregation alongside the leader, I directed all to start and we were off.
~End Log~
~Ritzoa~
Following about 5 hours of travel on our course, we found a rather sizable pikmin town...
We set up camp for the moment and a few of us scouted out the defenses.
Just from looking, we could see there was a wall that was fairly well-built...
Nothing we knew concerning Keijo indicated this was a protected town or anything of the sort so we wouldn't have any concerns with hidden surprises.
Having finished scouting, I counseled with those who had scouted.
One had messed up and had to evade attacks from the defenders.
It seemed they had some formidible defenses... they had put together guns and had other ranged weapons... we had no real indication of what they had for close-quarters combat...
"Hm, perhaps it was good that you tested their defenses in that manner, even if it wasn't intentional." I commented.
Shanon quietly approached:
"Perhaps I could knock on their doors?" she suggested with a smile that would've looked very friendly to anyone... I knew that look though and I knew her intentions wouldn't be seen as "friendly" to them.
"No... no need to waste power like yours on such pitifully weak beings." I told her, her smile faded with some disappointment but she backed away, understanding that she wasn't going to be needed.
I took a few moments to construct an idea in my mind... in the end, I judged that we could raze this town without too many causualities. I called out of the group:
"Jerry!"
A large male turned his head and walked over.
"Yeah?"
"'Aftershock' tactic." I announced to the attack-squad "All clear?"
They understood what I meant and we gathered into formation.
"Everyone else, maintain camp and keep an eye out for other enemies. Signal if something threatens either party." I looked to the leader last "Good?"
Our leader nodded and I returned it before I joined the attack group.
~End Log~
~Ritzoa~
Our "Aftershock" tactic was rather simple really. Jerry charged out first and body-slammed the wall with all the speed and strength he could serve up. This, of course, caused him to take several pikmin attacking him as he came and while he made impact on the wall.
Impressively designed, the wall actually withstood the initial attack but then Jerry gave it a good hard kick and it splintered. Another slam and it went down.
The next step in the simple plan was Jerry charged in, drawing enemy attacks (which he just endured without too much trouble) while the rest of us darted into the town and began to wreak havoc in his wake. The tactic name came simply from him shaking things up like an earthquake, and then the rest proceeded to shake things down (like an aftershock).
I personally shot into the town and moved in the shadows. I killed any pikmin that got in my way and kept on the move as I observed the fight. I would only help as needed; I saw myself as a bit of a support in a fight more than just a fighter. I needed to keep myself more or less secret so I couldn't keep it that way if I was always trying to take down just any pikmin anywhere.
I got a little edgy when things seemed too easy... we weren't losing any comrades (yet) and the pikmin here seemed to be falling very quickly. I definitely didn't like this...
~End Log~
Goggles Log
I looked up at one of the monitors seeing a whole bunch of flashing dots concentrated on one point though it wasn't as many flashing dots with that last ripmin attack on a pikmin settlement here. I think it was time to put to the test something of my own creation plus that other thing to deal with those ripmin. I bet Keijo wouldn't mind in the least since I had little intention of killing them. I would have my fun and drive them off at the same time.
"Send It and have it bring the brainwashed specimen with him" I commanded coldly to the computer.
"Do you think it's wise for having It release?" the computer asked me monotonously.
"Don't question me, computer" I said irritated that it even asked that question.
"Sorry sir. You do remember that it went on a rampage and killed at least fifty lab assistants until it was brought under control" the computer replied as it brings up the picture of what it was talking about.
"I remember perfectly but multiple tests have been done since then. All of them have been successful with a few abnormalities that have shown up. As long as a couple conditions are never met then It will stay in a cool and calculated state" I explained as I placed my hand on the plug threateningly. "Send them off and record the data for later use!"
"Sending them off now!" computer said as it showed live video footage of two capsules being loaded up into a single chamber
I watched as the chamber shook violently and then the two were gone. I barely saw a flash move by as the entire lab shook. I hated cannons as they were so old fashion. I watched as I looked at another live video footage to see the two capsules speeding through the air heading straight for the target. I watched as the two capsules broke apart in the middle of the air during the flight there. The live footage became static with nothing but black, white, and gray dots appearing everywhere constantly. I grinned as I knew what was going to happen. It wasn't going to be as gruesome as someone's jaw being blown off I turned the screen off and looked at the computer which had conveniently turned itself off. I let my hand fall back to my side. I hated that computer. I really did. I turned away from the computer as I thought about the ripmin. They were simple-minded creatures and easy to trick.
End Log
Splinter Log
I landed after a few minutes on a patch of air through the use of my anti-gravity drive. No one had noticed us approaching though it was probably because we were in the middle of a cloud but perfect cover nonetheless. Master Goggles wanted me to drive the ripmin from this town. I disengaged my anti-gravity drive as the brainwashed specimen shot down like a rocket into a very small group of ripmin immediately sending them flying outwards from his impact point. I watched for a few seconds before I jumped down in a different part of the town landing in a front of a few ripmin that were chasing after a pikmin. I immediately cast several of my strings before they could react to my sudden appearance. The strings pierced through their arms and legs and I used my control over the strings to send them crashing to the ground. I pinned them there with even more of my strings and then broke the strings off on my end. I smiled at the ripmin as they muttered something vile about how I was a traitor to my kind. I laughed darkly as I looked at them. I headed off to look for more ripmin to take down. It was a simple warding off mission and so far my sensors were picking up all of the ripmin that were there currently.
I sped past a few confused pikmin as I strung up a couple more ripmin. The pikmin cheered for me and I turned around to face them and grinned as I waved to them. I turned around again as I sensed another ripmin that wasn't moving at all. Its heartbeat indicated that it was watching me and becoming tense waiting for the moment to strike. I could sense them through multiple ways so they couldn't hide from me. I stood there as I started to whistle a cheerful tune as I pointed a hand at one of the strung-up ripmin as I looked in the direction where I was sensing that heartbeat.
"Come on out, Ripmin" I said joyfully. "Come on out!"
End Log
~Claude~
I was just approaching a cave when I heard someone coming this way.
As it happened, it was two pikmin coming out of the cave.
"Will you just leave already? Look we're through now so you can go your own path now!"
It was a yellow speaking, I noticed the swords on her back first-thing, she was being tailed by a blue in some fairly long robes who, judging from the way he was gushing, he was infatuated with her.
"Awww, c'mon, you know that I want to take you anywhere I go."
Then the blue ran into me while trying to chase her down.
"Oi you. Could you keep him occupied and get him to leave me alone already?" the yellow asked quite immediately.
The blue shifted me to the side and continued his pursuit.
"Wait a minute, who are you two anyhow?" I called after them. The yellow stopped, and turned, looking inconvenienced
"Gah... I'm Cass, he's-"
"Zil!" the blue piped up cheerfully.
"Yes... and most annoying too." Cass grumbled, and attempted to shove him away with one hand. She turned back around and continued away. The blue stumbled from being pushed, then once he regained his balance, went after his love again who had plugged her ears with her hands.
I ended up just standing there looking somewhat dumb-struck at the blue's persistence.
~End Log~
~Ritzoa~
The new ripmin that had entered the fight was being very annoying indeed. Traitor...
I moved away from my hiding place and darted to somewhere else around the town.
The newcomer would've kept visual pace with me if Jerry hadn't tried charging it down then.
He was forced to pull attention away from me to fire something at Jerry that, like the rest, was pinning them down.
I shot into the clearing he was in at that point and weaved through the downed tribesmin. I could feel something in the air around them as I went past and my nails brushed whatever it was but it was rather durable as I couldn't cut it with very light pressure.
The enemy ripmin whirled and fired whatever it was in my direction. I diverted my course very quickly and apparently avoided whatever it was because nothing hit me.
Jerry was being stubborn against being "chained down" by whatever it was and attempted to stomp on him despite apparently having more and more difficulty moving.
The enemy jumped out of the way and I struck then. He evidently didn't see me coming because I managed to score a direct hit along his back. I flipped as I went by, slamming the ripmin with my tail and sending him skidding across the ground.
I shot back into shadows and went around the battle-field. When I came back out, he seemed to have gotten Jerry floored now. I whirled, smacking a nearby pikmin with my tail and sending the fellow flying toward my opponent.
He didn't fire at the pikmin as I charged behind the flying body and it attempted to nail me with the "bonds" or whatever they were when I shot out from behind the body.
Fortunately, it hadn't been my aim at this point to attack him (not yet) and my speed allowed me to evade his attacks once more. I felt something tag my tail though and it attempted to slow me down that way.
"Try again" I hissed and flicked my tail hard away from it.
My opponent couldn't slacken the line fast enough and was yanked towards me. It attempted to turn the attack around on me, but I jumped over its attempted "flying kick" [or whatever Splinter might use] and came down on top of it in a hard stomp.
*Wham!*
I quickly found the line tethering me (while on-the-run) and, with some force, I managed to sever it. I then had to move fast to avoid his attempts to tie me down.
~End Log~
Blue log
Ah, what do we have here! A lovebird trying to chase after a female yellow. Well, he is already infatuated, so there is no point in busting out the old arrows, time for a little something special. I hid in a tree so they can't see me, and I pulled a heart shaped bomb from out of my pocket, and threw it in between the two. As soon as the blue stepped on it, it exploded in a rather pretty explosion of pink and hearts, as the blue was sent flying into the distance and turned into a sparkle, before returning to Earth and bouncing off of trees and various other objects like a pinball. He eventually slammed back into the cave they had came out of, before chasing after the poor yellow again, with a look of anger and bandages on his head. I laughed in amusement.
End log
~Claude~
Zil came plummeting down from the sky after an explosion in the distance, landing back in the cave he had come out of not two minutes ago.
He got up, still smoking.
"Okay... whoever that was... they're gonna pay for that." Zil said as he got up. He didn't look so much furious as just very annoyed. Perhaps he'd been blown up before?
He stomped back the way he had gone and he yelled something before there was the sound of electricity.
"Yeeeeooow!" someone screamed... it was female but it didn't sound like Cass.
More electricity, only this time, I actually saw the electricity shoot down from the sky.
Another scream of pain and I slowly walked over towards where Zil had gone.
I found him with someone who was evidently a robot, who was still crackling with electricity from the lightning strike.
"Which way did she go, bot-girl?" Zil said in what sounded rather like a grumpy tone more than angry "Or do I need to go into the third-level spells to get you to say?"
~End Log~
Blue log
Well, that was a shocking development. "She went that way!" I said, as I pointed in the direction that the female min ran, he stormed off in that direction. "Well, that was unfortunate." I said, as my hair and eyes went back to normal from their shocked state. "Hey... I remember you!" I heard someone say, as I turned to face a white min. "You are that robotic vacuum cleaner that thought we were dust back in that spooky place." He said. I made a confused face at him. "What?" I asked.
End log
~Claude~
"Ehhhhh... what was that all about?" I said awkwardly. Somehow, this robot didn't look so fearsome and such compared to last time.
"Oh, some people just won't take a joke..." she muttered.
An explosion... a joke? Wait, what?
The robot read the confusion on my face and just left me with it and flew off.
~End Log~
~Cass~
In actuality to what Zil came running up claiming, I had just continued walking on when he had been blown in the sky; I hadn't run, I'd already tried that before and it seemed to just make it easier for him to track me down again so I didn't bother with that anymore. I had noticed the robot who had set the explosive and she had been laughing about it in a mischievious manner, hence I figured it was a joke and just continued on. I had heard the electricity behind me...
All the same, that didn't stop the pest from resuming his adorations for me once he walking along-side me again.
"I might like you a bit better if you'd stop with the constant declarations of love..." I muttered.
"Oh? Very well, I'll be only too happy to do anything for you my flower."
I glanced at him when he was about to speak some more and he shut his mouth with a very kindly smile. I sighed, wondering what it was about me that he liked so much anyways.
Reflecting on his attraction to me... I think it is kinda nice he likes me that much... but he's just... not my type...
~End Log~
Blue log
I had flown off and noticed that brute from before being carried off by some of his min. I whistled to get their attention. "Over here!" I said, as some of them chased after me. I hid inside one of the trees when they weren't paying attention, until a female pikmin with large eyes and what appears to be a robe came close. I quickly pulled her inside the tree I was and K.O.ed her. "Perfect..." I said, as I switched outfits and weapons with her. I got out of the tree, making sure no one saw me, and went back to the main group. "Did you change your makeup, Sandy?" One of them asked me. "Yes." I said.
End log, I was planning this eventually, and it will let Blue spy on Kane's group. It will also get Kirby to shut up. Alot of Kane's min are dumb as rocks, so this will work. You can tell which one is her due to her necklace and wand (The others just assume they are souvenirs or personal treasures). Never make mention of that again, and delete all posts about it. C'peash?
Splinter Log
I grinned as I started laughing at this ripmin's puny antics. I had a much better analysis of this being's abilities than before. I may not be top of my game but the longer that she takes to fight against me, the worse that she'll do. Speed and agility is one thing but she's not going to escape me forever. Her intelligence seemed most impressive along with her speed factors. She wasn't one of those usual ripmin that I fought. I guess I would just have to go a little further. I closed my eyes as I sensed her approaching once again. I fired off one of my attacks and I sensed that she moved out of the way. She definitely was fast and that would be too my advantage.
"Rotation Dispersion Wave" I said smoothly as I quickly turned into a spin gathering up the energy around me turning it into a swirling vortex.
She was unfortunately too close to pull out of her attack and so she was thrown clear across from me and straight through one of the walls of one of the buildings in this town. If I wanted to hurt her badly then I would have increased the energy output but right now I don't have any intention of killing since it wasn't a part of my orders. I sensed that she was on the move again and I followed her movements and then lost sight of her movements for a second before she struck again. I growled in irritation. She tried to strike again on the move but this time I caught her with one hand and she struggled to get out of my grip. She kicked me thus making me release my grip. I looked up to see Hikaru there with a shield of sacred energy surrounding him as he gave me a psychotic grin.
I guess she took this time to strike as I saw minor wounds open up across my arm. I guess that was a smart move. She was aiming to cut through my arm a little at a time or maybe not. I held out my hand just as she was beginning to attack again and she dodged out of the way but still came towards me. I held my hand out but this was merely to fake her out but she caught on. I was sent skidding back as she kicking me back. I growled as the sensors across my body that were used to make me look more like a ripmin failed and I growled at her. She seemed surprised for only a moment and then made some comment about she knew that something was off but didn't realize it until now that I was a robot. A red film seemed to come in front of me as I stared at everything around with a new purpose. Destroy everything in sight and the first one was this troublesome little pest. She may have gotten away with it before but now this was different. I sped forward in a flash catching her by surprise and slamming my fist right into her chest sending her flying backwards.
She tried to attack me again but this time I merely dodged out of the way and used her momentum to toss her again but she caught her in midair and landed safely on the ground. She seemed wiser to my moves the next time as she dodged out of the way just barely. She was definitely fighting back at a little pain from that last attack of mine. If she was just some pikmin she would have been dead by that attack. I was about to attack her again when I felt something tie around my middle. I looked down to see a golden colored energy string and I followed it back to Hikaru.
"Don't stop me!" I growled angrily at him.
"Keijo doesn't want them to be put to death" Hikaru said mindlessly as he held out his hand pointing in the direction of one of the strung down ripmin.
"To hell with what Keijo wants! I want to destroy all of the scum!" I screamed at him.
I broke free of the sacred energy wrapped around me and sped towards my number one target. I broke towards her as she jumped to the side and tried to attack but I dodged her attack and slammed her into a building wall, not breaking through it though. I allowed her to get back up. I don't know what she muttered but it was probably about asking me who I was or something or other. I was still in rampage mode but I was keeping myself in control this time. The last time I did so I went on a literal rampage against anything and everything around me. I still had this strong urge to destroy everything around me.
"I'm Splinter and I used to be a ripmin" I replied coldly as she eyed me carefully while she stood there.
I wouldn't try attacking her right now but I was ready for her.
~Ritzoa~
Getting up from that last attack that hit, I found that I wasn't in the best of shape for this fight anymore.
The points where I had been struck were in pain and while I tried to ignore it, some of my muscles wouldn't.
I was quite tempted to see about freeing my fellows from their bonds and sounding a retreat...
"Oh... so that's what fell in..."
I blinked as I realized that voice and who it belonged to.
This was followed by Splinter shooting in that direction.
*cling-cling!*
I looked that way and first thing I saw was a very large shield standing there, which Splinter's attack had apparently bounced off of.
Then it faded and Shanon was standing there, looking as serene as I'd ever seen her... not a good sign in these conditions.
"I thought I told you we didn't need you for this..." I growled.
She just smiled in my direction and did a very swift back-stepping motion to evade Splinter charging and violently attacking her.
She didn't say any more but swung one arm and Splinter was struck across the face by a mace, an iron ball with spikes on it. The mace vanished almost immediately and Splinter, more or less ignoring the attack, charged in again and Shanon was forced to just absorb the strike.
She allowed herself to be knocked a bit through the air and then as she landed, she started glowing with an aura... that was her healing glyph on her back doing that...
"Shanon, just leave this traitor to his own kind to me and go back!" I ordered her.
"Sorry Ritzy... I'm having too much fun now." Shanon responded... despite having just been struck, she had a smile forming on her face... and I hated it when she used that pet-name she had for me... if we hadn't been in a battle at the moment, I would've told her off severely for calling me that, not to mention disobeying orders.
Her opponent again fired and she raised a shield, blocking whatever it was.
Shanon lashed out with another glyph and as Splinter came at her again, roaring in some frustration, a large axe went flying into the air and came down rather precisely on top of him.
Again, he seemed to ignore the attack and I jumped in front of Shanon, my guard raised.
*Wham!*
Shanon caught me and she tumbled a bit to break my impact and she got up quickly, having set me as gently on the ground as possible. I couldn't move any further... I was simply in too much pain and needed to recover.
Shanon meanwhile... she turned to face Splinter again and, when he came close, she suddenly dropped a little gem of sorts. As soon as it hit the ground, it erupted upwards into a crystal, which caught Splinter short.
Shanon's evidently changed back-glyphs because she ran off to the side at an unusual speed.
Then her glyphs flashed red and she raised both arms over her head.
Splinter was just unfreezing from the "Torpor" glyph when Shanon brought a massive hammer's head down on him.
*Smash!*
Amazingly, he withstood it but he certainly couldn't ignore it, he had to get back up and extract himself from the ground.
~Log Paused~
Hikaru Log
I watched the ripmin fight against Splinter knowing full well to stay out of the way without knowing the reason why. They wouldn't be able to get close to me without myself knowing. I watched for a couple more minutes as Splinter seemed to get even more frustrated with this new foe. I held out a finger and lifted it slightly as streams of golden colored energy concentrated at one point above me. I laughed psychotically as the energy continues to build up at one spot.
I held up a finger and then pointed it in the direction of a few of the ripmin that I had knocked out. Splinter had finally gotten a clean hit on the magic user though she seemed to be healing any damage done to her again. I watched the fight mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do. It may be a coward's tactic but this was just to drive them off. I watched the fight for a few more minutes and seeing that nothing had changed so far.
"Yo, scalies. You, the magic user, and any other scalies don't try to hurt me or even kill me. There's a deadly cost if you do so. The death of a few of your comrades plus more will be that cost," I told them with a wag of my finger. "I suggest that you skedaddle out of here with your fellow comrades before Splinter and I really have to get nasty. Try to save one and the others will die."
I hovered there in the air as I flapped my wings watching them. I knew that one of those opposing heard me.
Splinter seemed to stop at that moment and then twist his head around to glare at me before returning to look at the other two. He seemed to grin but he stayed right there. This definitely wasn't good if he stood there. It wasn't good for his enemies. I hoped that my ploy works because they're going to be in a lot of trouble.
End Log
~Ritzoa~
In the time that the battle was paused, the flying one over-head finally got Shanon to stop and listen.
I worked myself to my feet.
"Very well..." I grunted, pain still dominant in me "If you'll free my tribesmin and show no treachery as we withdraw, you have my word that we'll go around and leave this town in peace. However, if you don't hold to my condition, Shanon has my permission to raze this town in one movement. Do we have a deal?"
~End Log~
Hikaru Log
I looked at the one that just spoke.
"Ah, right the magic one. You might just get the attention of some creatures that love to feed on magic if she tries that. I'm not kidding on that point. Saw a yonder big one that ate this one magic user in one gulp. Tail and all, there wasn't one trace of her left. Ain't a joke that's for sure" I replied sternly. "Same thing goes for you. Keep your word and I'll keep mine. I'll free your tribesmin."
I hovered there for a seconds before I in one movement casted my sacred energy severing the strings that held several of the ripmin down across town and freeing the ones that were under the influence of my power.
"They're free. Now leave or I'll pitch this little darned old thing at ya," I said coldly as I tossed a golden colored energy ball up and down. "It ain't some decoration that's for sure."
End Log
Hikaru is hard to understand when he's mind controlled...people can easily mistake what he says for a threat...
~Demetri~
The ways out of here were blocked but that wasn't really any concern to me; I could force my way out if needed. Right now though, I was interested in the little duel that had developed between the two ice-min.
No way I was going to try and get involved but I kept myself out of the way and in shadow. When the fellow I had revived unleashed a wave of Absolute Zero temperatures, I sank into the shadows completely and the ice-wave swept over the area, having minimal effect on me. The one physically vulnerable point on me was momentarilly frozen but I thawed it out in a hurry and resumed watching the battle.
This was going to be ending soon... and when it did, I was going to reclaim that gem... it had what I was looking for now so I wouldn't be leaving it. I still had a tag of dark energy on it so I could keep track of it like the others.
~End Log~
~Ritzoa (Redo)~
I didn't really respond to the flying fellow's "warning" as it were...
However, he did follow through and release my tribesmin and I had them quietly leave.
Shanon and myself stayed behind to be the last. I was keeping an eye on the flyer, being that I wasn't sure of what he might do. From the way he had his hands, it was evident that he was holding something ready but it wasn't apparent... possibly because, like the other guy, his weapon was also invisible.
Speaking of the Splinter, Shanon was... well, just gazing at him. To "glare" would've required a more hostile look on one's face... that wasn't really on Shanon's. I knew her well enough though to know that she was ready to get the first strike on Splinter if they betrayed their word.
The last of my fellows left and we followed, continuing to keep wary of any skullduggery. As I gave the flyer one last look... I could've sworn something seemed off about him, but he soon vanished from view and I turned away and we all headed back to our encampment.
After a debriefing on the battle (in which I told-off Shanon for coming without orders), we took a minute to pack up, and then set on a course going well around the town and, once we were around it, we proceeded the way we had been going.
~End Log~
Leda Log
I walked out into the arena as I watched every other contestant on the two lists did as well. I had requested a free-for-all match since there was more opponents then there were supposed to be. I didn't remember which tier it was but it had to be either the fourth or fifth tier by now. It was also a chance to weed out all the weak ones. Weakness shouldn't be there within my fellow bloodseeder. I was the one to correct my kind. The match soon began as I activated the first of my gifts immediately as I gained a sickly blue aura around me. I waited as someone charged at me and I punched straight through him and there was a surprised look on his face. I found what I was looking for and tore out his heart. I held it there for a few seconds and smiled.
"That's one weakling down" I said coldly as I crushed the heart in my hand.
I quickly whipped my tail around spearing several bloodseeders through the stomach with my tail creating a Shish kebab and I laughed before tossing all of them off at a few other bloodseeders. They were all weak and so I sped up with my attacks as I knocked down one after the other without stopping my fast attacks and fast speed. I kept this up and laughed as blood flare kicked in after five minutes. I noticed several others had done so but they were going to be surprised.
I kicked my speed up a notch and sped past all of them. A few seconds later I heard ten screams of agony as I turned around to see them missing both of their arms and legs. They were down and would die soon. I held up my hand as I looked around for the next few targets. Everyone was away from me in an ever widening circle. I closed the distance with one of the fighting groups and tore through them before being blocked by one of my fellow bloodseeders.
I was quickly engaged in combat with him as we tore across the field, others died in our wake. Of course this meant that we had blood falling on us making us an unsightly pair. This opponent that I was fighting was keeping well up with my speed and seemed to block my attacks from hitting his chest with his own arms. He was sporting bleeding holes in his arm because of this. I grinned as I pressed on the offensive hearing several more screams as the both of our missed attacks hit several other fellow bloodseeders.
I jumped back from his attack and looked around to see that we were the only two fighting against each other. I guess we either knocked out or killed the rest in that last group which equaled thirty of the contestants. I stopped my fight as I looked at my opponent and he seemed to be grinning as well. This was definitely going to be a good match-up. They ended the free-for-all match and all the bodies were taken away and the knocked out losers were moved away from the Arena. I and my opponent walked off together back into the lobby. I turned to face him as he looked at me.
"I guess that means we're facing each other" I replied gleefully. "You're definitely something more than I expected. What's your name, mister?"
"Ain't gonna tell ya yet. Only if you beat me, Leda" he replied coolly. "Which you won't be doing?"
"Fine" I replied coldly as I changed my tone with him. "You'll be eating your words."
End Log
<Theta>
Theta glanced from Glacius to Frostmourne and back. Neither moved for a moment... and then both exploded into action simultaneously, Theta skidding toward his blade, Glacius moving directly to intercept him. Just as the former elemental of Ice approached the current one, though, Theta ducked and spun, carving a deep groove through the ice with his legs. From that groove exploded a sharp, thin wall of ice, slicing straight up into Glacius's own frost blade. It didn't last through one solid punch, but Theta had already skated a course around and closer to Frostmourne... only to be denied by a wall of spikes erupting from the floor. He braked and swooped around it, skidding in circles and raising razor-fine walls of ice in his wake, forcing Glacius to break from a direct intercept course and come around from the side.
Just as he began his second approach toward Frostmourne, stalactites of ice descended from the ceiling, forcing him to veer off, this time directly toward Glacius and an oncoming attack. The former elemental sliced... thin air, as Theta simply descended directly into the floor. He emerged a moment later a short distance away as blades of frost chased him out, forcibly reminding him that his opponent also had control over their environment.
Unnoticed to either, one of the frozen-over tunnels cracked.
Too busy evading the incoming blades, Theta missed Glacius coming around behind him and was thusly taken by surprise when he took a blade of ice through the gut. Being Theta, however, this was a minor annoyance; he wasn't the only one that wasn't quite used to fighting someone with his entire power set, and when both sides of the blade simply fell off as the middle merged with his torso, Glacius himself was taken by surprise when Theta simply roundhoused him in the head, flooring him. There were advantages to having legs like clubs. Unfortunately Glacius was also a teal Pikmin, so Theta got a taste of that when the former elemental did a handplant and booted him in the chin. He retaliated by grabbing Glacius's leg and swinging him overhead, then slamming him face-first into the floor. Glacius spun and directed a kick toward him head, but Theta rose an arm to block it, losing his grip on his opponent's other leg in the process and getting his own legs swept out from under him for his trouble. Glacius followed with a punch to the gut, sending Theta sprawling across the room before skidding to a halt.
And on the direct opposite of the room, the permafrost sealing one hallway gave a very loud crack, drawing both their attention. Who the hell cracks permafrost?!
"RaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" came a muffled shout from the other side, followed by the wall exploding outward. A pale-looking, sunken-eyed female teal Pikmin stepped through the icy dust, wielding a pair of triple-spiked gauntlets.
"What... the HELL... is with all... the racket?!" Sapphire coughed out.
Glacius didn't respond with anything except a spear of ice. Theta's response was rather different. One moment he was on the opposite side of the room, splayed against the wall. The next instant he was in front of her, Frostmourne in hand, cleaving the spear out of the air and wearing an expression of genuine rage.
"You should not be up," Theta rasped without turning around, keeping his eyes locked squarely on the former elemental.
"Oh yeah right," Sapphire shot back. "With all that ruckus? Half the damn temple frozen over, walls of ice everywhere, oh and you woke him up. Batting a thousand today!" she growled, interspersing it with hacking coughs.
"I didn't wake him," was Theta's only defense.
"Oh really? And who DID then, huh?"
Theta pointed at the not-very-inconspicuous pool of darkness lurking in the corner of the room, having been aware of the dark elemental's continued presence the whole time. Sapphire opened her mouth to reply, but cut herself off with a hacking cough into her hand. It came back with blood on it.
"You are sick," Theta stated redundantly. His Mark II glared at him in what she hoped was a scathing enough glare to melt permafrost. Theta defiantly stood there, not melting.
"Once again you show your immaculate ability to state the blindingly obvious," Sapphire snarked at him, stalking around to get a better look at Glacius. She raised a gauntlet to point at him.
"Go back to being a frozen hunk of ice you reject," she snarled. She then pointed at Demetri's pool of blackness, "And don't you think you're going anywhere until I kick your ass for disturbing the peace."
Theta had the decency to at least manage a look of embarrassment, however unconvincing and unused the expression was on his face. The mixed-in expression of smoldering rage directed at Glacius kind of ruined it somewhat.
~Glacius~
Glacius doesn't seem to particularly care what Sapphire has to say.
In fact, his first action is to forcibly remove her from the premises.
He rushes forward at Theta, evades the attempted counter-attack, shoves the Mk 2 away with one hand, causing her to stagger back outside, and grabs Theta with the other.
Before Theta can counter, Glacius whirls him around once and hurls Theta back into the temple-room that has been their battle-field.
Glacius doesn't actually say anything, but his look clearly says "This is strictly a battle between us."
~Log Paused~
4.25.11 to 5.1.11
~Ein~
I had been watching the young lass who had reentered the city for a while.
Her attitude was fairly harsh to the others... and she made it difficult for me to determine if this was just standing up to their own attitudes (which would no doubt cast her as inferior just because of gender) or if it was truly her persona she had chosen.
I had to conclude after a very gore-filled free-for-all that it was perhaps her own attitude. But I still withheld judgement... I'd need to test her myself...
I caught up with her (so to speak) after she finished exchanging threats with one of the remaining survivors. In truth, I was just standing on the side of her path as she came by me.
"I've been watching your progress Leda." I said calmly.
She paused at hearing herself addressed and turned, likely expecting someone else to berate for big-headedness. She kept her face straight from whatever her reaction to seeing me might have been.
"How would you like to try fighting me?" I offered her.
"I'll work my way up to you." she snipped turning to go on her way.
"I'm afraid you'll never come across me on those boards, young red." I said gravely.
She paused, some irritation evident and turned, mouth open to speak but I continued before she could comment.
"I made my way to the peak long ago and, out of interest in seeing others make it there, I handed it to someone else who gave me a sufficent challenge. Being the leader of the people helped with getting that to work out."
[Insert Leda's reaction here]
I smiled softly.
"If you want to try fighting me, just let me know and I can arrange an... exhibition match."
With that, I left her to her own devices.
~End Log~
Leda Log
I looked at this guy who claimed to be the leader but I wasn't going to try and find out. He had called me, a young red. He definitely wasn't on the right page.
"Information-wise, you're a little off on calling me young. I remember times before you even born" I replied irritated. "Leader or not, if you're trying to get my attention with petty words, it ain't gonna make me fight you."
I was about to turn around but he seemed to be smiling at me. I hated daft buggers like these including this guy who claimed to be the leader. I said a few expletives in my mind as he had me curious about his strength. A leader of the bloodseed wasn't one to mess around with and this guy might be a challenge. I certainly had fun fighting off against the leader back in my time.
[Insert what Ein said in your log, the whole arranging an exhibition match thing]
"Heh, I'll fight you but that won't be until later" I told him as calmly as I could. "I'll make it to the top and that's when you can arrange the exhibition match."
He left sometime after that and I stood there thinking. I could take charge and become the new leader but that wasn't my style. I liked not being tied down by responsibility. It would make it that much harder for me to go anywhere outside of this city. I liked being free from that. I finally turned around and walked back towards the coliseum. My match would be starting soon and I was ready to show that fellow bloodseed that he wasn't a match for me. I did consider my opponent would be a tougher than the others that I faced off against so far. He seemed very capable of defending himself against my attacks. I would have to be ready for him.
End Log
---
4.25.11 to 5.1.11
Blue log
We are almost there. "Frozone, Kent, Stream, Sandy, Warzone, get a move on!" The leader said. Unfortunately, a flower landed on my nose. "AAA..." I said, as I inhaled. "CHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" I sneezed out a very powerful gust of wind which blew the others high into the air. They flailed around in midair for a couple of seconds before falling down to Earth. Frozone shattered on impact with the ground and Stream splattered, but they reformed rather quickly. "What powerful lungs you have!" A nearby black pikmin said.
End log
Valdis Log
I finally stopped after struggling to move forward and that's when I saw something up ahead but a blizzard can very easily play tricks on the mind. I took another step forward as the cold weather was finally catching up to me. Bisera seemed to be not so affected by the cold as she moved forward taking it slowly as I was. She was worried about me but I had to press on. A dragon tamer was supposed to endure the hardships that he or she faced. I was supposed to do all that. It was during one of these that I hardly noticed a sharp decline in the land and that's when I tripped. I tumbled forward gaining moment downwards and it all ended suddenly when I crashed right against something that stopped me cold in my tracks. I got up and brushed myself off as Bisera approached me. I turned to look at what I crashed into and I saw something a little off about the snow drift. I thought I saw an eye look at me. I took a few steps back as the earth started to shake. I watched as a dragon emerged from underneath the snow drift. This creature stretched as it got up, flexing its wing, and getting up.
I could see now that it was frozen in a block of ice but this soon changed as the ice shattered sending shards of ice crashing into the ground everywhere. Bisera protected me from a few of the ice shards. The dragon swung its head around and stared at me directly from its height. It roared at me and seemed extremely irritated at me. I jumped back as it swiped at me with one of its foreclaws, the claw barely missing me. It was definitely irritated at me. I rolled out of the way as it let out a wave of cold breath. I knew what dragons could do and an angry one wouldn't just kill the one disturbing it but it would start terrorizing everything around it. I would have to calm this dragon down immediately.
"Bisera, do it" I said quickly.
I bent my knees and then jumped upwards as Bisera grew. I landed on Bisera's back as she grew to her full size which wasn't as large as this dragon but it was definitely more than enough. My dragon had different colored scales mostly of red, bronze, and white. White was the dominant one here but that didn't really matter.
"You know what to do, Bisera. Keep the dragon busy!" I told her coolly as I pulled out my whip. "I sure do know what I need to do!"
I jumped off of Bisera and landed in the snow between her foreclaws. I looked at the light blue dragon and saw that it shined a little. The reflected light was from the ice between the scales. Bisera charged forward immediately driving the other dragon back. I held the whip out at length as I watched for my opportunity. I brought out my flute and began to play a rather soothing tune from it. I walked around as the two dragons did battle. Bisera fired off a concentrated burst of energy which slammed into the other dragon.
The other dragon retaliated with a bunch of ice shards crashing down on Bisera. Bisera shrugged them off as if they were nothing but was quickly sent flying backwards as a gigantic ice shard slammed into her. Yeah, the blizzard had died down a little for some odd reason. I hadn't really noticed. I had more important things to do than watch the battle. I slowly moved across the field playing the flute. It seemed to have no effect on the dragon so far but that was what I was expecting. This was merely just to keep myself amused. I stopped and rolled to the side as the spot that I was just standing in had in a flash frozen over.
This dragon was an expert with the ice element by the looks of it. Bisera quickly got this dragon's attention again which I noticed it was a female. I could easily tell from certain details. I got closer and quickly hid behind a pile of snow and looked from behind it to see that the dragon hadn't noticed me again.
I jumped from behind the snow pile and quickly moved to another one. I did this several times just as I was close enough to do it. I twirled the whip in the air and then snapped it, the whip's end hitting the end of one of this dragoness's back legs. I concentrated and then released the energy through the whip. A shining green mark appeared on the leg. I dodged out of the way as the tail came slamming down.
I was thrown a few feet back from the force of the blow dispersing outwards along the ground. I quickly got back up and jumped out of the way just as the spot I was in froze. I was blown backwards by a sudden gust of wind. The wind was really picking up and the blizzard picked up. All I could see was white around me. I picked myself up again as I ran around where I thought the dragoness was. I forced my way forward. I felt myself bump up against something and as I blink I saw something in the shape of a leg there. I whipped the leg and a green symbol appeared on the leg. I heard the dragoness roar in irritation as the ground shook again as she quickly turned to face me or so I thought.
I was cut in the middle by one of its foreclaws as it swiped at me. I couldn't dodge out of the way as I couldn't see the attack coming. I moved around blindly in the blizzard conditions as I tried to head in a curving path towards one of the forelimbs. I would have to be at the front of this dragon by now. I looked up just in time to see something disturbing the whiteness above me. I jumped out of the way as the tail slammed down on me and then I rolled off to the side as one of the claws swiped at me from out of the whiteness. I started moving in that direction watching for any signs that there was something approaching me. I had to dodge several times and well I had put my flute back where I put all my other stuff when I'm traveling.
I rolled forward and just in the nick of time as I felt something extremely cold forming right where I had just been. I moved quickly forward and continued to dodge around the instant freezing attacks that the dragon was throwing my way. It seemed like this dragoness could easily multitask and know exactly where I was anywhere in this blizzard. The dragoness could sense anything within the blizzard that she was creating making it so that she could easily pin-point a target and then destroy that target in one or two hits. I finally arrived where I could barely see a large foreclaw in front of me. I looked up towards where the limb would be and snapped my whip, hitting the limb, and then I jumped backwards to avoid the foreclaw hitting me.
The green glowing symbol appeared on that limb and I was away before this dragon could do anything else. She was just when I was towards the front when one of the foreclaws slammed down on top of me, trapping me beneath it. I had a few things up my sleeve when dealing with dragons. The dragoness staggered backwards releasing me from its hold. I ran for it as I saw a white and red blur moved just inches from my head. Bisera was still in the fight. I just had to hit the limb and then somehow hit the head of the dragon for the first part of the taming process to be complete. I just had to keep myself moving until then. I couldn't stop moving though and that meant I would have to be wary of how tired I was during this fight. I cannot fall asleep in this weather as I would surely die. I finally hit the last limb with the whip and jumped straight up to avoid the tail swiping at me and dodged in the air just as a claw was about to rip me into two pieces.
I found myself in the clawed paw of my tamed dragoness. It was about time for me to blow this blizzard away for a little bit. I twirled the whip around above my head increasing the twirling speed faster and faster until the whiteness grew farther away from me and I watched as the dragoness was revealed again. I saw all the markings still on the limbs.
I looked at the head of the dragon knowing full well that I would have to get on there. I sprung straight for the head of this dragon from the very paw of my dragon. It tried to snap at me but I dodged out of the way in midair and landed on top of the head of the dragon. She shook her head violently trying to get me off and one of her clawed paws came up trying to swipe me off of her but I jumped and grabbed onto a part of her neck. I climbed back up and finally with one last snap of my whip, I hit the head of the dragon. The green glowing symbol appeared there and I jumped off of the head of the dragon. Bisera caught me and brought me back further away from this dragon. I held the flute to my mouth and started to play. The dragoness attacked me and Bisera at once but as Bisera protected me, I continued to play the flute.
This creature was calming down and that meant that I would only have to do this for about a minute or two. Bisera endured the attacks that the other dragon was using just to make sure that I wouldn't be harmed. I played the last note and the dragon calmed down considerably but it wasn't over yet. I chanted slowly in the dragon's tongue as I looked at the female dragon. Sparkling lights moved around the dragoness as I continued to chant. The dragoness seemed confused at what was happening and tried to attack me once again but Bisera once again made sure that I couldn't be hurt. I wasn't feeling cold any more but that was just probably because Bisera was protecting me from the cold as well. I continued the chant and shifted around a little as more and more lights sparkled around my target. The lights disappeared and the dragoness shined brightly as glittering lights danced across its body. Those lights were soon gone and there was a sudden silence in the air as I stared at the dragon. She sat on the ground and stared at me.
"What's your name?" I asked politely as I bowed my head to the dragon.
"Mayu" She growled and I felt a tingling sensation.
I looked to my left to see a block of ice had just formed over my arm.
"That's not nice" I commented with a calm tone in my voice.
"Deal with it" she snapped at me.
"I'm Valdis" I said as I introduced myself. "You have very beautiful name if I must say so myself."
Mayu brightened up after I said that and was simply grinning.
"Thanks" she replied.
"Bisera, go back to your regular size" I told her.
I jumped and landed down on the ground at about the same time that Bisera returned to her normal size.
I looked up at Mayu as she looked down at me.
"I suppose you could do something for me. I'm dreadfully cold and I'm think that your stomach is a warm place, I said to her as I pointed a finger at her stomach region. "Could you by any chance, eat me? Don't worry about me. I've survived in the stomachs of many dragons before you."
"Sure, if that's what you want, Valdy. Just don't try to make my stomach, your permanent residence" she replied and then she laughed.
I wasn't too concerned about her giving me a nickname. I may have tamed her but she her mind wasn't changed at all. She would still follow orders that I give her and all that but she could speak her mind and show her emotions. She wasn't some puppet of mine.
"I need you to move and head northwest while I'm in your stomach" I told her politely. "Could you also do that for me, please?"
"Sure."
I turned to look at Bisera. I made a series of gestures to indicate that she was to follow Mayu.
A pile of snow dropped down on my head and I grinned. The blizzard was returning back in full force meaning that I wouldn't be able to see very much. Mayu lowered her head and opened her mouth as she moved forward towards me. I jumped into her mouth and she closed it. I quickly found my way to the back and fell down the long downwards tunnel until I found myself in the stomach. There was acid everywhere. I smiled to myself as I swam over to the side of the stomach and leaned against the lining of the stomach. It was much warmer here than out there. I guess I should just take a nap until then. I held out my whip as I put away my flute. I tossed one end of the whip at a portion of the stomach's inside lining. The end of the whip stuck itself to the lining of the stomach and I chuckled quietly to myself. I dozed off with a firm grip on the whip while in Mayu's stomach. The last thing that I felt was Mayu turning and then proceeding forward.
End Log
~Ryu~
Hoooooo... boy!... some blizzard...
I was just wandering and came right into a blizzard in the valley. Normally, the occassional blizzard wasn't too unusual but this was something else.
I had to just trudge my way through the snow and I couldn't really see where I was going. Anyone else would've probably thought me insane but I was perfectly fine in this cold. My only problem was singular as far as I could tell: sight. I couldn't see squat.
My hearing wasn't hindered too much though so I did pick up the muffled noise of something very large walking through the snow. Nothing very large could move through this without making some audible amount of noise...
I kept moving towards the sound. Better to be travelling with someone else than alone, even if I could take care of myself.
When it started getting more faint, I realized they were getting further and further away.
"Oh no... you're not out-pacing me." I muttered, grinning and picked myself out of the snow. I then proceeded to sprint across the landscape, leaving very shallow footprints in my wake that were filled and covered very fast.
It was after several minutes of running like this that the noise became much louder and something actually came into view, feet from me.
I poured on a bit more speed, just pushing myself a bit harder and made a running jump to latch on. I caught it just as what was clearly a foot lifted off and moved some distance away before coming down on the ground again some distance I couldn't tell.
"Gotcha." I said under my breath and took a minute to catch my breath. Sprinting like that had really taken it out of me so I needed to catch it.
I could tell that was I clinging to dragon scales and since it was scales and not skin I was clinging to, the owner was unaware of my hitch-hiking and continued to walk along (it was either they didn't feel past their scales or they just didn't care). I was pretty sure I had seen these scales once upon a time but... my memory was still fuzzy... so many dragons... only so many brain-cells to store all that memory in... and some were still trying to thaw from the nap ol' Glacius had put me under.
I took some more time to think over how to get this one's attention given... their (I couldn't see enough to tell gender) size...
~Log Pause~
~Ryu (Continued)~
Admittedly, it was difficult holding on to the scales as they were slightly slick with ice on and between them.
"Sorry if this irritates you..." I mumbled (rather pointless as they probably couldn't hear me from here, speaking so low) and gripped the leg tight as I started carefully climbing up. Being this dragon was on-the-move, climbing wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination since I was scaling their leg. The mixture of ice and scales didn't help with my grip, which was why I was holding as tight as I could.
After about a half-hour of careful climbing, I finally reached the dragon's back.
My nerves were a bit on edge following that experience.
Then there was a certain rumbling from the dragon's body... might've been saying something but it was too muffled and rather low and quiet. Anyone else would've missed it unless they were inside.
"Guess they decided to pay some attention to me..." I said quietly as I just kept my position. My best guess was that they were wondering who had the nerve to go scaling them like this... I decided to keep where I was.
It was a matter of some convenience for the dragon I was hitch-hiking. I wasn't about to be so rude as to try and hide from who was I riding; that wouldn't do anything for me but annoy them. I may be part-dragon, but I wasn't about to intentionally annoy any dragon (especially one this size). If I did, I made sure to apologize first thing when it was made clear had been a pest.
~End Log~
<Theta>
One would think an Ice Elemental would be able to move that quickly, but Theta had started on one side of the room and was very suddenly directly next to Glacius, delivering an almighty kick to the head before he could even turn to notice him coming. The blow buried Glacius a few feet into one of the frozen-over hallways, and before he could pull himself free he was forced to raise his hands and catch Frostmourne by the blade, Theta pressing on it from behind hard enough to slowly inch it forward. The former elemental's hands began bleeding as the blade pressed in toward his throat.
"Do not EVER touch Sapphire again," Theta growled with genuine rage. Were looks capable of killing, Glacius would simply have evaporated. The air sparkled with an ethereal glitter as Theta vented Seraphic energy. He was good and pissed. Frostmourne's runes began to glow ominously and Theta opened his mouth to say something, but Glacius shunted him off with a wave of ice before he could do it, then climbed out of the hole he'd been implanted in before quickly raising another wall of ice to deflect Theta's incoming blow. Frostmourne cleaved straight through it and only stopped short of cutting Glacius's left arm completely off because his ice barrier slowed it down. A right hook sent Theta sprawling, but he was back up within a second, Frostmourne at the ready.
~Glacius~
If Glacius had been paying any attention to Theta's demands, he didn't show any indication of having done so.
Theta charges, swinging furiously. His attacks are fairly accurate, but Glacius is showing more speed than before.
As Theta attacks, Glacius oddly starts both evading and blocking attacks at once. As Frostmourne strikes the ice blade in Glacius's fist, the blade the revived elemental is wielding shatters like glass; Glacius refreezes a new blade each time. Ignorant in his fury, Theta doesn't notice as the unusually sharp fragments fly right into him, cutting him.
After several attacks, Theta finds himself stopping, cut-up severely and out-of-breath.
Glacius's blade sheds a cloud of cold air as the elemental rushes in at his descendant.
Theta barely manages to raise his sword in defense before the piece of permafrost slams down on him. Glacius raises a foot and kicks Theta in the stomach, sending the young elemental skidding across the floor at high speed.
*SHiiiinnkk!!*
Glacius jams a hand into the ground and his ice-blade emerges from the wall behind Theta.
Theta only has a moment of shock before he ends up scewered on the blade!
Fortunately for him though, he just managed to avoid a fatal injury but getting impaled on an ice-blade isn't pleasant.
~End Log~
Mayu Log
I was moving through this snowy land though I wasn't too sure of how much time had passed since I had fallen asleep but it must have been plenty. There was something moving back there on the leg or something like it. I dismissed it as something else until whatever it was reached my back. I don't know what was moving on my back. I felt something else land on my back and now I felt two beings on my back. All were on the same spot on my back. I turned my head as I turned down the blizzard conditions so I could barely see what was there. I noticed the white little dragoness there but there was something beneath her being apparently licked to death. I still couldn't tell what it was though. I disliked hitchhikers and so I stopped and started shaking my body trying to get them loose and finally I decided to use the ice on my body to slam the both of them off. They went flying into the air and fortunately landed in a big pile of snow to the side of me. I turned to look at whatever had bothered me. I felt something move in my mouth.
"Hey, what's the deal with the shaking?" Valdis asked irritated. "Why did you stop?"
I ignored her and decided to let her out. I opened my mouth and she jumped out of it and landed on my back. I looked at the small white dragon and then saw a pikmin standing there brushing it, no, himself off. I knew that this pikmin was a male. Yet, I could smell him from here and he smelled weird for a pikmin. I blinked for a moment as I allowed the blizzard to die down a little more just to get a better look at him. The pikmin was a blue one. The scent that I got from this guy seemed more like a dragon's then an actual pikmin. Valdy got up from her position on my back and jumped down. She landed right in front of this blue pikmin. The blue pikmin seemed to wave his hand a little and had his nose scrunched up a bit. I was very perceptive when reading others.
"You're the reason that she decided to shake me awake!" Valdy yelled angrily as she gave the one, a serious talking to. "Can't someone like me get some rest without being disturbed for one second? I mean there's disturbing me after five hours or so but one hour! That's just outrageous. I mean who does that. And don't scrunch your nose at me, mister. I may smell bad but that's because I've been sleeping in a dragon's stomach for the time that I was asleep. You're lucky that I don't whip you to death. Please, oh please don't even try explaining or saying that you're sorry. I expect you to--"
I chuckled at the sight of the small white dragon tackling her and licking her. I looked back at the blue pikmin but barely recognized something about him but I threw it off as my mind playing tricks on me.
"Bisera, get off of me" I heard Valdis say in a rather cold tone as she was still looking at the blue pikmin.
I don't know what the weird blue was saying but it seemed Valdis was very much annoyed with him. She got up after Bisera got off of her and was quite angry.
"Buzz off!"
She turned around and stomped off back towards me. She seemed to cool down after not having her eyes on this "pikmin" for a few seconds. She seemed to stop and look straight up at me before going quiet for the next few minutes. I watched with an amused grin on my face as the pikmin with the scent of a dragon stood there not leaving. There was utter silence for the next ten minutes which I think nobody said anything and then Valdy turned around and walked right up close to this dragon-scented pikmin which seemed to carry the same scent that another of our species seemed to have almost. I wasn't quite sure about that but it was a little offish for me. He seemed to cringe from just the smelly stench that was coming off of him. Valdy's actions indicated that she was calmed down.
"Oh don't be like that. Have to deal with dragons every day of my life. I'm Valdis the Dragon Tamer and these dragons here are my pals. The little white dragoness is Bisera and this big recently tamed light blue dragoness is Mayu. I know that you're not some common pikmin and my dragon friend here knows it quite well" Valdis said calmly as she showed no signs of irritation in her voice while the other pikmin backed away a little. "What's your name, Mr. Disturber-Of-My-Sleep?"
End Log
~Ryu~ (redo)
A small white dragon had come and tackled me when she saw me.
"Yeah... I'm happy to see you too..." I said as I was laughing with her on top of me.
She was only too happy to see me as was evidenced by her licking me so throughly.
Then the dragon I was riding decided to shake me off. Being that the scales and everything were slick with ice, I hadn't a hope of hanging on and with the little dragon being the way she was, I couldn't move to do anything about this even if I wanted to anyways.
We both landed in a snow drift and after a few more minutes, she finally got off me and flew off to a green pikmin that was stomping over to me in a huff.
Whewwww... weeeeee... someone's been in a dragon's belly...
After yelling at me about scratching my nose at her (I was actually wiping off some of white dragon's saliva) she started off by telling me to "Buzz off". Honestly.
I rolled my eyes as she started stomping back but then she decided to try for a bit more politeness.
"Oh don't be like that. Have to deal with dragons every day of my life. I'm Valdis the Dragon Tamer and these dragons here are my pals. The little white dragoness is Bisera and this big recently tamed light blue dragoness is Mayu. I know that you're not some common pikmin and my dragon friend here knows it quite well." she yelled over at me.
She then asked my name, making it clear from her manner of speech that she was annoyed with me.
I folded my arms, mentally smacking myself in the head for not remembering Mayu sooner... this whole blizzard should've been a big, fat clue to me but...
"First, let me thank you for reminding me about Mayu there, I knew I'd seen her somewhere before but my memory has been rusty lately. And since you ask, my name's Ryu." Finishing that, I walked around the green to Mayu.
I called up to her and she lowered her head, looking very annoyed with me. It took me a minute to realize she didn't remember me. I immediately pouted.
"You don't remember? Now that hurts..." I said mostly unhappily. "'Ryu' ring any bells, Mayu?" I asked, now smirking.
She took less than a minute to remember.
We would've proceeded to relate where I had been for the last several decades if the green behind us hadn't cleared her throat very loudly.
"A-hem!" she was glaring at me, her irritation with me still evident.
"Should I show her?" I asked Mayu rhetorically. Mayu laughed once (coming out as a loud snort and expulsion of cold air from her nostrils), knowing she didn't really need to answer.
I removed the sword (with its sheath) strapped to me and addressed "Valdis" as she called herself while I planted the end of the sheath in the snow.
"I understand dragons about as well you Valdis, probably even more so... and for good reason." I said, focusing. Ice will do here...
Mayu raised her head away from me and moved just a bit to give me a bit more room. The pulse hit me after about 30 seconds and let it explode through me.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The snow blew outwards before settling around my new, white figure. Perhaps she'll like me a bit better this way...
~Log Paused~
Valdis Log
I watched as this pikmin transform into a dragon or something along those lines. He even spoke along the lines that he knew more than me for a good reason. This was his good reason. It wasn't one at all.
"I know what you are, Ryu. I recognize you. I'm going to correct you on what you said there. The whole 'I know more than you bit' is incorrect" I replied coolly. "Every detail about a dragon is important to a Dragon Tamer such as I. I know even the little gritty details that are often passed by others as insignificant and that includes dragons themselves. Somebody would have to be me to actually know more than me. That's the short and sweet answer. Ask me any question about dragons and I can answer it."
Ryu seemed to laugh at me but I just stood there looking at him in his whelp form. He started asking questions right off the beat in the draconic language and I answered them in the same language without missing a beat. I even went ahead and listed details that even he wouldn't even know. To say the least, he was a tiny bit impressed.
"Being a dragon and understanding dragons are two entirely different things. Dragon Tamers are not some foolhardy chumps that tame dragons without knowing anything about them. We have to understand the danger that we get in. We have to understand the dragon's emotions at the time that we tame them. We even have to understand some details that would be considered unimportant to even dragons themselves. Bisera here is a dragon summoned by magic. She lived in a very different dimension. But for me, I grew up around dragons. I breathed the same air that dragons breathed. I smelled what the dragons smelled. I ate what the dragons ate. You probably even didn't notice that my skin is made out of tiny scales. To digress, there are other important things to do than a test of understanding" I explained to him politely as I can.
He might have asked something but I wasn't really too sure what he asked. It was a little too low for me to hear.
Bisera returned to my side. I looked up towards Mayu and grinned before returning to look at Ryu. He was definitely different but I’ve seen beings like him before. It was not really a surprise to me.
"I’m sorry to cut this short but I must be off to make it to my destination in time. It's been a pleasure meeting you" I said as I bowed my head a little. "Come on, Bisera and Mayu."
I walked off after that. I was much too busy to stay here for any longer than I had to.
End Log
~Ryu~
When she started to tell me off for thinking I knew more than her, I raised a clawed finger, signaling that I wanted a moment of quiet.
I got it and put in the words I wanted to say.
"I said that I probably know more; I'm not so arrogant to claim I certainly know more. Knowing about dragons and being one are also two different things. But you've got my curiousity about much you actually know, so how about some questions?"
Valdis smirked, confident in her knowledge.
After the session of quizzing, I found she did indeed know quite a bit. Impressive.
Valdis decided to get a move-on afterwards. I glanced up at Mayu.
"Pleasure meeting you again Mayu. Perhaps we'll see each other again sometime." I bowed my head towards the elder ice-dragoness, respectfully.
Mayu couldn't help smiling at the respect I was showing and just quietly returned the farewell.
Valdis baid me a polite farewell and headed off after mentioning the scales on her body.
I certainly had noticed Valdis's scales... any dragon worth their salt would've been able to.
I got up from the lying position I had been in and took off in the opposite direction they headed off in. The cold and snow felt nice and it was always nice flying. Once I was out of the Mayu-generated blizzard, I landed, changed elements to fire and settled down for a nap.
~End Log~
~Claude~
More wandering...
Not really sure where I am exactly but I suppose I am lost...
At one point, I noticed something moving through some brush not too far off.
Two foxes came out and one, upon noticing me vanished from view.
The other glanced at me and around before just proceeding to gaze at me.
I shrugged and continued wandering...
I glanced back and noticed the one fox shortly getting rejoined by its partner... hm...
Again, not really all that important to me but it kinda broke the monotoney of the situation.
~End Log~
<Theta>
Theta looked down at the blade piercing his torso and grabbed hold to pull it out as Glacius walked closer. The damn blade seemed abnormally stubborn.
"Where ya think... you're going?" Sapphire coughed from across the room, stalking back in. The former elemental ignored her.
"I said... where... do you think... you're going?!" she growled, ripping a large hunk of ice from the floor and chucking it at him. Glacius rose a fist and smashed it, but didn't turn around. Sapphire hissed in frustration, and Theta began sturggling to get free.
"Alright then! How about this? Drill Punch!" the Mark II shouted, rushing toward Glacius, spinning fist-first like a drill. Glacius turned around to catch her fist, then rose his own fist to punch, in the process making two very fatal mistakes: touching Sapphire, and taking his eyes off Theta.
"What. Did. I. Tell. You," was all the warning Glacius got.
The arm he'd risen to punch her was very suddenly removed from his shoulder as the room began rumbling ominously. Permafrost, frozen over for many long years, cracked under an unfamiliar rage. Theta rose from his position against the wall, the blade stuck through his gut shattering into a thousand pieces. Two razor-fire, icy wings of seraphic power rose from his back, and Frostmourne glowed with more power than it had ever felt.
Glacius turned around to retaliate...but never got the chance. Theta crossed the distance between them in an instant, blade in hand, and uttered two words.
"Soul Reaper," the half-seraphim growled, and sliced Glacius in half at the waist. His torso didn't even hit the ground before Theta pinned him to it with Frostmourne, slamming the blade through his chest. Glacius twitched, and then ceased moving. In one smooth move, Theta then pulled the blade out, spun, and swung, unleashing a wave of energy at the blackened pit of energy in the room. The darkness parted, then rose up as Demetri. The dark elemental clapped slowly.
"Good show, I must say," he drawled. His response was a pair of icy glares.
"You come into my home, disturb my sanctum, and raise an ancient one from his slumber... Don't even think you're walking out of here," Theta croaked. His throat felt sore from what was, comparatively, overuse.
Lilith Log
I had watched this new arrival that had come with Malice. I don't know why Malice would bring along someone like him along. I guess it's just a thing to him for gathering as many followers as possible. His plan was to get enough portals in various locations and then open them simultaneously to allow the demons from hell to flood the earth. The plan hinged on that point meaning that we were currently going over to the next place where the next lake of blood would be placed. I had told Malice that the other locks were taking a little longer than usual due to the difficult requirements. I didn't tell him about how we needed to break only five locks so that he could obtain his third form. Malice was currently over there. He was having another talk with this new guy. His hand was radiating with that red demonic energy of his and the fellow glowed with that energy as well. I grinned as I knew what he had just done. He had made that demon stronger and so that new demon would be that much more useful to his plans. I had little to do and so.
"Lupus and Levia" I said coldly. "Come here!"
Two shadowy pikmin popped up by my feet and both were holding their hands together.
"I need the both of you to go scouting out the next place where our master will make that next pool" I ordered in a cold tone. "Don't even think about failing this as I'll be angry at you. Lord Narzaris will be angry. He's not one for you to cross so easily. Go!"
The two of them popped back into the ground and I saw two shadowy shapes moving across the ground's flat surface but not a single physical trace of a being above ground or even below ground. They were using their powers quite well. I sure hoped that they would bring me something very good in the end.
"Faith and Verrance" I called over to two more in the group.
They came over reluctantly but surely as they knew I had revived them or had given them a new body.
"You two will go over to the next spot and weaken the fortified city from within. It's to the north from here. I'm counting on you two to do that. I'm sure that there's no problem with that with either of you. Do what you two do best!" I ordered them with a stern voice.
"Fine" the both of them said together coldly.
They looked at each other with deep hatred in their eyes and then they both left not taking their eyes off the other being. Their deep hatred would work well in weakening that fortified city. I turned finally around to face Lord Narzaris. He was talking with that demon from before. I walked on over as I carefully watched this other demon.
End Log
~Demetri~
I smirked, pulling out the other gems I had on me. I made a motion with one hand, and the diamond shot up out of the dead elemental's remains and into my hand. I could feel the new power in it and my grin widened.
"Brave words Elemental of Ice, but nothing more. Besides... I don't walk. My business here is done!"
I reacted faster despite Theta's rage-fueled power, blasting both of them with wind, electricity, and light as well as dark energy.
Theta wasn't so concerned with himself as he was for "Sapphire" to his side, who didn't look in any condition to block this kind of onslaught. He had to jump in front of Sapphire to attack the attack itself, fending it off from her.
It was during this that I rocketed backwards and smashed through the ice with all the power I needed to use to do so and I was gone.
~End Log~
~Glacius~
Glacius's spirit arose from the pile of ice on the ground and he gazes at Theta who still looked furious with the world at large.
"I know it is nothing to calm you at this time Theta... but please accept my sincerest apologies for attacking Sapphire as I did. I only wished to test you, and you alone. I will continue my duty of watching over the temple of Ice, and this time I will not be awakened from my slumber again. I only have one command for you, follow it if you so wish:"
He takes a moment and then spoke once more and for the final time.
"Theta... protect who you will, do whatever you will, but above all... live as you will. Live your life free. ...Farewell."
It's at this point, the spirit quietly hovers to the center of the room where the body had originally been sleeping and, after a moment of gathering power, he forms an enormous block of solid permafrost, reforming the central pillar of the room again.
Glacius's body turns to snow and quietly blows away to parts unknown.
~End Log~
~Drake~
I could hardly believe it when Malice rewarded my servitude with power.
Trying to figure out how to best address my new lord, I finally asked:
"What would you like me to do for you?"
~End Log~
5.2.11 to 5.8.11
<Strosek>
"I did not... want this...!" Strosek wailed, raising his left arm protectively to block Omicron's strike and quickly retaliating with EC-Divider. Omicron spun away from the blow and swept his own weapon - a pole with an energy scythe extending from it - toward Strosek's head, but this blow was blocked by a barrier, projected by the Book of the Silver Cross. As Omicron jumped back, Strosek proved EC-Divider could still function as a gun in this state and fired a thin beam of light from it. Omicron's shoulder flaps came down and the shot deflected away.
Sloth's assault was... somewhat more ferocious. And effective. Sloth's assault consisted entirely of him punching straight through Strosek's barrier and clobbering him in the face. The Book promptly retaliated with a barrage of spells, pushing Sloth back.
"Recalibrating shields..." the Book intoned. A shining oval glimmered in and out of existence around Strosek, who was now clutching a bleeding nose. The look in his glossed over eyes suddenly turned malicious.
"I rather wish you hadn't done that," Omicron sighed, brandishing his scythe, "But then again I don't know if we have any other options."
Strosek slowly stumbled to his feet, all of the uncertainty gone from his posture. This was the Strosek they'd fought before... the one that DID know how to control EC-Divider and the Book of the Silver Cross.
In other words, they were just a little bit screwed. Something Strosek put an exclamation point on by quickly preparing a full-powered shot. Omicron turned on his heel and bolted.
"Well, you know what they say, a quantum physicist at a dead run outranks everyone!" Sloth shouted, and also bolted. Delta, clutching his chest and looking miffed, dove into the sand and was whisked away in seconds.
Just as Strosek fired a shot into their previous position, creating a blast visible from the direct opposite side of the planet.
For the size of the blast, the crater wasn't overly impressive. As far as craters went, though, it was a pretty damn good one. Strosek stood on the edge of it, nose bleeding. He spotted three figures on the other edge bolting into the woods at the edge of the desert and lifted off into the air, slowly making his way in that direction.
~Demetri~
I flew a very long distance from the glacier. I could fight Theta off of the glacier but why waste strength?
Thus, I put as much distance between me and the angry ice-elemental as possible in the short time-period.
Unfortunately, when I stopped to assess things, that annoying light-elemental... yes, Willy... decided to try ambushing me.
Moments later, the young shadowling (I believe he calls himself Matthew) joined him. These two like each other or something?
As we started fighting again, it was still evident that they still didn't get along. The shade was glaring at the light-elemental and not speaking, meanwhile Willy seemed to be continually telling him to just get out of the way. No sign of friendship there, which made perfect sense really.
"How 'bout the both of you just get out of my plans and stay out!" I interrupted Willy when he was about to verbially abuse the shade again, punctuating my sentence with a blast of ice from the diamond. Both dove out of the way, and I had to evade a twin-blast of light and dark power from both.
The explosion from their simultanious attacks was quite marvelous.
"I can play that game too." I muttered, pulling out the opal and generating an onyx from myself.
I fended off more attacks and knocked both away from me. I then gathered power, focusing some even from myself into the power. As I got ready to fire, the two gems started whirling about each other.
I let out a yell and unleashed the power on both of them; the blast was considerably bigger than theirs had been. *Blam!*
I jetted backwards as if kicked-back by the blast and flew off, drawing the onyx back into my body and putting the opal with others.
I heard the explosion and glanced back as I continued my escape rubbing at a bit of hope that that would rid me of both of them.
No such luck though. They both ran in opposite directions from the blast which detonated with a massive explosion on the ground.
The shade looked ready to chase me but Willy, tried stopping him and that bought me more time.
I smirked... I wonder what's with that shade anyways. Surely he doesn't think he can take me on?
If isn't that...
~End Log~
~Matthew~
I might've pursued Demetri until I caught up to him again if he hadn't called me to a halt.
If it weren't for the fact that he was clearly preparing to blast me if I ignored him, I would've done just that.
I glowered back at the light-min.
"What?" I said impatiently.
"Who are you, shade?"
I growled, very irritated.
"I've already told you once. Figure it out yourself!" I attempted to go after Demetri before he got further away but I was nailed in the back by a pulse of light.
I tumbled through the air and landed, whirling to face the pest, my back burning with pain. I found myself sympathsizing with Demetri, if only slightly. The darkness didn't like getting hit with light like this and a lot of power came surging out, enveloping me in a dark aura.
"Wrong move, bright-boy." I hissed and charged.
Willy raised a defense and I punched once, hard. The barrier of light shattered and I rushed at him.
The light-elemental unleashed a blast of light, which I countered by simply unleashing my own pulse of dark power.
My pulse was considerably stronger. With a stunned yell of surprise, Willy jumped back to avoid getting swept away and killed by the darkness.
He fired a laser at me and I didn't really act, the dark energy swirling about me acted on its own. A black shield formed before me and seemed to harden into a physical form which absorbed the attack.
"My turn." I growled, my mind clouded with an instinctive fury.
I jumped directly at the shield which broke into darkness around me as I hit it. I shot at the light-min coated as thus and swiped at him with my claws. He back-pedaled to avoid my attack and I pursued, attacking in a seemingly furious manner.
"That the best you got!?" Willy taunted as he avoided the attacks.
I was then behind him.
"No."
I grabbed him by the neck and dove for the ground, slamming him into it. I flipped over, hitting him with my feet, driving him into the ground before I got off him entirely.
He was getting up still while I charged up another attack. He had to roll out of the way when I unleashed what could best be described as a "dark laser-blast" directly at him.
He was looking a little less like I was joke now and a bit more scared, which something in me like a lot.
My more sensible side was crying out for me to stop but my more... assertive side was aided by dark hate in silencing it. I wanted to shut this "bright" idiot up for a few sweet hours... and nothing was going stop me if I had anything to say about it.
~End Log~
Malice Log
I looked at Drake for a moment before hearing Lilith coming up to the two of them. I turned to Lilith and then I looked back towards Drake. I walked to his side and turned him to face Lilith and hanged an arm around him.
"I was going to send Lilith here to go over to an insignificant town to spread some chaos and destruction" I replied as I patted him on the shoulder. "I think you would be good enough to go with her as in help her with the destruction of this town. The pikmin there need a dose of destruction. Oh and I gave you an extra gift with the energy that I put into you. You can change pikmin into demons if you want to. All you will have to do is touch them long enough and activate that little gift of mine. They’ll be your servants but they'll also serve me as well since it's my energy that you're using."
I put my arm back to my side and walked off before turning around again.
"Lilith, this guy right here is Drake. He's going to be your partner in destroying a town. The town in particular has a pair of statues of the two heroes that killed me off the first time when I tried to destroy this world" I explained darkly as I turned around and stalked off. "I'm going to be staying around here for the time being."
I stopped and sat down. I held my axe on my shoulders as I lay down and closed my eyes.
"You two better be off soon" I commented creepily with my eyes closed. "Time's a wasting and I might just use you two for good chopping practice with my axe. Chop, chop!"
End Log
~Drake~
"Heh heh, sounds like fun." I chuckled, grinning at the prospect of trying out this new ability of mine.
"C'mon, I ain't gonna wait up for ya!" I said to Lilith as I ran right on by her and headed for the target.
If she wants to be the sharpening block for Malice's axe, that's her choice.
~End Log~
Vanada Log
I was still resting on my giant sea serpent's back as it moved along the ground. I kept my focus on the rain. I was about to completely stop when I felt a stinging pain in my chest. I opened my eyes and looked to the side seeing water rising up beneath me. Was I here? I clenched onto the giant serpent's back as it rushed deep into the water as if it spotted something. I started to think of her as I remembered her just barely enough as I described her to myself several times over as I wanted to remember. Those words kept popping into my head, something about looking for the Water Elemental. I don't know what that was about. I slowed the giant down and looked around me. The stinging pain in my chest wasn't going away. I looked around as I took in my surroundings. It then hit me that I had been here before. It was Listless Lake. I wondered if my younger sister was still here. She probably wouldn't even remember me ever since that day. It was painful for her to accept whatever it was that I gave to her. I looked down at my body to see that the blood mixed was looking rather odd to me. I spotted something in the water but just barely. It wasn't very far away. I dispelled my giant sea serpent as I got closer to that spot. It was her as I could tell her from the water that she was in. I was in the water heading towards her.
"Hey--!" I exclaimed happily.
The stinging pain in my chest spread to my whole body as something was trying to influence me but what was it. My head was hurting and there was something there within my mind telling me to do something. It told me. It told me to do something. It told me to attack the water elemental. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't attack her. I wouldn't...I wouldn't...I...I...would...would...attack her.
I very quickly contaminated the fresh water with the salt inside my body as the blood in my body also spilled out into a sort of smoke screen. I summoned thirty blood-red eels and they spread outwards. I was in my prime here. There was no stopping me now.
End Log
~Serris~
I was drifting around under the water, near the surface when I heard someone call out, moments later, I was attacked by a group of sea serpents that appeared to be made of sea-salt. A red salt at that.
I darted over the serpents and shot over their heads before they could turn and try biting me.
Someone else was in the water and he looked similar to the serpents. Somehow, I felt like I'd seen him before...
This guy though... there was something off...
I didn't have much time to think on that though as he jetted at me quicker than I would have expected and sent a wave of salt-water flowing through me.
I was shocked and surprised when the water stung like [heck]!
I moved around and away from him. I would've gone just away but the serpents were still behind me so I had to go another direction.
He gave chase and I flung a disc of water at him. Had it been someone who was more solid, it would've lopped their head off like a buzz-saw. As it was though, the disc flew right on through the guy's neck and he winced from the momentary pain and nothing more.
Well, that's bad news...
He tried to grab me but I hit him with a pulse of water which knocked him away and continued keeping my distance the best I could.
At one point, the serpents surrounded me on the left and right and the guy looked ready to head me off if I went up or down. I was in a tight-spot here so I just did what I could and braced myself. I encased myself in a sort of water-bubble. To be more accurate, it was more simply a shield... a barrier of "solid" water.
The serpents chomped down on me at once and, to my relief, I managed to hold up. Then my attacker rushed at me and slugged the barrier. That was harder to resist.
A visible ripple shook my little bubble and, out of some desperation, I unleashed an elemental wave. Had I been on the surface, this would've caused a tidal wave (a tsunami in the most extreme cases). Underwater, it caused a strong current to sweep away all three attackers. The water-min (who I was still trying to figure out what was up with him) withstood this and was just shunted back a foot or two. His pets were blown away completely.
"Enough!" I yelled "What's with you!?"
He didn't answer but shot another current of salt-water at me which I hastly moved to evade.
~Log Pause~
<Omicron>
"That could have gone better," Delta coughed, pounding his chest to clear it.
"A little bit, yeah," I agreed. "Considering that last time it took Omega just to bring him down. Problem: Omega's dead."
Sloth, for his part, just rolled over and took up a comfortable position. "This is taking way too much effort. Can we just stop now?"
"What takes more effort, running or dying?" I sighed. A question with a seemingly simple answer, but Sloth paused to mull it over... and then, sighing, got to his feet.
"Dying is more of a pain in the ass," he said. Works every time.
"So what's the plan?" Delta butted in, looking antsy. He didn't seem particularly keen on dying. "Because uh... he's coming this way."
We turned. Sure enough, Strosek was - very slowly - approaching us. He looked mildly unhappy with all three of us. That was our prompt to resume running like hell as a magical barrage assaulted us.
"Alright, so the three of us have absolutely no chance. At all. He'd slaughter us. So we have two options, we either calm him down..." I started
"Or we lure him into someone who does have a chance," Sloth finished for me. Delta looked back at Strosek for a second and barely rose a wall of sand to protect himself from an energy blast.
"I think the 'calm down' part is out of the question," Delta noted wryly. "So any ideas on someone strong enough to fight him?"
I referenced my database against satellite imagery. Not many options, unfortunately...
"Well, we could kite him about halfway across the continent until we reach Black Scythe," I started. That was vetoed immediately on the grounds that Strosek would catch us by then. Or at least catch the fleshy pair, I don't particularly have to worry about him until he comes back to the colony. Gamma was cited on the potential of "calm him down" because he was fairly nearby, but might not appreciate being dragged into it. Would Zeta be willing to cooperate? Maybe, file that as a possibility. Our last option would have to be...
"Oh, well that's interesting," I noted. Sloth gave me a look of apprehension.
"That line ALWAYS starts trouble. What are you thinking, Omi?"
"Well, and this is something of a long shot that might get us killed, but... Seraph's in the area," I stated grimly.
"Oh, yes, SPLENDID plan. Lead Horrible Monster #1 to Horrible Monster #2. I can see so many varied and hideous ways this could go very wrong and one very slim chance it could go right," Sloth grumbled.
"He's closest," I added.
"Right then, Seraph it is."
5.9.11 to 5.15.11
~Willy~
Panic was something that was starting to infect my mind as I deperately evaded ever-more powerful attacks by this shade.
Back in the hole, he hadn't shown this kinda power... why now?
Matthew's arm extended at one point and attempted to sieze me; I ducked under his hand and fired another light-blast at him.
He snarled in a rather feral manner and I was grabbed from behind. Though I had intially avoided his hand, he had simply to reach around to grab me.
He was starting to drag me forward (where he'd probably kill me) and I reacted by unloading a mass of light directly in front of me.
Luckly, he filled in that space in front of me at that point.
"Gaaarrrgh!"
He flew back from the impact and I thought I might've seen something under that darkness but it was quickly covered again.
He was still for several moments, breathing heavily and I had hoped I had taken him down. However, he acted faster than I thought he could and a dark-enlarged hand slammed into me and pinned me to the ground. I was then lifted from the ground to face with Matthew, who seemed more calm for some reason though still agitated.
"So you can't figure out who I am? Willy needs another hint, does he?" Matthew droned, a definite mock to his tired-sounding voice. The way he said my name though... even for mocking it seemed different, though still insulting. He drew me up close and I was enveloped in dark energy. His next words were as a whisper right in my ears.
"Dark energy... it loves light... loves to strangle it. Right now all this power and more wants me to strangle you, choke you, make you wish you had never associated with the light. So when dark energy gets ahold of the light... a lot of it gathers... gathers to choke it down and devour it until nothing is left. I'm no different; and I should know... being so associated with darkness now. What do you think all this power indicates about me, eh?"
The darkness held me for a minute more and then I was abruptly dumped on the ground, free from it.
I looked up to see Matthew giving me another insulting look but... there was still something off.
He was then gone before I could think more about his expression... after Demetri again I suppose.
~End Log~
~Ryu~
I had reverted to pikmin-form in my sleep, and it was in this state that I was woken up.
I might've just smushed whoever it was otherwise. You don't wake up a snoozing a dragon unless you have the muscle to back it up.
As it was, I was definitely irritated... it's nice here on the edge of the valley's snow.
"Oi, when'd you thaw out Ryu?" the waker muttered to me.
Oh no... not him...
I groaned... I wasn't in trouble... but my nap was in mortal peril.
"Go away. I never gave anyone permission to wake me up." I grumbled, trying to drop back off to sleep. I tried to convince myself it wasn't who I thought it was.
"Oh shut it, sleep-brains. Heavens knows you got enough nap time in that ice-cube."
"Wasn't as cozy as it is here..." I countered.
"Yeah, I bet but that's still no excuse for laziness. Get up!"
"Ugh... Spyro, can't you just leave me alone for a few centuries." I grumbled, finally just sitting up and glaring at the yellow.
Spyro was a yellow pikmin in appearance, though he tended to have that bored expression on his face that clearly stated he didn't care about what someone else had to say or what they thought. He was junior to me by at least a few centuries but still... that didn't keep him from speaking his annoying mind. Like myself, he had all facial features which just helped show how little he cared.
"Now, how long ago was it that you got out of your little ice-prison?" Spyro said bluntly, clearly ignoring my complaint.
"A few days back..." I muttered.
"There... a straight answer. That wasn't so hard."
I would've slugged him then but I knew if I tried, he'd probably just use those martial arts of his to put me down in a hurry. And going dragon on him? Probably not worth the trouble. I settled to just glower at him and try to get my irritation through to his brain. There's a lost cause...
"Anyways Ryu, 'heard you were out and about... thought I'd see how you were now and hang around." Spyro said with that continually bland tone, lacing his fingers around behind his head.
"Oh no... you are not hanging around me and driving me up the wall. No." I waved one hand, trying to set the finality in.
"Won't you just buzz off?" I grumbled, stumping along grumpily with Spyro stubbornly tagging along behind me. He didn't answer, which was a loud-&-clear "No".
~End Log~
~Ryu~
It was after a day of travel, with Spyro nagging me along the way, that I came across someone who I hadn't expected to see above-ground.
I blinked when I saw Vrael wandering about, trying to stay in the shade from the sunlight.
Apparently he'd spent a bit too long underground and wasn't accustomed to sunlight.
"What are you doing up here Vrael?" I said with a sort of half-chuckle. He looked a bit ridiculous.
"Argh... blasted sunlight... too bright up here..." he muttered at first then noticed me, which clearly didn't improve his already-sour mood "I figured if you're awake and could potentially annoy me, I might as well find a new pad... perferrably one you won't think to look in." Vrael grumbled in response to my question, then glanced behind me "Aw no, not him..."
"I've already taken that line." I said boredly as Spyro stepped up.
"So, you've been hiding away in the dirt as usual then Zale?" Spyro asked.
"It's Vrael, numbskull!" the black pikmin snarled at him, not happy with Spyro getting his name wrong.
"Yeah... that's what I thought..." Spyro mumbled, not really paying attention to his companion's agitation.
Well... I guess the gang's all here then... I thought to myself.
It only took a few minutes of conversation between Spyro and Vrael to get Vrael to blow his top. Cursing and swearing, Vrael attempted to grab Spyro to wring his neck and perhaps knock some better respect into him. Not the wisest course of action.
Spyro evaded one hand, and grabbed Vrael by the other wrist and wrenched it around in an arm-lock, almost immediatly standing somewhere behind Vrael.
Vrael attempted to yank him forward but Spyro simply used the momentum with his body to knock Vrael over and sit on him, arm-lock still present. Vrael had only one course of action left to him now as any normal pikmin in his position would be likely helpless at this point. I backed up several paces to give them room.
Vrael pulsed briefly and I could feel the power there... same as my own. Spyro... I could faintly tell he was mentally acknowledging what was going on but his expression remained as stony as ever. Dunno how he's going to treat Vrael in his draconic form but... I had my bets Vrael was going to lose.
~Log Pause~
~Ryu~
It only took a few moments:
Vrael's form turned a pure-black like a hole in space appearing and Spyro released the arm he was gripping at the time, no sense trying to holding a dragon's leg like that, no matter how strong you were if you're that size.
Next moment, Spyro was sitting on the black dragon's back, a smirk visible if only for a moment before Spyro was back to business.
"Alright, you're getting hurt." Vrael growled and his tail lashed around at Spyro. Spyro made a quick jump over the tail and quickly reattained balance on landing. Vrael snapped at him, which he simply hopped back to avoid. The tail came around again and Vrael attempted to swipe at him with his entire head, using a pointed spine as a focal point, hoping to screwer Spyro on it. The yellow did a side-flip, over the tail, clear off Vrael's back and landed on the ground. The black dragon proceeded to try and stomp on Spyro, claw him, or otherwise hit him in any fashion he could. Spyro was just too nimble though. Any hits that were landed just were glancing blows that barely nicked the yellow.
At one point, I tried sneaking away but evidently Spyro was far too observant.
"Ryu, you try getting away now, and I will come over there and break your legs before I get back to Vrael here. If you try to fly off, I'll just ride you; either way, don't bother trying to lose me." Spyro said this in a matter-of-fact tone, all while continuing to evade Vrael's attacks... I had little doubt he could carry out the threat, even while thus occupied.
The dragon-form Brood-member meanwhile, was getting increasingly aggravated by the agility of his quarry. Honestly... he looked embarassing the way he was acting. I would've been ashamed to be acting this way myself.
Vrael though, was too preoccupied with his current activity to really notice. I was pretty sure that Spyro was aware of this too but rather found it privately amusing.
After several more minutes of this, I finally took pity on Vrael and stepped forward; I knew what Spyro was up to...
"Alright kids! That's enough!" I yelled over the noise, some sarcasm mixed in obviously.
They apparently ignored me though as they continued.
"Oi! Enough!" I yelled, louder. Still no reaction to me.
Spyro landed a short distance from me and I took the moment to unload some frustration with the yellow right then. I struck with the sword I had on-hand.
Spyro reacted at a speed that would've caught someone else off-guard. He evaded the blade and almost automatically reached out with one hand to slap it away. I altered my swing to avoid the counter-attack Spyro had ready. Spyro took only a moment to realize a follow-up attack wasn't coming and moved out of the way when Vrael's front-foot came down on both of us. I moved so I was right between the toes. I shielded my eyes from the dust that exploded up around me as the foot crashed to the ground. I waved the dust away and looked at Vrael's face.
"Vrael! Enough! I'll handle this!" I yelled at him.
I saw in the dragon's eyes at his first impulse was to disregard that order, however, the recent defeat from me was still fresh on his mind so he huffed and after a moment, turned back. The black pikmin then proceed to try and salvage his dignity while I turned my attention back to Spyro.
"Alright Spyro. You wanted to test me all this time, didn't you?" I said, somewhat tiredly. He didn't say anything which confirmed what I thought. "Right... otherwise, why would you bother picking a fight with Vrael, not to mention tailing me?" I muttered more to myself.
The yellow just stood there, a few cuts from glancing blows Vrael had landed on various parts of his body, waiting for me to start.
~End Log~
Black Scythe
The Gargant Gunzack and the Fist of Zeromus advance once more. As they make their way toward the Red Pikmin capital, their leader slumbers... and recalls the fragmented memories of his past.
"Hey! Hey, wake up! We're almost there!"
Black Hole opens his eyes and peers about. He's on a rickety-looking flying machine made of wood. The only figures that stand out as more than a blur are a purple 'min with a mushroom atop his stalk, and Scythe. The mushroom 'min is the one talking to him, though his memories do not recall his name. Scythe is a whole lot smaller than he would eventually become.
"Get ready, we're entering the flak cannons' range. Hang on!" the mushmin yells, piloting the machine into a withering hail of gunfire. Black Hole and Scythe leap from the thing and quickly descend upon the flak guns, ripping them to shreds. Figures that he can easily identify as Gearteeth roll up and open fire on them, but the pair cut through them like so much fodder, giving the rickety flying machine room to pass. One of Gear's larger machines - the ones formed from the hollowed carcasses of Raging Long Legs, he has forgotten the name - comes forth to attack. The flying machine, however, reveals a secret weapon, blasting the machine with a beam weapon and obliterating it, allowing the group to continue toward Gear's base.
And then everything goes to hell. Something hits Scythe and knocks him out of view, and the flying machine is suddenly torn apart. Before Black Hole can move to help the others, he's blocked by a being that is a nearly a mirror of him. Claws slicked with blood and eyes glowing red, it greets him with a demonic voice.
"Hello, meatbag," grins Metal Black Hole.
"Supreme Warboss?" a Black 'min asks, and narrowly avoids having his head taken off as the Black leader awakens in a frothing rage.
"Where?! Where is he?!" the frenzied warboss growls, not quite seeing reality. He proceeds to rampage about the room for about five minutes before Barricade slumps in and deftly pins him to the floor with one enormous hand. Black Scythe flails about for several more seconds before Barricade flicks him in the head, knocking him out for a moment. When he regains his senses, he is calm. Sorta.
"Either you remove your hand or I'll remove it," Black Scythe growled. Barricade moved back silently as a crowd formed at the door. One glance from Black Scythe instantly dispersed them.
"Are you alright now?" Barricade rumbled.
"I'm fine," The Supreme Warboss snapped at him. His left eye twitched spastically, and he slapped it until it calmed down. Something within that eye flickered.
"You do not seem-"
"I'M FINE," Black Scythe roared. Barricade slowly nodded and turned to leave.
"We'll be at Blazing Breadth in a few days. Try not to break anything."
Black Scythe extended his middle finger as long as he could at him.
~Ryu (Continue)~
Before beginning, I asked Spyro about how he wanted this fight to be:
"Right. We both know that I'm not getting anywhere with you unless I go dragon on you-"
"The Kaiser..." Spyro cut in before I continued.
I gave him a very stern glare.
"No. Not happening." And this time, he wasn't going to be able to do anything about it.
Spyro returned the glare, aware of this and finally just averted his gaze. He glowed briefly before he vanished in a ball of light. When the light faded, I was still looking at a more or less pikmin-shaped figure but I knew what he had done. He never had shared with me how he managed that form, which left me wondering how he did it.
"Trigon then..." I mumbled and transformed myself.
Spyro was on me in a blink and I had to move fast to avoid his fist when he came darting at me.
I exhaled a blast of electricity at the golden-yellow figure.
Spyro dodge-rolled to the side, the breath attack "brushing" him, inflicting relatively minor wounds.
*Wham!*
I still had my fighting tactics against Spyro ingrained in my mind so I reactively rolled with the hard punch my flank received. The fact that I rolled over would've looked like an over-statement of Spyro's draconic strength, but if I hadn't rolled backwards from the punch, he would've shattered the bone in the worst case. As it was, I was going to have a nasty bruise there (not to mention broken scales).
"Myrmidon form..." I hissed "You haven't lost your edge." I then swiped with one front leg when he attempted to charge at me again. He hopped back from the claws and failed to halt my tail when it came around and whipped him from the side. The golden pikmin-hybrid rolled with the hit, using the small set of wings on his back to add distance by sort of gliding. He landed again and took a moment to check the bruise I had inflicted. I just ignored the guilt already trying to assert itself in my mind... he'd be just fine.
I had more to worry about than him.
~Log Paused~
<Omicron>
"This is a REALLY, really bad idea," Delta reiterated for us, warding off a barrage with a wall of sand. We were almost there, that satellite scan showed his location as being roughly near here.
"Well, all things considered, I think it's a touch too late to change our minds," I replied, as a wave of pitch black coated the ground beneath us. Strosek tore through a tree that was in his path and skidded to a halt just inside the dark area... which then came alive with eyes and teeth.
I didn't catch anything else, because Seraph apparently didn't like me and took the moment to eviscerate the mech I'd been projecting through. I gave a mental sigh and activated another one at the colony, then sent it on a beeline there. This one should have more luck...
________
Fallen Seraph
A thousand eyes glare at all present; Seraph's shadows have torn Omicron's mech to shreds, but otherwise left the others alone. Seraph rises from the shadows, a mass on tendrils writhing on his back. A black cloud swarms overhead, blotting out the sun.
"Well now," a hundred thousand very distinct voices declare, "Visitors. Ones that have ever-so thoughtfully brought themselves directly to me. Oh I do hope you prove to be more... entertaining than the last bunch that came through here," he grinned malevolently, as a handful of mutilated corpses rose from the darkness. A tendril from his back reached over, grabbed one, and pitched it at Strosek, who responded with a large beam of energy, disintegrating the body and blasting Seraph.
Seraph emerged entirely unscathed and looking a bit of a cross between amused and unamused; with all the eyeballs and mouths it was hard to tell.
"Maybe you WILL be more entertaining," Seraph decided.
5.16.11 to 5.22.11
Valdis Log
I had eventually reached Valtharyk, a paradise for dragons, though only for those who were either born here, found their way here, or merely became a part of the landscape while they were in their deep hibernation. I knew that I was here because Mayu threw me up a few seconds later and so I was in the middle of a puddle of dragon vomit. Not the most pleasant stuff to be in but have you ever been in the excrement of a dragon. That's not pleasant at all. I usually avoid getting dragged down that far and had to learn how to avoid getting pulled down by the digestive system. It's quite interesting but not something that you would do every day. Besides, I like to keep myself as clean as possible. I looked around to see mountains to my right and grasslands to my left and a dirt path in front. I walked along it as I turned to look around to see a mist of some sort covering where I had entered from. This place was simply there and not there at the same time.
Nothing this expansive could exist without being discovered and that meant that this paradise was pretty well protected. Most travelers who tried coming here were usually very lost and gave up trying and left. I was lost once trying to get here and was only helped out by the dragons with me. Dragons instinctively knew the way here like it was their birthplace or something. I wasn't too sure on that note since there could be dragons in other universes. A dragon's birthplace was entirely up to where the dragon was born. That's what I always thought.
This place was the safest but considering the number of fights that a dragon could get into here was unusually high. The main reasons were about getting mates, establishing dominance, and taking over the territory of a weaker dragon. The second and third main reasons are pretty much one and the same. I turned to look at my left to see two dragons battling it out. Those two were the type of dragons that I wouldn't want to be in the middle of regardless of my taming duties.
I looked ahead to see a looming building up ahead. It was the palace. Its walls were firm with no cracks in them, no deterioration, and most of all no signs of burn marks. It was perfect in every way and dragons respected this building the most. The palace was known as Valtharyk's palace to most beings but only a few knew the actual name of the place. I kept on walking as the hours went by until I reached the very center and stood before the entrance. The name fit it rightly since the entrance looked pretty much like the open maw of a dragon.
I looked back at Bisera and told her to go back. There was a puff of smoke and Bisera was gone. I told Mayu the same. They were both gone. I knocked on the door. It creaked loudly open as I looked inside to see the place hadn't been too disturbed except for the occasional bit mark on the walls.
The smell of dragons was pretty strong here. I strode forward taking in the inner architecture seeing the ivory pillars and the white marble walls. The intricate designs in the mosaics on the walls, ceilings, and floors were quite beautiful and most of them depicted dragons of various types and then a mosaic or two of a pikmin riding a dragon. I was moving along and paying too much attention to the art here to even notice anything else going on and that's when I heard a rattling and chilling voice questioning me.
"What brings you here again so soon, Valdis?"
I turned to see something from the corner of my eye and jumped back in surprise as I noticed the armor wearing skeleton in front of me. I looked towards the top of its head and saw a gold crown on top of its head.
"Don't sneak up on me like that, Valtharyk!" I screamed at him. "I might have attacked you if I hadn't noticed that crown on top of your head."
"Calm down" he reassured me. "You must be a little out of touch. Something troubling you, tamer?"
I sat down on the floor as I stared up at him. I told him what I had on my mind and he nodded a few times and seemingly grinned.
"You think you met one of those types, didn't you? You said that you couldn't quite place your suspicions on this guy?" he questioned me sternly as he tapped his bony finger on his arm. "By the way, you're to call me, King Valtharyk. Don't forget that!"
"Yes, King Valtharyk. The dragon that I tamed recently told me more about what he was. I learned that his name was Ryu."
His eyes seemed to flare up for a moment before returning back to normal.
"Eh, Ryu was the name of that guy?" he asked me interested as he tilted his head to the side and looking at me with one of his glowing eyes.
"Yes" I replied shortly.
"I don't know him but he might be one of those types based on how you described him."
He seemed to pause a moment after that and tilted his head back to its proper position. I was still unnerved by his appearance. I seemed to always be that way. It wasn't just that he was some skeleton that walked and talked. It had to be something more.
"You're always welcome to stay in the castle. Come in and rest down in one of the rooms" he said soothingly as his bones rattled with every word.
"Thanks" I quipped and quickly walked off towards somewhere else other than the guest rooms.
I wasn't really paying much attention but I could guess that he was still standing there and then I heard him moving again. didn't know where he would go but that was his life and I had no intention to pry into his personal affairs. I was going to find some place to at least wash this odor off of me. I I found where I wanted to go in about an hour or so. It wasn't that I was lost but that this place seemed to stretch on forever with its abnormal room sizes.
End Log
~Ryu~
After briefly tending to his injury, Spyro rushed in at me again.
I exhaled a wave of ice, which he dodged around and lashed at him with my tail again. He dodged that as well and I lunged out with my jaws to try and take him off-guard. My attack was restrained as it was, so if I had bitten him, the injury would've been relatively minor in comparison to what would've normally been inflicted.
He leaned away from the attack, unable to move to avoid it entirely so he was just doing what he could to not get nipped. I missed and quickly twisted my head around to smack him with my head as a whole. He rolled with the hit and flipped over my nose and landed on his feet.
*Wham!*
My chest received a sort of "tai" punch (one in which the contact time was extremely brief). Again, I instinctively rolled with the hit, however it still did plenty of damage despite my manuever and the wind was knocked out of me for several moments.
I saw the half-pikmin form of Spyro moving to press his attack but I attempted to counter by simply thrashing in place. Less than graceful, I know but better than being reduced to a bleeding pulp. My counter-measure certainly kicked up a copious amount of dust and my opponent was forced to back off.
After a minute or two, finding my breathing coming a bit easier again, I stopped flailing and repositioned my body to face him again, huffing out a breath to settle my pulse a bit.
Spyro didn't give me long as his fist became coated in light and he charged again. He was being fairly silent so I figured he was certainly being challenged.
He attempted to land a hard punch on me again, but I hopped into the air and glided away before landing again and spitting a fireball at him, which he side-stepped.
I might've passed comment but this fight was proving challenging for myself as well and I was lost for words.
~Log Pause~
~Jade~
I was posted on a part of the wall, watching for anything incoming. Ripmin were opponents I had at least attempted to fight in the past. 'Course, I wasn't an idiot to go looking for them... I stayed close to the town.
The ripmin seemed to be moving around a lot lately... a lot of activity and that made those of us like myself a bit nervous. The more average residents weren't overly concerned and just left town defense to the automatic defenses. Those like myself though... some were worried about a bigger assault that would manage to get past the defenses. Then again, Keijo would likely intervene, great being that he is if it came to that. Couldn't ever be sure of anything I suppose... except Keijo of course.
I fingered the bead on my necklace which was resting on my chest. I might've liked to go out there and pick a fight but again, I'm not an idiot.
I turned and hopped back into town, landing somewhat hard on the ground below.
Ah well... maybe when an expedition decided to go exploring or something...
~End Log~
5.23.11 to 5.29.11
~Ryu~
I rolled rather quickly the side when my little opponent attempted another running-punch at me and counter-struck at him with my tail again. He ducked the attack and grabbed it, getting hoisted into the air very quickly.
"Wanna play that game, eh? See around, Vrael!" I chuckled and then shot up into the sky.
Spyro attempted to hang on but I hindered his efforts to climb up me when I went into some acrobatics. We had gone several miles from were Vrael was before I checked on him.
"Had enough?!" I called down to him as I rolled in the air very fast and shot into a rather fast dive. Stopping myself from grinding into the ground so suddenly put a bit of strain on my wings and my passenger also ended up getting shunted slightly. I let up a bit on the acrobatics then; I wanted to challenge him but I didn't want to kill him, even by accident. Going at this kind of reckless speed and velocity, to smash into the ground could give the guy more than a few cuts and bruises. That and I'd wear myself out fast pulling these kinds of stunts repeatedly; then he wouldn't be the only one getting hurt.
As might be expected by Spyro though, he proceeded to try climbing towards my head or at least my torso.
I somersalted in air and whipped him around on my tail. He couldn't help losing his grip and I managed to catch him in one of my hind feet.
"I think that's one victory for me on the ol' record." I grunted, tossing him quickly to a front foot and catching him again before he could try to get loose from it.
"That's going to break today. I'm not done!" Spyro growled and slipped upwards out of my grip. He'd gotten a bit more agile than last time. He landed on top of my foot and darted directly at my head.
*Wham!*
Like the previous two hits, this hit like a sledge. Stars definitely were popping in my vision and we both plummeted for the ground.
Eh... I'll give him this round. I shifted back to my pikmin-form on the way down and bounced once on the ground, enduring the impact. Spyro made a three-point landing, having reverted himself as well.
I got up, my cheek smarting from the slugging I had received.
"Nice fight... ow..." that would be tender for a few days... not to mention the purplish blotches around my mid-riff.
"Honestly... that all you can offer me after all these years Ryu? 'Thought you had more than that." Spyro said, clearly mouthing off in the hopes that I might change my mind and continue fighting. No such satisfaction out of me.
"I think three hits is plenty coming from you, kid." I said, wincing at the pain in my cheek.
~End Log~
Blue log
We are watching over are unconscious boss in the medical bay. "So what happened to him?" I asked a nearby supervisor. "Reader got wrocked out by a write min. The write min got awray. Reader is going to riss rahjong right." She said. Umm... okay. "I have an idea." I said, as I pulled out my megaphone. "GET UP!" I yelled through it. "AAAHH!!!" He screamed as he shot upwards and slammed into the ceiling, getting stuck halfway into it. His legs flailed around before he pulled himself out, and floated in mid air... until he looked down. "AAAGGHH!" He screamed, as he fell to the ground, squishing like a pancake, and springing up like a accordion. "Wrat is the reaning of ris? Ri was raving a rearry rice ream!" He said. "It is mahjong night." I said. "Oh." He said.
End log.
Kanaedolph log
AAAAHHH!!! I woke up and leaped up in this ceiling, slamming through the ceiling. "MMPPHHH!" I mumbled, as I pulled myself out, and looked down. "AAAAGGHHH!!!" I screamed, as I fell and crashed into the floor, getting squished like a pancake, before springing up like an accordion and turning back to normal. "What is the meaning of this? I was having a really nice dream!" I said to Sandy. "It is mahjong night." She told me. "Oh." I said.
End log.
Valdis Log
I walked into a steamy room after walking through several rooms. This place was comfortably warm for some reason or other. I was only here to get this dragon's stench off of me. I finally found myself walking down a downward slope and into the steaming hot water. I sat down after a few more minutes of walking and just stayed there. The water came up to my head while I was sitting in the spot that I was sitting in. The water moving around me was very soothing and washed away the bad odor that was coming from me. The water was always clean no matter what was put in here. I wanted to learn what kept it so clean but I didn't really have the time. I closed my eyes as I dunked my head underwater and then brought myself back up again. I shook my head sending the water that was on me flying everywhere. Each and every drop disturbing the water as they hit.
I calmed myself down as the stress seemed to just evaporate away as I grew more relaxed. This was the life of luxury that I could only experience every once in awhile. I found myself waking up and I realized that I had dozed off in the water. I got back up onto my feet as the water slid down my body. It was very refreshing. I walked back up the slope until I found myself back on dry land again. I looked around as I headed through the steam. I bumped into something and fell onto my butt. There was a sudden gust of wind and the steam was blown away.
I stared at a male clear pikmin sitting there and he was just sleeping there. I could see right through him. I wondered what this was all about when he opened his eyes or what you could consider eyes. Those "eyes" were not in the usual place but directly in the middle of his skull. I shivered from the thought about how this guy was like an empty slate with almost no features to him. He blinked his eyes a couple of times more before getting up and a black robe appeared around him as his eyes glowed with a yellow light. I forgot about all of this as I recognized who he was. He was that one necromancer that stayed here. I didn't trust him at all.
"What are you doing here, Tom?!" I asked coldly.
"Such coldness coming from you, Valdis. I'm not some evil being. I may be a necromancer but my skills are below average" the pikmin named Tom replied coolly as if he didn't care that I was talking to him in the way that I was. “I seem to always get the bad rap because of the other necromancers that like to use their skills to do evil.
"You didn't answer my question" I told him still as cold as before. "Answer it!"
"I don't need to answer your question. I'm merely here because I'm here."
"That's not the answer that I wanted to hear!"
"Sorry, but you reached the wrong being. Please hang up and try again."
It was clear that I wouldn't be getting any more information from this guy. Tom fell back to sleep quite quickly as the steam around us grew thicker once more. I walked out of the room and into the hallway. I turned right and walked down the hallway. I was going to look around this place a little more. It was chuck-full of mysteries that I liked to find. Surya Palace had a lot of history behind it. I was sure that it had a lot of history to its name. The bone piles that I find lying around, the paintings, the mosaics, and even the murals. All of them had a story to tell. Tom was one of those mysteries that I didn't want to figure out. I could stay in Valtharyk for a good bit of time. There's a lot to do here. I could visit all the dragons that I tamed here and then visit the ones that I haven't tamed. It was always good to see dragons though it got boring really fast just seeing dragons all the time. I turned the corner and started walking up the wide flagstone steps.
End Log
~Marx~
I was kinda humming to myself as I flew along.
I was in a good mood again and I was looking for someone or something else to torment.
And wouldn't you know: a nightshade comes along.
He seemed to be in plenty of a hurry... he ought to... slow down.
Quite immediately to the fellow, time went into a crawl. In actuality, his steps just involuntarilly went from running to walking; everything else was me messing with his perception.
I didn't relax though... I knew shades could be dangerous. As the guy stopped and attempted to look around, I flew down and brushed one ear on purpose.
I had to react faster than I expected as he nearly hit me in his reactionary attack.
"Who's... messing... with... time!" he yelled, looking around slowly (both his searching and speech would've been faster if I wasn't messing with him).
I decided to let him go from the time-crawl illusion.
He blinked as the illusion was lifted and looked around more.
"I'm right here." I chuckled as I faded into his sight in the form of an angelic pikmin.
He tensed up, ready for an attack and then seemed to realize something. He blinked more and tried squinting at me.
"That's not how you really look, is it?" he said, his squinting now clearly him trying to see past my illusions. His ability struck me dumb for a moment... not too many fellows who can see that well... I recomposed myself though, no way he'd be seeing through my appearance for what I really look like.
He jumped back when a series of rocks appeared to shoot out of the ground at him.
"Impressive sight, I'll give you that. That won't help you against what else I can do though." I said, flying slowly after him, pelting him with meteors, which he also nimbly jumped to avoid.
Dark energy flared around the shade and he charged directly at me. I knew he probably could see where the real me was so there was no point in trying to confuse him with a cloning trick. I simply evaded the attack and had a fist come flying at his head. A giant stone one.
The shade blasted the air in front of him with a rather large amount of dark energy. Apparently, he hasn't deduced it's not real. I just made it look as if the fist was unaffected and kept it charged at him.
"Oof!" he shielded his face from the impact and back-flipped in the air, landing on his feet.
"I remember you now!" the shade yelled, looking very annoyed. Come to think of it, I remember him now myself as well. He hadn't seen who I am yet though.
"You ain't seen nothin' yet." I chuckled and shifted in appearance to a winged yellow and started thinking up something bigger...
~Log Paused~
5.30.11 to 6.5.11
Leda Log
I walked out into the arena and looked around. It was as I expected. My kind liked watching blood spilled. I thought they had some dignity left before they starting chanting the nickname that they had for me. They were all cowards. The chanting stopped as my opponent entered the arena. I grinned as he approached me. He held up his hand and I reluctantly shook it. It was after that bit that we squared off. I immediately started to attack him with a right hook which he dodged. He kept on dodging my barrage of attacks without stopping and I looked down to see that he was doing something with that but it was a little too late as he slammed me hard with one of his legs sending me skidding back a few paces and that's when he started hopping.
He was hopping from one foot to the next without moving from the spot that he was in. I charged towards him just as he moved his arms across his chest before leaping from his spot and directly over me. I tried slashing at him with my tail but he dodged that with relative ease. He grabbed my tail before I could pull it back and tossed me directly into one of the walls guarding the folk of the coliseum. I got back up and dusted myself off as I saw him dancing from one foot to the next without missing a beat to whatever was going on in his head.
"What's your got there, Blood Queen?" he asked me jokingly. "You're not that tough as everyone says you are!"
I growled in anger as I once again went after him but he dodged out of the way.
"The Bloodseed here may think me as a bit off for not wanting to flare up and all. I just don't see the point of doing so and I know that you know what I mean" he said coolly.
I continued my barrage of attacks with increased speed but he merely dodged out of the way with ease again. He then spiraled around hitting me with one of his legs sending me careening into the nearest wall. I was bruised a little from those attacks but he had to have been playing around with me since he was still over there dancing like as if he didn't care what the others thought of him. He suddenly stopped dancing and I ran straight for him. I thought I hit him but he simply evaporated away and that's when I rolled forward. I looked back to see him slamming his leg into the ground. His dancing movements were different this time as he weaved in and out of his current dance with his legs kicking into the air. I activated two of my gifts as I prepped myself for attacking him. I may have not landed a blow but this would even up the score. I punched the ground below me causing the ground to collapse beneath us except for a few platforms.
I made a lifting motion with my hands and lava sprang up from the ground filling in the gaps. It had the same sickly blue aura that I had around me. I jumped straight across to his platform and started attacking him once more with my fists and feet. He was still blocking my attacks but I was driving towards the edge of his platform. I was about to hit him off when he grabbed my arm and jumped straight over my head before letting go and pushing off with his legs.
Luckily, I was expecting something similar to what he was doing. I dove into the lava and came right back out from a different spot. He didn't notice me until I punched him in the back. He stumbled forward and I took that chance to hit with him several more blows. He stopped stumbling forward with each of my attacks and simply took them. There was something wrong here. I speared him with my tail and then tossed him into the lava. I thought I saw something flash in the lava as he was enveloped by it. I was about to be called the winner when he reappeared unhurt by what I had just done to him.
"Simple time-traveling heal ability. I can send myself back in time and any damage done to me is reversed" he explained sternly. "I can escape from fatal wounds and know exactly how to stop myself from being fatally wounded again and even gain the upper-hand."
I swore loudly as he stood there with wide smirk on his face.
"I think you're good enough for me to give a name to, unlike all of the other competitors" my opponent pointed out happily. "It's Nataru."
"I haven't been fighting you with everything" I replied coolly. You see two of my abilities have been used. The other five are still waiting to be activated."
"Whatever."
"Gift four activate."
I allowed the power to flow through me as I shifted from side to side. I held out my hand as a mini orange ball of energy appeared there.
"I may not know what this ball of energy is but it radiates heat far more than what could actually be produced here on this planet" I said as tossed it from one hand to the other.
I tossed it up into the air and then jumped straight up. I beat my wings once to give myself a boost I swatted the ball straight at Nataru. He jumped out of the way but wasn't fast enough to escape from the resulting explosion. He came out of the blast, burned heavily from my attack. He dropped down to one knee and I swatted him to the side with my tail. He smiled at me and then coughed up blood I knew that there was something off about this guy He probably used his powers to save himself from much of the explosion’s damage. He was probably fatally wounded from my attack and so he reversed the damage with time itself and then escaped to only be burned heavily by my attack. I charged straight at him and he responded in kind as we attacked each other with nothing but anger filling the two of us. He grinned as he sent me flying with a right hook punch and then I found myself being hit in the chest with his leg, a second later.
I quickly recovered to block his next blow just as I felt blood flare kick in. Four of the weights (one on each leg and arm) fell off as I blocked his next blow and then struck faster than he could have blocked my blow sending him flying backwards into the lava. He merely rode the lava as he started up on his next dance. He hopped back onto dry land and immediately rolled out of the way of my punch which destroyed much of the platform that we were standing on giving the both of us much less room to play around on. Our fight had destroyed the other platforms so this was the only one left. It was good for me but I bet he had something up his sleeve. I hit him with my fist and he was sent flying into the stands once more. He jumped back down still dancing like he wasn't hurt at all by that attack. I threw several more orange balls of energy and he kept dancing out of the smoke unharmed.
He attacked too quickly for me to react and with one kick, he drove the air from my lungs leaving me wheezing as I was sent careening into the wall. I stood there on the lava and then I charged straight at him. He blocked the next few of my blows without even missing a beat with his feet. He must have been using blood flare now but he didn't seem any different than before. I struck through him with my tail but his form shifted strangely and then disappeared. I was kicked in the back three times in a row before I was floored. I twisted around on the floor and kicked upwards sending him flying backwards to the very edge of the platform.
His head was barely above the lava and he flipped back up onto his feet quite quickly before attacking me in full with his attacks coming much quicker than before. He charged straight at me weaving from side to side before driving his fist straight into me, driving the breath away from me again, and then he grabbed me.
He threw down onto the ground and hit me again with his leg sending me skidding across the arena floor. I struggled back up as I felt the pain from his attacks adding up on me. I had to keep on fighting but he could hurt me for some reason or other
“Blood Queen, more like a jester” he taunted. “My abilities are determined by which dance that I do. You allowed me to get into my dance and now you're facing the consequences."
I charged straight at him and punched him and instead of him reeling back, I felt myself doing so as I had the wind knocked out of me.
I jumped back and he grinned as there was no damage on him. My damage to him was reflected back to me. I unlocked the weight on my tail allowing it to move freely without that weight on it. I guess I would just have to go with my second plan of attack.
This may have been a foolish move but with each level of Kantalas’s fang there was a payment to be made by the user and that was for exchange for a much more powerful version of the ability. The payment was minimal at this step in the ladder and so I didn't really feel it sapping away at me. I would just have to risk it.
My sickly blue aura flared up as it changed into a sickly red aura. I breathed in and then out as the ability took effect. I charged straight for Nataru who just stood there smiling at me. I struck him with my fist and he gasped from the pain inflicted by my blow. I delivered several more before he dodged out of the way and jumped back. He glared at me. My blood flare had ended a while ago meaning that I was on my own again until I could build back up.
“How?” he asked me between breaths.
“You were hit by me while I was using an upgraded version of my ability. Abilities that stop me from either damaging you or killing you are negated regardless of how permanent that they may be.”
I tossed a couple more balls of orange energy straight at Nataru who dodged out of the way but was caught in the resulting explosion and was worse for wear. He stumbled about as I could see part of the skin was melted away clean to the bone and muscle. I walked straight up to him and kicked him off of the platform then threw a slab of rock at him before he hit the lava. My attack sent him careening into the stands and the audience immediately moved out of the way.
The smirk on my face left as he got back up. I waited as he jumped back down onto the platform though he was swaying from side to side and not because he was dancing. He was really hurt this time though I was confused as to why he wasn’t using that one ability of his. It struck me then that maybe he only had a limited number of times that he could do that. I was correct on that note as he coughed up blood as he was straining himself to just stand up. He kicked the ground with his feet as he started up a beat to dance to and then began to move in a stranger way than usual.
“I saved this one for last” Nataru replied confidently as he moved about in a quick fashion with his feet blurred between steps.
I struck out at him but he blocked my blow with his arm and then struck back with a swift kick from his right leg before he got to moving again. I swiped at him with my tail but he jumped out of the way of my tail and then blocked the next few blows. I blasted him with another orange energy ball sending him flying backwards. I grinned as the attack hit me too but it wouldn’t do very much damage against the user even when up close. I looked on as he struggled to get up from the edge of the platform. There was no point in killing him just yet.
He wasn't going to do much of anything. I snapped my fingers together calling for an attack that would come by later. He got up after that as fiercely determined as before to fight against me. We fought each other over the next several minutes each trying to get the upper hand and I grinned as he sent me flying backwards with a kick and started to dance around again. He charged straight at me as if to finish me off and I merely smiled as I stared at him.
I counted down as the attack that I had called for was descending fast towards my opponent. I watched as Nataru was struck directly by the orange ball of energy A resulting explosion happened and smoke billowed outwards. I watched as the smoke cleared away and I saw him lying there face-flat on the ground. I breathed heavily as the fight caught up with me. I didn’t feel as hot as I was from the beginning of the fight. He did push me further than anyone else had done. I was called the winner and I made the lava harden into rock. I turned around and walked out of the arena. There was absolute silence for a moment and then the audience cheered. I hated the audience.
End Log
Kirbyfreak411
Posted 5/30/2011 7:07:09 AM
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~Ein~
I had been in the stands, watching with others as this "Blood Queen" as they called her proceeded to fight in a most impressive manner. She was using some very unique abilities.
My mind though was occassionally wandering off onto other matters. Red had died not too long ago and when I thought about him... I was reminded of some stories I'd heard about another bloodseeder similar to him that had left Hybras...
I had been too young to have ever met the fellow, and honestly, I had never managed to get a name. Those who I asked in more recent times were left wondering who I was talking about.
I hadn't yet seen a Bloodseeder who had interacted with their Flare like Red had, but I'd heard this other fellow had done it too. If only I could get a name...
...Alas, my thoughts were pulled back to the matter at-hand as the fight ended. In bloody fashion as usual. Most in the crowd were cheering because of victory. From what little of the fight I caught, the "Blood Queen" had used much skill in her fight and wasn't looking quite so uppity as she may have usually looked.
I was pretty sure as she spared the audience a brief hostile glare (I had gathered she disliked their bloodlust), she noticed me just watching quietly as she left. She didn't give any indication she had noticed but just continued on her way out of the arena.
I left the stands myself, my mind wandering back to trying to remember anything about that other Bloodseeder...
~End Log~
~Calcifer~
The fight between Firus and myself was getting no where.
He had pitched several hundred fireballs at me in the course of his pursuit and I had just evaded them and caught a couple.
It wouldn't have surprised me if there were a few dozen forest fires across the landscape.
The pursuit finally just came full-circle and we were back at the Valley again where the whole thing had started above-ground.
I was drained since I hadn't had anything to burn up for some time now and Firus seemed to just still be blazing like a bon-fire.
"Oi!" I panted "Just give up already! You're not catching me and there no way I can kill you!"
Firus wasn't about to be discouraged apparently, as he flared up with more fire and shot at me as a fireball himself.
"Aw, c'mon..." I moaned and quickly moved out of the way.
Firus halted and turned again to attack and try to catch me again. However someone cut in.
"Hm, I see you still haven't gotten anywhere close to catching your... descendant, Firus."
A shade dropped down from the sky. I recognized him alright, in couple of ways.
"Alright, what's the big idea reviving this insane guy?" I yelled at him.
The shade smirked.
"I'd think you'd figure that out already: to try and take you out. Though I will confess, there's another reason but that's none of your business."
He then grabbed Firus and yanked him into the air. It amazed me that he wasn't bothered by the fire in his hand.
"But right now, I feel I might need him for something else, just to be safe. I'll deal with you in good time Calcifer."
He then flew off. I was too tired to follow him, I just flopped onto the ground. I need to go burn up a tree or something...
~End Log~
"... the hell?" muttered the spotter, raising his binoculars up to his eyes again. He tilted his head in confusion, then picked up the mic next to him.
"Hey uh... Is Blazing Breadth supposed to actually be on fire?"
The guy on the other end checked with a few others, then confirmed that no, it wasn't.
"Well it's kinda on fire."
There was a general sense of confusion as Gunzack approached the burning city. Then they caught sight of the only guys that were present in the city.
Black Pikmin. Out of goddamn nowhere.
"Where the hell did you guys come from?" Epsilon demanded after some initial confusion as to the sudden, inexplicable appearance of Black Pikmin from the complete opposite direction of Zankrieg.
"Another dimension!" One of them piped up. Epsilon pinched his nose and sighed, preparing to ask again, before several more confirmed that they had, in fact, come here from another dimension.
"See there was this dark elemental, right? Well we got stuck in his sub-dimension for a bit. Well it kinda... um... exploded, so we only recently got out of there. And we wound up here. Gotta thank Black Art for that."
Epsilon's ears perked up. Black Art? He didn't get to ask before Black Scythe lumbered over.
"Art?" he muttered. "... You're made of Black Nectar."
They confirmed that. "Art and a lot of the guys went on ahead to see if they could rustle up some trouble. With that thing," he pointed to Gunzack, "You could probably catch up to them easily enough."
Black Scythe made a deep bass noise in his throat, mulling it over. "We're going to rest here for a bit and move out in a week's time. We've been pretty much constantly on the move. I think the troops would appreciate some rest," he decided. Gesturing to the Black Nectar 'min, he said, "Go and inform everybody. We can set up around here, see what we can loot."
They hopped to it, heading over to Gunzack. Epsilon turned to the Supreme Warboss. "You gonna be okay with another week of no action?" he asked.
"Who said I wasn't going to see any action?" Black Scythe grinned back, snapping his wing open and taking off into the skies.
"... Fantastic."
~Kazul~
When we arrived at the target city to find it already destroyed, I felt I might slug those nectar-blacks for hogging all the fun.
Then boss-man took off; I heard that he was going off to "have fun" himself.
This proceeded to just worsen my mood.
One unwise non-nectar comrade who prodded my mood over this received my fist squarely on his nose, going at speeds that definitely broke the nose.
"Anyone else?" I snarled as the moment of violence drew attention.
A few good friends of my victim stepped up.
"Good to see not everyone's gonna disappoint me." I chuckled darkly and got into a more comfortable position for a fight.
The next several moments was an intense little brawl. Yeah, I broke some bones and got some broken myself but it felt good. I wasn't just sitting around bored out of my skull.
~End Log~
Isaac Log
It has been a while since we left the spot where the hold that Namaos had on me was broken. I was thankful to Aura for doing that. I was thankful for Aegis and Tacticus. The two of them helped out Aura and with their help drew the true power hidden deep within Oracion. I may have not realized it before but I realized it now. Oracion's true power could only be drawn out by the bonds that living beings held. I wondered if the Void Blade had that same connection. Aegis and Tacticus had split up from our group and went each on their separate paths. I thought I saw one of them carrying a familiar blade but I had to be seeing things. It was only Aura and I now but we hadn't spoken since the time that I was freed from Namaos's control on me. I still remembered what I did when I was under the influence of that god. It was too horrible to think about it.
Aura was carrying Oracion. I was carrying the Void Blade since I couldn't allow Aura to carry it. I didn't want to burden her with anything more than she had with her. We were currently nearing a large town of sorts though I wasn't too sure as we were walking. I turned to look at Aura. She seemed troubled by something or other but every time that I asked her, she always said that it was nothing.
"Isaac, I wanted to tell you something but I thought it wasn't best to discuss it in front of those that wouldn't understand. I'll talk to you about it when we get to the island" Aura said solemnly as she saw the concerned look on my face. "Don't worry, Isaac. I'm fine."
"You're obviously not fine, Aura" I replied sternly as I raised an eyebrow. "Is there something that you're not telling me?"
"It's nothing!"
She became silent after that. She was definitely hiding something and well I wasn't going to press my luck. I would try to find out about something else.
"Why aren't you going to tell me here instead of there? Why does it have to be on some island?"
"It has to be there. It's not just some island, Isaac. Remember where we grew up together? Where we grew up with all of our friends?"
"I thought after we left that place that we weren't going to go back there again. We made a promise to keep going forward and never look back."
"I never agreed to that promise" Aura replied as she kept on walking. "Besides, I need to pay my respects to our dead friends who fought in that war. It's the least that the both of us can do. I don't have any clue on what to do next. I feel lost and confused. I don't know why though."
"I guess I can do that" I said thoughtfully. "Long time has passed since we left...I wonder if anything is left of the village."
I smiled as I remembered the village. I had a bunch of fond memories there including the first time that I met Aura. I looked at Aura and then looked back as we continued our journey in silence. We walked through the empty town though it was nice to not hear anything for once. I don't know why but just being around others just doesn't fit me.
"We must be able to connect with the past to live on into the future."
We were soon out of the town and were now on the final stretch. There were some boring plains and a decrepit forest ahead of us. I wondered if our village was still standing after all of this time or if it had changed in some way but I guess I would see what happened when I got there. I was so much more confident and I felt that little void within my heart had been filled in.
~Cursor~
I managed to find a port somewhere in the system and opened it up. It took me several more minutes of waiting and operating the port to get a connection to somewhere else. Admittedly, I had to do a little hacking to get things to work for me.
Finally, the way to somewhere else opened up and I jumped on in, not particularly caring where I went.
A system scanner attempted to run me down on the way, clearly looking for viral data. I concentrated and as the scanner passed me, managed to make a personal shield that worked against it. Fortunately, the system seemed to be out-dated so I got past this security measure without too much trouble.
I came out of the other side and landed in the new area. I then darted, low to the ground to avoid more security programs and found a spot that was safe for the moment. Given the kinds of security programs I'd seen before, it wouldn't have surprised me if something came by sooner or later so I couldn't hang around just this spot forever.
In the meantime though, I took a breather. The link out of here had closed so at least that "Noise" thing wouldn't be following me too soon even if it had broken out.
~End Log~
Xi Log
I entered into the cyberspace of what I assumed...no I knew was an abandoned factory that Keijo had on the main continent. The diversion had gone exactly as planned. I was finally in the place that I wanted to be at. I wasn't exactly connected like the rest of Keijo's network. It used some primitive technology in place of some more advanced technology. It was connected to the network but not like the rest of Keijo's networked computer systems. I was officially off the map. I walked over onto my right as I had Lila and Yila both use their powers to create a dimensional area inside of the factory. I made a few adjustments to the factory's computer system and then made the jump. I looked around as I had appeared in a large room. The stuff here was covered in a fine layer of dust.
I took in the details with my eyes and then immediately looked to my left as I saw something still moving over there. I couldn't really move to find out what it was as the dimensional area was only small enough for a little bit of traveling around. I stared in that direction for a few more seconds and then made the jump back into the computer system. I quickly downloaded off the schematics of this factory and smiled as I looked down at the information provided. I grinned as I finished reading over the information and knew that this was the perfect place to start my plans. I quickly got to work changing things around the cybernet related to this factory.
I permanently locked down the system and started to change a few things around the place. I made it so that the factory's system was updated and changed the system so that it would only recognize me as its master. It was from there that all the changes came rapidly under my control. The security of this area of Keijo's cybernet may have been lax before but now it would be turned up to eleven. All computer things wouldn't be able to get inside regardless of what they may be. I would be uninterrupted while I worked with these security protocols in place.
I had everything done within three minutes. I could have had it done in ten seconds or less but well what's the fun in getting it done fast. I had no reason to rush it. This system was mine to control and it would allow me to control everything within the abandoned factory including the defensive parameters around this place. I started up the factory with a simple command or two. I watched as the robots within the abandoned factory started working. I just had to sit here and wait.
End Log
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Category:History
Category:Database