† - The Thirteenth - † - It Begins! - †

[CoolTrainer IcEz]

Toshiya Yorimoto ~ 2nd of the Twelve ~ The Magician
***

Maichi-chan finally deciphered the riddle and read it out loud. As Sakura-chan sneezed, something struck Kayla-chan and she shouted out the word "Silence." Immediately, a second note fluttered down before us. This time is was written in English, I suppose, and Maichi-chan translated it quickly into Japanese for Sakura-chan and me.

"What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a head but never weeps?"

I thought long and hard for the answer. Muttering the words, "Bed, Mouth, Head" to myself.. Repeatedly. "And it runs," added Sakura-chan. Again, Kayla was lost as it seemed she too did not know the answer.

I looked around this forest. There just had to be something around that will help. Nope, it aint a tree. Not that stump either. Hmm.. Maybe a metal chimpanzee? Nah.. Then it struck me. "It's a river!" I yelled to the rest. <A River> Maichi-chan promptly told Kayla. "Makes sense.." replied Sakura-chan.

[extremeanimefreak]

OOC: I suppose your right...sorry about the riddle thing...i've never realy been good at riddels anyway.

Von/The Devil:

"Speaking of a break..."

I pointed to what seemed to be subway car...the front only of course and it looked to be in good shape.

"Somethings odd here..."

I stood pondering it's almost new apperance and it's overall exsistance...a present from Justice or a lure of the God?

"Well, beggers can't be choosers!"

I hopped on once again humming and looked at the many buttons and levers, then I stuck my head out a window...

"Anyone know how to drive this thing?"

I sat down on a bench-like part of the panel and closed my eyes...Their slowing me down...I could leave them now...just hit this button and that lever and i'm off...but what if I need them? Or more importantly they need me...besides i'd be a waste of specimens to leave them. I heared someone else climb abord and begin examining everything with a quick walk around.

"So have you decided to try?"

[Fai D. Flowright]

OOC: I greatly apologize for not being as active ATM as I would like to be.... I've just been a little..... distracted. Don't ask...

\~/ Keith Lindowski | The Moon : 18 | Eleventh World \~/

A subway train... A death trap to salvation, or a fast ride to damnation? But at this point in out journey in the dark confines of an underground station, there wasn't much else of a choice to make... I whispered to myself, "At least it will keep the monster encounters down... I think..." We had witnessed the gruesome appearance of those that stalked us in this prison of darkness, and I felt helpless to defend myself... I was better at strategy myself. At all costs, I would prefer to avoid them, and what better way to do that than to fly along, hopefully faster than they can move, in a sealed subway train.

Several of the others seemed to agree as well, Von, our fellow "Devil," seemed to have no problem with the Tram either.
I had never realy used a subway, not only because they were rare in my time, but I also had my Sole Rockets. But I had ridden one, nonetheless. As we approached the vacant cabin, the fluorescent lights in the ceiling corners flickered on. A dim radiance flowed from the open sliding doors. We stepped inside and looked at what our new source of restricted travel would be. I took it all in as I noticed Von enter the control room for the car.

Not knowing much else to do at the time, I followed him in a few seconds later. "So, have you decided to try?" I asked as I sat next to him on the bench in front of the control panel. He solemnly shook his head.

"Nope." He responded, "I figured I'd let someone else figure it out, seeing as how I saved you all from them mosters." Although I'd hate to admit it, I was grateful for that.

"Yeah. Well.... Thanks." I patted him on the shoulder and he seemed to hold back, leaning away from me. Suddenly my attention was diverted to the rest of the cabin.

"You better get this thing moving, guys! Those.... THINGS are coming for us!" I heard Kirya holler from the rear window.

"It must be the lights. CUT THE POWER!" Everu called to Von and I as he and Markus tried to pull the door closed, Jack waiting inside to defend against any intruders.

I searched around for any sign of Emergency Start-up instructions while Von looked for a way to kill the lights. I read a small sign that read "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: To shut down power to train, pull Emergency Shut Down lever." "Gee.... Now THAT'S helpful!"

I looked over the large panel and found the small lever, which was marked "E. Shut Down" on the left. "I guess it's this one..." I pressed it in quickly, which cut all the power to the car. The lights turned off and everything went silent. The slight glow from my clothing was still enough for us to search on the panel for the start-up button.

"I think this is it." Von reached forward to press a large green button. He shoved his thumb into it as the button retracted into the panel. Something whirred and then died. "What?" He pressed it again. Same reaction. "Damn..."

I thought for a moment. "That lever must have cut ALL of the power to the car." I said aloud.

"Would you two hurry up in there?" Kirya pushed, seeming anxious and impatient.

"They're still coming!" Jack warned. I assumed he was using his RADAR device to track their movements in the dark.

"You'll have to live with the light, guys!" I called to them as I pulled the Shut Down lever out. The overhead lights flickered back on.

"SHIT! They're closing in!" Jack yelled. Everu, Markus, and Jack all prepared for battle, Kiryu continued to keep watch, now that she had light to do so. I turned to see Von press the button again. It was obviously the right one, as the print above the button said so... >_<;

The train slowly began to move forward as the vicious creatures began to approach. Thankfully, the doors were part of the activation procedure. They glided shut as the train picked up speed. "Well.... That was fun, now wasn't it." I let out a sigh as I peeked into the passenger area.

Yay! ^_^ Keith got to do something!

[-/Deathborn/-]

-/Jack Korso/-

"Well, that was quite a ride..." Jack wheezed as he sat down in a seat.
He got an idea.
"I'm gonna check the engine. See what's powering it."
He walked down the hall, P90 against his chest and fully-loaded. He was holding his Gate-Dialer thing and set it for home. Once he got to the engine room, he looked at what was powering this thing all the way down here.
He found a bunch a wires connected to a black block of a stone-like mineral. Jack thought he knew exactly what is was.
"Naquada. No wonder it started up so quickly."
Naquada was the mineral that Gates were made of. Jack pretty much memorized the descritption his dad gave him when his family got a prototype:
"A teleportational wormhole is generated when charged neutrinos are applied to Naquadah, the only known element that absorbs and energizes with neutrinos. This forms a stable, artificial wormhole that connects to another Stargate."

He also heard that the military's Stargate was made up of the "brother" element to Naquada, Naquadria. It becomes more unstable as you extract energy from it, but it provided 20x more power at full extraction. But if this was Naquada...then why was it being used to extract power?
"Uh-oh. Not good at all." Jack thought to himself.

It was Naquadria. It became unstable when the train speeded up, and it was becoming more unstable by the minute.
Jack ran as fast as he could.

"We should stop this train RIGHT NOW!" He shouted.

"What? We're getting away from the bad things, shouldn't we keep going?" The Moon(Keith) said.

"This train is powered by an element from my world called Naquadria. The train's engine is extracting power from it as we speak." Jack explained.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Keith asked, curious as to why we should stop.

"It becomes more unstable when you extract power from it. Once it reaches the limit, it'll blow and this whole station and train and everthing under the surface. In a nutshell, if we don't stop, it'll blow us all to hell." Jack said.
------
BTW, Jack looked inside the engine, and just a little something to do other than ride the train.
Okay children, time to disarm the nuke-in-a-stone-block.
It'll be harder than pulling the wires. You have to pull the right one.
They're all yellow. And if you pull the wrong one, it'll overload and blow.

[Tainted]

Episode IV

Those in the underground had since operated the subway and it traveled down the tracks quickly, until it suddenly appeared unstable. There were two options here: they could’ve shut it down and walked the rest of the way, which would have been ridiculously dangerous because of the amount of mutants they had attracted by both the noise and the light of the subway. Their second option was to slow the subway down to about half power, and this was the option they chose.

The stability changed drastically back to normal, but now the mutants of the underground were much more able to attack them through the subway. It was still a lot less dangerous than walking, so they continued forth. The windows were all broken, and every so often a couple mutants would find their way onto the outside of the car, or if they weren’t held back well enough: inside.

“A river,” The Magician had answered, and he spoke true. The ground to the right of them shifted and a staircase leading down appeared. They all walked down the stairs and saw it came to a dead end, where a message was written upon the wall.

This thing runs but cannot walk, sometimes sings but never talks, lacks arms, has hands, lacks a head but has a face.

Well, you’ve made it this far: The Maker.

~-)\o/(-~

Warning to Foster: I'm giving you until Tuesday next week to make a post, if you fail to do so, I will take control of your character.

As for the train: I love the idea, but let it go easy at half speed for now. Eventually the mutant attacks can become unbearable and you'll be forced to throttle it to full speed: but don't do the wire thing just yet, and you'll see why.

Time of Day: Afternoon
Setting: Wasteland, Rainforest, Underground
Wasteland Group: Foster
Rainforest Group: Sakura, Toshiya, Kayla, Maichi
Underground Group: Markus, Jack, Kirya, Everu, Von, Keith

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[Krystalline Kabutops]

Super-Bowl Sunday: Not just for sports fans anymore.

->\Foster-</

I looked around at the only two machines big enough to do the job of killing the worm. The wrecking ball? It was doubtful that the worm had any bones, so a smack with the ball would likely just stun it momentarily. The clamp... With any luck, and a little timing, I could use it to rip off the worm's head, or, failing that, a good deal of skin.

I ran to the controls of the clamp, looking at them for a moment. I wasn't familiar with heavy machinery controls, but it looked a little bit akin to a video game controller. Looking out the cockpit window, I could see the worm approaching fast. Pressing down on the stick, I managed to turn the device so that it was facing the beast.

The creature was almost within reach... I could see its beady little eyes, the mucus hanging from its mouth full of teeth... Finally, I judged that it was within reach. I pressed a green button, hoping it was the clamp...

Rather short, but at least it gets me back in the RPG =/

[extremeanimefreak]

Von/The Devil:

You could hear the creatures clawing at the back door of the cabin. Their nails screetching and hollering as we trailed onward down the tracks. Many covered their ears at the horrid sounds coming from the other side as did I, the sound was about to drive my acute hearing insane...I had to put a stop to it.

I opened the back door and sat in it's frame. I drew my daggers and slashed anything that got to close for my comfort.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

I turned my head back and peered over my shoulder...

"Listen I know what I'm doing, so just calm down and let me-"

At that moment my head fell dramaticaly to the tracks below it.

"Owwww."

The train started to slow as they realized what had happened...

"No! Don't stop. Close the door and keep going I'll catch up with you."

The zombies started to surround me where I now stood. I had dropped my daggers a little ways up the tracks, so I began looking around. I stared above me noticing a steam pipe...I could hear something flowing through it, I hope it was still steam. I jumped up and crushed the pipe, digging my claws into it's seam. The heated steam poured out rappidly, giving me time at the last second to fling myself over the undead barrier to keep my trail close to the others. I grabbed my daggers as I passed them, I was lucky the others weren't that far away so I wouldn't have to use my full speed raising questions.

I sheithed them back to my sides and lunged for the closest broken window. I reach my hand inside and about that time someone I believe kicked it...crushing it completely. This made me stagger in my leap and gave a tailing mutant time to grab my leg. I furiousely kicked it twice once to get the count in and twice to summon spikes, which I used to crush through it's skull between it's beady black eyes. I finished pulling myself inward and fell to the floor to my knees. In one swift motion I tapped the heel of my boot to retract the spike while turning towards the back of the cabin away from the others.

"Is your hand o.k.? I think I might have crushed it!"

I quickly fixed my hand rubbing it furiousely to hide the black smoke witch was created whenever I left the solid form of my body...it was intended to be more of an illusion, however now was no time to explain myself. With them waiting for an answer I stood and turned to them.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself my name is Von."

I vigouresly shook each individuals hand to prove mine was okay. I returned to looking out a window without another word to any of them.

[Samchu]

Markus
~~~~~

The train rattled along the tracks at a steady pace. The attacks were random and unpredicted but for now were causing us little trouble. Some of the others were holding them off so I decided that maybe I should try a bit of socialising. There was only one girl in our group and I figured she probably felt slightly uncomfortable. I took it upon myself to help her feel better.

"Hi there," I said sitting beside her.
"Hello."
"My name's Markus, I'm from New York. Who might you be?" I asked, trying to be as polite as possible.
"My name is Kirya. I come from Hawaii."
"Oh..." I sighed. That meant that she came before my time. Hawaii didn't exist in my world, it was just a huge crater last I'd heard. I couldn't tell her though, couldn't say that the fate of her home was to be smashed to pieces...it wasn't really the sort of information I wanted to converge on anyone...

I suddenly found myself feeling uncomfortable. I looked at one of the guys helping to keep the mutants away from us. "Uh...do you want any help there mate?"



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Short but I was short on ideas...

[Bulbasaur4]

Kirya

Kirya's eyes glanced to Markus, and a soft smile spread upon her lips.
" Hawaii doesn't exist in your world... does it?" She spoke, even though Markus was ready to help some one else. He turned about slowly... and she laughed.
" Just because it doesn't exist in your world, doesn't mean it won't continue to exist in mine. I think our worlds... have different time periods, but they are not the same in more ways than just time periods. Each world is a mere ripple off of another... but they each are different and have had similiar and different events. You said you were from New York, didn't you?"
He gave a nod, and Kirya smiled.
"In my world... New York doesn't exist. It grew so extensive and full that they renamed it to The Gateway. It also is the center of new Ikar technology."
She gave a nod, but Markus seemed lost in thought. She simply offered a smile and then looked to Von...
He had given quite a strange... sight, and while perhaps he looked a little out of place, she slowly took a seat close to him.
" I'm Kirya... I don't think I introduced myself when you spoke your name. Thank you for holding off some of the zombies... it was brave."
She gave a slow nod, "Much braver than what I could have done... I'm not much of a fighter." Kirya admited, glancing at him.

[-/Deathborn/-]

-/Jack Korso/-
"Man, I am NOT doing that again." Jack said as he was walking back from the engine room, covered in soot from trying to power down the Naquardria. It took about a good 5 minutes trying to get the right wire, occansionaly refering to a manual on Naquadria powered-systems. It took a bit longer, becuase clanky old subway trains weren't in the book.

"Ugh...my head...ohhhh...." Jack fainted and fell face-first. Working with Naquardria and it's brother Naquada is dangerous. Pull the wrong wire, and you're killed by radiation sickness. Pull another, and it blows you to hell. Ouch. Jack, like the rest of the team he's on and everyone else in the base, is literly immune to radiation caused by Naquada and Naquadria from using it so long.

About 30 seconds later...
Jack got up, and sat down on a seat. He wouldn't get near that thing for about an hour.

After hearing the only girl talk to another man about holding off zombies and blahblahblah...Jack just wanted to ask a question.

"How did you get here anyway?" Jack asked the girl.
"I don't know...I can't remember..." She said.

"Well, I don't know either." The other guy said.
"I know just how I got here. It might seem very...errr...random. It all started when I got this e-mail from an unknown sender. It had one message, a series of 8 13's and a single 1. I knew this was an address for a device on our planet known as a Stargate, and..." Jack started.
"Uhh...what does this Stargate do?" The girl asked.
"It well...is a big ring made of Naquada, an element that can create a stable wormhole when used correctly. You just "dial" a set of 7 symbols, with the 7th being a point of origin. It's confuzing. It's common stuff where I come from. I did it all the time, going from Gate to gate...all over the world. Literly. It's great." Jack explained.
"Okay...get back to how-you-got-here thing..." She said.
"Anyway, I was looking at the list of glyphs, each representing a constellation. I looked at #13, and it stood for the constellation Aquilla. It looks like a square root thing. I stayed up and when everyone was asleep, I dialed up and despite the ammount of power it drained, I'm suprised that the lights didn't go off. I ran through, and the rest is history." Jack continued.
"Wow. I thought going from place to place really quickly must be hazordous. But you make it sound, fun." Kayla said.
"You might want to try it sometime. It is fun. Especily when you go out during the night and dial up Viva Las Vegas and hang out there for a bit." Jack said.
"I think she's looks nice..." Jack thought.

He started to remember some engravings in the hallways. Some of them looked like repreated symbols over and over then a circle with 12 more circles inside it with one line from each come to the center.
"Might just be the point of origin..." Jack thought.
That's when he forgot about the Naquadria.
"Oh, no! Not good!" Jack said as he ran back to the engine.
It was going to release radiation, for he left a wire clipped he shouldn't have clipped and the door to the engine open.
-----
Just some random stuff about how Jack got the address to get here and stuff. More stuff about the gate.

[Tainted]

Episode V

The subway had begun to travel at a ridiculous speed, and the radiation that steadily released from the engine had turned it into an enormous bomb. The Emperor spotted from the front of the subway car that they were traveling towards a massive seeming gelatinous blob of mutant. It was huge, and appeared to be the mother mutant, as many eggs could be seen through its transparent belly. It was a huge fat thing, and The Emperor knew it would be impossible to kill it with conventional weapons.

“Bail out!” The Emperor yelled, even though it would be extremely dangerous to do so. The Sun helped everyone out of the speeding car, aiding each inhabitant into a tuck-and-roll position so they wouldn’t hurt themselves. He was the last inside, and he ran back up to the front to throttle the engine to full speed. With a sheer explosion of acrobatics, he leapt from the front and out the back in a swan dive, rolling on the floor with an excelled amount of expertise.

The massive bomb, formerly a subway car, traveled directly into the mother mutant and exploded upon impact. The massive explosion shook the tunnels and caused everyone to fall down. The mutants surrounding them had all disintegrated, and the danger appeared to be temporarily gone. Temporarily. The explosion had caused the tunnels to start to collapse within themselves—but they could see a door, but a door that leads to where? They all hurried through it, except for the Sun, who limped for he injured his leg on the jump out of the subway car.

Meanwhile, in the desert, the Lover operated the clamp machine, closing the slowly moving walls as the worm jumped up. The worm became caught in the clamp, as it closed more and more, until the worm looked about to explode. Finally it did, mucus was fired everywhere. The Lover immediately found himself woozy, so he laid his head back to fall asleep. What seemed like a second later he awoke in the tropical rainforest with the rest of his comrades.

They still stood at the door, the door that was marked with the following riddle:

This thing runs but cannot walk, sometimes sings but never talks, lacks arms, has hands, lacks a head but has a face.

Meanwhile, back in the caverns, Death found himself carrying a sword that was instantly forty pounds heavier. The gem was glowing noticeably stronger, with the capture of two Guardians.

* * *

As for those underground: just post about maybe jumping out of the subway car, or the car killing the large thing, or running towards the door while the walls and ceiling are collapsing around you. Remember: don’t post about anything on the other side of the door, just end with opening it and running through.

As for those in the rainforest: solve that riddle to go on.

Time of Day: Evening
Setting: Rainforest, Underground
Rainforest Group: Sakura, Toshiya, Kayla, Maichi, Foster
Underground Group: Markus, Jack, Kirya, Everu, Von, Keith

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[Tainted]

Don't let this die out on me, here, people.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[VirtualPlay]

Hum, nobody else in my group knows? Phooey. Guess I'll have to enlighten you.

Maichi - Strength
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great, another riddle. The first one was easy after it happened, the second was a bit tricky, but this one was just plain weird. I couldn't think of any creature that could run but not walk. Singing but not talking, well that could mean just about any bird to start. No arms but hands could be something like a mole, maybe. And the only thing I could think of having no head but a face was those really flat fish or a ray.

But I couldn't think of one creature that fit all of those descriptions.

Then I remembered the second riddle we had had. A river ran because of all the water flowing down it, but it couldn't walk because it didn't have feet. But a river didn't fit this riddle; I had never heard of a river with hands.

Suddenly there was a slight glowing by our feet and behind us. We backed up a bit into the door, and watched as the faded light slowly formed into a person. A boy, to be exact. He looked like he was sleeping.

He woke up suddenly, looked around, and said, "How'd I get here?" When we didn't say anything, he continued, "Must've been that higher power thing."

I looked at him again, and realized where I'd seen him before. He was one of the boys that was across the chasm who had gone up to the surface...had it only been hours ago? I checked my watch...

«That's it!» I said suddenly, as I watched the second hand tick by. A clock ran on either springs and gears (that was ages ago) or electricity, but it couldn't walk; a clock could sing when the chime went off, but I had never heard one talk to me that hadn't been a synthetic voice; most had three hands (though a lot had only two), but none had any arms; and there weren't any real clocks that had a head, but all of them had a face.

«It's a clock, or a watch!» I said excitedly to the wall that had the riddle on it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Was going to post something happening to the door, except it wasn't a door it's a wall. Heh.

[Bulbasaur4]

Kirya
~ The Emperor / F ~

Kirya was about to say some thing, when suddenly she caught a glimpse of the massive mutant-like blob ahead of them. Her eyes widened immensely, as she suddenly called out, "Bail out!"
The creature was far too big to kill normally, and she knew that they were not about to be able to take it on.. everyone prepared to jump off, and Jack helped everyone. Kirya had to admit, although he seemed to know a lot... it came in handy when you needed it. Kirya leapt off, her graceful landing ability coming to her aid as she tucked and rolled and then managed to stop landing upright. Everyone managed to jump off- even Jack, as he seemed to jump just as the explosion occured. Everyone stumbled a bit from such a large explosion, and Kirya covered her eyes for a second. Then reopening them, a large gurgling rumble seemed to emit from the tunnel... and immediatly Kirya realized the underground was about to collapse.

"A door!" Some one called, and up ahead to the side... a door could be seen. Kirya's eye lit up with relief, as they all started to run towards the door... but an ebbing at the back of Kirya's mind stopped her. Turning around, she saw Jack stumbling.. he must have hurt himself from the explosion. Kirya then turned around, running towards him and immediately took his arm and wrapped it around her neck and above one of her shoulders.
"Get going! This place is falling down!" He yelled at her, but Kirya shook her head.
"Not a chance. I'm not letting this place crush you!" He moved a bit faster with Kirya's help, and slowly they approached the door along with everyone else. A piece of cement or some sort of texture seemed to fall from the ceiling about them, but Kirya did her best to help them avoid it. They were nearing the door... and suddenly a piece smashed upon Kirya's shoulder. She let out a fumbling cry of pain, the cement obviously hurting her shoulder but she kept walking. Her legs were fine... they had to keep moving.

"Come you can make it!" Markus gave a shout, and soon they did... soon they did make it to the door.

[/font]

[extremeanimefreak]

Von/The Devil:

"Bail out!"

I looked up to see what was going on around me.

"What the?!"

A few people neared the door in an attempt to jump off. I ran to the back door and shoved it open, almost breaking it from it's hinges. As the first one off, I franticaly searched for a way out! Spotting a door I ran towards it, to my despair I realized the door was much like the one at home...a heavy steel vault door! I arrived at it's entrance almost instantly, giving it a good flick of the wrist to open it! It didn't budge! I grabbed the crossbars with both fists, digging my claws into the palms of my hands. With my strength I managed to open and almost break the doors latch. I pulled the door open with my small size and darted in.

After everyone else was in I was about to close the door back when a massive sreetch of screams and shreiks came from the burning beast! I fell to my knees as the others all tried to close the door. With my ear's bleeding I threw my body at the door and managed to jam it closed. Her cry made my entire body feel as if it was being electricuted! Blood drying in my veins, as my head throbed from the fire that raged on inside! I blacked out, probably from lack of blood. I felt as if I had died inside...again.

OOC: Sorry my first post was about two pages long and was all finished when my computer FROZE! ACK! This one is shorter but still cover's what I wanted to. Sorry it took me so long to post!

[Djinn]

I know my posts have been few and far between lately, but I'm not going to bother with excuses. I'll just skip straight to the role-playing.


====
Everu
====

The jump out of the car had been a snap for me here, and when I attempted to go savior, the one dubbed Emperor helped the Sun along first. The fact that there wasn't even a first name basis yet was starting to bother me.

I reached the door just behind Von, with both of us heaving on its heavy steel frame to allow a large enough opening for everyone to scramble through.
Everyone had made it, but the matter was closing the door.

As Von and I both jumped again to the door to close it, the guttaral shriek of the burning beast seemed to have some type of incapacitating shriek on him, and I was left to close the door alone.

I didn't anticipate the darkness that would ensue when the door closed, and the fact that we were on a platform just beneath a stairway. I hoped it went up.

I grabbed the Dove Weed from my kit again, and beckoned over the Emperor who seemed eager to help with Von who was pale and bleeding. I didn't know a ton about Vampire lore, but I guessed I might be able to treat him.

I didn't fumble at all, and with an ascertainty of a doctor in winter I ordered, "Take this vial and hold it as I tell you to, just above him so I can see his face." She did as I asked, no questions, and in attempt to be a little friendlier I asked, "I'm Everu, what's your name?"

"Kirya." Was the curt declaratory reply, and she continued to hold the light steady.

Fishing through the case into the bottom where some of the more fragile and dangerous vials lurked I pulled out a rare sample that had taken me months to acquire. The substance was Bloodfern, an unoriginal name to say the least, but vile.

Taking a flask of water, I crushed some of the fern with my pestle and mixed it into a thick crimson mixture, which I set aside in a small dish. With care I grabbed most of the remaining fern, and used the pestle again to crush it into an extremely finite powder which I set next to the crimson mixture's dish.

Taking the blood synthetic, I turned back to Von, semi-conscious now. I brought the mixture to his lips and prodded him to swallow which he did. Then I waited.

After a minute or so, the mixture acted and Von's eyes gaped open as he bolted upright. The fern should have been enough blood to sustain a vampire, but I wasn't sure. I gave him the other dish of powder which he took without question, and motioned for him to sniff. The aroma entered his nostrils, and his withered face returned to its usual colour. I gathered the materials I had used and packed them away.

"Thank you Kirya," I quickly muttered as she returned the Dove Weed, which I held up to see the stairway affront the group. I wasn't going to wait anymore, and so I began the slow ascent up the flight, hoping it wouldn't stretch too far.

====

[extremeanimefreak]

Von/The Devil:

All I remember was a light hurting my eye's and all of a sudden feeling better...unusualy better. Blood? That's something I had longed for this entire time and this boy had it in his bag he commonly carried?! Well a fake one which left a bitter taste rather then the salty sweetness of the thick crimson I was acustomed to, but blood all the same.

He had to know I was a vampire or something like it. I steadley walked and follwed his lead as he took to the path ahead. How did he know? Who was he? Would he be affraid of me? Most importantly...would he tell the others? I follwed as he almost stumbled over things, walking around them and taking my time since these were perfect conditions for me. I pacened my steps to see if he would hasten...however to my surprise he remained steady and calm. I could hear his pulse quicken when I did, but he lead no sign of this on the outside.

I slowed down to let the others follow my pale complection. My skin was the easiest to see and track in these conditions, but always keeping him in sight ahead of me. I noticed the other's falling behind, so I strided up next to him...

"Mabye conserving energy would be easier? After all who's one to see whats ahead of us?"

[Mire]

====
Everu
====

I stopped. Von was probably correct, we needed to conserve some energy. Though it was hard to stand the thought of sitting and doing nothing, maybe fate would intervene as to what we were required to do.

I turned around to face Von, and could see that he obviously knew I knew about his "condition." If you can call being undead a "condition." As I waited for the rest of the group to catch up I faintly whispered, "Don't worry, you can trust me to keep your secret, as long as you don't become as devilish as your name voices." He continued to look wary, but nodded. My worry diminished a little with the nod, and I sat down on the stair I currently had reached.

As I watched and waited I noticed a small pinprick of light far up the stairs, but I dismissed it. In this place it was more likely to be a train come to run as all into the ground then a ray of hope.

====

Waiting on Tainted here...

[Fai D. Flowright]

Sorry guys, but I must retire my chracter from here. With the slow process and the lack of my character's acceptance in events, I no longer have an interest in keeping up with this RPG.

I apologize to everyone, especially Tainted, but this is just moving WAY to slow for me.

And now, I say Adieu. Do what you will with my character...

Bye, all. It was fun...

[Tainted]

I was waiting for most people to post before I throw up the next update, but I suppose I'll do it anyway. Sorry to see you go, Tsukasa.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[Tainted]

Episode VI

Those underground rushed rapidly to the door, all leaping through it just in time except for one. The straggler, the Moon, had fallen behind and was crushed by the falling rock. Death immediately felt his sword grow heavier, not just from the death of the Moon, but from the guardian they had just slain thanks to the subway car.

“Two guardians dead, two of us dead. This isn’t a very good pace if there was twelve guardians and twelve of us from the start,” Death spoke solemnly.
“How do you know?” The Hierophant asked inquisitively.
“Every time one of us dies, it gets significantly heavier—same goes for guardians. I imagine after this all it’ll be fairly heavy.”

They stopped all conversation to look at the world around them. Previously oblivious to the raging sounds of a battlefield, they now looked on. The group was off to the side of a large-scale assault on a castle, warriors dressed in blue defended it, while warriors in red attacked. Massive siege machines hurled rocks at this grand fortification.

“Emperor…” a voice spoke inside of the Emperor’s head. “Oh, Emperor…”
She spoke aloud, “Who are you?” Those around the Emperor stared at her questionably.
“No need to speak, Emperor, just think your words, I’ll hear them all the same.”
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m the Fool, the brother of Justice, your guide. The guardian you look for to shatter this world is inside of the castle; move stealthily, for neither side will call you their ally. To make your way in, you will need cunning, to slay the guardian—talent.”
The voice seemed to disappear after those words.

The group carefully watched their surroundings. Men were seemingly everywhere, all armed, all with that rage that accompanies war. How would they sneak in? From the looks of it, their chances weren’t very high.

* * *

“It’s a clock, or a watch!” Strength spoke, and the wall before them crumbled into clumps of dirt. The group pushed their way through until they came across a man in a white suit, with a white top hat—and with long white hair. His appeared to have cataracts, and a single white rose he held in his right hand.

“I am the Maker, children, I see you’ve made it this far. But you won’t go any further than the ground you step on without answering one last riddle. It is the hardest riddle I have ever created, and also one of my most favorites. You’ll fail to answer it, and when you do the floor below you will open and you will plummet to a never-ending doom.”

Everyone either gasped or looked shocked.

“Today he is there to trip you up and he will torture you tomorrow. Yet he is also there to ease the pain, when you are lost in grief or sorrow.”

He smiled devilishly and a glass of wine appeared in his hand. The Maker swished it around in a circular motion, and then took a sip.

“White wine. My favorite.”

* * *

Time of Day: Night
Setting: Maker’s Lair, Battlefield
Maker’s Lair Group: Sakura, Toshiya, Kayla, Maichi, Foster
Battlefield Group: Markus, Jack, Kirya, Everu, Von

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[extremeanimefreak]

Von/The Devil:

"What the?..."

This didn't make ANY sense! First we were in a run down subway...next the front line's of an ancient war! I scratched my head trying to figure out what was goin on.

"So...should we try and sneak in?"

Everyone stared at me as if I were daft...

"Well, we do need supplies and with the ferocity of the fight i'd say whoever's in that castle has to have a ton of power...and the only thing in this place with any sort of power would be the guardians."

A few started to understand what I was implying.

"Good or bad it still might be of some use...and besides I have an idea."

[Samchu]

Death
~~~~~

I looked at Devil intently. I was highly curious about his plan, a guardian was most likely waiting for us inside and we would need to be ready. I watched the battle unfolding and I too began to wonder how we would get around this.
"Perhaps we should just let them finish," I said aloud, "either the castle will be taken or these intruders will be quashed, either way the remaining side should be weakened. It would be easier for us to get through."

We agreed to wait a bit before deciding, to see how the battle turned out. I sat against a tree's trunk, hiding myself in its shade as I fiddled with Tyr. Its weight had increased significantly since I'd fist laid hands upon it, many influential lives had been lost on the journey and much still laid ahead of us. As for now, we had to try and get inside where yet another guardian would await us. Who or what we would face exactly was beyond us now but I could tell already it would be the hardest thing we would have faced so far.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OOC: Appologies for lack of posting and current post crappiness but am very tired right now. I'll make up for it i swear!

[-/Deathborn/-]

Sorry for not posting in so long...

-/Jack Korso:The Sun/-

"Uh, oh." Jack murmered as he saw the battlefield before them.
He held his P90 close, and held it up, looking through the scope, seeing that all of them were in battle. He didn't snipe any of them, which would give away the group's position. Maybe just firing a random shot would cause enough chaos to get the team through unoticed.
"Uh...I've got an idea...I'll fire a random shot into a crowd, cause confusion and maybe snipe some guys from a hundred yards away before they start mobbing me. At that point, just run. I can handle myself...I think..." Jack said to the group.
Everyone looked at him dumbfounded.
"How will you get away?" Everu asked, curious.
"Uhhhh...." Jack looked around where he could get a good sniper's perch. And out of the corner of his eye, a Stargate right near his perfered spot. It wasn't there when they first went through the door, but he could dial base and get back easily.
"Okay, I'll dial base and get a couple guns and come back. Okay?" he said.
"As long as you don't DIE before you even start this plan, then okay." The Devil said.
About 2 minutes later...
"I'm at my perch." Jack said over the radio.
"Showtime..."
Jack punched in his base's code, and readied his gun for sniper.
"Easy on the trigger..."
-----
Just follow my guy's cliched plan and have fun.

[Tainted]

-= God =-

-=/][\=-

I smiled maniacally, looking through the old 50s era television I could see all.

"Won't work out just that easy, Jack," I grinned devilishly, "You'll soon find your plan to not work out quite as well as you expected."

---

Carry on with the plan. The stargate won't work in this world, but Jack-- you don't know that until you try it and fail. So carry on with the plan, but after it fails you'll have to scramble to see what you can get done.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[-/Deathborn/-]

^Nice. I've always liked the "Plan A never works" scenerios.

[Bulbasaur4]

Kirya
~ The Emperor / F ~

As Jack ran off, Kirya had that unsettling feeling with in her.
"Umm... I don't think we should have allowed that." She spoke timidly, as the rest of the group looked at her.
"Why not?" Von stated, blinking as Kirya gave a gentle shrug.
" I... I have this hunch that we should be trying to be stealthfully getting into the castle, not blasting are way to it. Killing them will only make them angrier... and if they get angrier, they might unite just for a bit to exterminate us- a nuisance. Besides... we just need to get inside the castle to get the guardian."
There was silence, until one of them spoke.
"Since when did you get so insightful?"
Kirya played with her hair as if fidgeting.
"Umm... well, let's just say a voice in my head was telling me so. "

[extremeanimefreak]

Von/ The Devil:

"A voice huh?.."

I began smirking but somehow believed her words. I watched as the others began snickering around her...

"I agree...the plans to hasty...it did'nt take a long time to think of and if it were that easy then why didn't they do it?"

I pointed towards the warring knights. I never was much of a follower...besides we needed a path to creep through anyway.

"Mabye we should get a head start? He said he was at the perch and wether it works or not we still have to find a way to get in without being seen...we can't exactly walk through the front door with that many people."

I had an idea but no one seemed realy interested in what I had to say at the moment. I walked away from the people around me, away from the battle...I had an idea...that just might work.

OOC: Sorry Von can be headstrong and doesn't listen well so...he sort of does follow the oplan but not realy...hope that's okay.

[EVme15]

... *bows* I'm sorry. Homework is really being cruddy and stuff. The only reason I'm on is because today is the official town-wide "No Homework Day".
~|~|~|~|~
Kayla Brockford - 17 The Star - Eighth

"Today he is there to trip you up and he will torture you tomorrow. Yet he is also there to ease the pain, when you are lost in grief or sorrow."

I noticed the newcomer looking around uneasily. Of course, the only thing he'd heard from us was Maichi speaking in Japanese. But he spoke English... so that was good for me, right?

Turning my head, I glanced away from the Maker. "Um... excuse me, what's your name?"

"Oh... Foster Covin. You... speak English?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes... and so does Maichi-chan..." I pointed to Maichi. "But those two only speak Japanese. We should be ok, though, Maichi-chan can translate for us. My name is Kayla, by the way..."

I glanced to the others, who seemed either lost in thought or looking at the two of us. The Maker seemed to be smirking at me, and I quickly turned away, shivering slightly.

I had no idea about the riddle. It was difficult... hopefully not impossible though. One of us would be sure to get it... right?
~|~|~|~|~
>.< I am sorry. I really cannot think at the moment. I'm almost positive that Japanese is draining my brain. So... yeah. I dunno about the riddle, just figured it would be a good time to try to interact with Foster.

[extremeanimefreak]

OOC:Heheh, hope you don't mind but i'm ganna have Von wander a little...lol

Von/The Devil:

I went out about 20 feet from the battle field and stared back as I hide from within a tree...even with my bad eye sight I could see about how many people were where and where the most people resided. I was thrown off guard by a tug on my foot and tumbled out of the tree.

"owch."

I began rubbing my head...I was still a little woozy.

"What was that for?"

I looked up to see who had pulled on my foot and realized it to be a guard...

"hehe...I was just leaving..."

With that I darted up into the tree climbing as far as I could amongst it's massive branches...meanwhile hearing arrows wip past my head, letting off a high pitched squeal that made me faulter a few times.

"Hey watch it would yah!"

"Get him! There he is!"

I could tell there was more then one person below me now, they must have thought I was a scout or something.

I began thinking to myself and decided to take a breather on one of the higher branches...reclining and relaxing against it's soft bark.

Hey this is a distraction...

"Hopfuly some of the others will take heed to this opritunity." I sat there quietly stretched out...singing to myself to keep their attention.

OOC: Sorry I wasn't sure if people where waiting to hear his plan or what but I just though this way you guys have a say as well...lol

[-/Deathborn/-]

OOC: Fire in the hole.

-/Jack Korso/-
"Fire in the hole." Jack whispered as he pulled the trigger.
A single shot zipped from the barrel, and soon hit a soldier in the back.
"AGH!!" He screamed as he fell down, creating a domino-falling-effect. One by one, they started falling.
Jack hit the big red button on his dialer. The gate started dialing...
1, locked.
2, locked.
3, locked.
4, locked.
5, locked.
6, locked.
7.....not locked.
The gate churned, groaned, sqweaked, and made a bunch of sounds that sounded like it wasn't working.
"Uh-oh. Time for Plan B." Jack said over the radio.
He switched to automatic fire, and waited for the masses to come torward him.
He tried the gate again. Same thing.
"This is NOT good..." Jack said.
He pulled the trigger, there were 30 or so guys comming torward him.
-----

[extremeanimefreak]

Von/The Devil:

I noticed the commotion beneith me had now stopped and they had redirected their attention elswhere. I watched as an even bigger distraction took their gaze...and my attention was drawn by gun fire. I watched as the others tried to sneak their way in while round after round was shot franticaly.

"Wait...oh no!"

I had forgotten about Deaths plan and he must have decided to act upon it and as I had unfortunatly said it seemed things wheren't going as planned.

A few soldiers turned their backs to me as they walked away...big mistake! I waited for the last one to pass and as he did I fluttered behind him and drove my dagger deep within his neck, silently he died not giving away my actions.

I worked my way down the massive line of soldiers, uniformed, unified, and now dead. I could see Death in the distance and made my way towards him hiding behind trees along the way...compared to the comotion he was making it seemed as if I where invisible.

Silently working my way through their lines...not knowing what had happened until they layed lifeless, and blood drained.

(OOC: I want to keep moving lol...sorry if i'm a pain)

[extremeanimefreak]

OOC: Are we still playing?...lol

[Tainted]

Yes. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like it, but we should be. I'm waiting on the RPers. If you don't post, I can't progress us along.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[extremeanimefreak]

Yes. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like it, but we should be. I'm waiting on the RPers. If you don't post, I can't progress us along.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

Well thank you...hopefuly it picks back up, I was sort of partial to this one's story.

[Samchu]

*runs in* sorry! sorry! completely forgot about this! *smacks self* my bad my bad. will make up for it...

Markus/Death
~~~~~~~~

"You wanna get in," I muttered, whipping Ayr back and forth, "just go through them." It was strongly against my nature to take such action but there was a time for everything and right now was the time for fighting. I took out the bulk of the group heading towards 'the sun'. I was aware that the Devil was following, taking care of anyone I missed.

"Plan didn't work as well as you hoped?" I asked.
"No," he replied.
We all headed back to the others. The plan had failed and now we needed a new one.
"Look," I said, "the forces outside are dwindling. I can smash my way through with Ayr and we can slip past the ones inside, they won't suspect anyone to break through."
"It sounds risky," replied the Devil.
"You got a better idea?" I asked.
There was silence. I stood up and adjusted my grip on Ayr, "right then, follow me. Just don't stray to close. Don't wanna be carrying any of yer souls in this thing."

I walked over to the battlefield and quickly began to cut through the weaker side of the assaulting army. I ordered the others to hold off any that came for us whilst I used Ayr's strong blade to cut our own passage inside.
"Alright, everybody through." I ushered everyone through our make-shift entrance and inside the fortress.
"Now what?" asked the Emperor and everyone looked at me.
"Hey, I just said I'd get us inside. Someone else can fill this one."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crappy I know but it keeps the ball rolling...

[extremeanimefreak]

OOC: I thank you a ton...lol

Von/The Devil:

"Hmmmm, well first we should try and find some supplies, we might need them later...some of us still have yet to even have a real weapon."

I looked at the girl with a smirk.

"Then we should go this way..." The Emperor pointed down a nairow hallway.

"Actualy we should divide into smaller groups..."

"Why?! Are you insane?! That'll weaken us!"

"That is the most idiotic thing that I have ever..." Others where getting in on the conversation now.

"No...actualy it's the smarter thing to do, that way if some of us get caught at least were not all dead."

OOC: I had Von propose this so we can:

1. Get stuff we might need/stumble into enemies and fight...and...
2. So people who don't know eachother's names yet can get aquanted...this is just an idea we don't have to use it, but if we do the groups should be 2 or 3 people big no more...then in the end we could just all meet up again and go kill/greet the boss/guardian.

It's just an idea...

[Bulbasaur4]

Kirya
The Emperor

" No... it's a bad idea." Kirya insisted, looking at them all with bewildered eyes.
" We've come in here to kill this guardian... whatever it is. I don't know what this guardian is, what it looks like... heck, I don't understand why we have to kill it. I just know... that we have to. If we split up into groups, the guardian could come and kill us off easier."
Von glanced at Kirya, "Don't go into strange rooms then."
Kirya sighed... shaking her head as she seemed to bow down.
" I'm not going to make a decision... i'm the messenger. I'm the one with the voice in my head... so I'll just stay as that piece of this really messed up puzzle."

[Samchu]

Markus/Death
~~~~~~~~~

"I think she's right," I said, aloud. Strange how often I had begun to voice my view, especially as I was not really the most social person in the group. Ayr was starting to feel slightly weighted in my hand so I sheathed it quickly, it was claiming many souls from the battle outside. Yet more deaths on my conscience... "Look, we have to fight a guardian and the rule of messed up sci-fi cr** tells us that he's gonna be strong. If we split up and one group finds him then basically we're gonna be sr3w3d. We've got no idea what we're gonna find here but we should be okay if we stick together."

Some people still seemed undecided and I sighed deeply. "Have you guys never seen horror movies? You split into groups and get picked off, the obvious option here has got to be for us to stick together."

[Tainted]

All is looking good, I'd like to get some posts from other people in this RPG (ie. Not Bulba, Samchu or Von, here) before I move on with the next update. As, well, this RPG can't revolve around three people. Not yet, at least.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter