The Scourge (Mature!! LSU's accepted)

[Weasel Overlord]

I’m sooo sorry this is so late guys! Buut it’s longer than I was expecting, which makes up for my horrendous business-hindering-my-role-playing, I guess. Hooray! Character development! Hope you’re ok with this, Denny and Rio.

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--* Hippogriff // Leucetius Daithi Íomhar // Lightning *--

The battles had been intense and especially tiring and Leucetius’ arms were aching like lumps of lead would ache if they could ache from pulling the string of his longbow so many times. He’d dropped it to the floor as soon as they’d landed at Kiina’s flat and there it had stayed, propped up against the burnished brown hatstand cluttered with coats right next to the long quiver of arrows, some still stained with ichor at the tips.

He had helped as best he could with the injured, and then agreed to take a watch…just in case anything came back for desserts. Although he had no idea what he’d actually do, even if anything did come back. His arms hurt far too much to use the bow again, and he didn’t think that hand-to-hand combat was his forte, oddly enough.

Covering a huge yawn with his hand, Leucetius closed his eyes enough to still allow sight to filter through his lashes, and dug deep within himself, searching for that elusive but electric presence that inhabited each and every corner of his mind.

-Daithi?- He attempted, feeling a flicker of recognition from the proud beast. –Daithi…I am…unsure…I…can I rely on the power of my bow forever? I’m afraid that it will fail, no, I’m sure it will… and then what? Daithi…I think I’m just…afraid.-

-Leucetius Íomhar, you are my chosen one. You shall prevail, even if others do not. Do not doubt your powers, for soon will come the day when you will unlock all that lies within. Do not fear, for I can help you in more ways than what meets the eye…- The Hippogriff almost seemed to chuckle at this thought, something which startled Leu. Daithi didn’t seem the type to laugh; his personality mirrored his own so perfectly that Leucetius would swear to anyone that Daithi was a part of himself, and not in fact, some external force that just happened to choose him to save the world.

Daithi had relayed to Leucetius that he’d been around since the beginning; when the Scourge had first come to pass. He’d chosen a champion then, as now, and they had fought together, finally going to rest once the earth had been cleared of the Scourge which tainted it. And although the Scourge itself was under a different guise today, it was still the same evil, and Daithi, he had admitted, was a little scared too.

For if they managed to penetrate the defences of the chosen ones and their beasts then the world was lost.

Leucetius had promised fervently to never let that happen, and although he didn’t say it out loud, both knew that this was to the death, for it was not worth living on if the Scourge prevailed.

And so Leucetius had practised. Practised until his palms and fingertips bled from the bowstring and until the smell of the beeswax-coated string and the tang of lightning was the only thing he could sense, filling his mouth, nose and spirit until he lost himself to battle and the storm. He could feel slight changes overcoming him as he fought. Almost imperceptible, they lingered on the edge of his consciousness, begging to be found, and yet still elusive. Maybe he needed more training. Leu shrugged; the memories of his and Daithi’s promise served to dispel his fears as he watched over the girls in Kiina’s little flat with no little nervousness.

He’d managed to snatch a few hours of sleep, deep in the night, so he didn’t feel so rough when he was jolted fully awake in the morning by the smells of cooking and the noises of a stirring flat.

The group sure were a strange mix. They amused Leucetius a little. Especially sulky, moody Ivan. Leu knew that he shouldn’t be amused by the guy, but nevertheless he was, inexplicably, much to the chagrin of Ivan himself, who seemed to take personal offence if anyone even looked at him.

Leu had grabbed a piece of toast and some of the chocolate that Joey had managed to pilfer before being knocked out by a large bag of sugar, and scarpered. Retreating to the top of the building for some air and a quiet think, he was shocked to find Kiina at the top of the stairs, sitting at the edge of the roof, her legs dangling over the little wall she was perched on.

“Hey.” Leu grunted, unsure of what to say in this new company when he had been expecting solitude. He took a bite out of his slice of toast, grimacing at the coldness of his breakfast before devouring the rest in two more bites. “Nice toast Kiina…” He made an attempt at conversation, unsure of what to say. She looked distant, staring off into the morning mist pensively.

“Leucetius…”

“Call me Leu…please.”

“Okay, Leu. What dya think we can actually do with these…powers we’ve got? I mean… surely our Beasts wouldn’t leave us defenceless…” She trailed off, as if unsure of what else to say and Leucetius took the moment to sit himself down on the wall next to her, legs hanging off the edge comfortably.

“Daithi told me to be patient…I don’t know what else we can do, but I’m sure that there’ll be something else. Dunno what, mind…” Leu chuckled and smiled at Kiina, sat so nervously on the edge of the wall. “I don’t know about you, but I just felt like I had to get somewhere high up… not entirely sure why though…” Leu broke off with a wry grin. “Daithi hasn’t told me yet.” Kiina gave a little snort of laughter, her eyes widening slightly.

“I felt like I should he high up too, you know. Weird…” She turned to stand and go back inside, grabbing Leucetius’ arm to steady herself on the little wall. Reaching up with her foot, she got a hold on the morning-damp bricks. A little bit of mortar crumbled away as she put weight on her foot to pull herself up, but as she straightened, more mortar crumbled away, leaving a perilous gap between the brick she was standing on and sweet fresh air.

Uttering a little shriek, Kiina fell backwards, he foot flying up in the air and her grip on Leu’s arm tightening, pulling him with her as she toppled from the roof.

“Shit!” Leu yelled, holding onto Kiina as he slipped off the wall. Trying to protect her from the fall as best he could, he gathered her in his arms, legs flailing, as thunder cracked above their heads and the tang of lightning rushed to fill his nostrils.

Screaming inarticulately, Leucetius squeezed his eyes tight shut as a ripping sound filled his ears. His shirt tore apart at the shoulders, and magnificent wings spread to either side, catching the thermals as Leu dared to open one eye. The falling sensation had stopped… but now there was a wrenching at his shoulder muscles and a beating sound in his ears.

Gasping, he looked around at the wings which stretched to both sides of his vision, beating strongly almost without his bidding.

“Kiina!” He called, leaning down so he could speak into her ear. “We’re not dead! Look!” She opened one tightly shut eye and then exclaimed in shock.

“What the… You’re flying Leu!” Beaming from eye to eye, Leucetius lowered himself and his precious passenger to the ground in relief, staggering at the poor landing and then collapsing to the floor in shock. Shaking with adrenaline, he grimaced at the pain in his shoulders and the tears in his shirt before catching Kiina’s eye. She was smiling broadly.

“You can fly Leu!” Her smiles were infectious, and Leucetius burst into laughter, tears forming at the corners of his eyes as his wings draped across the ground, one of them flopping over Kiina as she dissolved into helpless giggles.

“And I thought we were gonna die…I wonder if everyone can do this…” He eyed Kiina, who settled herself, although a giggle still passed over her face occasionally as the import of what had just happened hit her. “How about we throw Ivan from a tall building and see if he flies?” Kiina snorted with laughter, helpless in the throes of excitement and relief.

“I wanna try…” She managed to say, once her laughter had been mastered with a few deep breaths. “And ooh, but your wings are pretty Leu-Leu. All grey and nice! I wonder what mine will be like… if I can fly, of course… let’s go try Leu! Come on!” She leapt up, disentangling herself from the yellow-veined feathers of Leu’s wings and reaching down to grab his hand. Hauling him upright, she dashed in through the front door, intent on trying out her own flying skills before the others could find out about this new ability.

Leu smiled as he was tugged through the building. Daithi had said that his powers would be revealed in time. He just hoped that he didn’t have to almost die every time the Hippogriff wanted to teach him something new.

[Pichu Luver]

XD! That was just LOL Krist. Blade can we? Pleease?

Kiina Prattle
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Kiina just shook her head at Ivan and didn't reply. She thought it would be safer not too. When she had finished her breakfast at a more sedate pace and phoned her work. She had never yet taken her vacation days and asked on short notice to take a week off. Thankfully her boss didn't mind and gave it to her.

She then head up to the roof. She liked going up her in the mornings, the sky was always stunning and the world was just waking up instead of frantically trying to get something done. She sat carefuklly over the edge and just stared off into the city.

Last night she had a dream and she was sure the Unicorns had been in it. It was faded to the edge of her consciousness now but it had seemed the Unicorns had been trying to tell her something. Something about heights and being on her roof. She didn't understand it but had done as they asked.

She felt there was more to be done then just using her powers over plants. ' Surely they'd give us more of a hand. These powers are great and damn useful sure, but I just don't think it will be enough . . . ' she thought to herself. She reached within herself to where the Unicorns seemed to be and felt their reassurance.

She was contemplating this when she heard the door open. She turned and saw Leu come up the stairs, He stopped and seemed surprised anyone else was up here.

"Hey" he mumbled and took a bite out of his toast. "Nice toast Kiina." he said and Kiina smirked as she turned back to gazing at the city.

'Yeah cause the toaster had nothin to do with it . . thought Kiina amused before she sighed. "Leucetius-" she started.

"Call me Leu . . . please."

"Okay, Leu. What dya think we can actually do with these…powers we’ve got? I mean… surely our Beasts wouldn’t leave us defenceless…” Kiina said, voicing her worries she had been mulling over.

Leucetius came over and sat down on the wall next to her, swing his legs over a thoughtful expression on his face. Kiina scooted away a little automatically, then abruptly wanted to hit herself. 'He fought rudding demons with you yesterday. He wouldn't try anything on the edge of a building anyway!' She glanced at him but he didn't seem to have noticed.

“Daithi told me to be patient…" he stared, sounding as unsure as she felt, "I don’t know what else we can do, but I’m sure that there’ll be something else. Dunno what, mind…” he chuckled and smiled at her. She could tell he could see her anxiety, though he probably didn't realize what it was from. “I don’t know about you, but I just felt like I had to get somewhere high up… not entirely sure why though…” he broke off and gave wry grin. “Daithi hasn’t told me yet.”

Kiina snorted, amused at how his creature seemed as disinclined to give proper answers as hers. Her eyes widening slightly as she realized he had felt the need to be high like her, "I felt like I should he high up too, you know. Weird…” she said voicing this. She sat staring off into the city for a bit longer before turning to go. She wasn't exactly comfortable sitting here with him alone anyway.

She meant to put her hand on the wall but it landed on his arm instead. She acted like that was what she meant to do and reached her right foot up. As she put her weight on it, it crumbled a little and she shifted it.

The next seconds happened all in a blur. She was shoving herself up when the brick gave way.

Kiina shrieked and automatically gabbed a tighter hold on Leu's arm as she toppled backwards. She only succeeded and pulling him off with her and he cursed as he was pulled from the building's edge.

' Oh f-ing brilliant Kiina! Why kill yourself when you can take someone else with you!' she shouted at herself, screaming incoherently into the morning air.

She felt Leu take her into his arms and had it been any other circumstance she probably would have wrenched herself away. As it was, she hid her head against his chest and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping she would just die instantly on hitting the ground. Oddly though the Unicorns were silent. Which around all the other thoughts running through her head she found quite disturbing.

Suddenly they were no longer falling but slowly going up and down. Kiina wondered if she was dead. She thought she heard a beating sound but she passed it off as something she was just hearing in her head.

Leu gasped and Kiina braced herself for the landing but instead he heard him shout in her ear, "Kiina! We're not dead look!"

She opened just one eye and she couldn't believe it. Leu had somehow sprouted wings. They were a beautiful dark grey, fading to black. Each feather's veins were bright yellow and seemed to be pulsing. They flapped lazily back and forth, making them bob up and down about thirty feet above the ground.

"What the? You're flying Leu!" shouted Kiina in glee. Leu was grinning himself and carefully lowered them to the sidewalk. They both stumbled on landing, as it wasn't the best one ever made. They both crashed to the ground, shaking a little in shock and relief. One of his wings flopped over Kiina and they one look at each other and burst into laughter.

Leu was wiping tears from his eyes and Kiina was desperately trying to smother her giggles when he said, “And I thought we were gonna die…I wonder if everyone can do this…” He looked at her and she tried desperately to keep the giggles down, but failing utterly. “How about we throw Ivan from a tall building and see if he flies?” Kiina lost any hold on her laughter and leaned back in her mirth against his wings.

“I wanna try…” she said once she finally got control of her laughter. “And your wings are stunning Leu. All grey and nice! I wonder what mine will be like?" Kiina wondered, staring off into space. She smiled, and continued, "If I can fly, of course… let’s go try Leu! Come on!”

Kiina leapt up, almost stumbling as she got herself free of Leu large wings. She reached down and grabbed his hand. Having quite nicely saved her life, Leu was definitely in the 'Safe' book. She hauled him upright -- with his helping or she would never have got him up -- she ran in through the front door.

Leu had to tuck in his wings tightly to get through the spinning doors. Thankfully no one was around or they would have a lot of explaining to do. He ducked as he got in the elevator and Kiina did a double take.

"Um Leu, no offence, you were tall before but you, like, gained a foot and a half." Kiina said having to crane her neck to look at him.

He looked down and blinked, "Oh. Shit. I was wondering why the doors seemed to have shrunk."

Kiina snorted, "More like you've become part tree. How's the weather?"

It took him a second to get what she meant then he mock glared at her. "You are very bug-like up here you know."

"Nah, that's Joey. She did get KO'd by sugar."

They both laughed and they snuck to the secondary stairs in the hallway to the roof. Kiina got up there and saw no one else there.

"Right so um, bar falling off a building how do I do this?" asked Kiina as she took her sweater off. She looked at her shirt and then added, "Just wait here a second, I'd rather not rip a shirt."

Leu nodded and Kiina snuck into her apartment. The others were involved with the TV, but she couldn't find Ivan. She shrugged and quickly changed into a tank top and sneaked back upstairs.

"So," she said as she came back up, "how'd you do it bird-man?"

"Um well I heard thunder and smelt the tang of lighting. So I think you might try focusing on you creature? Or . . . element?" He sounded unsure and walked over to the edge looking down.

Kiina joined him and gulped. "Well I'd rather not toss myself off a building so . ."

She backed away and closed her eyes. She felt Leu watching her but looked deep within her and asked the Unicorns, ' Um, can I fly? '

She felt their agreement and something else, not quite fear, and not quite excitement. There was a bit of joy and Kiina frowned and asked, "What? What do you want me to do?'

She felt a burst of adrenaline and asked, ' You, you want me to run off the building?!?'

Again the agreement and assurance it would be fine. Kiina gulped and opened her eyes. 'Um Leu, I'm about to do something very foolish. So if you might be flapping over there, "she pointed off the building "I'd appreciate it if you'd catch me if I'm wrong on this."

"Kiina . . " He started, stepping towards her.

"I know, I know" She said raising her hands, "But its what they say to do ."

"They?" he asked puzzled, but he did raise his wings.

"Er, there is more then one Unicorn . . . I kinda talk to them all, and they speak in emotions back."

He still looked a little puzzled but he obliged and jogged a little before he took off. He went about where she was going to jump off, bobbing up and down with each sweep of his wings.

Kiina took a deep breath and she thought she heard shouting from her apartment below. She ran at the edge just as the door burst open. She heard someone shout but didn't stop and leapt off the building.

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!" she yelled and she dove off the edge. She screamed incoherently in her head at the Unicorns.

Unexpectedly she heard birds singing and trees rustling in the wind. She heard a windchime somewhere and the fresh smell of an early spring day filled her nose. She smiled and felt the skin on her back stretching. Suddenly her dive became an arc and she shot upwards past a stunned but overjoyed Leu. He whooped and she came back around and slapped his hand.

"Awesome!" he shouted at her over the wind. He was laughing and smiling, but she could see the relief in his eyes. Kiina grinned and looked over her wings. They were silver and had little leaves on every single one of the feathers. Comparing hers to Leu's she noticed hers were quite a bit thinner but almost the same length. They reminded her of Albatrosses wings, a bird that flies almost continuously around the world. "Nice hair!" he yelled pointing.

She grabbed some of the hair whipping about her face and was shocked to see some of it was a brilliant green. A streak of it ran from the middle of her head to the tips on both sides.

She hugged him impulsively and he hugged her back as they both fell a few feet. They let go before they fell to far and Leu pointed over her shoulder, "Um" he chuckled, "I think we were seen."

Kiina turned and saw Ivan, Joey and Auril standing on the roof. Auril was waving for them to come over and Joey seemed to have collapsed holding a hand to her heart.

"Oh, eh heh. I think we should go and do some explaining. . And it looks like I gave Joey a heart attack" Kiina said laughing a little and Leu chuckled. They both flew over; with some trepidation as the expressions on the others faces were not overly happy, more shocked. Ivan most of all looked displeased.

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Again long, but it didn't seem like I should just skip over Kiina falling off a building Oo''''. So,

*get umbrella and pokes*

Tag!

[Mew Master]

OOC: Congratulations ppl! You have just unlocked your Angelic Forms... although a bit sooner than I expected, but it works. Besides, some people develop more quickly than others ^^UU.

*is now dressed like a scientist with the Enstein mustache and hair (obviously a wig) with a chalkboard behind him*

Now, since you have unlocked your Angelic forms, you now have at your disposal 2 new Magical attacks or boosts that you want. However these must be okayed by me as per all things are, and are available to you no matter what form you are in. For the good news, Your Hybrid and Full Beast forms will unlock 3 new spells each leading up to a total of 10 total spells you will have at your disposal. The bad news, unlocking those forms is going to take an act of high emotional distress, exponential in comparasin to unlocking your first few spells and your Angelic forms.

*is dressed "normal" again* Now then we return you to your regularly scheduled chaotic demons... have fun!

Later!

[Mew Trainer Rose]

I'm still on vacation, but I managed to find some internet time. Now let's hope I can stay on long enough to type up my post (I've been planning what to do next, and this may be long.)

Aliana - Light
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I woke up slowly, blinking blearily as I realized that I was no longer asleep. Since I was still in that fuzzy, don't-want-to-wake-up-yet kind of mindset, I rolled over to try and go back to sleep.

Then sat up sharply as I rolled right on top of a very painful bruise. I reflexively grabbed the arm I had just rolled on, then winced as the pain told me that was not a good idea. Now that I was awake, I realized that not only did I have a nasty bruise on my arm, I also ached all over and felt sticky and stiff. I absently scratched at an itchy patch on my neck, then found my hand came away with dried blood all over it.

Then finally the events of yesterday came back. It took a moment to process, but the various aches and the dried blood and ichor all over me dismissed any possibility of it being a dream. I sighed, glancing at the clock as I wondered where everyone else was at the moment. The clock told me that I was over half an hour late for my first class. After a brief flash of panic (why didn't my alarm go off? Oh yeah, I fell into bed without setting it last night...) I shrugged dismissively. I'd just tell the professor that I wasn't feeling well. It was true enough, anyway. My other class today was much later in the evening, so I would have no trouble getting to it.

With time on my hands, I started cleaning up the mess I'd left behind last night. The sheets would have to be heavily cleaned, if not thrown out. Same with my clothes. I'd have to see if I could save the sweatshirt, though; I really liked it. I'd had enough foresight to wipe off the worst of the ichor off my kamas, but I gave them a thorough cleaning, then took a shower. It took me a moment to remember how to do the healing light thing, but eventually I managed to heal up most of my bruises and little cuts.

So now what to do? It would be useless to sit here all day. I could try to find the others, but at least some of them had class, too. It would be suicide to go out looking for more of those Scourge on my own...or would it? The ones around Sean's place were manageable. If I found one or two alone in a room where it didn't look like more could jump in, I should be able to take it out alright. And a bit more combat practice wouldn't hurt. The more I thought about it, the better it sounded, until there was practically no choice but to do it. So I changed into clothes that I wouldn't mind getting wrecked, gobbled down a couple granola bars for breakfast, and headed out with my kamas tucked in my backpack.

I got to the place with no problem and started scouting around for a suitable opponent. I had to sneak around to avoid the large groups of Scourge, and almost walking right into a pack of them a couple times. But finally I found a small room a couple stories off with just one in it. There didn't seem to be any others nearby, either. Kamas in hand, I snuck into the room and approached the thing from behind.

This one looked a bit like a short, fat snake with slimy bumps on its back. So short and fat, in fact, that it looked almost like a slug with a snake's head. And it didn't seem to notice me creeping up on it, either. I smiled, feeling lucky, and rushed at it.

Suddenly the creature turned towards me and reared up, exposing maybe a dozen thin spindly limbs on its underside. One shot out at me, but thankfully its aim was off and the tip (which turned out to be wickedly sharp) only grazed my arm. A second stabbed at me, but I was more prepared and managed to dodge it. When A third one approached, I sidestepped and sliced off the end of it. The thing screeched, then jabbed three limbs at me at once. It was all I could do to jump away from it.

OK, so it wasn't as helpless at it looked. I skirted back and off to its side, trying to get out of reach of those limbs. Then it noticed that was really slow at turning, since it was attempting to face me again. Using this to my advantage, I ran around to its back and slashed at it. It screeched and thrashed, but couldn't attack back. Feeling bold, I jumped right on the thing's back and stabbed both kamas in its neck-region.

It thrashed around even more now, trying to dislodge the blades, but I pushed them deeper and held on tight. It dropped fully to the ground and writhed even more violently, to no avail. I pulled one kama out and was preparing for another strike, when I felt a sharp pain at my ankle. I glanced down, trying to find the source.

The bulges on the monster's back were beginning to move, and one of them had apparently latched onto my leg. I immediately yanked out my other kama and jumped off the thing, then shook my foot in an attempt to dislodge the blob. When that proved useless, I ran to the nearest wall and kicked the little thing against the concrete. With a sickening squishy sound, the thing popped and fell off.

Judging by the nasty bite-mark it left, and the remains of sharp teeth sticking out from the mutilated blob, the small things were some sort of fanged leech-creature. And incredibly fast; a ton of them were swarming towards me. I slashed and stomped the things into nothing (they were thankfully easy to kill), then turned back to the main creature.

It had gotten close to me while I dealt with the little things, and as I turned towards it, it reared up again and resumed jabbing the thin limbs at me. I started dodging those and hacking at them in when I could, then jumped to the side and prepared to slash it the thing's head. At that precise moment one of the leeches leapt at me from the monster's back. I had to scramble back to avoid having the razor-mouthed bugger latch onto my face. I cursed, wondering how the heck those things could jump. The leech still managed to grab my left arm, so I smashed the flat of my right kama onto the thing, splattering leech goo all over me when it burst. Then more of the little things were swarming at me, and I had to fend them off, too.

I lost track of how long I spent fighting leeches, then getting close for a few moments of struggling with the front or side of the thing, then scooting back to deal with the little things (which were really fast and apparently endless), and so on. Occasionally I managed to land a good hit around the head of the big thing, or to lop of one of the spindly limbs, but it was mostly fruitless. And I was getting really tried.

Eventually I realized that if I didn't finish this thing off soon, I was gonna be toast. So the next time I'd cleared away all the leeches, I charged at the head of the creature. It started to rear up, as usual, but I held one kama as if it were a pickaxe and stabbed it right into the thing's head. It started beating my lower half with it's limbs (I'd cut off all the pointed tips, but it could still swing those things with a lot of force and they hurt) as I shifted my free kama to hold it the same way as the other and started stabbing wildly at the thing's head.

I managed to jab out both eyes, mostly by accident, but by then the leeches had started swarming all over me, latching on any place they could. I didn't bother to deal with them, just kept bringing down my kama on this thing's head. It kept trying to rear up all the way and dislodge my other kama, but I held on grimly and tried to ignore the fact that my fingers were slipping. Eventually, one particularly forceful stab apparently pierced something vital, because the monster shuddered one last time and collapsed with a screech. A moment later, it and the leeches disintegrated into dust.

I staggered back, relieved. After that, all I wanted was to get out of here before another Scourge demon showed up. I started walking back to the window to the room, with had an old fire escape outside it. I figured it'd be the easiest way to get out without running into anything else.

I never got outside. My vision was swimming by the time I got to the wall. I slumped against it, sliding down into a sitting position. 'I better stop to catch my breath first,' I thought to myself weakly as my eyes drooped shut. The last thing I was aware of was a warm light glowing somewhere inside my head as I slipped into unconsciousness.

[Shadow Djinn]

Sorry for not posting again --- school decided to get at me once more.

I'll try to post more when I can, but for now I'll probably be slightly inactive again. For Angelic Forms do they need a highly distressing event or..?

[Mew Master]

Highly distressing and emotional disturbing event. Mostly...

[Crystal Tears]

Joey

You know, there is a very, very, very wide line in between sane and completely off their walker insane. And as Kiina and Leu flew over to where they all stood, Joey frowned, especially at Kiina.
Kiina had not only crossed the line, she had leapt clear over it.

As Joey gripped her pounding heart, she found that the snarl which was growing across her face was quite appropriate. Kiina and Leu were laughing like they had just seen the funniest thing in the world. And though a part of Joey wanted to laugh, the other, more dominant part of her wanted to rip off their wings and kick them both off. If they wanted to be insane and jump off of skyscrapers or god forbid, a plane… Then let them. But none of this scaring the crap out of the youngster of the group and then magically growing wings and then laughing at the entire predicament.

But as Kiina approached Joey, Joey fought the snarl and made it go away, and the suppressed the negative energy that wanted to kill Kiina.

“You okay?”

“Yep.” Joey smiled, giving a thumbs up that brought a smile to the girl’s face. “Just a bit… Shocked, is all.”

“I’m sorry I shocked you.”

‘I’m sorry I’m not ripping you limb from limb.’ Joey thought, though the warm smile on her face remained. “Oh,” She paused. “It’s okay.”

Joey then turned from the group, quickly putting on her trusty bandana, and then took a glance over her shoulder at her jacket that was fine. She then parted, giving everyone a quick wave, before walking towards the door that had let them up here. As she disappeared inside, Joey was reduced to staring angrily at her own shoes as she wander about, finally coming to an elevator.
The golden doors slid open, she allowed the people inside to get out first before she slipped in, and pressed the button to the bottom floor.

Halfway down, she screamed.

“I’m the one that Broken and she’s the one jumping off buildings and sprouting wings and green hair!?” Her own voice seemed to hit her hard as she reached into her pocket. A small pocket knife with the letters ISIB was pulled from it, and Joey smiled weakly. “I didn’t loose you in the fall.”

The door’s opened again, and Joey stepped into the lobby. She glanced behind to make sure no one in the group was following her, and then quickly made her way to the door.

“I need to relax…” She thought, glancing up to see if her friends had decided to fly. “And you guys, no offence, but are hard to relax around.”

Joey was defined to many as a Street Rat, not in a bad sense mind you, it was because she knew her away around. Her small frame let her fit almost anywhere and her fluctuating sense of right and wrong let her get along with anyone. She knew how to bargain, run, and now, she could fight. So as she slipped into an old house, she smiled lightly.

“So now, anyone who thinks they can rip me off…” She held her hand out, concentrating hard, she watched with a smirk as small orb of water hovered in front of her palm. It grew to the size of a basketball before she finally released the attack. It flew forward with such force that the air around it seemed to bend and ripple before it slammed into one of the walls of the place. “Will feel the wrath of Joey!” She laughed evilly in a childish manner.

As she slipped out the door again, she bolted, sprinting down the alleyways with a confident smile on her face.

The city was her play ground, and today was her day to have some fun.

Soon enough she was sitting opposite of a shady looking man, his chin was scruffy and he looked horribly sun-burned. Black glasses covered his probably dead beat eyes. His hand slid into his pocket and the revealed a large sum of money. Joey felt a grin grow across her face, glancing to the right, and then left, she pulled from the inside of her jacket, a small tube filled with a white substance.

“Have fun.” She beamed, snatching the money and handing over the tube.

“You haven’t been around here in while.” The man huffed, barely able to get to his own feet, he turned to Joey. “Why’s that?”

“There were some distractions.” Joey shrugged, turning from the man.

“Distractions?” He laughed. “Didn’t you see the news? You were on it because of your stunt in the road, and then again with a bunch of kids at the dojo.”

Joey swivelled around. “Your point being?”

“My point being, some of you’re… Costumers don’t let the attention you’ve been getting.” He snickered. “To suspicious…”

“Yes… Oh so suspicious.” She frowned. “A rather dangerous stunt in the street and a Dojo on fire; wow… Such a hint at my line of work...”

“I’m sorry.” He stated suddenly, Joey raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry?”

He gestured to behind her, and as Joey turned, her eyes widened.

Cops…

“Oh…” She gulped. She hastily turned to the man. “You are going to pay.”

He laughed at her, Joey narrowed her eyes. But at the police neared, she cringed and ran off, closely followed by two police officers.

‘Damn it, Damn it, Damn it…’ She thought, leaping clear over a couple of knocked down garbage cans. They were calling to her, telling her to stop. But her legs kept going, much like how they ran from the scourge, they were carrying her away from the men who would put her behind bars. Joey slowly darted to the left, disappearing into an old house that had plenty of places to hide.
She was watching them, her mind racing over her options, she could stay and hide, but they had seen her face, no doubt they would look through the files and find her, and then she’d be wanted. A wanted criminal, no… That couldn’t happen.

‘Maybe I could… No…’ She thought; her heart beginning to race at the idea. ‘That’s bad… Really, really bad…’ But as her mind went over the idea, there would be no way to link it to her other then the man… And he could be easily dealt with… Like them… ‘I’ll just knock them out…’

Quietly, she put her forward; the hole was just big enough for her hand to fit through without them noticing. Water suddenly appeared before the palm again, and once it was big enough, she closed her and let it go.

There was a loud crunching and snapping noise before a thump followed. She could hear the other man; he was saying a bunch of things, panicky, horribly things. Opening her eyes, she was thankful the body was out of her sight, and just as before she charged and fired another orb.

Another sickening chain of noises before the house fell silent.

‘Oh my god…’ Joey gulped. ‘They’re dead… No, just knocked out, water couldn’t possible kill…’

She inched forward on her knees, even as she escaped from her hiding spot in the wall, she still crawled forward. Her mouthing opening and throat forcing out a gagging noise as she sat there. The first officers’ body was blown open. His ribs were blow back and pieces of bone floated in the mess of blood and bodily fluid. Her stomach lurched again as she continued to stare, noticing that blood as sprayed from his mouth as well. His eyes were facing opposite directions as the hard concrete had come rather fast.
The other was different, the body twitched and withered before finally stopping. Joey stood up, horror on her face as she realized she had hit his head. The actual face was crushed inwards and splattered on the ground while the body was left without a skull. Blood pooled around the wounds and Joey clamped her hand over her mouth.

“Oh my god…” She whispered. “What have I done?”

But nothing answered her, and as she continued to stare, a fear gripped her heart, tightly. The silence was broken by the man, the man who had tricked her; he stood there, shocked as his eyes were focused on the bodies.

Joey didn’t give him time to reply, a ball of water slammed into her chest, forcing the corpse to the ground. She suppressed her own scream and dashed out of the house, making sure no one saw her.

‘I’m a murderer…’ She cringed, making her way through the streets, but where she was going… She had no idea. ‘I’m horrible, a murderer… Maybe the first two were accidental, but the third guy… I did it in cold blood, to shut him up…’ She paused; her heart was racing again, faster then when she had encounter the scourge, faster then when she had fallen.

“Ooh.. Kiina is going to kill me…” Ironic how murder would be resolved by murder... “They’re all going to kill me, all going to point and tell me I’m a horrible human being…”

She stopped suddenly, something in her told to halt, to wait… But why? There was nothing here, only buildings, only people, who had no idea what she had done. But her eyes set up a familiar building… Yes, it was the building they had all trained it, it had been the one which she fell through…
‘Why go there?’ She thought grimly, trudging up to the fence that kept the people out of it. ‘Last time I almost…’ The feeling got stronger, a cold feeling, like death, it was flying around her, and then felt as if it was going to be the building.

Finding a hole in the fence, Joey snuck through and was on the property again. She shivered as the feeling only seemed to get stronger, slowly she walked up the doorway, and a blast of cold air greeted her.

“Ok…” She murmured, cautiously stepping forward. It was odd following a feeling that felt as if it was going to kill you, but it didn’t feel directed at her either. It felt like a trail, left by some mysterious force that wanted someone to be found.
She inched past one group of scourge, and then went up another flight of stairs. Joey stopped dead, turning her head quickly; she spotted a girl, familiar, as she was one of those in the group. One particularly ugly scourge was crawling up to her, all four of its arms stretched out in a menacing fashion.

‘Attack…’ Joey thought, but didn’t wait to see if the girl would move, instead, she brought her hand back, summoning her mace again. With a quick flick of the wrist, the mace slammed into the scourge and then the wall, killing it instantly.

“Hey..” Joey called, as the mace disappeared. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer.

“Is she asleep?” She thought, though it was a dumb question. “What’s your name.. Aliana right?” Joey poked up lightly. It was then Joey noticed the wounds, blood was seeping from… Well what appeared it be anywhere possible. Joey blinked, taking out a handkerchief; she wiped the blood away and found a very curious wound.

It was round, it looked as if something had bit her, some cuts looked elongated, like she had been trying to pull or throw whatever it was off.

“Um… Wake up.” Joey panicked; she had had enough of dead people for a day. “Please?”

No answer.

‘Great, how do you make someone wake up?’ Joey pondered, she didn’t know anything that could heal, Aliana was the light girl right? Wasn’t she or Kiina the healer? ‘Can water heal?’

There was silence.

“DAMN IT, YOU ANSWER ME NOW!” Joey commanded, and suddenly she felt the cold feeling again.

’Water can’t be healing, it be pausing though.’

Joey growled in annoyance, just what the hell was that supposed to mean? Pause what? Hopefully the bleeding that was beginning to take its toll…
Concentrating, Joey held out her hand, four streams of water emerged from her shoulder, curling around her arms and then her fingers before slithering through the air to Aliana. One went down her throat, and the others split and went to the wounds. Joey looked at a wound on her arm closer, there was a shield around it, a bubble of water, forming temporary skin or veins or something. Either way the bleeding stopped.

“Right…” Joey muttered, attempting to lift the girl from her rather suicidal resting spot. Joey cringed and put her back down, she was heavy, well no… Probably not, but to Joey, everyone was heavy, her small frame tended to prohibit her from picking up anyone. She cringed, and a growling noise made her turn around.
A group of Scourge were crawling closer, and Joey knew she couldn’t fight them all off. She turned back to Aliana who was still in la la land.
“Um… Um…” Panick began to ensue, and though Joey wanted to use her technique that blew apart a building, she realized that with her comrade around, that probably wasn’t the most ideal thought at the moment. She turned to see one particularly large scourge leap at Aliana. Forgetting her own safety for a moment, she jumped in front of the scourge.

The cold feeling was washed away; Joey felt her body ripple, almost like water, light poured from the center of her chest while her nails grew long and curved. A shrieking pain came from her shoulders and then a very odd sensation of her have two extra limbs came to be. As the light faded, Joey’s hand shot out with wicked speed and caught the scourge in mid-air, by the throat.
Her talon-like nails cut into the dark flesh of the scourge, and she saw the others waver in their assault. With a sadistic smile on her face, she glared into the creatures black eyes.

“No.”

Her hand wrenched through the creature’s neck, ripping a chunk of flesh, dark blood, bone, and throat away. The creature gargled for a moment before shrivelling up on the floor and dying.
Joey caught a glimpse of herself in a puddle of water. Her hair had grown only a bit, and her highlights had turned a bright, electrifying blue. Her teeth had turned sharp, though the molars at the back seemed to stay the same. Her eyes were a deep cerulean, like the ocean with lilac outer ring. Her wings were rather large, and beautiful.
Her mind was back in the battle a moment later, she summoned her mace as she slammed a scourge with one of her wings, causing the demon to burst instantly.

More and more seemed to be pouring out of the doorway, quickly Joey grabbed her jacket (which had been thrown off by the wings), and tossed it on Aliana to keep her somewhat warm.

Joey then assumed a battle stance.

“Come on.”

~~

Um… tag?

[Drusilla]

*ish tagged*

Auril Haven
Cold was my soul
Untold was the pain
I faced when you left me
A rose in the rain

"Well, this is all very interesting..." I grumbled. Leu and Kiina had wings, Joey had run off in anger (though I couldn't blame her at all), and Ivan was just glaring, per usual. "Let's all just jump off of buildings, why don't we? Not like we're trying to avoid attention, after all. I mean, I don't think you could be arrested for flying over a busy street in the middle of the day, so let's just push our luck, how about that? Not to mention the panic that would probably ensue..." I shook my head angrily. My old foul temper flared to life within me, and icy irritation made my eyes glow slightly. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, swallowing the rage in me, burying it with everything else. Slight jealousy rose to take it's place; why was I always the one left behind? I hadn't had any special powers, other than my ability to become extremely cold, which was more of a hinderance than anything else. I was able to fight like a seasoned warrior, but without the extra 'magic', for lack of a better word, what use would I be against these supernatural enemies?

A pang in my heart startled me from my thoughts as adrenaline began to pump through my veins. I felt slight fear, surprise, worry... but there was no reason for it. Someone was in trouble, and I focused on that thread of panicked emotion...

"Aliana... Hey, Aliana's in trouble," I said suddenly, opening my eyes. Three skeptical looks fell upon me. "I know, when the hell did I suddenly become psychic, I don't get it either. Kind of like when the hell did these two have the potential for wings? God only knows, but we've got to help Aliana, and soon."

Will we get there in time? I asked Tisiphone.

Yes, but you must hurry.

I ran for the stairs down and hurried to the ground floor, made it to the entrance and burst onto the street, running towards the building we had trained in the previous night. I tried my best to not run anyone over, or get run over by traffic at the intersections, though there were several close calls. It never occured to me that, if I had been unconcious, I wouldn't know where the building was from Kiina's flat, but I seemed to know exactly how to get there, and I wasn't about to question it.

Cut down that alley.

Why? What for?

Don't question me, just do it..

I slipped into the alleyway, and cold fear clenched it's fist around my heart, though I knew this time that the fear was my own. I avoided alleys whenever I could, because they were definately not my friends. That night eight years ago was more than enough to persuade me of that. I pushed the fear back into it's little corner, forcing myself to take notice of the bright sunlight filtering down from between the buildings.

It's not the same alley... I am not dying... it's daylight... I am stronger than this now...

The sound of shredding cloth met my ears, and I stopped abruptly as two huge wings burst from my shoulderblades, long white feathers covering them except for the black edges and grey tips. Saving the word was rather hard on clothing, it seemed... More cloth teared as my legs lengthened and my body became more muscled all together. I was a rather lanky woman, so it wasn't really that much, but I was now taller, well-toned, and once again without a shirt. Shit.

I realised that my hair was thicker, and my skin tinged blue, and wondered... Then I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. I looked up at what little sky I could see from the two buildings on either side of me, and leapt, spreading my wings as I did so to help push off of the ground. It was a warm spring day, and the heat rising off of the cement and tar created massive, artificial thermals that I rode up into the sky, gracefully.

The wind rushed through my hair as I flew towards the building, my heart soaring with me. It was too warm for my tastes now, but the freedom I felt was well worth it. I hated that it was broad daylight, and that I was probably hard to miss, but I supposed it was only a matter of time until the world knew something of what was happening.

A hole in the wall gave me entrance to the ruined skyscraper, and I landed, wrapping my wings around my shoulders like a cloak. I saw no one, and could no longer feel Aliana, though there was someone else here. Angry, defiant... Joey. I followed the pull of her emotion to a lower level, avoiding contact with any Scourge nearby.

My sword had found its way to my hand, and I wasn't sure how; last I remembered having it was just before blacking out the previous night. From ahead, I could hear the sounds of battle, and it seemed that Joey was holding her own against her attackers. I couldn't hear Aliana, and worried that she was hurt, and badly.

I came upon a group of Scourge, and though I couldn't see her because of their height, I knew that they were surrounding Joey. They didn't see me, though...

"Welcome to Hell, motherfuckers!" I screamed, throwing my wings wide and pointing my sword at them. Massive shards of ice flew from my hands and wings, sinking deep into Scourge flesh with sickening sounds. I could almost feel their pain at the burning cold that froze their bodies from the pierced flesh outwards. I rushed in, blade swinging in wide archs, severing head and limb from the creatures as I worked in towards Joey and, I hoped, Aliana. The Scourge seemed stronger than they had been the last time, and I hoped that the others would come soon. If these were the small ones that lurked around every corner, I really hoped that we didn't run into any of the bigger ones...

I spared one glance at Joey, and saw that she, too, had become transformed. I could see Aliana out of the corner of my eye, and moved around to create an arch of protection with Joey, keeping the creatures at bay.

The smells of storm and forest reached me, and I knew that Leu and Kiina were here, somewhere. I hoped that Aliana could hold on a little longer...


*smacks random person* NEEEEXT?

[Mystic_clown]

Poe
----------------------
Shortly after Denny left, Joy had managed to get hold of some sugary snacks laying around his place. After consuming them and going on a ten minute sugar-high, the overly cheerful personality experienced a sugar crash and feel into a deep sleep.

A perfect oppertunity for another to take control.

And now, the body's intellectual personality, Poe, was calmly sitting at the kitchen table, quietly reading a book he had found. You wouldn't suspect he was an escaped mental patient with eight other personalities in his head.

Well, except for he fact he was holding the book with his feet. When you've had your arms restrained for that long, using your feet becomes a very powerful habit.

Then he felt it. Like a sharp pang in his heart.

He had no idea why, but he could sense it clearly.

One of the other chosen were in trouble.

He must have developed a link with them at some point.

He would have to worry about that later. For now, he had to help his comrades.

Putting the book down, he opened a nearby window and leaped out of it, taking off towards where he comrades were.

Sorry for the crapiness folks.

[Shadow Djinn]

So this 'event' is coming off a weird as hell dream I had a few nights ago -- it was really crazy when I was dreaming it (gramatically correct? >__>), but I'll try to make it sensible. D:

For the record, the rooftop is one of those flat ones you can walk on like a lot of buildings.

Kyoshiro Watanabi - Wind
-

The door widened with a grunt from the tenant of the apartment, scowling at the time -- 7:38, an unearthly hour for a college student who had just braved a copious amount of finals.

His eyes widened as they fell upon his younger brother, soccer uniform stained with black he-didn't-want-to-know-what, along with other things that contributed to his unsightly appearance. He had two swords hanging at his side in a casual fashion, a calm and tranquil look on his face.

" Hey," Kyoshiro said conversationally. " Sorry about last night, had some stuff to do."

When he was given no reply, the teenager shoved past his older brother and into the tiny apartment.

" So, Kevin," Kyoshiro continued. " How were the finals?" He leapt into the air, landing on the decrepit couch, immediately making himself comfortable and sighing with content. Kevin, still dazed from hours of studying, managed to stammer, " Swords..."

" Oh, yea," Kyoshiro noted, hands caressing the worn sheathes. " Found them in a garage sale on the way here. A bargain." Managing to recover now, Kevin put on a scowl, slamming the door shut.

" Where the hell were you?" He managed an angry tone, though in his mind he couldn't care less -- such measures were only taken to put on a good impression.

" Places. If you hear anything about a fire in a dojo, I didn't do it," the teenager said casually. " Anyway, I'm gonna go get my books and stuff. Seeya later -- or maybe in a few days. It depends really."

With that, the teenager rolled off the couch, a content look on his face as he went into the small, tiny room that he called his own, leaving his brother still glancing at the spot the boy had been sitting on, half wondering whether he should actually care that Kyoshiro had probably gotten himself into trouble once more, and half wondering if they had any Cheerios left.

-

As the door slammed shut behind him, Kyoshiro slung on his beaten backpack with a sigh, making sure once more that his swords were safely inside his backpack before starting off for school.

His eyes danced wildly about as he scanned for any possible remnants of the Scourge, a slight paranoia lingering in his mind as he paced along the street.

" What if they can disguise himself?" The chosen of Wind said to no one in particular. " What if they can be humans and stuff, but they can rip off their skin and deovur humans when no one's looking and then when someone turns around it's just some old granny whose pretending to be shocked that the hobo who was standing by her at the bus stop just dissapeared but appear too unimportant to have taken place in said disappearance and..."

The paranoia ridden boy paused in his tirade as a tiny Maltese crossed his path, pausing on one of the many well kept lawns, raising a hind leg with obvious intentions. Kyoshiro hastily stepped away.

" Are YOU one of them?" He growled critically.

The Maltese, having now finished his business, gazed at Kyoshiro with the typical look of any dog, knowing little of what was occuring around him, a happy expression on his face, tongue dropping, tail wagging. The Japanese boy scowled in return, realizing that he had just attempted to talk to a dog, and continued on down the road.

-

" And now, I'm late," Kyoshiro frowned as he glanced at his wristwatch, leaning against a traffic pole as cars buzzed around him.

" LET ME CROSS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" The boy finally roared in a fit of frustration -- he'd been waiting for at least several minutes now, watching the variety of cars buzz about with the freedom that he lacked.

Such venting was in the end not worth it -- as the sign finally yielded and granted them passage to the other side, several people gave him weird looks as they crossed, adding to Kyoshiro's discomfort.

" I should stop talking to myself," he muttered, lowering his head as he continued along his way.

-

" Late again?"

" My apologies, Mrs. Branden," Kyoshiro hastily said. " There was traffic and people were giving me weird looks and..."

As if they went through this everyday, Mrs. Branden sighed. " Well, if you're so determined to be late every single day (So far, Kyoshiro had managed to do just that..), you may go up to the rooftop to assist Mister Colins and his class with their project."

" Why?" The boy asked plainly, still standing in the doorway.

" Because," Mrs. Branden said critically. " We have a project due today, and I'm sure, given your appearence..." Wise eyes fell on the teenager, who still had a cut on his face from a bout with a particularly feisty Scourge the night before, and had thrown on a rumpled shirt.

" I am going to surmise that you do not possess said project, and our class time will be spent evaluating the dioramas, and thus your time should be put to good use." she finished.

" Oh," the boy suddenly realized, glancing at the dioramas that were scattered across the students' desks.

" Yea, um...you see. There was a dog, and -"

" No excuses. Go. You will most likely be early, but I assure you you will not have to wait long to serve your punishment."

" How considerate," the boy replied, voice tainted with sarcasm.

If Mrs. Branden noticed, she gave no indication of it, and simply waved him out of the door.

Pacing up the steps, Kyoshiro paused as he reached a landing, shivering as he felt an overwhelming tremor of energy...

Go on...

A cackle ripped through his mind, Kyoshiro cursed, stumbling in midstep as a hand flew to his head as if to still the hollow, sinister laughter that rippled throughout his person...

Balthus? Is that you...?

Keep going, child...

Kyoshiro paused at the last landing, gazing at the door to the roof, feeling a slight tingle of fear.

Balthus..?

After several moments of silence, the boy mustered up courage and dashed for the door.

KYOSHIRO! NO! It's a...

The boy halted as the door swung open to reveal a leathery skinned, two- legged demon that stood in the middle of the rooftop, stretching two feathery wings, beady eyes eyeing Kyoshiro with malicious intentions. His exposed chest bulged with muscle, clawed hands gleaming in the sunlight. Feathers adorned his legs from the knee down, leading to glimmering talons for feet. Raven black hair cascaded down his muscled back, adding to the sinister aura that the demon emitted.

" ..Trap." Kyoshiro finished dully, dropping his backpack.

" Foolish boy," the Scourge laughed deeply.

" You can talk," the Chosen of Wind muttered in a puzzled tone, digging out his swords from his backpack and slinging the sheathes to his pants. His hands danced across the pommels hesitantly.

" Of course," the demon laughed. " Another chosen will fall today. It shall be glorious."

" And whose that?" Kyoshiro gave his backpack a steady kick -- it slid out of the doorway and onto the actual roof. He unsheathed one blade, cautiously stepping forward.

Run. He is much too strong...

I'm not running.

RUN!

" So, you have a name?" Kyoshiro continued, glancing at the unsightly beast.

The demon chuckled. " The name Garuda always has seemed to fit me. While I am not a god, he and I are both alike -- we are lovers of the sky, with magnificent wings..."

" And you are not so different," the hellspawn finished.

" What do you mean?" Kyoshiro scowled.

" I mean you are one of the Wind. A child of the sky. Aloof, distant, everchanging..."

" You don't know me," the boy frowned in response. At this the winged demon simply shurgged, fondling one of his clawed hands.

" Well then," Kyoshiro said plainly, regaining composure. " I guess I kill you now."

" Oh?" The demon rose an eyebrow, chuckling. " Might as well learn something before you die, no?"

The air seemed to hiss about Kyoshiro -- for a second, everything seemed to be frozen in time...

A cry of pain was ripped from the boy, who stumbled forward as a lightning quick force ripped into his side, the violet demon materializing on one of the tall towers that were stationed on the building, blood staining one of his hands.

" How..?" The boy managed, raising his sword.

The demon laughed. " Lovers of the sky must know how to control it as well."

Scowling, Kyoshiro unsheathed his other sword, feeling his own aura hum around him as he tapped into the wind...

" GALE TEMPO!"

Twin saucers of hissing air danced forward with speed equal to the demon, ripping into his muscled chest. The hellspawn cursed as blood flew, but managed to stay on his feet, ripping away the roof of the tower with a slice of his claws and rising into the air with a beat of his wings.

Run, Kyoshiro. You cannot beat this demon. He has an advantage you do not possess..

Wings aren't that big of an advantage, Kyoshiro responded with determination.

You're not ready...

I'll be damned if I'm not. Now shut up and let me do this.

The teenager took a deep breath, readying both of his swords once more for another spell, but stumbled once more as he was slammed into the ground, buffeted by an invisible force, seeing only a shimmer of violet.

The demon reappeared back in the air, sneering at his unlikely opponent.

" Fool. Run now, and I'll let you live."

" I'm done with running," Kyoshiro spat, rising to his feet.

" Oh?" The demon scoffed. " It's unlikely that a boy like you could possibly defeat me."

" I'm a chosen," Kyoshiro frowned. " Aren't you guys supposed to be like..scared of us?"

" Scared of some teenage punk that can't even use his weapons right?" The winged figure sneered, turning a somersault in midair. " I doubt it."

" I'll have you know I'm rather skilled." Kyoshiro said indignantly.

" I doubt that as well," Kyoshiro's opponent sneered. The wind buzzed about them once more, Kyoshiro's eyes widened as the image of the demon distorted into streaks...

Instinctively he stabbed forward, hearing a startled shout.

The demon's form regained clarity as he stumbled back, ichor dripping from a wound on his arm, scowling at the bloodstained sword.

Kyoshiro grinned, darting forward as he raised one of his short swords in an overhand slash, thrusting forward with the other.

They were met with iron hard resistance as the demon's clawed hands shot forward and grasped the cold metal, ignoring the fact that they were slicing into his flesh.

" You're gonna hurt yourself," Kyoshiro noted calmly.

" It's worth doing this," the demon snarled in response, twisting with his hands with a cry of triumph.

A resounding crack was expected by both parties, but all that happened was that the demon scowled in pain, gliding back as the serrated edges dug into his skin even harder, staining the steel with another shower of ichor.

" Unbreakable?" Kyoshiro commented, stepping back.

Somewhat.

Nice.

The teenager steeled his resolve, rushing forward as the demon reeled about for another strike, only to fall once more as the enraged attacker kicked up a powerful gust of wind with his wings, sending the boy skidding along the floor.

" You may have unbreakable swords and stunning inuition," the winged beast cried. " But you lack experience. A chosen of Wind is the weakest of them all," the demon laughed coldly. Kyoshiro could still feel the air swirling about him, attempting to calm the winds, but to no avail.

Balthus.

Yes?

Are you sure I can't beat him?

Kyoshiro felt the lack of response unnerving, dropping to a crouch as the winds picked up, gritting his teeth as he attempted to remain still...

...He is strong.

I gathered that.

You have a small chance. I am sorry.

The slight fear that stabbed at Kyoshiro's mind grew as he rose, attempting to create reassurances as he steadied his swords, though they were of little help.

" This is a waste of my time," the winged demon finally scowled. His image distorted once more -- Kyoshiro attempted to raise his swords, but was suddenly thrown into the air with a howl of surprise, feeling the wind swirling around him as he plummeted downward..

I'm gonna die..

" Heh," Kyoshiro grinned as he continued his descent. His hair whipped about him as he closed his eyes, stretching his arms outward.

" I guess Wind really IS the weakest," he said despondently.

No.

The steely voice that was Balthus resounded throughout his mind, despite the howling winds, seemingly echoing throughout his conscience...

That one word...

A surge of renewed confidence powered Kyoshiro's body -- he gave a cry of defiance as he felt something ripping out of his back, suddenly halting his descent as he soared upward, emerald streams of light trailing behind him...

Wings?

Kyoshiro glanced at his back, seeing only the shimmering form of two leathery, streamlined wings, managing a grin as he continued his ascent.

Wings. Balthus chuckled. You have potential.

" How?" The demon cried, rising into the air. Kyoshiro grinned again, halting in midair, wings beating steadily.

" I'm a chosen of the Wind."

" Bastard." The demon howled. " I defy your kind!"

The violet beast tore forward -- though this time Kyoshiro easily strafed to the side, using the opening to soar forward in a speed that surpassed his adversary, swords glowing with emerald force as he twirled upward, energy surging through his arms...

" HURRICANE CRESCENDO!"

Both blades bit into the demon's exposed back, jade strands of energy ripping through the hellmonger as a mini hurricane shot out of the beast's chest, tinged by emerald light, ichor showering the streets below...

The beast twitched as Kyoshiro retracted his swords, gliding backwards slightly, eyes glancing at the hole that had ripped through the demon, who was now fading from this realm, the remnants of his body disfigured, his face contorted in true rage, three words echoing throughout Barthomolew as the Scourge dissapeared.

" I DEFY YOU!"

[Mew Master]

To go in with the feeling of the Chosen (seriously, I didn't have a term for them... anyone have any better ideas other than Chosen of the Beasts? If not it still works.. anyway) to go with them having some sort of psychic link to each other that tells them relative position, and an idea of thier state of health, I think I came up with a reason why. For the reason... let's go to Kíashkiklah, floating somewhere in a region of Denny's Psyché ... >->

And Yes... this is in character.

3rd Person
---------------------------

He didn’t know how long he had been like that. Years, decades, eons? He wasn’t sure. The passage of time meant little when your essence floated between those you chose as time went on. He wasn’t sure what year it was, what time of day. All feeling had faded from his being and he was both spiteful and grateful.

Death is a hard thing to understand. Humans fear death because their lives are short and chaotic, he never feared death because his life had been a long one and he had seen many die as he continued to live.

The life of a Dragon is a long one, nearly immortal. Well, at full strength he had been immortal. So had the others. But they all had willingly sacrificed their power to seal away the Scourge so many years ago. Losing their immortality and their power. However, immortality takes on different forms.

While pain reminds those that they are alive, no pain, no feeling, is purgatory. An everlasting sense of nothingness can drive even the stoutest of minds insane.

This was how Kíashkiklah felt right now.

He was suspended. Between death and life in limbo within the soul of the person he had chosen. The only feelings he had were of his power coursing through him as his Chosen called upon the Dragon’s power.

Alone physically, he was never alone mentally. Yes, he shared a link with his Chosen’s mind, and could hear his thoughts and feelings. Most of the time his Chosen’s thoughts were filled with boredom or strange concepts of art, drawing and a practice he called “gamming.” He also shared a link with the others. Their combined magick had sealed the Scourge away, and in that sacrifice allowed them to communicate with each other as if they were in the same place on the same plane.

Kíashkiklah floated, his wings spread, but not moving. His legs hang limp but poised, and his neck curled so that his head was pointed down at a low angle. He could feel the other Chosen becoming stronger more quickly.

Too quickly.. He thought.

“Kíashkiklah,” came a female voice, and the Dragon’s eyes snapped open. His neck arched as he focused on someone coming through the blur and haze of his own prison.

It was Tisiphone, the Fury. The caller of Ice and storms.

“Kíashkiklah,” she said again. “Why do you not speak to your Chosen?”

The Dragon snorted as he floated down and placed his feet on an invisible platform.

“His heart,” he started. “His heart is large, and his anger is small. I can tell his life is chaos, I do not wish to complicate his life further than it is.”

“Do you not help him when he is in danger?” came another voice. The Dragon and Fury turned, and there was Daithi, the Hippogriff of Lightning.

“He must prove himself master of the spells he knows so far…”

The other Beasts were gathering, if only temporarily because of their confined status and their link to their own Chosen.

“We have to help the Chosen, we know this,” Balthus stated.

“They are growing in power too quickly.” The Dragon retorted. “How can you expect them to use their new abilities when the ones we granted them to start with are still un-mastered?”

“What would you have us do Fire Dragon? Let our Chosen die?” Tyn scowled at the larger Dragon.

To that, Kíashkiklah didn’t have an answer.

“The Chosen are growing in power, yes,” said a small Avistel. “But the Scourge will grow stronger still. We must give them what little power we can.”

“Our powers are limited,” said one head of the Hydra.

“In our current state,” another head added.

“We can only give what they need, not what they desire.” A third head spoke.

“This from those who haven’t revealed themselves yet.” The Fire Dragon looked at the Hydra and Avistel. “I have my reservations with how you are handling your Chosen. But they are yours to teach and lead, not mine so I will not convince you otherwise. You have your reservations with how I lead mine. He has a large heart, despite his past. Such a large heart may prove his downfall…”

The other Beasts were silent.

“You know my tale, why I am called the Dragon of Blood. I nearly ended the world due to my rashness in the past, and doomed us to this purgatory as a result.” His eyes narrowed in determination. “I will not make the same rash decision again. Denny must prove himself to me before he gains more access to my power. Such is my choice, and you cannot persuade me any more than I can you.”

Kíashkiklah turned and floated away. “Go, you have your Chosen to watch over.” The other Beasts faded away, their presence there only an image projected to Kíashkiklah. He closed his eyes and waited. Denny’s thoughts and feelings were shared with the Dragon of Blood, and the Dragon would know when his Chosen was ready to gain more power.

“But not yet, and not now.”

------------------------------

OW! I said TAG, not slap...

*chucks randomly sharp objects at random ppl* Whoever gets hit with the needle... YER IT!!!
Later!

[Shadow Djinn]

Just popping in to ask a few things:

1) What do we do after Angelic Forms? Should we rendevouz (sp? >_>) once more or..?
2) For the two new spells, is it for use in normal form or Angelic? I'll PM a rough set of human ones to you in a bit.

[Weasel Overlord]

ARGH! NOO! Not the needles!! *cries* In revenge..this post is short and crap. So there. *sticks out tongue*

-----*-----

--* Hippogriff // Leucetius Daithi Íomhar // Lightning *--

Leucetius was enthralled with his wings. They were a beautiful slatey grey, and shot through with bright yellow veins which reminded him of that feeling you get just before a storm, when the sky’s all overcast and dim, and there’s electric in the air.

He just sat and gazed at them for a good ten minutes before receiving a good, hard poke in the back from Kiina.

“Oi daydreamer. I said do you want anything to eat?”

“Huh? Oh, no ta Kiina. I’m good.” She tutted to herself and wandered back into the kitchen, presumably to make herself something; but Leu had turned his attentions back to his wings and his new, taller self.

He smiled wryly at the method he’d had to employ to find out about this new power. Daithi had merely thought that maybe Leu would like to go up on the roof. Maybe he’d like some fresh air? Perhaps? And Leucetius had gone, and then they’d fallen, and then there were his wings! And flying! And oh, but it was exhilarating.

Leu could not wait to fly again, in fact. He longed to test out his wings; to see how far and how high he could fly, and for how long.

And so he could not help but be pleased and slightly smug when Auril mentioned that Aliana was in trouble, and hared off down the stairs. He glanced at Kiina, who looked worried, and then at Ivan, who looked grumpy, tired, angry and resigned all at once, before dashing off to retrieve his longbow from its resting place in the hatstand.

Clutching the bow, he grinned roguishly at Kiina.

“I’m off via the roof! Wanna come?!” Kiina grimaced momentarily.

“But what about Ivan?” She whispered. “He doesn’t have wings yet…” He scowled, clearly able to hear Kiina talking about him.

“I’ll walk.” He stomped off, slamming the door and Kiina shot a worried glance at Leucetius before following Ivan out of the flat.

“Oh well great!” Leu called after the pair. “It’s ok, I’ll find my own way there!” He grumbled to himself all the way up to the roof before his wings spread and caught an updraft without him realising, knocking him off his feet and lifting him into the air, a surprised look on his face.

Flapping to hover, Leu spotted Kiina and Ivan, and swooped further down to catch up with them. He reached around for an arrow and drew his longbow as he followed Ivan and Kiina. Nocking the arrow, he sighted down the shaft and smiled grimly as a Scourge came into view. Setting his sights, he loosed the arrow, just as the creature was about to ambush Kiina and Ivan. The speeding arrow made a strange, rumbling sound as it flew through the air, landing with a soft thump and then a deafening crash like a peal of thunder right in the Scourge’s left eye. It shrieked in pain, attention momentarily removed from the two runners as they skidded to a stop right in front of it.

“Take that, scum!” Leu shouted, exhilarated by the combination of flight and adrenaline from fighting the Scourge. The beast roared out its challenge and Leu swooped in for a more graceful landing than his previous one, a second arrow nocked in an instant.

He sighted once more, touching Daithi in the back of his mind as he breathed in, and then out again as he released the arrow to fly true, straight into one of the lop-sided shoulders. He saw Kiina and Ivan square up out of the corner of his eye, and then he was lost in adrenaline, as Daithi’s vengeful spirit took over, leaving Leu’s body crackling with pent-up lightning energy.

TAGTAGTAG! WITH A RAG! HAHA! ...it's 4.18am...whaddya want from me!? SANITY!?

[Mew Master]

Shadow: The spells can be used in any form. What you guys want to do after your Angelic forms unlock is completely up to you.. ^^

This reminds me to finish up Denny's Story Arc... I'll work on that in the morning.

<-<UU

[Shadow Djinn]

Ah, okay. If you haven't looked at the PM's yet, looking at the 2nd would work just fine.

[Blademaster]

EDIT: Removed.

[Weasel Overlord]

Er what?? In your last post, you were with Leu, Auril and Kiina...so like, when did you suddenly not be with them??

And was that last comment addressed to me too? He said one thing in my entire post...how was it ooc?? sorry if I sound peeved, I'm angry cos my FFXI won't work on the shitty university network, but seriously...what!?

[Mew Master]

I agree with Weasie on this one Blade. Take a Flintstones and chill.

I understand that miss-handling of other characters is annoying, but you don't have to sound like an @$$ about it. *sigh* And I'm trying not to sound like a tight-wad... dunno if it's working.

Oh yes... and by the way...

Congratulations to all of you who won in the RPG Awards, I'll post a Recap of the events in here later tonight with my plot-advancing post. O.o

Also, double check the very first post of this Topic. I added a little bit more about current characters, their unlocked forms, and their spells. I'll also put up important NPCs that the characters can interact besides just Random NPC #42... who does seem to know everything.. *dice gods are funny that way*

And I will be posting Leu and Diathi... (sorry Weasie... I can't spell it to save my life ^^U)

Till then... Later!

[Blademaster]

I'm sorry, Weasie... I've been in a poor mood lately, as you guys may have noticed. My money is on cabin fever from not being able to go out at all... And the schoolwork I'm lagging behind in that's piling up doesn't help matters any.

But what I am sticking by is that I have my own ideas about what I wanna do from here, and they don't involve Ivan following Leu, Kiina, and Auril around right now. Yes, they were all together in my last post; my last post was, in RPG time, awhile ago. A lot has happened since then; I have something that I wanna do separate from the rest of the group, OK?

[Mew Master]

3rd Person
-----------------------------

The police chief wasn’t happy. In the last day she had gotten calls about monsters appearing and attacking people. However when her officers arrived, there was nothing. Nothing except a few disemboweled bodies and blood. Lots of blood. In all her years on the force she had never seen anything like it.

The bodies were ravaged, shredded, torn apart. They seemed to mimic animal attacks, but no animal could have killed three people within minutes. Something strange was going on in her city. And she hated the strange.

Yesterday was the worst part.

The dojo had blown up. Or rather, to put it in more documental terms: A faulty gas line under the building had ruptured and caught fire, causing a section of the large building to be shut down and repaired from the ground up. That was the report she had been given, but she asked the men that were there what they had seen.

The officers had arrested several young men and women at the scene, witnesses reporting that they were running around and flailing their weapons as plants seemed to die around them. However further investigation led to the gas-line explanation as no one could state that they had seen the young adults do anything remotely suspicious.

“Damnit,” the Latino police chief muttered. She stood and headed for the door to her office. She opened it and looked for another officer. “Swanson,”

“Yeah chief?”

“Get a hold of Nelson and tell him I want him here an hour ago!”

“I’m right here Chief.” Came a voice from behind her.

She spun, and there stood a tall thin man in a black leather jacket. He was leaning against the wall, long black bangs hung in front of his face, nearly hiding his bright green eyes. His hair was long and black, tied back into a tail that stopped at his mid-back, and a pair of black denim jeans around his legs and black leather boots on his feet. Vincent Nelson’s entire attire was black, which made him stand out in the day, but allowed him more freedom at night. He held a cigarette in his mouth, the smoke trail hovering in the area around him.

“Damnit Nelson. How the hell do you do that?” she barked, mostly out of shock than anger.

“Trade secret. So what’s going on?”

“I was hoping you’d be able to tell us that. You are our on-call physic after all.”

Vincent’s eyebrows twitched. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t belittle my profession like that.”

Vincent Nelson was a private investigator. Due to his abilities, he has been on call with the Bartholomew police on more than one occasion. He was a damned good detective, even if everyone thought his psychic abilities were a sham. Vincent made his craft as a Paranormal Private Investigator, and his own business kept him busy. However he also kept on tabs with the police department, even though few officers ever took him seriously. The Chief was one of those officers.

Vincent stood in chief Sancho’s office as he heard her explain.

“So far we have several murders that have nothing related. Except with the ferocity and rage that ravaged the victims bodies. Each set of bodies were blocks apart and the phone calls that tipped us off were off by minutes.”

He scanned over the images, his photographic memory burning into his mind each gory detail.

“Actually, I’ve gotten a few calls as well,” Vincent stated. “They claim monsters were appearing out of rips through buildings and trashcans before they attacked whatever came within reach.”

“Do you believe them?” she asked, eyeing him cautiously.

“I have to,” he put the photos on her desk. “Any suspects? Or are we clueless as usual?”

Sancho scowled at him. “We don’t have much.”

Vincent thought for a moment. “What about the kids that were grabbed at the Dojo?”

“They were innocent, and I doubt that they’d have anything to do with this.”

“You never know. Anything odd happening yesterday is of interest. I’ll need those files and the records… If you want me on this.”

The police chief sighed and rubbed her temples. “Yes Vincent, we want you on this. Go to the archives and get the records.”

“Thanks Chief, I’ll report back within a week if I find anything.”

“I expect to hear back from you in two days Nelson.”

“Hey, that’s a week.” He said as he left the room and headed for the police archives.

* * *

It had been a few hours and Vincent already had all the information he needed. The kids that the officers had grabbed yesterday were an odd-ball bunch. Some where college students, others were still high-school age. Vincent needed more information, so he decided to find one of them.

His trek hadn’t been fruitful, but he did manage to find one of them.

One Denny Roth.

Nelson dug up what he could on the young man before hunting him down on the college grounds. He was 22, tall, practiced a martial art, hung out with his friends and played games, got average scores in school, moved around a lot. Most of his background check came up normal, nothing too much out of the ordinary.

He followed the young man after Denny’s last class was out for the day. Shadowing others was an art that Vincent had to master carefully, or let his quarry get away too fast. Luckily for him Denny wasn’t moving too fast, however he did seem a bit jittery. Vincent watched as Denny glanced down every alley way and street that he came across.

Is he nervous? No… he’s looking for something… Vincent continued to watch Denny, almost convinced that his eyes were playing tricks on him. The young man seemed to have a flaming aura around him, and Vincent wasn’t sure why.

A scream caught his attention and both Vincent and Denny looked at the direction it came from. Running out from a book store was a group of people, fear and terror in their eyes.

“Damnit!” Denny shouted before running through the crowd and into the building.

“The hell?” And Vincent followed suit.

----------------------

Well! Now it begins... again! No, Denny's Angelic form isn't going to unlock, but we will eventually have a new ally to count on.

Also! On to the RPG Awards!

Winners!

Best All Round RPer: Weasel Overlord
Best RPG Creator (tieing with Bulbasaur4): Mew Master
Best Plotter: Crystal Tears
Most Dedicated: Blademaster
Best Writer (tieing with Emotional Faun Chiko-sai): Weasel Overlord
Most Enjoyable Writing Style: Weasel Overlord
Funniest Rper: Blademaster
Most Improved: Blademaster
Best RPG of Winter 06: The Scourge
Best Non-PKMN RPG: The Scourge
Best All Round Character: Denny Roth (Mew Master)
Best Looking Character (tieing with Kiyoshi Sohma, Fruits Basket (Vulpix.ck)): Tyn the Wyvern, The Scourge (Crystal Tears)
Most Original Character: Angelo Weiss, The Scourge (Mystic_Clown)
Friendliest Character: Kiina Prattle, The Scourge (River)
Most Agressive Character: Ivan Faust, The Scourge (Blademaster)
Most Tortured Character: Ivan Faust, The Scourge (Blademaster)
Funniest Character: Leucetius Daithi Íomhar, The Scourge (Weasel Overlord)
Most memorable moment: Joey Ip, The Scourge (Crystal Tears)
Saddest Moment: Kiina Prattle, The Scourge (River)
Funniest Moment: Kiyoshiro Watanabi, The Scourge (Shadow Djinn)
Most Wanted Soundtrack: The Scourge

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand.... the best part of all...

Best RPG in the History of TPM: Chains of Dragons! ^^

Congratulations everyone! Bathe in your victory!

Later!

[Mew Trainer Rose]

Well, I'm back from vacation, and sitting in my dorm waiting for the semester to start. What better way to use my time than to post? (Aside from playing video games for hours on end, which I've done for a while.)

Funny that Kíashkiklah should mention that the Avistel hasn't revealed herself yet; I've arranged for Aliana to have a nice period of unconsciousness.

And as for a different name besides The Chosen, if you didn't have a term in mind, then perhaps neither did the beasts. In which case, why not use the tern that the beasts’ people have decided to call themselves? Which makes me wonder; if there is a different city that's also being besieged by the Scourge, and also defended by a group of chosen people, would they come up with a different name for themselves? And if so, what would happen if the other group met our group? *Ponders with a curious expression on her face.* Anywho, on to the post.

Aliana - Light
~~~~~~~~~

I found myself in some sort of open field. So open, in fact, that I couldn't see anything around but grass and a few assorted flowers; no trees or hills, not even a stream. There was only the ground and the solid blue sky. Which seemed to lack a sun. Yet the entire area was bathed with a clear, bright light that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

As I looked around, trying to figure out where I was and how I’d gotten there, I noticed an odd figure in the distance. At first glance it looked like some kind of odd bird with giant wings, and it was flying in a series of playful swoops and loops that somehow managed to carry it towards me at a fast pace. As it got closer, I noticed that the creature’s body was the wrong shape for a bird, and was in fact furred. Soon enough, after one last lazy swoop, which nonetheless managed to carry it several yards in the blink of an eye, the creature stopped and hovered in front of me, allowing me to get a good look.

The creature generally resembled a large weasel (so large that it was roughly cat-sized), though the head looked vaguely vulpine, with a pair of incredibly large wings. Its fur and feathers were crimson and gold, with a brown ferret-like mask around the eyes. It took me a minute to figure out what the creature was.

“Hey, you’re an avistel, right? I saw a picture on the internet once…”

The avistel nodded, then said, “And as you’ve probably guessed, I’m the one who’s been aiding you” in a voice that was clearly feminine.

I looked at her for a moment, not sure what to say. Then the avistel said, “I know you’ve been wondering why I haven’t spoken to you yet. I wanted to see if you were truly committed to this task.”

I blinked, surprised. “Task? Oh, do you mean fighting the Scourge? Of course I’ll fight them. I have to, don’t I?”

“There’s always a choice,” the avistel replied. “You could have chosen to ignore the Scourge from the beginning, before you even knew what they were.” She paused then asked, “Why did you chose to go out and fight the Scourge just now?”

It took me a moment to sort out the reasons. “Well for one I needed to train. We’re going to be doing a lot of fighting, and I could use the practice. Although I don’t think this fight was much help,” I added, a bit embarrassed that I’d basically resorted to flailing wildly to finish the thing off. “And sitting in my room all day wouldn’t have done any good, anyway. Besides, the more of those things we take out, the better.”

“And why did you fight them before that?” asked the avistel.

This one took longer to answer, and I sort of thought out loud to sort out what I’d done. “Well, I ran from the first portal,” I muttered, “then ran into the Scourge at the dojo because I was looking for someone else who might know what was going on. And then when Sean suggested training I just sort of went along with that because it sounded like a good idea…” A thought occurred, and I looked straight at the avistel and asked, “So the point you’re getting at is that before this I hadn’t really chosen to fight then, just kind of went along with was going on?”

“Something like that,” she replied. “I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t make the same mistake I did.”

“…Wait, what?” I said, confused. “What do you mean, avis – er…” It occurred to me I didn’t know her name. “Um, by the way, do you have a name?”

She chuckled. “Call me Temira.”

“OK, then, Temira. Anyway, what mistake?”

She sighed then swooped behind me. I turned to see her land on the branch of a white-barked tree that apparently had been behind me. I noted that the tree didn’t seem to have any shadows as Temira folded her wings and settled herself on the branch, which was about eye-level with me.

“When the Scourge first appeared, I was slow to join the fight. I used to tell myself that I just didn’t want any part in the battle. But, like you, I really had no ambitions to be part of anything.” She rolled over on her back and added, “I led a far too carefree life.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it as I reflected on my life. I’d gone to college because it was the thing to do after high school nowadays, and I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do for a job yet. I hadn’t chosen a major yet, even though I was about halfway through college. I had no real ambitions to speak of, career or otherwise. There was no argument I could make.

Temira nodded as if she heard my thoughts and was confirming them. “Hopefully we’ll both make better choices this time around,” she said, rolling upright again. “I’ll be lending you more of my power as the need arises.” She paused, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Speaking of which…” she muttered, then said, “I think now is a good time to rejoin your friends. But first, I believe you need this.” With that she spread her wings wide and began to glow with a bright light. The light enveloped me until it was all that I could see…

And when it began to fade, I was back in the old building, and the light was fading from around my own body. My wounds had healed, and I was no longer exhausted. But I was more surprised by the fact that several of the other Chosen were not only in the room fighting, but had sprouted wings, as well as developed a few other small features. I gaped in surprise, then hurriedly stood up to join them. As I rushed at the closest Scourge, I thought to Temira, ‘I suppose I can expect something like that eventually, then?’ A silent chuckle was the only response.

-------------

Congrats to everyone who won stuff in the RPG awards, and especially to The Scourge for taking the awards by storm!

And an absense of congratulations to myself for winning nothing! *Does the "I lose" dance.*

[Blademaster]

I won Most Dedicated, Most Improved, and Funniest... Yay, me! (sniff)

And Ivan, you won Most Aggressive and Most Tortured! Congratulations!

...

Right, anyway... I was gonna post the whole battle, but I'm too tired now, and the RPG is moving right along, so... Here's what I've got.

-----------------------------

Ivan

Ivan walked down the street stoically, hands in his pockets as he pondered the situation at hand. Not less than a half hour ago, Leu and Kiina had somehow sprouted wings and flown off a building before his eyes. And Joey and Auril seemed very irritated by this fact.

'They don't want for us to attract any unwanted attention.' he thought as he walked. 'Yes, I'm sure... If I had to guess, I'd surmise they're more jealous than anything else. I could see it on their faces...'

Ivan turned around the next corner. Where he was going, he didn't know. All he knew was that he needed some time alone. He needed all the other so-called 'Chosens' alive to maximize his chances of defeating The Scourge, and he was getting dangerously close to killing a few of them himself back at the apartment.

'Perhaps I should be thankful above all else that Denny and Kyoshiro didn't accompany us yesterday.' Ivan thought. 'If I had to contend with either of them for that long, they wouldn't ha-'

"Ivan..."

Ivan didn't stop walking.

"Ivan!"

Ivan sighed.

'What do you want now?' he thought, recognizing Zandios' deep, powerful voice.

"The Scourge are beginning to spread, Ivan. Can you not sense it? First they attacked at the lake, then the Dojo, then at the ruins of that skyscraper, and now I can sense a particularly powerful one attacking at the school."

Ivan narrowed his eyes.

'So what?' he thought sarcastically.

Zandios sighed.

"The Scourge are spreading more rapidly than we first expected, Ivan - you must lend your assistance, as well. The Scourge have tricked your friends into gathering at the skyscraper. That means the Chosens' forces throughout the rest of the city are virtually non-existant."

'Perfect.' Ivan thought. 'So those imbeciles have all gathered where the weaker Scourge are situated, leaving the stronger ones plenty of other locations to ravage without any resistance. Is that what you're telling me?'

"In a sense, yes. They're expecting you to meet them; Auril believes you're already there."

Ivan paused.

'Well, I am not.' he replied flatly.

"I know that, Ivan; unfortunately, she does not. Not all of the Scourge are mindless demons - some of them are quite skilled in the darker arts of elemental magic. The one attacking the school right now, for instance, is a Scourge of Wind, much as Kyoshiro is the Chosen of Wind. In a similar sense, you are the Chosen of Darkness. And what Auril senses..."

'...Is a Scourge of Darkness.' Ivan finished for the chimera.

"Yes, exactly. Auril, Joey, and Aliana are all together - they should be able to handle the Scourge there on their own. But right now, there are other demons spread across the city, some much more powerful than the others. Our primary focus right now should be to dispose of them as quickly as possible."

'Alright.' Ivan thought. 'Where are these more powerful demons?'

"I cannot pinpoint exactly where, but I sense a great dark presence due south of here. It may be dange-"

Ivan paid no further attention - he turned in the direction he knew was south and raced off, a renewed look of determination on his face.

---------------------------------------------------------

Two minutes later, Ivan had arrived at the end of the street he'd been running down, coming to a stop in front of an old warehouse. Ivan walked up to the door, which was slightly ajar.

'Well, this doesn't seem at all suspicious.' Ivan thought, rolling his eyes. He took a step back...

And then, he kicked the door open the rest of the way, sending it slamming into the opposite side of the wall hard enough for the knob to punch a hole clean through it.

Dispensing with any hesitation or formalities, Ivan rushed into the dimly-lit warehouse, which was lined with large crates and dusty, cobweb-encrusted machines. Ivan didn't know who had ever worked here, or what they had done, but it was obvious that they hadn't been doing it for quite a long time...

"Alright." Ivan said, drawing his sword. "I'm here. And I know you are as well, Scourge. So come out and face me."

Everything was silent for a moment, but then, a high-pitched, raspy chuckle reached Ivan's ears.

"So," a voice sounding something like a pro wrestler who'd swallowed barbed wire said mockingly, "you can see me, then? Good, good - I was beginning to get bored."

A gruff, thudding sound accompanied by what sounded like chains rattling echoed across the warehouse, then another, and another, and another, each one louder than the last. Ivan's eyes darted from side to side; he turned around, then back. The noise was getting louder - closer - but he still couldn't see what was causing it. The noise grew louder... louder... louder... Then, it stopped.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAK.......

Ivan's eyes widened in realization; he looked up...

And then, almost involuntarily, he dove forward, somersaulting across the bare warehouse floor several times as a massive form crashed down behind him. He sprang up to his feet and spun around, sword raised as the massive monster before him rose to its feet and stared Ivan down...

The Scourge before Ivan now was not as frightening as the others had been, but it did appear far more formidable - a golem, in fact. A full nine feet tall, the demon stood on short legs as thick as small tree trunks, which supported an apelike body that was bulging with layer after layer of vein-laden muscle. Its massive arms stretched a good 4 feet in length and ended in humanoid, four-fingered hands, complete with dirty black nails, and its head was the size of a basketball and somewhat triangular in shape, with a wide, fang-lined lower jaw, a flat nose, and beady black eyes with fiery white pupils. Its broad, pointed ears twitched and pulsed with disgusting black veins that stood out against the dim light in gruesome detail.

None of this was too surprising to Ivan, however - what caught him off-guard was that this demon seemed to be wearing armor - thick plates of dark metal were bent around the monster's calves and thighs, and black chains were wrapped horizontally around the beast's stomach and back, and vertically around its chest, crotch, and shoulders. Thick layers of metal encased its upper and lower arms, the two pieces being connected by what looked like a net of steel wire around either elbow, and metal gauntlets concealed the beasts hands, leaving only the fingertips exposed. A jagged obsidian collar wrapped the beast's neck, and situated atop its head was a bowl-shaped helmet covered with spikes, some of which dipped down to cover the back of the neck that was left exposed to injury. Fastened to its shoulders were flat, circular shields with a single black spike protruding from the center, and at the center of its chest was a diamond-shaped slab of metal with something indiscernable welded into it, making the Scourge almost look like some twisted caricature of a superhero.

Ivan took a moment to take all of this in, when the beast asked him:

"What do you think, human? Quite an impressive defense, is it not? And it provides full mobility, as well, not like those awkward chunks of steel your kind wraps itself in for protection..."

Ivan did not respond - he merely raised his sword and assumed a more battle-ready stance.

The Scourge looked him over, and then it laughed at him.

"Oh, aren't we eager?" it said in a condescending voice. "Come now, human, look at yourself. You stand no chance against me!"

The Scourge spread its arms and then pounded its chest with both fists, the impact of metal against metal sending sparks flying.

"For I am Dubabo the Fortress, Scourge of Metal and the deadliest forge this world has ever known!"

Ivan looked unimpressed.

"So essentially," he said dryly, "you are a blacksmith."

Dubabo frowned.

"And an arrogant and unkempt one at that." Ivan continued. "Unskilled as well - your armor is poorly-shaped and welded crookedly."

Dubabo growled.

"Not to mention the fact that you've left several vital areas exposed - your feet, face, and kneecaps are all vulnerable to damage."

Dubabo clenched a fist and stamped the floor, shaking the entire refinery.

"ENOUGH!" the beast bellowed. "Minor imperfections aside, I am more than a match for you. You are small, frail, and armed with naught but a pathetic little blade, whereas I am large, powerful...!"

Dubabo reached over his shoulder and grabbed a hold of something, then yanked it over his head and held it in full view.

It was a steel pike, ten feet in length and the width of one of Ivan's arms. At its bottom was a razor-sharp spine surrounded by three serrated steel claws, and at its top was a double-headed battle-axe that must have stretched at least a meter in length from one head to the other. Dubabo twirled the massive weapon as if it were a baton, and then he slammed it against the ground in front of him spike-first and raised it, the axe high above his head. With a roar, he charged at Ivan, a murderous gleam in his eyes.

Ivan raised his own weapon and charged back, quickly sidestepping as Dubabo swung his axe with enough force to split the floor as it connected. Not taking his eyes off Ivan, the Scourge removed one hand from the pike and swung at Ivan, who skidded to a halt and jumped back milliseconds before the massive backhand crushed him against the wall.

Seeing an opening, Ivan leapt forward and stabbed his blade at a seam in Dubabo's armor; the latter twisted his arm sideways just in time. Sparks flew as Ivan's sword bounced off the twisted armor, forcing Ivan to jump back as Dubabo hefted his weapon in his other hand and brought it down where the Chosen of Darkness had been standing.

Dubabo stood up straight again, a smirk crossing his face.

"You are a lively one." he told Ivan. "I believe I may just enjoy playing with you... In private."

Ivan scarcely had time to ponder what this meant before Dubabo opened his jaws wide, then spewed a glob of liquid metal clear across the room! The gob splattered against the wall, hardening almost instantly into some sort of dark, craggly metal. Not hesitating in the least, Dubabo spat another glob at the ceiling, then another at the floor, and then two more at the wall behind him. Within mere moments, the ceiling, floor, and walls all around the two was covered with the disgusting glop, which continued to congeal into black metal at impossible speeds. Dubabo spewed more of the noxious metal about, filling up any spaces in the walls and floor that he'd missed, surrounding the combatants in a a massive shell of jagged black metal.

"Aaaah..." Dubabo sighed, his voice somewhat less hoarse now. "Much better..."

He glared triumphantly at Ivan.

"This metal is, by human standards, unbreakable." he explained in a sinister monotone. "It cannot be welded through, rusted away, cut open, or blown apart.In other words, no other humans can get in, and you cannot get out. The only way you can escape is by defeating me - do so, and this cage will crumble. But if I destroy you first - which, by the way, I will - then I'll simply break out of here and continue on my way. How does that sound?"

Ivan didn't respond - he simply looked around at the dimly-lit cocoon of demon steel around him, then back at Dubabo.

"Once again," he said flatly, "you display just how poor your forging capabilities are."

Dubabo's eyes blazed with red flames; he gritted his teeth and roared an inhuman roar, charging at Ivan like a 1,000-pound demon bull.

Ivan held his sword at the ready and faced the beast down.

A single bead of sweat ran down his face...

-------------------------------------------------------

Gasp! Oh noes! Ivan is locked in combat with a maniacal Scourge golem, and not even the other Chosens can help him! What will he do...?

...Well, who cares. Let's just enjoy watching him get chased around by Bigfoot down there and enjoy the show!

(smacks someone with a tennis racket)

Next!

[Pichu Luver]

*is happy* Me's is sorry MTR but I am glad I won sommat, lol ^^'''.

Oy Blade STOP hitting me with random objects! I'm really startin to believe ya want to kill me. <<'''

So Weez, I'm just gunna go with Kiina had to land to . . . check her knives and didn't trust not to drop them (she just got her wings, she ain't great a flying yet, and I can't think of a better reason why'd she land *lol*). Then she got ambushed . . .

So, *attempts to untangle the mess*

Kiina Prattle
*-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-*

"Crapper!" Kiina shouted as the beast stumbled back from the second arrow. The sound of it hitting it nearly deafened her and she winced as she grabbed for her knives. They clicked together just in time and she swiped at the monster, as it launched itself forward.

It roared as it met her blade and swiped at her in irritation. Kiina leapt into the air and flapped once, just getting out of reach. Leu had landed and knocked another arrow.

Kina kept backing up as he fired, getting her bearings. Her wings were not helping her much. She was more taking giant hops backward, as her wings weren't made for taking off from a standstill.

The beast roared again and before Kiina could get another hit in, it dissolved into a puff of smoke.

"Damn, didn't get in much in that fight." she said shaking her hair out of her face.

Leu seemed to come out of a trance and blinked at her before nodding. "Yeah, better be faster next time. Can't always count on me saving your butt."

Kiina just gave him 'the Look'TM and huffed. "Yeah, yeah. I didn't want to take the risk of dropping my knives on someone as I checked them thank you. Anyway, shall we go?"

Leu nodded. "Yeah Auril sounded pretty worried."

The two of them ducked down an alley and took off, Leu having a bit of an easier time then Kiina.

'Of course I get the defective wings. she thought to herself, frustrated, 'Not that it isn't cool, but SHEESH. She thought to herself as she struggled to get up and even with Leu. He was already up and circling, waiting, while she was still trying to get up to his height. "To . . . much . . . f-ing . . . effort."

She was breathing quite hard as she drew even with him and he looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Not! A! Word!" she yelled, frustrated as she hovered.

He raised his hands, "Wouldn't dream it!" he shouted. Kiina grumbled to herself as they started to fly towards the apartments again. "They aren't much good for taking off though, are they?"

"No!" she answered, irritated. "It almost makes diving off buildings the sensible thing to do!"

He laughed and Kiina noticed something odd. In each alley or street she momentary dropped in height and then shot forwards after each one. Once they got going she was barely flapping, while Leu seemed to have to put in much more effort.

She was thinking on this when they noticed someone running through the alleys. They swooped lower and saw it was Angelo. He was almost at the banged up skyscraper from yesterday and they saw a Scourge jump out from the alleyway.

Leu pointed and Kiina nodded. They dove just as Angelo skidded to a stop. Leu back-winged to landing, much better at it then Kiina. She flapped frantically as she came to the ground. Leu had shot off an arrow already as she stumbled to a landing, breathing hard.

"You know, the whole flying thing is fine, it's the stopping and starting stuff that's really frickin hard." She grumbled to herself. She swung her blade up as another Scourge leapt out from behind a dumpster.

"Oh no! Not gunna get me again buddy!"

-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-

Ok shortish but hey, I'll let someone else have go. If there's typo's phhhhhit I am too tired and mildly irritated to go and fix em right now.

*snitches racket and gets out pan* *twirls them in hand before spinning and twacking someone with the pan*

Tag!

*huffs, and throws whole convulted mess at the next person* Yeah, untangled enough for the next person I think . . .

[Mew Master]

Allright, since I'm getting complaints about confusion among the characters and where in position they are right now... it's time for a Score-Card.

*gaint screen appears*

First off.

Denny and Vincent: Currently located in a bookstore a few blocks away from the college. Their direct challenge: Unknown.

Kiina, Angelo and Leu: Flying outside Training Building, slaying random Scourge that they come across.

Auril, Joey, Aliana: At the Training Building, facing dozens of Scourge underlings.

Kyoshiro: Currently floating around his school's airspace.

Ivan: Facing down a living Forge in a sealed warehouse.

NOTES: Denny and IVan's stories are not to be interfered with until completed... this by request by Mew Master and Blademaster.

That's all folks!

[Drusilla]

Here is yet another chapter in the developing story of Auril's past... Enjoy.

Auril Haven
As this tragedy starts with a shattered glass heart
And the midnightmare trampling of dreams

Aliana appeared from nowhere, strength returned and wounds healed, and I relaxed slightly and allowed myself to sink more into the offensive aspect of battle, no longer worried about protecting her. Only twenty-four hours, and here I was protecting those who were still practically strangers. Funny thing, fate...

While I still fought on, and I could see what was around me, it was if my mind were back in my twelve-year-old body, lying bleeding in the cold rain, once again. I tried to shake it off, but it was if the memory refused to sink back into the abyss of my mind. It was there, superimposed on the here and now, and I found it a struggle to keep both it and the Scourge at bay.

Tisiphone, help me, please!

I felt her reluctance. I cannot, this is something that you must conquer by yourself. I'm sorry, but I did not make you suppress your pain all these years. You must live with the consequences.

And she shut herself off from me. I was on my own, as I had once wanted it... though, truth be told, I didn't ever want it to happen. It was the past, and it shouldn't be able to hurt me, should it? It seemed otherwise, though, as was becoming rapidly more apparent.

Then the thought struck me: It was very odd for such a problem to come up so suddenly, with no provocation. Yes, my past had been haunting me more so of late, but for it to come so close to overpowering me without reason was very suspicious. No sooner had I realised this than my mind began to clear enough that I could see only my surroundings once again, though a feeling of dread began to creep into my heart. An outside influence was trying to turn my mind against me, and if was near... very near.

I very nearly had you, Auril... so easy, so succeptible. Only your wit and survival instinct saved you from my power. Now I don't have to hide, and you will fall.

My pulse sped uncontrollably with fear as my heart fluttered in my chest. I faultered, and only a swift move from Joey stopped me from being sliced open once again. Someone shouted something at me, but I couldn't hear anything; my ears rang with the thunder of a storm long since passed, with the screams of a voice long since dead. I may as well have been back in that dark alley, waiting for my life to slip away. It felt so real, I couldn't fight it... But I had to. I had to face that fear, that anger, that loss, or everyone would suffer.

Who was I to care for others, though? Doing so only brought about pain, as I had learned the hard way. They could die, for all I cared...

Oh, is that so? Then you won't mind to know that Ivan is going to die at the hands of another of my kind? He won't last long.

"Show yourself, coward!" I shouted, looking about frantically. A low laugh echoed about me, crawling up my spine like a dead, cold wind. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, trying to drown out everything else.

I wasn't sure what I saw, though the most I could make of it was that the shadows seemed to solidify and gather, like molasses flowing thickly towards one central point. A body began to form, heavily muscled and semi-human except for the massive bat-like wings and large curling horns on the forehead. I recognised the first Scourge that I had seen, and knew that it had been tracking me since that initial encounter. It was a balor, a mythological kind of demon... at least, I had thought it mythological.

"Poor little rebellious Auril, out to find her own destiny, fell into the hands of the big children, and lost-"

"SHUT UP!" I screamed, mind cleared by anger. It seemed to smile, pleased with how it could manipulate my emotion. "Ah, yes, there is still some of your old spirit left, after all. Or is that just Tisiphone? Either way, I shall enjoy using your anger to feed my power as I kill you!" It drew a flaming longsword from the shadows and rushed me.

"He's mine," I growled at Joey and Aliana, moving to meet its rush with my own. I parried and came around with an upswing that caught it off guard. Backing off slighting, it grinned again and laughed.

"Maybe I have underestimated you, cold one, but no matter. I am still stronger than you would ever be!" Bringing its sword down towards me with full strength, I raised my own blade to block, keeping the sword from cleaving me in two. The balor's physical strength might be more than mine ever would be, but I refused to let him win the battle in my mind.

The same memory was there, me near death in the dark, unsure if I would die from bloodloss or hypothermia, cursing my own rebellious streak for getting us killed, but the balor wanted to feel as if that was were it ended. It wasn't. I forced my mind past that point, to where the woman had come and healed me... I didn't know how. I didn't even know who she was, where she had come from, or how she had known I was in need. But I hadn't died that night, and I should have been in her debt if that had been where it had ended. It wasn't, but that was not the point. The point was that my fear was justified, but not something that I couldn't conquer. In my mind, I saw my body stir from where it lay in the rain and blood, and stand, staring defiantly into the dark, just as I stared defiantly at the demon of darkness I was locked in battle with.

It gave me just enough strength, just enough edge, to throw its blade from mine, spin around to gain the momentum, and drive my blade into its chest. Ichor sprayed everywhere violently, and my sword glowed a pale, pale blue-white light as the balor screamed in agony. I watched it die, unaware that Aliana and Joey stood behind me and that the other Scourge fled from the dying throws of the greater demon. Tears fell from my eyes, and somehow I knew that just a little bit of my frozen, jaded heart had melted.

Ivan, if you can hear me... be careful. Don't give in.

[Shadow Djinn]

Time to get the other spells..

Kyoshiro Watanabi - Wind
-

Upon sprouting wings, Kyoshiro collected his distraught backpack, clutching it with a muscled arm before flying off -- uncaring of any possible suspicions he might have garnered in doing so.

Dismissing his ethereal wings with great difficult at the abandoned buildings that had acted as a training area the night before, slinging his backpack over his shoulders and unsheathing a short sword.

" Here, scourgey scourgey scourgey..." The oriental boy called plaintively.

He paced about the debris for several minutes before scowling and dissapearing into one of the smaller abandoned buildings.

...A powerful aura jolted through his body -- he dropped to the ground with a sudden gasp, gazing about him, cursing as his eyes seemed to blur. The walls seemed to distort, hollow footsteps barely being made out in the incessant buzzing that was now resounding throughout his ears.

" Dammit..." Kyoshiro attempted to rise, managing to raise a knee slightly, still fighting agains tthe immense powers he felt.

" This one?" An unimpressed voice was barely heard.

" Yea," another replied -- cockier and more confident in tone.

" He defeated Garuda?" The first said skeptically. " He's shrinking just under our aura."

" Whatever, it'll be fun playing with him." His counter part laughed.

Kyoshiro heard a snapping of fingers -- immediately the pressure died down, and he rose, immediately stepping back as he gazed at the two beings before him.

Both were burly and muscled, two-legged as Garuda had been. The first possessed an enormous left arm, fingers silvery, forming sharp, clawed appendages. Snakelike eyes inspected Kyoshiro with pompousness as the Scourge flexed his other arm -- a plain, human like arm, save its clawed fingers and leathery skin. A shattered half of a helmet decorated the demons' scap, violet hair draping down his shoulders.

" I'm not impressed," the demon said with a drawl.

Kyoshiro turned to face the other, biting his lip slightly at its morbid appearance. Possessing leathery skin like its counterpart, the human-like Scourge crossed his arms as Kyoshiro inspected the muscled demon. His arms were covered in steel gauntlets, fingers masked in silvery sleeves. Knowledgable eyes brimmed with supressed rage, white hair wild and untamed. A shattered helmet accompanied his scalp as well, positioned opposite to his companion.

" They said Garuda didn't introduce himself before he started," The second Scourge finally said. " That's rather rude you know. So we'll be much more courteous..."

The first interjected with a slight chuckle -- the second managed a smirk before pointing at his companion.

" ...That's Maldarn, and I'm called Falsean."

" Odd names for demons," the Chosen of Wind replied, drawing his second sword.

" We heard you beat one of the higher Scourges of Wind." Maldarn said casually, flexing an arm. Steel cords of muscle sprouted at the action, displaying both demons' mmense physical strength.

" We're kind of different though. Don't need your wingies for this," Falsean continued, chuckling. " You can call us Scourges of Darkness. Mysterious, tough...That's us."

" There are Scourges of all elements?" Kyoshiro asked weakly.

" Yea." Maldarn shrugged. " Not that big a deal. Anyway..." A hand thrust out, energy dancing about it. Violet flames shrouded his outstretched arms -- the swelled claw also emitting a neon glow. Falsean did the same, eyeing the flames with mild interest.

" You're Kyoshiro Watanabi, Chosen of Wind, I believe." Maldarn said dryly.

" News travels fast amoung you Scorgelings," Kyoshiro said in confirmation.

" Some lowling saw the whole fight. Spread fast," Falsean commented, taking several steps forward.

" Let's cut the chit chat and begin, eh?" Kyoshiro questioned, tightening the grips on his swords.

Maldarn smiled a sharp-toothed smile, wordlessly blurring into black streaks, skulking among the shadows before leaping into the air behind the chosen of Wind, both flaming arms raised.

The boy spun around, thrusting a blade forward to deflect the blow. The demon veered to the right to avoid the stab, immediately recovering and darting in for another blow once more, coordinating his movements with Falsean, who was nearing Kyoshiro, preparing a burly arm to strike.

The blow struck the cement as Kyoshiro slid to the side, twirling a sword in hand before swiping at Maldarn, while at the same time attempting a blow at Falsean's outstretched arm.

The flames swayed precariously as both demons slunk backwards, hissing. Maldarn straightened his claw like arm, scowling.

" Fool," the demon said coldly. Violet energy mixed with the innate darkness that inhabited the Scourge, coaslecing in the Scourge's palm. Kyoshiro, who had been busy fencing with Falsean's reckless blows, gave a cry as a violet lance of energy ripped through him, managing to stay up right, though his next parry was questionably shaky.

Falsean gave a roar of triumph, dealing the teenager a powerful flaming uppercut, sending him spiralling backwards, still smoking from the brunt of their blows.

" That's it?" Maldarn scowled. " And he beat Garuda."

" He had that form," Falsean noted. " Maybe if we beat him up long enough..."

" No way I can beat these things," Kyoshiro muttered to himself, struggling to rise. " What the hell am I going to do...?"

The demons waited seeral minutes, allowing their opponent ample time to rise. The occasion failed to come, and Maldarn impatiently gave Kyoshiro a swift kick in the side, sending him sliding across the rugged cement.

" Get up," Kyoshiro snapped to himself. He complied, rising on a knee, eyes screwed shut as he attempted to stave away the pain.

" This is getting boring," Falsean complained.

" Then let's do it," Maldarn snapped in reply.

Grins spread across the Scourges' faces, Kyoshiro could only manage a helpless gaze as both demons paced to the opposite sides of the walls, preparing an earth-shuddering strike.

Moments later, a tremor ripped through the building, startling the chosen as rubble began to fall, acompanied by larger chunks of debris.

Kyoshiro rose, rushing forward, blades drawn back in an overhead strike -- easily parried by Maldarn, who now seized the boy by his collar and tossed him to the ground amidst the wild trembling.

His dazed eyes gazed at the clamoring roof, the two demons laughing wildly as they dealt even further damage to the ruined apartments.

" Get stronger," Maldarn advised lazily. " Don't die...etcetera...Not my fault if the building kills you though."

Both demons glanced at the ceilings before departing, sneering at Kyoshiro's fate.

An enormous chunk of debris loosened from its hold -- Kyoshiro gazed at it tentatively, managing a slight frown.

With quick calculations, he realized it was due to fall soon -- excactly right where the Teenager was lying, paralyzed by fatigue.

" Ah, hell..."

[Crystal Tears]

Joey

That fight had either been abruptly short, or so long that time itself had stopped and Joey hadn’t realized her wings were shrinking.
But now she did notice, and by god, did it hurt.

Picture your fingers being forced back into your hand, you can feel the muscles ache and the bones break and slice into the flesh and pierce out. The sensation of burning because the wings are fading from existence, and your stomach is churning so fast you had a brief thought that maybe their rapids, cutting the water and making them chaotic.
Joey cringed, collapsing on her knees as the pain increased; something lurched in her stomach, and suddenly water, ice-cold water spewed from her mouth. A bad sign, she felt. As her arms trembled and were forced to hold the small body up.

She felt as if she was back in the water, drifting deeper and deeper under the water. Yet, no one was there to save her… Joey couldn’t feel the comforting presence of Tyn, nor was the dark figure Ivan there to save her. More water gurgled up, and she could feel her lungs filling up.
She felt someone then, major larger then herself. But her eyes… Her vision was blurring, but the massive figure was the clear enough.
“..Uril...” Joey gurgled, feeling her nose burn as water trickled from it. Another figure then, smaller, not as dominant. But Joey's throat seemed to be shut, her voice trapped behind the water she cough up.

"Are you okay?"

She couldn't answer, as the pain from her wings subsided, her head suddenly erupted with pain. Joey's eyes watered up, a constant stream of tears that weren't summoned up by the upsetness, only the water. It was leaking, using her face as an exit port.

"Dr..." Her voice was caught again as she shook. And the voice around her faded, all she could hear is her heart pounding. "Dro.. Drowning..."

Your death will be such a quiet thing... A faint light in a world of darkness; put out...

The darkness was here again, and Joey was standing there. She twirled about, frightened of the everlasting void around her.

"Am I dead?"

[Drusilla]

Auril Haven
Bared on your tomb
I am a prayer for your loneliness
And would you ever soon
Come above unto me?

"Oh, God, Joey! Hang on..." Two and a half years of pre-med training kicked into gear. I turned Joey's head to the side so that the water welling up inside her had somewhere to go. Firmly but carefully, I applied force on her diaphragm, hoping that by getting the water out of the way she would breathe on her own.

But she didn't. I checked her pulse; it was weak, but still there, though probably not for long. Taking a deep breath, I locked lips with her and forced the air into her waterlogged lungs.

"Come on, Joey, come on..." Her pulse was still there, at least, but I was starting to panic. This was caused by magic, and no matter my training, there was probably only so much that I could do. I glanced up at Aliana, and she knelt beside us and nodded. Her hands began to glow with a soft white light, and I again tried CPR.

At last, she coughed and breathed in on her own. I pushed her soaking hair back from her eyes and looked at her, assessing the situation. She was in shock, and wet... it was still spring, so it wasn't all that warm yet. Carefully, I picked her up and held her close to me, focusing on being warm rather than cold.

"What do we do now?" Aliana asked.

I looked at her. "We need to get her somewhere warm and dry. I can remeber where Kiina's place is, I think. Once we get her out into the air, she should be all right, but shock takes a lot out of you." I walked to a broken window and stepped onto the sill. "Could you catch up with the others? They are near, somewhere..." With that, I stepped off of the ledge and plummeted, spreading my wings to catch the thermal rising up the side of the building.

Thankful that there was a little cloud cover by now, I skimmed the water vapors lightly as I flew to the other side of town, more towards the suburbs, where the college campus was. I didn't really know where else to go, and Joey needed time to rest, not to mention that my roommate was probably wondering what in the hells had happened to me. I wouldn't be surprised if she had made a call to security... My professors were probably wondering as well. I never missed class, no matter what happened.

I landed in a circle of trees not too far away from the door and returned to my human form. It wasn't exactly painful, though it was uncomfortable. Carefully, so that I wouldn't drop Joey, I made my way quickly towards the door, unlocked it, and disappeared up the stairwell to my floor. There was no one in the stairwell or the hallway; it was an odd time, so most people were in class, thankfully. I didn't want to have to explain why I was running around in a bra and ripped jeans, carrying a younger girl who was barely concious to my room. Just too many awkward possibilities with that.

I opened the door, relieved that my roommate was out, and lay Joey down on my bed, glad that she was no longer soaking wet. I pulled a towel out of a cabnet and wrapped her in it, propping her head up on pillows, covered by another towel.

"We can stay here as long as we need to, then we can find the others," I said, pulling out a new set of clothes. I was going to go take a shower to get some of the grime off of me when my cell rang. Curious, I picked it up off of the desk and answered.

"Hello?"

"Auril, this is Andy. I need you to come in early, Cassie can't make it in tonight. She had some kind of incident when she was leaving last night. It was really weird... Anyway, I need you here by eight tonight. Can you make it?"

I looked at Joey and thought for a moment. I really didn't want to go, but the extra money would be welcome, especially if I kept tearing up my clothes.

"Yeah, I'll be there. Bye." I hung up. "Well, I really do need to shower now... I'll be back in a few." I grabbed my towel, new change of clothes, and my shower caddy. Once I was clean, and Joey could walk again, we would have to go find the others. No way was I going to go to work alone, especially if there was something "weird" going on there.

[Mew Master]

Denny Roth~Fire
--------------------------------

The screaming brought about the first thing I could think of that would cause it. Scourge. People would be able to see them if they got too close. I pushed my way through the fleeing crowd and into the bookstore.

I stood there, just inside the doors. The lights were out and several books lay on the floor, probably as a result of the fleeing people. I recognized this bookstore. The shelves were high, but didn’t reach the ceiling which was several feet higher. With the lights out, navigating through the isles wasn’t going to be a walk in the part. I took off my backpack and rested it on the ground near the doors, and then I took out my katana handle. Leaving my stuff there, I began to navigate my way around the store, searching for the reason the people had run.

I didn’t activate my katana blade, the light would have given me away and I needed all the stealth I could. My senses searched out, trying to see if there was a portal nearby that a Scourge had managed to crawl through. No. Nothing. Was it possible that this could have just been a regular robbing? Maybe, but with all the people in the building before hand would have made robbing a bookstore difficult and complicated. My senses stretched out around where the check-out counter was towards the back of the store, but someone grabbed my shoulder.

Spinning around, I dropped my weight to dislodge my shoulder from their hand+. Sliding my feet along the floor I ended up facing them from a meter away, my katana raised but still inactive.

To my surprise, it wasn’t a Scourge trying to get the jump on me, it was another human. He was dressed in a black leather coat, black pants, long shaggy black hair (longer than mine), and bright green eyes. I also caught the scent of cigarette smoke around his body, something I hadn’t smelled since I lived with my parents.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked in a hushed and annoyed sort of way.

“I should as you the same thing,” I nearly shouted back in return, but managed to keep my voice quiet. “You should go back outside where it’s safe.”

He looked at me with an annoyed look. “That’s my line kid.”

“Who are you then? With the police?”

“In a manner of speaking…”

My senses were still concentrated beyond me, back towards whatever was trying to kill people and cause them to run out in a panic. Then I felt something familiar, it was bright, almost blinding, and crackling like electricity. Leu.

“Leu!” I shouted turning around and running down the isles, not caring for secrecy any more. “Hang on, I’m…. coming….?!”

I rounded around a bookshelf, expecting to find Leu on the end of a nasty attack or him letting loose with a volley of shots. However, I found a completely different sight.

Several bodies littered the floor, a few of them wearing the uniforms of the people who worked in the bookstore. And I recognized them. A woman I always ordered books from, another I had known outside of the store for years, and then the bodies of those who had been customers. Standing beyond this bloody mess of bodies and holding another captive, was a man. His hair was disheveled and a sadistic grin unnaturally split his face. In his arms was a young woman, crying and sobbing, hanging onto the arm that he had wrapped around her neck, in another arm was a gun. What surprised me the most though, was that this man had an aura similar to Leu’s!

“Who.. who are you?”

“Ahhh,” it said in an all too familiar hiss. “The Chosen of Fire has arrived, but you’re alone. That’s a shame…”

My eyes widened at the realization. “Yo-You’re a Scourge?!”

“Observant, aren’t we? Huh?” The man looked up in confusion as the black clad man who had tried to stop me stepped in beside me. “Who are you?”

The man in leather narrowed his eyes at the man. “I’m Vincent Nelson. But I think a better question would be what the hell are you?”

The “Scourge” glared at Vincent. “Why couldn’t I sense you? We can sense all life. Human, Chosen, Animals…”

He shrugged. “How the hell should I know. I do know that you’re not human, and that aura you’ve got is all wrong.”

“What?” I said, looking at it again. It looked exactly like Leu’s, nothing wrong with it. Then as I stared, it started to change. The aura began to take on an earthy tone that made me remember the scent of fresh earth. “It… it changed!”

“Unlike my friend here,” he motioned to me. “Your aura’s corrupted, filled with a blackness. Which means one of two things. Either you’re tainted, or you’re possessed.”

The “Scourge” started to laugh. First a slight chuckle and then to over-the top laughter.

“My my my. You are an inquisitive one. Yes, this human I’m riding is quite useful, despite how much it sickens me I must possess it to be able to get away from the portals and cause some damage. You are also right in that the aura we produce is twisted, but the Chosen cannot sense that. We can also change what aura and sense we have to fool the Chosen.”

As he spoke, I tried to stretch my senses out farther, trying to see if what the Scourge was saying had any truth behind it. My senses extended much farther than I thought they would. I guess it was just like extending my Ki to whatever point I wished it to. Then I felt it. There was the group, two clustered to know who exactly was who among them. However I recognized Ivan’s dark aura, and then I sensed it again farther away and on his own with a large presence next to him.

“No way…”

“Now that you know…” the Scourge hissed. “You will die.”

He raised the gun and pointed it at Vincent. The guy backed up and threw his arms in front of him to try and block the bullet as the possessed human pulled the trigger. A gunshot echoed within the building and I spun to look and see if he was okay. I didn’t have the sense of mind to put up a barrier around us. I stared at him, shocked. He wasn’t dead, but he had books floating around him.

“What the hell?” he said to himself as he saw the mass of books that blocked the bullet from connecting with his body.

“How’d you do that?”

“I don’t know..” he replied.

“What?” the Scourge snarled. “DIE PEST!” and he pulled the trigger again.

This time I was fast enough to set up a barrier between ourselves and the gun toting demon-possessed human. My brain hurt as the force of the bullets ricocheted off of the dome that covered me and Vincent. The books fell to the ground as we hid behind my barrier.

Damn! How many bullets did that gun have? Each shot felt like a migraine ripped through my skull.

“Drop the barrier,”

“Eh?!” Was he crazy? The barrier was the only keeping us from having our insides torn up.

“Trust me on this,” Vincent reached inside the coat he was wearing.

I looked him over for a second. “Okay,” and I lowered my shield.

The Scourge sneered at Vincent. “Going to try and kill me while I still hold this human’s life in my hands? Go on, shoot.”

Vincent scowled at the Scourge. “Who said I had a gun?” He withdrew a sai from his coat, spun it around on his fingers and then threw it at the Scourge.

The sound of metal on metal echoed through the bookstore as the gun and sai went flying off in different directions. Now was my chance. I never liked guns. I had always thought that guns were a way of cheating, using no real skill or prowess to use. Now a sword, that took training.

My katana sprang to life, illuminating the area with a dim red glow. And I ran forward. I had to get the Scourge to release the woman in his hands, and make sure he didn’t get the gun back. My footsteps were careful over the books and items on the floor and trying not to step on any of the bodies.

I lunged for him, my katana raised above my head.

Things seemed to go in slow motion, the Scourge looked at me, but it didn’t have the maniacal glare and look. It seemed like the human was back in charge!

“Huh, where… what am I? What’s going on?” he looked at me with confusion and shock in his eyes, and I stopped mid-swing.

Apparently, that was all the Scourge needed. The man’s face contorted and the Scourge had taken control once more.

“Fool,” A blast of dark energy blasted out as the Scourge raised a hand, palm towards me.

I was sent flying back and crashed into a bookshelf, which caused a few more to topple over in a domino effect. My insides hurt, a very burning pain that made it a challenge to move. The fact that I had careened into a wooden bookshelf didn’t help matters either.

“Impressive,” the Scourge commented. “That should have ripped your organs apart, but it seems as if you have more stamina than I thought.”

I pushed myself upwards and struggled to my feet. The possessing Scourge drug the woman with him as he walked towards me.

“You may think you’ll stop us, but we are better organized than you and your tiny band of fighters. We also outnumber you, and can bend reality to our whim. You do not stand a chance!”

I held myself up on my feet. My body ached, just from a single attack!

“Sure… you have us beat in numbers,” I muttered, noticing a movement off behind him. “You may have us over-powered. But we have one character that you don’t.”

“And what is that? Cowardice?”

“No,” I replied, standing upright. Forcing my Ki energy through me to alleviate the pain still in my torso. “Humans are stubborn as hell!”

I watched as Vincent spun around behind the Scourge, and saw his foot land heel-side against the side of the Scourge’s head. The Scourge possessed human was sent flying to the side, the grip on the woman just enough that she was let go and fell to the ground, lightly bruised but still fine. The Scourge floated above the ground before he had hit. His head turned towards Vincent and the woman and glared. Flipping onto his feet, he rushed for the woman again.

A migraine whipped through my mind as he slammed right into the barrier I threw up in front of him, keeping the woman safe from any more harm.

“Heh,” I smirked. “You aren’t getting your demon claws on her any time soon.”

The Scourge scowled at me and snarled. He held his hand out and I saw the blast coming. I jumped, just as the blast passed under my feet. After learning that I was a Chosen of a magical beast, I found my own abilities magnified significantly. I was stronger, faster, and able to do things that the laws of gravity and physics really wouldn’t let me do before. Like jumping onto the top of a shelf in a bookstore. The blast flew through where I was a second ago and blasted a book case into splinters and floating paper.

He prepared to throw another blast at me and I saw books fly into his face, distracting him and diverting his aim so that he missed by a country mile. I looked over at Vincent, who had a dozen books floating around him, he held a hand to his temple, probably keeping concentration. Just what was he anyway? Psychic? The books flew right at the Scourge, keeping it distracted.

I jumped down next to him, grabbing the Scourges wrist, I prepared to send him into a back fall. I dropped my hips, with his wrist in my grasp I spun around him and used his arm like a make-shift sword, aiming for the area 45 degrees behind him. It sent him backwards, but then he floated again, not even touching the ground.

“Damn, what’s it gonna take?” I muttered, standing by Vincent.

He murmured in thought. “Maybe..”

“Maybe what?”

Vincent glared at the Scourge as it righted itself, still possessing the man’s body. “I can … I don’t’ know.. feel two consciousnesses in him. When it let the man have control, for that split second I could defiantly sense a difference. I might be able to split them apart, and get the possessing spirit out of his body… but I don’t know what would happen to him in the process.”

“I don’t think we have much of a choice.” I replied. “As long as the Scourge is inside him, I can’t touch him unless I kill him. Try it!”

The Scourge had charged up another blast, and sent the dark energy towards us. We split in different directions, I jumped on top of a shelf again and ran along it looking for the moment to drop down. Sending blast after blast at me, I ran along the top of the shelf, jumping just before the shelves would topple over from the concussion blasts. Dropping down beside him, I put my free hand on the back of a stack of books and pushed, sending several books between him and me.

White slashes sliced through the books as the Scourge lunged at me. I dropped down in a back ukemi roll, letting him fly over me as I rolled along the ground. Back on my feet I spun around and faced him as he floated back into a standing position.

He’s using his powers through that guy like a conductor, I thought, as I dodged and weaved through the attacks the Scourge threw at me.

I continued to keep my eyes on the Scourge as it lunged and threw dark energy blasts at me, watching for any moment of twitching for me to counter-strike. My Aikido training wasn’t failing me yet as I dodged and then faced him again without using too much of my own energy to do so.

As I watched him, I saw the Scourge grab his head and shout.

“What are you doing? Stop it! You can’t! I can’t leave this human here!” He held his head and seemed to convulse as I saw two different personalities duel within him. I held my sword ready, not knowing what to expect.

Dark energy started to steam off of his body as I saw another profile begin to be ripped apart from him. This one was dark and distorted, almost vapor-like as its body was ripped asunder by magical energy I couldn’t comprehend. A dark mist hung in the air after the Scourge was disintegrated, leaving the man on his knees, holding his head. A look of disbelief on his face.

“What,” I said, stuttering. “Do we do now?” My Katana blade deactivated.

“Well,” Vincent lit a cigarette. “For one I’m not sure, cases of possession are always hard to prove in a court, and I’ve rarely been involved in an exorcism. The most we could do is try and defend by mental disability and even that’s a stretch.” A cell phone rang and he answered it. “Nelson. Hmm? What?! Right, on my way.” The phone was turned off and he looked at me.

“You’re coming with me,” He said. “We’ve got some things to talk about, and I figure you might help me find out why some police officers just got their torsos imploded.”

“What?!”

* * *

“When they didn’t report in we sent another car after them and then found them like… that” one of the Officers on the scene said. I looked past the tape at the bodies laying on the ground, white sheets covering their features, but dark blood soaking into the concrete. “We were after the guy for drug trafficking, and it looks like one of his suppliers didn’t take to kindly to being ratted out.

Vincent was among the bodies, already fast-talking the other officers there to let me through and follow him, thinking I was one of his psychic buddies. I did my best to look the scene over. There was an old decrepit building, probably a hold-back from when lumber was used in construction of most of the town, and not even a block away were the slums, and I could see the training building there. My senses stretched out there and I found Joey, Aliana, and Auril. Kyoshiro was in the building somewhere too. Lue, Kiina, and Angelo’s familiar flaming aura were outside, and Ivan was south somewhere fighting with something that gave me a sensation that made my teeth tingle like I had eaten aluminum. There was something else too.

I looked at the ground, carefully walking closer to the bodies, trying to find out what it was that had grabbed my attention. It was hard to, considering that I didn’t know what I was looking for. I glanced over at Vincent, who had already combed over the bodies and was now examining the building.

This entire situation seemed to be flawed. Now, I’m usually praised for being able to think outside the box when it counts, but on this I was just trying to think of a reasonable excuse since the police didn’t particularly like the “demons did it” response. That’s just the thing, there didn’t seem to be a Scourge rift anywhere near the scene, and even if I didn’t see it, didn’t mean I couldn’t sense it. And I think the same would go for Vincent, despite whatever he was.

“Come on,” he stood behind me. “We’re done here, they want to get the bodies to the morgue and a CSI unit’s on its way to comb the area.” He started heading towards a hole in the fence.

“Where are you going?”

He stopped and looked back at me, a smirk across his face. “Call it a hunch.” And he slipped through the fence, I tried to follow suit. Having your backpack on you didn’t make you any smaller.

We walked through the slums towards the training building and when we turned a corner, I saw something I never would have expected.

There was Leu and Kiina, each brandishing an individual set of wings and using some interesting acrobatics to dispatch the pack of Scourge upon them. Angelo was there as well, despite having his hands free was quickly kicking and dodging the lunges the mall-shaped demons made for him. There was no mistake, that was Leu this time. Not thinking, I dropped my backpack and held out my Katana handle as it came to life with a blazing red glory, and I ran in. Vincent was right beside me, and reaching into his jacket, pulled out a thin cylinder. With a twist it extended into a six-foot baton with spring-like force.

With that, we both joined the fray.

-------------------------------------

Sorry about it taking so long, with school getting into swing and me feeling like Yoda set up shop in my throat I haven't been in much the mood to work on it or the story (thanks for bugging me bout it River). Oh yeah, I had my tooth pulled Thursday, which means I have to eat funny for a while till it heals. It wasn't a wisdom tooth, so I'm lucky on that end.

Note to Self: I'm glad Cerine hit 40 on World of Warcraft, but for the love of all that is GEEK, stop playing it everyday! >.<!

Heh, again sorry for it taking so long.. *slap* TAG!

[Blademaster]

Previously on All my Scourgelings...


"Leu, I think I'm pregnant... and Daithi's the father!"

"Kyoshiro, don't leave me!"

"I'm sorry, Revan, but it's just not working out between us..."

"BUT I LOVE YOU!!"

"Leu, I think I'm pregnant... and Denny's the father!"

"Joey, so you're the one who shot Angelo!"

"Yes, it was I...!"

"Leu, I think I'm pregnant... and Ivan's th-"

"No, f**king way!"

"...OK, I lied about that one."

"I believe I may just enjoy playing with you... In private."

"Leu, I think I'm pregnant... and you're the father!"


And now, the thrilling conclusion...

Wait a minute, did any of that stuff actually happen?

------------------------------------------------

Ivan

Breathing heavily, Ivan held his sword up in a defensive stance, assessing the situation at hand. For over an hour, he'd been trapped in a 50-foot wide cocoon forged of unbreakable demon metal, and his only means of escape was by defeating a hellish 9-foot juggernaut weilding an axe that could split Ivan down the middle with one strike.

Today was turning out to be a bad day.

Dubabo thundered towards Ivan like a stampeding elephant, his weapon raised high over his head. He swung the massive axe, which came down like a guillotine. Ivan barely managed to roll out of the way in time before leaping to his feet and striking at the Scourge's exposed joints with his sword again and again.

CLANG! BANG! WHAM! CLINK!

Sparks flew with each blow, but Dubabo managed to block Ivan's sword everytime, which couldn't hope to even scratch the Scourge's armor. The monster raised his weapon again and turned to face Ivan, who instinctively jumped back, out of Dubabo's reach. He panted slowly.

The Scourge chuckled a guttural chuckle.

"You amuse me, human." he said, standing his axe on its base against the floor of the cocoon. "But you must accept it - you stand no chance against me. My armor is far stronger than your meager sword will ever be."

Ivan didn't respond.

"Besides," Dubabo mused, closing his eyes, "you are running out of energy - no matter how many of my attacks you avoid, you'll eventu-"

Ivan wasn't listening - he was tired of hearing this walking trash heap monologue like he was Lex Luthor. With lightning speed, he jumped at the Scourge, sword over his head, and plunged the blade into Dubabo's foot!

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Dubabo's eyes flew open; he instantly roared in pain as thick blackish-green ichor oozed from the cut around Ivan's sword - as Dubabo had said, it wasn't strong enough to break through the cocoon, but it sliced easily through Dubabo's unprotected skin.

Not satisfied with the Dubabo's agonized roar, Ivan abruptly twisted his sword 90 degrees, splitting Dubabo's foot further open and crushing or dislocating several of the Scourge's bones, including one particularly sharp one that punched a whole right through the demon's instep.

Dubabo bellowed as Ivan tore his sword free through the side of Dubabo's foot with a sickening sound and jumped back. Ichor still spurting from his half-severed foot, Dubabo lurched forward, swinging his axe horizontally. Ivan dove to the floor, the blade coming so close to scalping him he could feel the rush of air behind it against his hair. He stood up straight and stepped back.

That's when he felt something slick underneath his shoe. He lifted it...

There, laying on the floor of the steel cocoon, was the severed last half a foot of a ponytail.

Ivan's eyes widened; he looked up at Dubabo, who was chuckling mockingly. The Chosen of Darkness raised his free hand to the back of his head.

Where his ponytail should've been, there was nothing but a severed stub of hair, cut on a downward angle.

Ivan glared death at Dubabo, who was still chortling, arms crossed over his imposing chest.

"Awww, what's the matter?" Dubabo said condescendingly. "Is the poor little human gonna cry now?"

Ivan didn't respond.

"Come now, human, fight me back." Dubabo barked, hefting his weapon in his hands with a grunt. "It's far more entertaining when you struggle..."

Again, no response.

Dubabo's chapped, puckered lips curled into a frown.

"Answer me, damn you." he growled.

Ivan didn't.

Dubabo snarled.

"Very well, don't answer." the monster rasped. "I'll make you respond..."

The demon charged and swung his axe.

"WHEN I SLICE OUT YOUR GUTS AND DEVOUR THEM BEFORE YOUR EYES!!"

Ivan ducked and dashed forward, rolling diagonally towards the monster's uninjured foot as the axe slammed down behind him with a thunderous noise. He came out of the roll with his sword raised high and plunged it down onto the monster's foot...

WHAM!

Ivan couldn't even shout out in pain as he was hit by a backhand the size of his whole torso and sent crashing into the wall of the cocoon. A loud twanging noise rang out in his head as his spine slammed into the metal with a CRACK!, causing lights to flash before his eyes.

"Oooooh..." Ivan groaned, standing up more slowly than usual. He felt dizzy... Shaking his head, he glared back at Dubabo's slightly blurry form, which he quickly identified as becoming larger very quickly...

Ivan's eyes widened; he quickly dove to the right, the triple prongs of the beast's weapon clanging into the shell where his head had been milliseconds earlier. Ivan scrambled to his feet and struck with his sword again, aiming at the exposed elbow of Dubabo's left arm.

Dubabo's eyes widened; with feline reflexes, the Scourge raised his forearm and blocked the blow, causing Ivan's sword to catch the edge of Dubabo's gauntlet. Smirking, Dubabo swung his arm ouward, parrying the blow and tearing Ivan's sword from his hands, sending it flying clear across the room and bouncing off the far wall of the cocoon with a clang.

Ivan's eyes widened.

'Oh, sh-'

CRACK!

Ivan didn't even have time to complete his thought before he was smashed by Dubabo's humongous fist as though he were an insect, sending him flying twenty feet through the air. The Chosen of Darkness cried out as he slammed into the floor of the cocoon, rolling and skidding several more yards before finally coming to a stop. Across the arena, Dubabo chortled sadistically as Ivan stood up, a thin stream of blood dripping from his mouth. Ivan gritted his teeth and wiped his chin with his sleeve, gasping for air as he glared the Scourge down.

"Ivan, listen to me!"

Ivan's eyes never left the demon, but inside his mind he responded:

'Zandios. What is it now?'

Zandios' voice had been nagging in his mind for most of the battle, but Ivan had continued to ignore the chimera, confident that his own abilities were enough to defeat Dubabo. Still, realizing he was weakening and that his only weapon was no longer at hand, Ivan had finally decided to answer Zandios' call.

"You know full well what it is, Ivan! You cannot defeat this creature on your own - it is far more powerful than you know! You must use your powers - it's the only way you stand a chance!"

Ivan grunted, barely registering the fact that Dubabo was making his way towards him.

"Ivan, have you forgotten what I told you about learning to master your powers already?"

There was a long pause, before Ivan finally thought:

'No...'

"Then for Zeus's sake, USE them Ivan! This creature will kill you if you don't! Are you willing to allow that to happen, Ivan? To die by the hands of a lowly, dishonorable creature who's tipped the scales totally in his favor in order to win? To allow your curse to claim YOUR life as well when you are so close to finally purging yourself of it? Are you going to just give up, Ivan?"

Ivan fell dead silent, Zandios' words echoing out through his mind and, indeed, his very soul as Dubabo stepped close enough to Ivan to slay. He lifted his massive axe...

"ARE you?"

Ivan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, his eyes turning from blue to jet-black as black sparks began to crackle and dance around his battered body. He glared up at Dubabo, who glared right back down at him, axe raised over his head.

"No..." Ivan hissed.

The axe came down.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The black aura around Ivan's body flared to life, this time seemingly originating behind his back and expanding into a translucent black dome around him. With a great crash, the axe crashed against the dome, which, to Dubabo's utter awe, was actually blocking his attack!

"What the Hell!?" Dubabo snarled, pushing down with all his might.

Inside the dome, Ivan's eyes narrowed; he raised one of his fists and opened it; Dubabo's axe slowly seemed to change from deep silver to jet-black. The Chosen of Darkness abruptly clenched his fist again...

And at that exact moment, Dubabo's axe exploded in a shower of black shards and dust!

Dubabo's eyes flew open.

"WHAT!?" he roared. "IMPOSSIBLE!! HOW COULD YOU MANAGE TO DESTROY MY WEAPON?!"

The dome around Ivan split in half and retreated behind Ivan's back, whence it had indeed come from, but it didn't vanish - instead, the semicircular halves folded over themselves, forming into inverted teardrop shapes. They looked like shadows, at first, but then they began to solidify, gaining detail, until it was clear what they were:

They were wings - like a fallen angel, Ivan had sprouted a pair of twenty-foot wings made of charcoal-colored feathers. Topping each wing was a sing six-inch claw colored pitch-black.

Ivan glanced briefly over either of his shoulders, his wide in disbelief.

'Zandios,' he thought, 'I take it that this is your doing, as well...?'

"No, Ivan." the chimera replied. "You did this - you have learned to transform into an Angelic. In addition to the obvious ability of flight, you've also gained a few other new abilities, one of which I believe you're already aware of.

Ivan looked down at the dust and black shrapnel littering the floor around him.

'Yes,' Ivan thought, 'I understand...'

"Then use your powers, Ivan. Use them, and banish this abomination back to the hellish void he came from!"

Ivan nodded, a look of renewed confidence on his face as he assumed a fighting stance, his wings spreading and curving behind him.

Dubabo looked like he was ready to explode with fury.

"So," he snarled, "you've finally decided to stop holding back and get serious, have you? Fine, then..."

The demon reached for the shields concealing his shoulders and, with a swift tug downward, yanked them both loose and slammed them together. He twisted them against each other with a sound simiar to a shotgun being cocked, causing them to change: serrated spines sprouted from the dual weapons edge's, making it look like a buzzsaw blade, and five large fingerholes opened around the device. Smirking a toothy smirk, Dubabo slipped his fingers into the holes and held the weapon in his left hand like a Predator holding a Smartdisc, then hurled it in a similar fashion.

Ivan's eyes widened; in a split-second, he was on his stomach on the ground of the cocoon, his wings pressed against his back as the round blade sailed overhead, spinning so fast the air around it seemed to distort as it passed. Quickly, Ivan rolled over and jumped back to his feet, the blade spinning around behind him and returning like a boomerang. He darted to the side as it returned to Dubabo, who held out his hand calmly; the discus stopped spinning over his hand and then slipped back onto his fingers.

"Impressive, is it not?" Dubabo said with a grin.

"A metal Frisbee?" Ivan quipped sarcastically. "No, actually, it isn't."

Dubabo's smile vanished.

"Well, then..." he growled. "How about THIS?"

Dubabo opened his mouth and spat a thick glob of metal onto the discus, which he pulled on with his free hand as it hardened, creating a handle. The remaining metal expanded over the disc and rounded itself into a spherical shape, which then sprouted a series of thick, hooked spines! Dubabo hefted the makeshift mace in one hand and pointed it at Ivan.

"I'm still not impressed." Ivan replied matter-of-factly.

Dubabo snarled and charged, swing his mace much more easily and efficiently than he had his axe.

But this time Ivan was ready - he dodged to the side and jumped up as the mace slammed down behind him, slamming his fist into Dubabo's stomach. Black energy flew in every direction; Dubabo roared in pain and stumbled back, steam rising from his stomach.

The chain's around the monster's torso were black and withered, smoke rising from the monster's dessicated stomach in between the links. Snarling, Dubabo grabbed the chains and yanked them; the now-brittle links snapped right off, exposing the demon's tender stomach.

"Your power is great," the Scourge huffed, "but it still can't kill me - I can just make more armor."

True to his words, Dubabo opened his mouth again; liquid metal seeped out and dripped over his chest and stomach, solidifying into something like a lead apron. Satisfied with his new armor, the demon raised his mace again and then hurled it at Ivan. It whistled as it spun through the air at Ivan, who, in true Matrix fashion, bent over backwards, the mace's spikes skimming his cheek as it sailed past his face. Ivan straightened back up, a thin line in his cheek freely seeping blood.

Dubabo took advantage of Ivan's distraction and charged, swinging his huge fist downward. But, again, Ivan was too fast for the unweildy demon to hit, leaping and rolling to the right before the blow could be landed. Ivan came out of the roll running, dashing the last fifteen feet and reclaiming his sword. Feeling a sense of relief, Ivan turned and held his sword up in a combatant manner.

His eyes widened - Dubabo was holding a sword of his own!

"Heheheheh..." The Scourge chuckled. "Engarde!"

Ivan frowned and charged at Dubabo, holding his sword high over his head. With a deep warcry, Ivan swung his sword over his head, slamming it against Dubabo's. Sparks flew from the clash of metal on metal as the blades pushed and scraped against one another, both warriors pushing as hard as they could.

And Dubabo was winning - quickly, he'd managed to force Ivan back ten feet, swinging his sword at the Chosen of Darkness over and over. Ivan backed away, blocking each blow with his sword as best as he could.

But as hard as he tried, his efforts were in vain - Dubabo's sword was larger, and the demon himself was stronger. With each blow Ivan blocked, another managed to slice through his coat. Or arm. He gritted his teeth against the pain, eventually leaping back as far as he could. He glanced down at his coat, which, along with the shirt underneath, had been cut to the point that it was beginning to get in the way of his attacks. Frowning, Ivan grabbed the fabric and ripped his coat and shirt from his body. He tossed them them both to the ground, revealing a surprisingly toned chest and six-pack underneath, both of which were gleaming with a mix of sweat and blood. His arms were marred with numerous scratches and cuts, and there was a large bruise on his solar plexus from the backhands and punches he'd taken. Even his formerly magnificent wings were beginning to droop from exhaustion. He wiped the blood from his mouth again and panted, his eyes closed and his head bowed slightly. Only his raised sword was any sign that he wasn't totally wiped out.

"Well, human," Dubabo said smugly, his sword at the ready, "it has been much fun toying with you, but now, it is time to die..."

Ivan didn't lift his head - behind his back, he cupped his free hand, conjuring a sphere of black, concentrated energy in it. The sphere slowly yet surely began to expand...

"Defiant to the very end, eh?" Dubabo smirked, raising his sword. "So be it - it'd be more gratifying to hear your dying screams, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers..."

Ivan lowered his sword, and then he raised it over his shoulder, as though he were sheathing it.

"Yes..." Dubabo hissed. "Surrender... Make your death as easy as you can..."

Behind Ivan's back, the tip of his sword pierced the ball of shadow in his hand; the orb silently burst into black energy that lanced through his blade, igniting it with black fire. A smell like ozone filled the air...

Dubabo held his sword high over his head.

"Farewell, mortal..."

Ivan opened his eyes; deep within the corridors of his mind, a language long-forgotten to him resurfaced, its words multiplying like amoebae and filling his mind. Two specific words made their way to the forefront and escaped Ivan's mouth togetheras a whisper - the loudest, most forceful whisper Ivan had ever spoken:

"Ungluecksaebel."

Ivan drew his sword and swung it at Dubabo...

At first nothing seemed to happen, but then a dark arc appeared in mid-air before Ivan, following the exact path his sword had followed. The arc of black energy glinted with a single spark, and then it burst outward at Dubabo, bursting into a series of spiraling black beams that slammed into Dubabo's face and stomach.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! !"

Dubabo screamed in utter agony as the black pillars of energy expanded and pushed at him, quickly eating away at his armor and then bursting through his flesh. Dark ichor oozed and spurted from the wounds for a split-second, before they and the rest of the Scourge were enveloped in a maelstrom of black energy, the shadowy tempest expanding and exploding into a storm of colossal pillars of black energy.

Deep in the source of the blast, Dubabo stood motionless as the black energy eroded his body away. One final thought echoed through The Scourge's mind as he was ground to dust:

'The Living Fortress... beaten by a mere human... Well, at least none of the other Scourges will ever hear about this...'

And then, his skin and flesh chipped away like talc, his bones crumbling into dust and scattering harmlessly.

The blasts of dark energy slammed into the walls of Dubabo's cocoon with explosive force, the thick metal bending and warping, weakened by Dubabo's death, until the shell exploded into shards, no less than a dozen black beams crashing through it and the walls and ceiling of the warehouse just outside of it. Any debris that dared fall was instantly engulfed by the blasts, which streaked into the sky. By some higher being's mercy, they managed to not strike any skyscrapers or aircraft, the beams extending for miles before they finally began to dwindle, then flicker and dissipate without a trace.

When the devastation had finally ended, Ivan stood in the warehouse (or half of it, rather) covered with blood and sweat, his body naked from the waist up, his arms, chest, and cheek covered with still-bleeding wounds, his disheveled hair weakly blowing in the breeze behind him. The blood dripping from his mouth had finally ceased, leaving a thin trail of dried blood running down his chin. His wings stretched out behind him, drooping a bit from fatigue but nonetheless still proudly jutting out from his back, without so much as a scratch on them.

Ivan's sword faded from crackling black to its normal silver luster in his hand; his enemy defeated, Ivan finally felt at ease enough to sheathe the blade, before he at last slumped to his knees, utterly exhausted.

The Chosen of Darkness put his hands on his knees, his breathing still heavy but slowly stabilizing. However, as he attempted to regain his energy, a nagging voice in the back of his mind spoke up:

"Ivan, return to your friends - they could use your assisitance."

Ivan sighed and stood up, turning and walking the other way, out of the line of sight.

A few moments later, he was soaring through the sky, his torn coat and shirt tied around his neck.

'One of the others had better have a needle and thread I can use.' he thought with a frown. 'Because I can't afford a new wardrobe right now.'

--------------------------------------------------------

Finally got this up; hope y'all liked the little intro I made up. ^^;;;

(smacks someone with a STOP sign)

Next!

[Mystic_clown]

Angelo
--------------------------------------
Angelo was shocked when he saw Kiina and Leu fly down with a pair of wings, although his shock was short lived as a pair of Scourge leaped out from God-knows-where and attacked them. Evn with his arms free, Angel himself wasn't much of a fighter. He focused on dodging their attacks while landing a few kicks once in a while.

Kiina and Leu on the other hand were fighting supurbly, tearing their way through them. Ange couldn't help but feel inferior.

Then something caught his eye. Denny, glowing a brilliant red, along wiht another man.

"Denny!" Angelo cried out. However, this break in concentration allowed one of the demons to land a shot. Stricking him with its tail, Angelo was sent flying into a wall.

"Angelo!" was the last thing he heard before drifting into unconciousness.

--------------~*~--------------

"Angelo."

Angelo groaned and opened his eyes. All he saw was black. He slowly stood up and gasped what was before him.

In front of him was a large figure. While he couldn't make it out, he could see it's glowing red eyes, and it's shape due to the red aura surrounding him. It looked like some kind of nine headed serpant.

standing around him where eight humanoid figures. Again, Angelo couldn't make out any features, but they were all glowing the same red aura.

As a matter of fact, HE was glowing red as well.

"You, who have nine lives," The serpant spoke, [/B]"Nine heads. I must say it's quite a sensible choice for a vassel for my power."[/B]

"P-power?" Angelo questioned. As if in response, the serpant's many eyes flared up briefly. The glow around him and the other eight figures intensified. Angelo began to feel hot.

"Go, take my power and destroy the Scourge."

Angelo almost felt like he was on fire.

"W-what's happening!?" he cried as his vision blurred.

"Time to Awaken."

--------------~*~--------------

Denny, Kiina, Leu and the mysterious man were busy fighting the Scourge, as well as keeping them from getting to the unconcious boy. However, as Denny finished one off, one managed to get through. The beast dove towards Angelo.

"Angelo!"

As if on cue, Angelo's body began to glow a bright red. His eyes shot open, glowing red hot. With one ear splitting cry, a fiery explosion engulfed the area around him.

So now, Angelo's finally using his powers. He also has his weapon too. If you need to picturise it, picture metal boots with blades on them, mainly a large, semi-circular blade on the bottom. In short, think iceskates of death! XD

[Mew Master]

Denny Roth
--------------------------

The smoke flowed around us as I held myself up against the force of the blast. Coming from Angelo, it was the last thing any of us expected, especially the Scourge.

As the smoke started to clear, everyone found themselves immersed in separate domes that I had thrown up to protect them, leaving the Scourge high and dry as the fiery explosion engulfed them instead of us.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this was that after I had thrown up the domes, I was expecting to have one hellova headache afterwards. But I didn’t. There was a bit of strain as I threw up multiple domes so that I could keep everyone in one piece after the explosion but the usual migraines that followed didn’t happen this time.

The smoke cleared and I dropped the domes, none of us in any danger for the time being.

I looked at a confused and shocked Angelo, who was now standing on very nasty looking ice-skates that seemed to glow with an intense fire, melting the concrete under him. As I checked on everyone else, I was surprised to see that Leu and Kiina…

“Okay, did I miss something. Or was I sick the day they started handing out wings?” I commented, dusting myself off.

Kiina and Leu looked at each other before replying. “Actually we just jumped off a roof.”

I face faulted on the concrete.

“Whadda mean you just jumped off a building. The laws of physics…. Wait… I’ll shut up now.” I replied.

“It appears to me,” I heard Vincent start and looked over at the black-clad detective as he leaned over to some burning rubble and lit a cigarette that he had placed in his mouth. “That they’ve unlocked something before you. Just as the one wearing melting ice-skates did just now.”

Everyone looked at Vincent as he inhaled a long drag on his cigarette.

“Who is he?” Leu asked me. “Like us?”

“Not from what I can tell. Guy can throw books with his mind. I think he’s more Psychic than Chosen. Everyone okay? That was one hellova blast there Angelo.”

“Ye-yeah,” he muttered.

“Everyone! You okay?!” We looked up towards the voice. There was Aliana, making her way down from the upper floors along a pile of rubble.

“Yeah, we’re fine Aliana!” Leu shouted back.

I strained my senses, I thought there would have been more of us there at the moment. Then I remembered the Scourge at the bookstore, how he had changed his aura to fool me into thinking that Leu was the one in trouble. Looking over, I stared at Leu, making sure that my mind hadn’t been screwed with too much today.

“Hmm?” he said noticing me looking at him. “Something wrong?”

“Eh? No, my mind left to its own little world… but it’s okay, they know me there.”

A few chuckled at that comment. Which was good, we needed to laugh a little bit after the last few days.

“Aye,” I heard an elder voice say. “Have here, what this is?” Looking over I saw Sean walking towards us, nearly hopping along with his cane being used for balance.

“Sean,” Kiina said lightly.

“What? Be he here?” he looked around half-mindedly before realizing that we were talking about him. “Ah! Here me be. Where be the rest of the Chosen, and who this dark one is?” he motioned by waving his arm and then pointing his cane at Vincent.

Wobbling up Sean stared at Vincent, judging him almost like a piece of meat. “Not human. Chosen also not. What manner of creature you be, dark one?” he tapped his cane on Vincent’s forehead.

Vincent swatted it away and inhaled another drag on his cigarette. “I be… “ he shook his head. Sean’s way of talking was catchy, if not sporadic. “I’m human, but I’m not in league with these… Chosen, least not yet.”

Sean shrugged. “If you wish to think of yourself as such then you be you. Now,” he turned towards the rest of us. “Methinks you are missing a few Chosen.”

“That’s right,” Aliana stated. “Auril took Joey off out of the training tower because she got hurt somehow.”

“Well that’s a good thing… I think,” I replied. Mental note: Try and check in on them at earliest moment. “What about Mr. Anti-social?”

“The Chosen of Shadow? Yes yes, he has faced a challenged directed at him by the Scourge. On his way here, he should be… yes should be.” Sean said, looking up at the sky.

“Okay,” Vincent said, exhaling a puff of smoke. “While we wait, how about you start telling me everything… and I mean everything.”

-----------------

Well, since the general concesus was that we continue the RPG as best we can, I think it's time to get back on the ball with Summer here... and half-way over for me. Hopefully we can get back into the whole mad-fury of posts in a single day that we had back in December. Here goes.

Currently there's no MAIN general direction other than character development at this point. A bit down the line Denny'll get his Wings in a cool arial fight to rival the Death Star Run! XD Or not.... but until then... Character Development ahoy!!!

Later!

[Mew Trainer Rose]

Aliana - Light
---------------

I opened my mouth, ready to start explaining about the Scourge, then closed it as I remembered what the avistel, Temira, had said. I was about to act without thinking again, just going with the flow. I needed to start thinking about what I was doing; I certainly did not need to start questioning every little thing or going out of my way to go against what everyone else was doing, but I just needed to make my own choices and judgments. And I figured spilling out everything to a guy I'd just met didn't seems like a smart idea, especially since he wasn't a Chosen or, according to Sean, even human. As wierd as Sean was, I trusted his word over a random stranger's.

I looked at him again. He did appear human and didn't look too weird, or at least any weirder than the rest of us. A moment ago when I was climbing down to the rest of the group I thought I'd heard Denny mention he was psychic or something, so it seems Denny knew him a bit. And just now he's been chatting with everyone nicely enough, so at least he wasn't immediately planning on attacking us. Still, I knew almost nothing about the guy.

'Hey, do you have any idea who or what this guy is?' I mentally asked Temira on a whim.

I didn't think I was going to get a response for a moment, but then I heard, He's not a Scourge, nor a Chosen, but neither is he a normal human. Her voice sounded distinctly puzzled. He's odd, but I don't quite know how. I don't believe he intends you harm, though. That didn't really tell me much.

"First off, who are you?" I eventually asked him. I carefully kept my voice from sounding accusatory, hostile, or rude, trying to stay fairly neutral. To my ears it sounded a bit puzzled, though. "No offense, but considering all the weirdness all around, I don't think it's a good idea to tell everything we know to a random stranger."

--------------------------------------

Yay for starting up the RPG again! This is fairly short, but I need to get back into the swing of posting. And at least I managed to stretch asking "who are you?" into half a page in word while adding some character development.

[Blademaster]

It's come to my attention that my posts are way too long, so...

------------------------------------------------

Ivan

The Chosen of Shadow soared through the air like some sort of dark angel.

"Ivan."

'Isn't there a way to shut you off?'

"Where are you going?"

'Back to that girl's apartment to repair my attire.'

"Ivan, there are more important matters than your coat right now."

'Such as...? I just defeated a demon juggernaut in combat - that was enough exercise for the day.'

"It's not the Scourge, Ivan - Kiashkiklah has informed me that he has encountered a human with unusual psychic capabilities..."

Ivan rolled his eyes, not knowing or caring off-hand who Kiashkiklah was.

'Oh, of course. Elemental manipulation and interdimensional monstrosities were not enough - a telekinetic had to be included in all this as well...'

"Spare me your sarcasm, Ivan - I cannot be sure of this man's intentions. You should meet with the others - your natural aggression and lack of trust may just prove useful to them for a change."

'If I meet with the others, will you leave me alone?'

"If you wish."

'Fine... Where are they?'

--------------------------------------------------------

OK, Ivan's on his way - feel free to have him barge in and say hello by pointing his sword at Vincent's throat or whatever.

(throws a TV at someone)

Tag!

[Mew Master]

*TV crashes and Denny's seen through the moniter* We now return you to your regularly scheduled chaos. Enjoy.

Vincent Nelson – Psychic
------------------

"First off, who are you?" the girl in the baggy pants, sweatshirt and loosely tied hair stated. "No offense, but considering all the weirdness all around, I don't think it's a good idea to tell everything we know to a random stranger."

Had to give her credit for that one. She was using her head, which at this point in the game would be an important asset, for all they knew I was one of those monsters running around town either killing or terrorizing people. But. The death toll was going to start rising, and if I wanted to stop it, I needed to know what they knew, so an exchange of information seemed in order.

“A very good point miss…”

“Aliana.”

“Yes, Aliana. My name’s Vincent Nelson, I’m a paranormal detective who’s worked with the Bartholomew police on several cases that were deemed… unnatural. And I’ve just been called in on this case. Considering all the craziness since yesterday, I looked at all the reports of weird experiences and then that’s when I found out about you all being brought in for Questioning after what happened at the dojo. It wasn’t a gas-line explosion was it?”

“Eh…” I noticed Denny roll his eyes and laugh nervously.

“Or was it you?”

“Yeah… that one was mostly my fault. Well…”

Denny started explaining the events from his point of view. From what he said, I could gather there was at least four other Chosen as best he could describe, besides those gathered there. Leu, the tall lanky one with the composite bow, Angelo, who seemed to be a bit jittery after I mentioned that I was a detective, Aliana, who was smart enough to find out more about me, Kiina, who along with Leu had a set of brilliant wings. There was Joey, a young girl who had been taken off by an older female named Auril, Kyoshiro, who no one knew exactly where he was, and there was one more.

Everyone started giving me their individual stories, and I could see how they tied together. Some of them have known each other for a few years, while others had just met yesterday. Yet, despite all this they were willing to work together

As I watched the group, I noticed their auras fluxuating and pulsating, slowly intensifying. Denny and Angelo had the burning fire aura, Kiina’s resembled a thriving vine with thorns, Leu’s pulsated with random sparks, Aliana’s was pure white with an almost unearthly glow behind her. It was anyone’s guess what the other auras were like. Guessing from Angelo’s earlier explosion and Denny’s aura, it was a point that they were both using a concentrated form of Fire, and only Fire. The others seemed to suggest that they were using other elements as well. As I stood there, inhaling on my cigarette, listening, taking in every detail that they could give me, I could feel something coming towards us, make that two somethings. There was one that seemed to just be flying around, free as the wind merged with it and became one, the other, seemed to stem darkness. The second one didn’t seem hostile, not at first. When it landed and pointed a sword point at my head.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Ivan!”

I turned my head to the man who was now standing next to me, and I must admit I was surprised. Very few people stand over me, and yet here he was, a full six inches over me. He was dressed completely in dark clothing, not unlike myself, but his skin was much paler, and he had a pair of giant wings folding behind him. I could see a few things in his face and clothing. He had just gotten out of a fight, for one, his clothes had tears and rips in them. Looking at his nose I could see two indents where the nose-supports for glasses normally rest. So he used to need glasses, or only needs them for certain situations. He was also glaring at me with an intense glare, one I’ve seen many times before. His whole stance was threatening, but I got the sense that he didn’t want to kill me, he just wanted answers. The sword was interesting too. It resembled a long-sword in its length, but the handle was longer, more like a one-and-a-half, I couldn’t tell much about the hilt. I took this all in during a few seconds.

“This,” I said, letting out a sigh. “Is why I hate repeating myself. You must be Ivan.”

No reply, just a steely eyed glare. Just get to the point, was the message I got from it.

“Fine. I’m Vincent Nelson, and I’m on your side.”

Ivan didn’t budge.

I looked over at the other members of this Chosen group. “Is there any way you can get him to lower his sword?”

“Hey comeon Ivan, he’s okay. He’s working with us,” Denny started then had Ivan point his sword right at him. “Okay fine.”

Ivan pointed it back at me and glared at me. So, I looked back. We stared into each others eyes, both steely willed and unable to back down. It was a tense moment when I finally saw the big guy lower his sword and sheath it, he didn’t sense I was a threat, which was a good thing. I’ve fought bigger men, but neither of us would have walked away unhurt from the ordeal.

“What the hell do you want?”

“Well,” I said, grabbing another cigarette. First off I needed information, and now that I have it, you guys can consider me someone on the inside of the police. Plus we can keep better tabs on these, Scourge when they appear because people call us, and well, they call me too.” I gave them each my contact info if they wanted it, not all of them did. I feel that they had some relief knowing that they weren’t alone in dealing with the Scourge.

With a quick goodbye I took my leave. I had work to do, and not much time.

I walked home, running the information through my head. As I walked down the street I thought I caught sight of something and spun to look. Nothing. No aura, tear, rip, Scourge, or anything of the like. I stared at the alley, and narrowed my eyes. I’m not spooked easily, but I’m also not alien to seeing things out of the corner of my eyes. This set me off a bit, especially considering how close we were to the Chosen’s “training building.” Keeping the event locked away, I continued on my way home.

------------------

There! Now I don’t expect to be in charge of character development… which Denny needs some… he also needs to unlock his Angelic Form… so I’ll deal with that soon…

*Throws a coffee table* TAG!

[Mystic_clown]

Angelo
---------------------------------
Angelo couldn't stop trembling. He had POWERS now, highly destructive ones. He also appeared to be armed now.

The insane man looked down at the blades on his feet. They were no longer super heated, so they weren't scorching the ground he walked on, and he seemed to be adjusting to walking on the blades.

He was a little afraid of this Vincent character, especially upon finding out he was a detective. He was already nervous enough about his schitzophrenia being exposed to his fellow Chosen, but telling it to a detective would be a one way trip back to the asylum. And the timid blonde did not want that!

While the others talked, Angel quietly went off on his own to think.

He had powers now, and he was supposed to use them to help save the world. Of all the poeple in the world, why him!? Sure, Angelo himself would be glad to do it. But he had eight other people living in his head! He was too unpredictable.

Specially with...him...

Angelo was brought back into reality by someone tapping him on the shoulder.

"Angelo?"

The blonde let out a small squeak of fright before spinning around, looking to see who it was.

"Is something wrong?"

TAG to anyone wanting to talk to the crazy one!

[Drusilla]

Ladies and gents! For those I haven't spoken to yet, I announce my return (for the umpteenth time)! I have saved all three pages so far and hope to start work on a new post tonight.

I appologize for my absence; it was not completely intentional. Yes, I spent many weeks playing Corum Online (wonderful game... how I miss it), but then our ISP got cut off because my bf's parentals couldn't pay the bills. I have since moved back home in hopes of saving up money for a place of our own, but in the meantime... I have been dying to start this up again. How I love it all... the intrigue, the romance... the explosions and eviscerations... *sigh*

Anyway, hope to post sometime tomorrow. Cheers!

[Mew Master]

Denny Roth~Fire
-----------------

I watched Vincent walk away after talking to us. Having someone on the inside of the police force who could help us out in a pinch would be very useful. I hoped.

Looking back, I tried to assess the situation as best I could. Over the last two days, our little group seemed to be on their own against a seemingly endless army of demons. Demons who wanted our friends, family, and anything we held dear. They wanted our world. And we stood in their way. Granted we were a miss-matched bunch. Leu, who seemed to have a laid-back attitude since day-one I met him. Kiina, a girl who made fighting look like a dance. Ivan, the man who could stare daggers into your soul. Aliana, someone I had known for a few years and had a smile after one of my bad jokes. Kyo, a teenager who we had all met recently. Angelo, traumatized into schizophrenia by who knows what. Joey, someone I almost considered a little sister. And Auril, who could gave everyone the cold shoulder. And me. Who knew how everyone else saw myself.

Wait. Where were they?!

“Hey,” I muttered. “Where’d Angelo go?” Aliana had said that Auril and Joey were together. I should try and find out where she lived, but no one exchanged any contact info. The only ones I could get a hold of at a moment’s notice were Leu and Aliana.

I’m not sure if anyone heard me we were all pretty tired. Especially after today.

“What bothers you, Chosen of the Flaming Dragon?” I heard Sean say.

“Eh?” I managed to say.

“Come now, you look upon the group with a stormed heart. What be on your mind?”

How to start? Where to start? We had told Vincent our story, and he seemed to buy it, but looking back on it, it just seemed too unreal to be true.

“Well, I just may be imagining things…”

“But?”

“But it seems out of the ordinary. For this group of us to be able to save the world, push back the Scourge, and keep them at bay. Aren’t we pressured enough? Can we really do it?”

Sean looked me over for a moment before pointing his staff at me, the end touching my chest at my heart.

“The question is not whether they can do it. The question burning in your heart, is whether you can do it. Doubt scorches the edges of your soul. Doubt in yourself, in your abilities. Doubt in being able to control your power, to protect those near you. Once you rid yourself of this doubt, then you shall know the answers.”

I was shocked! And…. It was all true.

I have doubts in myself. Whether I’d ever be able to do that which needed to be done. If I’d have the power to protect those around me. Sure, it’s easy to say that you’d throw your life away, but when it all comes down to it, would I? Could I?

Looking out from my inward battle, I saw Sean talking to the others. About what, I didn’t know as I slid my katana handle into my pocket and walked away. If anyone shouted at me, or tried to get my attention I was oblivious to it all.

The walk home I tried to think. Do I doubt myself too much? Was I really able to do what was needed?

I tried to think about it all, and I saw someone’s face in my mind. No, several. There were my parents. Both of them could beat the snot outta me if they wanted. My family, my friends, and one face stood out amongst them.

Beautiful. Long raven black hair. Brown eyes that never looked at you with contempt. Thin rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of the nose.

Yes. She was who I would do anything for, and she knew it.

I smiled to myself as I finally got to my basement apartment. I dug for my keys before trying to insert one into the lock. However before I could insert my key, the door flew open and I was instantly glomped by someone in a full-body hug. Slammed against the concrete across from where the door was, I managed to catch a few features after the shock left. Long hair, a familiar scent.

“Sa-Sarah?!” What was she doing here.

“Good thing that you gave me a key, or else I would have been stranded outside for the last few hours.”

“I… eh… gah!” and she pulled me inside my apartment as the door closed and the deadbolt locked.

The world outside may have been chaos, but at least I had something that I was willing to die for, with me. Right now.

-----------------

Well, yes I would like to start it all up again, and to spur that on, one Pic of Leu and his Hippogriff!

Later!
-----------------

[Drusilla]

Y’all have no idea how good it feels to finally be posting again... The following post gets into a little more of a mature subject matter than most... nothing outright raunchy, mind you, just a little on the sexually liberated side... It’s crucial to Auril’s character, though. And at the ending, I was under the impression that everyone was kind of gathered... correct me if I'm wrong.

The bitch is back. Enjoy.


Auril Haven
The hunger inside, give it to me,
Makes me what I am
Always, it is calling me
For the blood of Man
They say I cannot be this, I am jaded,
Hiding from the day
I cannot bear, I cannot tame the hunger in me...

I pulled the outer shower curtain shut and began to strip off the clothing that was stuck to my body due to a heavy saturation of dirt, blood, and sweat. The jeans could be salvaged, but the bra and what little remained of my shirt were probably history. I might be able to wear the bra one last time... but not tonight. Tonight, if I was to work, I would need something more... suitable.

Closing the inner shower door, which kept the outer section of the shower stall relatively dry, I let my mind return to the thoughts which had been plaguing me. I was very rarely called in early to work. I had my two nights, though usually just the one, and that was it. Not that I minded being called in; I loved my job and the freedom it gave me. Some thought it scandalous, others seemed to believe it made me “easy”. I found it liberating, quite the opposite of most jobs that college students took. Almost all that knew found it hard to believe that a woman so engaged in her pursuit of medical knowledge in the hopes that she could one day be a surgeon could put the books down one or two nights a week to be an “exotic dancer”.

No, it wasn’t being called in to work early in and of itself that disturbed me; it was the circumstances. Andy had sounded strained on the phone, and had mentioned an “incident” last night that had incapacitated Cassie. Could it be the Scourge? I could hardly imagine those shadow creatures, whatever they were exactly, to have interest in a stripper, but then... maybe she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or, even better, maybe it was just some kind of everyday event, like a car wreck... Though Andy had called it “weird”. He was no stranger to the “weird”, so for something to freak him out it had to be pretty extraordinary.

I turned the water on and soon found that I had lost my taste for hot showers. Big surprise. I kept it lukewarm, however, as I worked shampoo through my long, black hair... Hopefully it would recover enough from the abuse of the past twenty-four hours that I wouldn’t have to make too much of an extra effort to get it just so. Dirt and blood mixed with the water running down my body, making quite a mess on the floor of the shower. I would have to try to rinse it all away before leaving or the poor custodian that cleaned the bathroom wouldn’t be too happy. I felt sorry for the poor woman, having to spend all morning and the early afternoon each weekday cleaning the bathrooms, hallways, and common areas of the dormitory. Not my idea of a fun job, but then, with what I did, I couldn’t imagine much else being fun to me. Giving men that look was my idea of fun, and how I loved it. The dark shadow in their eyes that was pure testosterone and agression... pure lust and desire. Knowing that it was I that caused that reaction, my body that they wanted so badly. I would do it for free, and had before, just for that feeling of power it gave me.

It suddenly occurred to me that, if any of the men in our little group came tonight, they would see what it was that I did, and what it was that I could do. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that... The thought jolted me out of my smug power trip. I could just see the shocked faces, except for perhaps Leu... he might yell something obscene at my expense. Then again, if Kiina came, he might just behave himself. Gods only knew how Angelo would react... And there was Ivan. A mild panic sprung up in the back of my mind. What would Ivan do? What would he say? Why in the hells did I give a damn about what he thought, though? He was just another man, wasn’t he? Part of me deeply wished I could believe that he was, and I puzzled over this sudden, strong attraction that I had for him. I hardly knew the man... no one seemed to know anything about who he was or where he had come from. Yet, he was never far from my mind, this dark, brooding, mysterious figure... I worked conditioner through my tangled locks with my fingers, working out the knots as I went. I had never had any attraction to a man beyond casual lust, which inevitably would be satisfied and I would move on. This was different. I wanted to know who he was, what his past held. No, this was beyond casual anything, and I wondered if somehow my icy counterpart had something to do with it, for both had come into my life at the same time. It wasn’t that I thought perhaps Tisiphone was infatuated with Ivan, no... but perhaps his creature held some kind of lure for her.

The thought angered me. Who was I now? Was I still myself, or merely an extension of this other being? Had I ever been anything more than a puppet for her? How long had she been there, waiting? Had I ever been a free person, or was my life planned out before I had ever walked the earth? I wasn’t sure if I trusted Tisiphone enough to ask her and believe whatever she might tell me, and she most likely knew what I was thinking anyway. I knew that she could keep her own thoughts separate from mine when she wished to, but I didn’t know if I had that same control myself. It was worth looking into, though I had no idea how to go about doing so.

I let these thoughts slip from my mind momentarily to relax into the feeling of water running through my hair as I rinsed out the conditioner. So much was happening so quickly, and my worrying most likely wouldn’t make much of a difference other than serving as a distraction. A distraction I couldn’t afford. Maybe the others had some of the same thoughts and fears, maybe not. Most seemed to hide their inner thoughts pretty well, so I supposed that I would never know, and not that it mattered, anyway. Well, for most of them...

Who are you, Ivan? I wondered. What is so appealing about you that you have haunted my waking moments all day? I had no idea where he had disappeared to, nor if he was safe... The idea of him being wounded somewhere, alone, wrenched my stomach like a great fist had closed over my insides. Surely, he would be all right; he certainly seemed plenty self-sufficient, and it wasn’t as if he wasn’t strong enough to handle any challenge that might come his way. I couldn’t help but wonder, though... did he think of me? Probably not; he didn’t seem to feel the need to think of anyone but himself. Until recently, I had been the same. I had peers and colleagues, not friends. I had a roommate that I lived with, classmates that I would study with, coworkers I spent time with every once in a while, but no true friends. Not since... well, it had been many years. I had gone so long without having someone to spend my time with that I wasn’t sure how to handle this newfound curiosity. It was unnatural for me to think of someone else like this.

I washed my face, giving a little extra effort to ensure that I was free of any dried blood around the edges of my hair, and began to wash myself from the shoulders down. I was pretty sure that simple human contact was not what I sought; I could have that if I needed it. No, there was something about Ivan in particular that I longed for. Something told me that his past was much darker than my own; perhaps that had something to do with it? I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around it, and that could be because I wasn’t meant to, not yet. It could just be a passing infatuation, though something deep within hoped that it wasn’t. Maybe the idea that I could die at any moment pushed me more towards finding some kind of fulfilment, and I didn’t like that possible explanation at all. I didn’t need fulfilment, I just needed to be free to live my life in the moment. I didn’t need anyone else, and I certainly didn’t need any man.

I hoped that this mystery would solve itself in time without any negative implications on my life. Once this whole Scourge thing was over, I just wanted to go back to my life as it was before... yet that small part of me, deep inside, cried out at the thought. Part of me didn’t want to return to what it saw as an empty existence, though I ignored it. I had been fine before hand, and would be fine going back to what I had been.

I turned down the water temperature for the final rinse off, and lingered longer than I needed to. Here, with my thoughts, I felt safe. I didn’t have to worry about anyone else, though, of course, Ivan returned to my mind, unbidden. I knew that I would become more irritable around him if these thoughts persisted, but I couldn’t help myself. With the cold water running down my face and back, over my shoulders and stomach, rushing down my legs and feet to hit the floor and disappear down the drain in the middle of the shower stall, I thought of him...

I returned to my room, dressed in boot cut black pants and a plain black button-up shirt with short sleeves and a collar (I didn’t want to get any of my concert tees shredded, not to mention that it looked innocent enough... if one didn’t notice the buttons gently buckling around my breasts), to find that Joey seemed to be doing much better. She seemed to just be waking from a brief nap when I walked in, shut the door, and hung up my towel. I picked up a wide-tooth comb from my dresser and began to work on my hair so it would dry straight.

“Feeling better?” I asked, glancing at her. She shrugged, looking around at my room wordlessly. Her eyes lingered on the oversized medical books, desktop computer, and recharging laptop that sat on my otherwise uncluttered desk. I supposed that it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I had a little money; the computer equipment alone was enough to testify to it, not to mention the jewelry I had lying around on my dresser. A quick glance assured me that Joey had kept her hands to herself while I had been gone. I was rather vain, and had a decent number of adornments that I often wore to work when I was in the mood. Placing the comb back on the dresser, I chose a rather flashy pair of onyx and diamond chandelier earrings and matching choker to wear tonight. Quickly, I put on my typical heavy black eyeliner with a touch of black eyeshadow and a dark red lip stain. My still wet hair had an interesting effect on it all, but I supposed that it would do for now. I could do extensive touch-ups later on, when I got to work, but for now I was eager to find the others and discover what had been happening.

Taking one last glance in the mirror, I turned to Joey, who seemed unimpressed. I sat in the chair in front of my desk to put my boots back on and moved towards Joey, intending on carrying her again. She seemed to have other ideas.

“I can walk by myself,” she protested, struggling to get off of the low bed. She stumbled forward, and I caught her quickly.

“Let’s just skip the argument and get out of here, OK? You’re weakened right now, and since medicine hasn’t delved into the realms of magic quite yet, I can’t tell you how much... but for the time being, let’s just make this easier on the both of us.” Once again, I effortlessly carried her in my arms; normally, this would have been a little of a struggle, but I guessed that being Chosen had it’s benefits. It would have been useful when moving into the dorm, but no matter.

I managed to get the door open just in time to nearly run straight into my roommate, Caitlin. She, per usual, had her pathetically emo boyfriend in tow, and both looked at me in surprise.

“Wow, I wasn’t, like... expecting you to be here. No one’s seen you since... like...” She ran her hand along the forward swoop in her hair, a gesture that I had come to despise. I fought the urge to yell at her to get a decent haircut.

“I know, something came up... I don’t know when I’ll be back. I’ll have to call my professors later today. I have to go to work in a few, too...”

“Uhm, OK...” Her eyes fell upon Joey, questioning.

“This is my cousin... she’s sick, and I’m about to drive her back to where her parents are staying for the week. We just stopped here for a little while so I could get cleaned up.” The lie was past my lips as soon as I could think it. Caitlin frowned slightly, knowing that I didn’t have any family anywhere near here, nor that any relatives of mine would ever visit, but didn’t say anything about it.

“Right... yeah...”

I dearly wanted to throttle her, but I had more pressing matters to attend to. I pushed my way past the two losers in front of me and walked down the hallway to the stairs that would take me out of the building. Outside, I returned to the same group of trees I had used as a refuge earlier to transform, set Joey down to lean against me while I undid my shirt so I could take it off and tuck it into my jeans, and focused on my wings. They came to me easier this time, though I felt weaker afterwards. My energy was depleting rapidly, and I knew my best bet would be to find the others before I became to weak to look after both Joey and myself. I needed rest, and probably a good meal... Breakfast seemed so long ago I didn’t want to think about it too much.

My mind opened to the city, and I could feel the many people around me... brief flickers of light in the dark of my mind, but quickly picked up on my fellow Chosen. They were not so far away, so after glancing about to see if anyone was nearby, I carefully picked up Joey once again and launched myself into the air. Momentarily, the image of me being ticketed for public indecency and for flying above college grounds flashed in my mind, and I grinned slightly. I had the feeling that if people hadn’t been noticing the strange occurrences all ready, they would be very soon.

I landed in a narrow alley near to the others to return to my human form, feeling absolutely exhausted afterwards. I rounded the corner, Joey in my arms, when everyone turned to see who was coming. I stumbled, but managed to avoid dropping the smaller body I was carrying. My hair was still slightly wet and stuck to my face in places, and I didn’t see who took Joey from me. I sighed, tugged my shirt out of the waistband of my pants, and put it back on, having a slight difficulty with the small buttons, as my fingers were refusing to work. Finally, I was decent enough for pubic eyes, and sunk wearily to the pavement. I looked up at everyone, most looking more than worse for wear.

“So... anything new?” I asked, smiling weakly. My eyes swept over everyone and lingered on Ivan for more than just a few seconds; my heart skipped a beat and I quickly looked down at the rubble-strewn pavement around me, feeling the color rising to my face just slightly. I wondered if anyone noticed...

*chucks a couch at someone* Neeeext?

[Blademaster]

Quick question before I post: Where the Hell are we all again? I though we were in our 'training building'; now we seem to be on the street...