Open Quest




Posted by Strike

OOC: It's been forever. The point of the quest is... we don't know yet! All who participate add to the story. I'd encourage you to use your main Sim character, although you can use whoever you'd like. Forgotton Soul, I'm going to assume you're participating. Sorry.

[COLOR="lightBlue"]Strike held the Order of the Rose firmly in grasp, scanning an army of pitiful creatures that had seemingly crawled out of the mouth of hell. The metal corridors echoed with their horrible noises, their squeaks and screams, their knashing teeth, clinking talons, and scraping metal of armor and crude iron instruments of death.

Strike's back was set firmly against the back of another warrior, who was surrounded in like manner, also set in battle position against the tide of darkness.

[COLOR="lightgreen"]"Think you can handle this many?" [/COLOR]asked Strike, tightening his grip on the sword.[/COLOR]




Posted by S

"I think a better question is: Can this many, handle us?" she mused while stealing a glance at Strike's back.

Holding the Havoc Divide firmly in her left palm at the lower end of the shaft, the blade arched upwards behind her arm and high above her shoulder. Its menacing aura shed a faint purple light, just large enough to make out the surrounding hall's construction and a few soon-to-be-departed vermin.

Swinging the gargantuan scythe before her, she choked up her hold and was ready at the drop of a dime.




Posted by Chiaroscuro

Sharp metal prevailed easily over decaying flesh as the neck of the first beast was sliced through as cleanly as could be. The head barely had time to roll from the shoulders and thump unto the floor before the second creature found itself impaled with a longsword jutting out of its chest. The beast roared in agony and lurched forward with its crude hand-axe, looking to extract revenge in a nasty way. But as its attacker cartwheeled out of range, the swing found nothing but the chest of another demon, whose jagged spear, missing its own mark, slid roughly into the axe-wielder's torso.

The two forms collapsed in an intertwined heap of metal as Nido equipped the scimitar of a fallen demon, cutting through additional adversaries as he advanced down the hallways. The battle scar across his face burned with a familiar essence of power, and he knew between that and the clashing of metals in the upcoming room that Strike was nearby, and evidently in trouble.




Posted by Xhalo

* X-halo opened a portal as usual. It had been a long battle and he was feeling a little drained. The elementals in the first levels of the cavern weren't hard, but there was so many of them. X-halo stepped into the portal without glancing at it first; still thinking back to his training. *

* As he emerged from the portal, it wasn't his lovely Katt that he saw but an army of demons. Instinctively his blades shot out from his gauntlets. He looked around and saw Strike and a woman with a big scythe. *

X-halo:"Strike, what the hell is going on and where are we."




Posted by Strike

"X!" yelled Strike, speaking loudly between vital blows as he vanquished demon after demon with the swing of his blade. "I'll explain later, just GET IN HERE! And close that CURSED portal, you'll let them out!"

Five more demons fell, heads rolling.

"And that's just what I need... an infestation on my hands."

Strike continued his work of death with his left arm, as his right conjured a double-barrelled shotgun. A particularly horny demon flew against the metallic wall, black blood spattering against it as the demon was reduced to bits of flesh and bone. X-halo cut a path through the tide to Strike and (forgot your charrie's name, Lun...).

"So, they're some kind of zombie?" he asked, linking elbows with Strike as he stabbed another demon through the middle, swinging upward and slicing the beast in half.

"Something like that... I've got nothing but theories, but we need to stop whatever is creating them... and we need to do it now." and with that, X-halo and Strike combined efforts and launched Strike into the air, his sword spinning behind his back like a Helicopter, his gun held forward.

A black Halo came into being in front of the shotgun, X-halo's energy surging as Strike channeled lightning energy into the black conflagration. The spinning blade converged with the black mass of energy, and blasted forward, clearing the entire path before him. Strike, X, and (Lun) ran forward through the carnage. Strike was keeping an eye out for his blade, expecting to find the Order of the Rose quivering ominously from a wall or something... instead he found it in Nid's hands.

"I knew you were here..." said Nid, offering the blade to Strike.

"Ah, sorry..." said Strike, accepting the katana, "I didn't feel the signs. I was kinda busy..."

"We're not done yet!" shouted (Lun's character) as a loud roar boomed throughout the hallway.




Posted by Chiaroscuro

"Don't panic," Nido advised, speaking in a calm yet controlling tone. Fortunate as he was to be in the presence of such great warriors, the problem on hand was a large one, and their combined powers alone would not be enough to vanquish the problems. They needed tactics, they needed ideas, and most of all, they needed to get moving.

As Nido wrestled an unruly demon from its grasp on his shoulders, he burst into an aura of light, and the other warriors had to struggle to contain their bearings as the shockwave of energy pulsated from Nido's position. A cluster of demons combusted into a filthy shower of crude smelling organs and blackened blood, and more energy was forming between Nido's palms, cupped together and poised like a cannon of death.


"We've had worse from each other" Nido joked to his comrades, unleashing a loose spray of energy down the hall in a blast that richocheted and bounced off the walls, lancing through whatever beast was in the way as more approached. Reaching into the leather sheaths strapped to his chest, Nido drew twin Sais, dangerously sharp war-daggers, and spun them in his now cooling hands, fresh with projectile energy discharge. He turned to find Strike right at his side with the others close by, grouping up as well as they could.

"Strike and I are going to clear the way into the other wing. We have to get out of this corridor before we're cornered",[/b] Nido instructed as he poised his weapons for serious business, emerald hair lashed violently across a sweat-laden face. [B]"The rest of you, hold this position in case we need to retreat. We can't afford to lose what little ground we have on them until we figure out how to gain more."

Nido nodded to Strike before turning to the others in salute, and the two warriors headed down the darkened halls, their plethora of powers riding with them each step.




Posted by S

"H-hey! Wait, wha-," she stammered out as Strike and Nido darted off ahead of her and the new guy.

Before she could finish, an aborition fell from the ceiling with her name on Its blade, crazed eyes and a foul shaped grin. Cleaving at the air wildly before her, she parried Its second attack, grabbing onto Its wrist with her free hand, twisting and then wrenching it completely off. Reeling backwards, It tried to scream but it was muffled by the force of her head smashing into Its own. Three swift blows to it's abdomen sent blood sputtering out of what seemed to be Its mouth, her knee crushing the inner bones and puncturing vital organs with each following crack. "
Filthy little bastards, aren't you?" she yelled at it, before launching herself up and dragging her weapon through the air, a completle circlular motion, as the blade sifted through It's flesh without slowing once.

Landing on her right foot, she continued the rotation of her body and pushed off again towards the rear, to which they had come from, swinging the blade one-handed into a pack of several demons. Tearing through two with her initial swing, three others attempted to lunge on top of her as she dealt with the recoil of the gigantic scythe. With a smile surfacing on her face, she clenched her open palm and their innards were crushed in a gravitational force manifesting within their own bodies, eyes glazing over as they fell to the floor dead. One left standing, she planted the Havoc Divide's head onto the ground and pivoted on it, her heel smashing into the demon's helmet, knocking it to the floor. Stomping on It's head to finish the job, it let out a hiss as Its brain cavity caved in.

Raising her gaze to the man in arms next to her, she wondered who he was. Pulling her bangs out of her eyes, she could barely make out what he looked like in the darkness. Someone new, that's for sure though. Or maybe old, maybe she was the new one. "
X, is it?" she inquired as she wiped the blood from her forehead.

She grinned at him. "
I'm Serra... pleasure to meet you," pausing for a second, she chuckled upon further thought, "Seems we've been ditched, huh?"

He motioned to say something but just before the words escaped him, the ground shifted beneath them, a powerful force moving the earth itself. Both of them stumbled but easily regained balance. Then it happened again, and again but with a rythem. "
Something's coming...," he said only loud of enough for Serra to make out.

"
What the hell are we up against Strike?!" Serra yelled back at the two fighters who were out of earshot by now.

OoC: Sorry I forgot her name, I planned to put it but by the time I realized I hadn't in my last post, someone had responded already. -shrug-




Posted by Xhalo

* X-halo stood as the ground stopped shacking for a moment. He flicked his blades to get most of the gore off. Then as the ground started to shake again, X-halo dropped on all fours. *

X-halo:"Let's see what we are dealing with here. Illuminate."

* X-halo started to glow. Energy pulsed and rose up from his body. The room became bright as the farm fields in the noon sun, only without the heat. X-halo could now make out clearly his companion and she could now see his pale white skin, ice blue hair, and emerald green armor. The enemy was getting closer. The warriors could feel the aura growing. *

X-halo:"This is going to get bad fast. Good thing I closed that portal. [mutter]It was odd that it didn't close automatically.[/mutter]"

* X-halo got up to one knee. Serra could now see a glowing red crystal on the chest of his armor. *

X-halo:"It is a pleasure to meet you Serra. Just wish it could have been under better conditions."

OoC: If Serra has good hearing she can hear the muttering. If not, then no big deal. It only applies to moves I have later that will use muttering for verbal aspects.




Posted by Strike

As our two new friends X and Serra found good company in the talents of each other, slaughtering countless enemies and yet at a loss for a sense of purpose - two quite familiar comrades cut their way through the tide in the opposite direction. Strike was fully aware of the ignorance - and intense curiosity - of the companions he left behind; but there was simply no time for explanation. Surely they had both known him enough to trust him, and that would have to do for now.

[COLOR="lightgreen"]"Nid,"[/COLOR] said Strike, a pillar of flame erupting form his left palm as he linked elbows with Nid using his right, (a defense tactic he was fond of, giving him a good sense of location in regards to his comrade, as well as a sense of spirit) [COLOR="lightgreen"]"I can't see in there - they've blocked me out through the Aether. Do you have any clue who's behind this?"[/COLOR]

[COLOR="lightgreen"]"Not at all,"[/COLOR] said Nido, creating a flame of his own, which converged with Strike's onslaught and filled the corridor before them with smokeless fire. [COLOR="lightgreen"]"Only suspicions, like you; and, like you, I feel I am right... but it's too early to say."[/COLOR]

Strike burst into flame, and yet, surprisingly, suffered no damage at all. His flesh had taken on the element of fire, and so he could not be hurt by it, and could wield it quite effectively - another good offense and defense tactic when working alongside someone like Nido.




Posted by Chiaroscuro

Nido tackled Strike to the ground as his body erupted in flames, using his mastery of the element to quell the blaze by absorbing its essence into his energy source. He knew Strike wasn't in danger from the flames, but something had attacked, and in this kind of darkness, Nido couldn't be sure enough to leave his friend in the way.

Having absorbed such a pure flame so rapidly, Nido's body surged with energy, and he developed a seemingly sedating blue-white aura around his body, centering his spiritual and cognitive powers in hopes to dispell any nearby darkness.


"Strike," Nido called as the warrior picked himself up with the aid of Nido's arm, brushing ashes from his burnt clothing that resulted from his fiery experience. "I sense unnatural spirits; something that definitely doesn't seem right."

"Well, we ARE dealing with hordes of the undead, so I wouldn't be surprised..."

Strike didn't get to finish as Nido tackled him to the ground for the second time in a few seconds, aware of only the force of his fall unto the stone floor and the whirring humm of dark energy that soared over their heads.

Nido had picked up the source early enough through his centering to provide Strike with cover, but even then it was a close call. Too close for two warriors who were masters over powers of divinity, and too close for Nido who had been creating a knowledge of dark and arcane arts that had begun to become extremely vast and powerful.

Nido was on his feet in a second, throwing the loose energy, fluttering through the air from their production upon his focusing. The white and blue beams, hot like plasma lasers, flung themselves into the shadows with a shriek, meant to hit anything dark and evil coming towards the warrior's ways.


"There's something dark," Nido repeated, and Strike seemed to understand better as he cast a spell of protection upon himself and followed Nido radiant aura into what seemed to be a now clear path, leading them into the archways of an odd cathedral.

The two drew their weapons and formed back to back, casting a luminosity so strongly from their combined powers that the entire stone room was lit as if by a thousand candles, similar to the burnt through ones that scattered the scene of broken stone podiums, crude furniture and decaying altars.

Nido was first and slow to speak.
"I'm really starting to wonder where we've got ourselves this time, man...




Posted by S

As the rythem of steps came closer to Serra and X, the cheers and howls of demons bellowed through the hallway with ever increasing intensity. Something powerful was coming to them and with every passing second, Serra could sense a flux of power reverberate through the air in sync with the vibrations. "It's..."

As she spoke, the vibrations came to a hault. Just out of their sight, something of cataclysmic size stood just before them; and something about it's aura was uneasing. "
...here."

Beneath X the ground gave way and from the devastation, an armored hand erupted, seizing X and binding his apendages with Its massive fingers. With his armor covered, the light emitted from his body was muffled, and the hand retracted back into the abyss it had ripped out of. "
Son of a!"

Jumping through the darkness as her eyes adjusted, she found the gaping hole and followed after X. Falling through nothingness, her wing slowed her decent, but she couldn't make anything out. "X?!," she yelled, "Where are you?!"

A burst of light erupted from below her and she could hear him fighting. "
X! Move!"

Silent Revolver

Extending directly behind, her wing shot back and stretched to Its peak. Undefinable energy surrounded her and halted her descent instantly, the recoil jolting her body backwards. Putting her right hand out before her and bracing it with her left, the three orbs encircling her wrist began to pulsate with energy. Liquidating themselves, the orbs traced over her arm and stretched back to her wing; a velvet haze seeming to form a gigantic cannon out of her arm.

Click.

The hammer cracked forward at the base of her neck, and only the subtle tap of it could be heard; until the room erupted in light for a split second and the bullet smashed into the ground with unimaginable force, the floor caving beneath it and a shriek of shearing metal rang out through the air.

Reloading the cylinder, a second bullet locked into the shaft. Click.

A second bullet whispered through the air, this time with dead-on aim.




Posted by Xhalo

* X-halo was being pulled into the darkness. The claw speed down and then slammed X-halo into the hard metal floor. The light still in effect, X-halo could see the owner of the claw. It stood hunched over, its claws glinting black in the light, its scale covered body the color of dried blood and its smell about the same. Its dark eyes closed a little as the light started to fill the room. *

X-halo:"Don't like the light, do ya? You may want to close your eyes. Aura of Light!"

* The light started to fade and absorb into X-halo. His pale flesh then started to glow. At first it seemed that color had come back to his skin but then it grew brighter and brighter. His flesh then started to shine like a hundred candles. The monster recoiled. X-halo took seized the moment and in a flash was in the air slashing at the monsters chest. The monster growled at the scratches on his chest plate. He swung a massive claw at X-halo. Just as it was about to hit, X-halo vanished. The monster turned to the light source. *

X-halo:"Today just isn't you day."

* Serra's voice came from the hole. *

Serra:"X! Move!"

* X-halo wasted no time getting away from the hole. A blast hit the ground and metal gave way as the explosive force filled the room. The bright light made the monster stager blindly. X-halo saw it now under the hole. Then X-halo saw it. The second shot hit the monster square on the back. It roared in pain as the energy burned past its scales. The energy exploded sending the monster to one knee, screaming as the flesh broke and its black blood sprayed across the wall. X-halo took this chance to fly up the hole. He appeared to Serra's left. *

X-halo:"Nice shooting. It's wounded but we are still going to have a good fight on our hands. I'll distract it while you make your entrance."

* X-halo then vanished back down to fight the monster. He appeared twenty feet away from the monsters face. He held his right hand forward. *

X-halo:"I'm attacking the darkness."

* Five energy balls flew from X-halo's hand zoomed around the room in front of the beast. One then smashed into his face. It seemed to irritate the demon and it moved to swat the others. *




Posted by Strike

[COLOR="lightgreen"](With X and Serra...)
[COLOR="White"]"eeeEEHEHEHEHEHEE!!!!!"[/COLOR] came a shriek, from a quite different place than the demon before them. [COLOR="White"]"Er," [/COLOR]the voice coughed apoligetically, [COLOR="white"]"I mean, MWahahahaha!"[/COLOR]

[COLOR="white"]"What the..."[/COLOR] asked Serra, momentarily distracted.

[COLOR="white"]"I know that voice!"[/COLOR] said X. Serra suddenly came to and leaped to avoid the powerful metallic fist of the demon swiping down on her. She wasn't fast enough, though she avoided most of the damage. The owner of the new voice came into the light of the corridor, black shiny hair sticking straight up anime-style, shrouded in tattered robes of blood red and black, with mischeivious, disturbingly bright eyes.

[COLOR="white"]"I'm BAAAAAACK! Feel my WRATH!"[/COLOR] shouted Ss-j, shooting a series of 15-20 black discs from his palms, which spun sparatically and unpredictably about the corridor, aiming to draw blood.

(With Nid and Strike)

A whisper came from the podium in front of the cathedral, though no one could be seen. It was quiet, but undiscernable, even to the keen hearing of the two legends who now entered.
[COLOR="white"]
"Who's there?"[/COLOR]
asked Nido.

[COLOR="white"]"Hey you!"[/COLOR] shouted Strike, [COLOR="white"]"Get out here, I don't feel like playing!"[/COLOR]

There was a gasp, a mutter, and a faint sign of movement. A moment later, the whispering continued, but it seemed faster, more urgent. Strike looked at Nid quizzically, who rolled his eyes, and charged forward. Just as he got to the podium, the ceiling caved in as the wall behind the podium was obliterated and blackness overtook the room. Strike blasted a beam of holy light right into the black wispy shroud, but to no avail, it was swallowed in darkness.

Nid fell to the ground in surprise, not pain, as the ceiling caved in on top of him. He shrugged off the splintering remains of the ruined carpentry, just in time to see a pair of tennis shoes vanish through the hole in the wall. Footsteps that came from something monstrous shook the remaining walls of the cathedral, and Nid and Strike's senses, even their sixth, seventh, or eight ones, could not make any detail of what was coming, only that it was big.

Something clicked into place in Strike's mind.

[COLOR="white"]"A GOLEM!"[/COLOR] shouted Strike as he caught up with his comrade, "Impervious to magic, and shrouded in darkness..."

[COLOR="white"]"Ah, ****."[/COLOR] said Nido.

[COLOR="white"]"Yeah, there's a way we can stop it, though..."[/COLOR] Strike responded.

[COLOR="white"]"How?"[/COLOR] asked Nid.

[COLOR="white"]"Well..." [/COLOR]and he leaped away as the podim was obliterated by something huge and powerful.

(Fight the Golem, as for story purposes, we wait for Strike to remember how to stop it.)[/COLOR]




Posted by Chiaroscuro

Strike barely got himself out of the way as the stone column burst apart like a grenade, spitting sharp fragments around the room quite similairly to sharpnel. Picking himself up from behind the stone fountain where he sought refuge, Strike immediately looked for Nido, and located him rather quickly; atop the massive Golem's shoulders, hammering into the rocky flesh with illuminated fists hardened ten times over by unholy intervention. Black plumes danced around Nido's ringed fingers as they curled into a ball of black light and smashed into the thrashing Golem, chipping off chunks of rock and hopefully life from the monster's body.

With a quick shake filled with more strength than Nido had defense to put up for it in this position of his, the Golem flung the emerald-haired warrior across the room, plummeting Nido spine-first into a wall. He slid down the stone as pieces of age-old architecture crumbled to the ground, and the Golem advanced, creating pothole-like craters beneath its heavy feet. Nido was quick to rise from such a minor attack, and was already engaged in ritualistic chanting, suddenly forming a white-blue transparent bubble around Strike, who became encased with the protective shell from some thirty yards across the large cathedral arena.


"I'm amplyfying your holy elementals with the power of my own," Nido explained, pumping red with elemental energies as flames whisped themselves from the ceiling torches and flung themselves into Nido's crimson aura of absorption."We may not be able to use magic against this thing, but we can sure use it on ourselves. Maybe with what strength I've given you we can conjure something together," Nido shouted from across the room, heaving heavy stone and metallic objects through the air as projectiles through psychic telekenesis. The large objects smashed into the Golem fast and hard, doing suitable physical damage without counting the fact they were wrapped in flame and burning heavily upon impact. The Golem roared in pain and stumbled backwards, stunned long enough from the physical blows to allow the two warriors to converge again in the middle of the battlefield.




Posted by S

OoC: I can't make a good post till Friday. If you'd like, go on a little ahead and I'll catch up.




Posted by Xhalo

* X-halo shot the discs with beams of light, dispelling each as if it was a target in some sort of game. *

X-halo:"Don't worry, Serra, I'll take of this for now. You just sit back and think up something fun to do."

* X-halo turned his head and looked sharply into the eyes of Ss-j. *

X-halo:"Let's play."

* X-halo went to step forward and vanished. Suddenly he appeared crouching below Ss-j. X-halo's right leg shot up and caught Ss-j in the chin, sending him soaring into the air. X-halo launched himself into the air and gave Ss-j a kick to the chest that sent him over the monster. X-halo then flew over and grabbed Ss-j. Pointing both their bodies head first towards the ground, X-halo began to spin. Then X-halo released a burst of energy and sent the two rocketing downward, right into the hole in the monster's back. Right before impact, X-halo let go and flew over to Serra's side. The monster fell to the ground as Ss-j drilled into its back with great force. Ss-j's neck twisted and went sharply to one side as it hit the bone and muscle of the giant beast. X-halo stood, breathing hard. The light seemed to dim a little. *

X-halo:"[mutters]This aura isn't going to last much longer.[/mutters] It's all your's Serra."




Posted by Strike

[COLOR="lightgreen"] [COLOR="White"](With X and Serra)[/COLOR]

Some muffled yelling came from within the flesh of the now deceased demon. SS-j pulled himself from the demon's flesh into which he had been so forcefully drilled, tilting his head from side to side with some horrible cracking noises.

[COLOR="white"]"You WILL learn to RESPECT MY AUTHORITAIU![/COLOR]" he screamed, kicking X-halo directly in the nuts. As X-halo crumpled over, SS-j turned to face Serra, and seemingly for the first time, noticed the large demon in whose body he had just been.

[COLOR="white"]"Hmm, a nasty piece of work! Who sent it? It's a ugly, horny demon, that's for sure. HEh, HORNY! A HORNY DEMON!!"[/COLOR] and with that, SS-j cackled himself out of breath.

[COLOR="white"](With Nid and Strike)[/COLOR]

[COLOR="white"]"You're right," [/COLOR]said Strike, [COLOR="white"]"Defensive might be best, for the time being." [/COLOR]His sword began to shimmer as it was charged with energy, and Strike leapt to and fro with incredible speed. Sparks flew from his weapon as it clattered repeatedly against hardened stone, and already the wounds inflicted by his comrade were healing in the Golem's back.

[COLOR="white"](Golems are created by magicians, who control them with the use of the Golem's Eye...)[/COLOR]

But Strike knew removing the eye might not even be effective, let alone nigh impossible to acheive at this moment. There was something else. Strike struck at the Golem's right leg with incredible force, his sword's charged energy renting the wispy dark cloak momentarily - enough for him to see what he was doing. The golem toppled to the side, shattering several wooden pieus(sp?) as Strike leapt out of the way, his shield and sword shimmering. He leapt into the air, flipped once, and dove downward, driving his sword into the golem's side. Rock shrapnel sputtered, but the golem was practically unhindered as it got slowly to it's feet. The light shed from his shield and sword showed Strike the golem's crudely formed head, with a single eye of polished stone, from whence a yellowish glow now came.

[COLOR="white"](That's right! Formed by clay before animation, the spells are written on parchment, and...)[/COLOR]

Strike threw his sword upward, as it stuck fast like an arrow to one of the few remaining beams in the chapel's ruined ceiling. He leapt in a timely manner, flipping to barely avoid a crashing fist shattering the wooden floor on which he had just stood. He grasped his sword, a good two stories from the ground, and used it to fling himself in a circular motion, landing atop the beam in a crouching position. He freed his blade, watching the Golem from above. The Dragoneye crystal, connected to the hilt of his holy blade by six inches of silver chain, began to glow intensely, as the blade began to shed forth a light of the purest white, growing stronger by the second.
[COLOR="white"]
(the parchment...)
[/COLOR]

he leapt, folding his arms along his side like a diving falcon. The golem advanced on Nido now...

[COLOR="white"](is stuck in the Golem's mouth before animation!)[/COLOR]

Strike raised his weapon for a tremendous blow, the blade held parallell with his back. He struck the Golem square inbetween it's massive blocky shoulders, releasing all the energy gathered from both his and Nido's own holy essense. The dark cloak was completely rent as the golem was thrown to the ground with an astounding crash, landing just at Nid's feet.
[COLOR="white"]
"Pull the parchment from the Golem's mouth!"
[/COLOR] shouted Strike, as already the smoky cloak began to renew itself. Nid memorized what he was about to do before the darkness completely veiled his sight, thrust his arm forward, and pulled the parchment out quickly. The golem, already shuddering in movement to get to it's feet, stopped. The smoky veil dissapated, and the glowing orb stuck fast in the oversized crude statue's head fell out with a plop, and rolled to a corner. The golem's stony flesh turned back to clay, cracked and split ominously, and then shattered to dust. Strike removed himself from the rubble and walked toward Nid, picking up the Golem's eye.
[COLOR="white"]
"We're coming for you,"[/COLOR]
he said, just as the light faded from within the orb. Strike tossed the orb to Nid.

[COLOR="white"]"Think we should check on the others?" [/COLOR][/COLOR]




Posted by Chiaroscuro

"We might as well," Nido replied, securing the sorcerer's orb in the bearings of his tunic as he picked his robe from the ground, cast away at the start of the fight. Nido pulled the loosely fitting hood over his head, allowing his emerald hair to be swallowed into the dark, magically infused fabrics.

"I don't doubt our ability to waste another one of these psychotic evil sorcerer types, but I don't know the others well enough to be sure they aren't in danger." Nido said, and Strike quickly nodded in agreement as he twirled the Order of the Rose around his fingers with the obvious skill of a swordsmaster. "I'm in," Strike replied as the two crawled through the debris of a now available shortcut in the destroyed wall. "Maybe they've uncovered something which will help our cause, anyways. And personally, I'd rather make our team a bit bigger before we go any further into the depths."




Posted by Strike

[COLOR="lightgreen"]A loony cackle filled the metallic halls, a gabbling voice which Strike and Nido recognized instantly, and almost with loathing. They stumbled upon an impressive scene, in the which SS-j held two warriors at bay standing atop the bull-headed corpse of a huge armored demon. SS-j held X-halo away from himself by pressing his palm against X’s forehead. As mightily as the warrior swiped, Ss-j’s arm always seemed to elude him. With his free arm, Ss-j conjured rotton fish instantly, which he presently hurled at Serra. Each fish would explode upon contact, which pleased Ss-j to no end.

[COLOR="white"]“NOVEN ”[/COLOR] shouted Strike to this familiar face.

[COLOR="white"]“EH?”[/COLOR] said Ss-j, distracted. X-halo got past his defenses, but stumbled and fell on his face, crashing into SS-j’s feet. SS-j toppled over, the stinky fish he previously devoted to Serra’s annoyance exploding with a ‘SPLAT ’. Fish guts smattered over his face, as his eyes lit with recognition. A toothy grin illuminated Ss-j’s messy features.

[COLOR="white"]“Strike!”[/COLOR]

[COLOR="white"]“SS-j, what is going on?”[/COLOR]

[COLOR="white"]“Strike,”[/COLOR] Serra interrupted.

[COLOR="white"]“Noven, you’ve gotta stop this ruse. You’re not a villain. No matter how much you try, you lack the propor...”[/COLOR]

[COLOR="white"]“Strike,”[/COLOR] X-halo chimed in.

[COLOR="white"]“STRIKE!”[/COLOR] yelled Nido, and Strike and Noven both looked up from their conversation.

[COLOR="white"]“What!?”[/COLOR] asked Strike, annoyed.

[COLOR="white"]“THAT!” [/COLOR]shouted all three of the interrupters, pointing. Strike’s eyes followed their indications to the hole in the wall. Darkness spilled out.

[COLOR="white"]“What, another golem?”[/COLOR] asked Strike.

[COLOR="white"]“That’s no golem,”[/COLOR] said Nido.

[COLOR="white"]“That... that’s a djinni,”[/COLOR] confirmed Serra. Strike’s eyes widened, and a booming voice filled the area.

[COLOR="white"]“WHO IMPEDES ON MY MASTER?!”[/COLOR]

Immediately, the entire building began to shake. All five warriors turned tail and ran, instantly. Noven had lingered behind, but Strike grabbed him by the arm and dragged him by. Presently they ran through the hallway, as behind them walls and ceilings collapsed inward - not crashing as a falling building, but something more of an implosion, as if a black hole of gravital force was being formed behind them, designed to suck them in. X-halo formed an elemental line of fire, which conjoined nicely with an energy blast from Serra to break through a locked iron door; what they found inside could be exciting to any male, even under such circumstances.

[COLOR="White"](Before you is an entire warehouse of motorcycles, armored and of various makes and models. Grab one, head out of the room, and into the network of tunnels to escape the Djinni’s wrath!!)

***Djinni - Consider this a spiritual demon very similar in powers to a genie. This particular one seems a little obsessed with dark majic, probably hurling detonation and fire spells from it's hands. It can also change form to pretty much whatever it wants, animal, demon, or human...
[/COLOR] [/COLOR]




Posted by Crono

Crono blinked, his eyes adjusting to the dim lighting quickly.

Where the hell am I now? he asked out loud, confused. He had been shoved out of his time stream by something...or maybe not shoved out, but pulled into another. He was thoroughly lost, never having seen his location before, and he had no clue where he was, much less when he was. The ground beneath him rumbled, crumbling as he glanced around, and he shrugged and hopped into the ever growing hole behind him. Dropping down into the abyss, he became more lost than ever, seeing a myriad of faces in a blur, all running the opposite direction he was facing. Most of them he recognized, but there were a couple that had him confused.

All right, this is getting a bit strange, he muttered, chuckling to himself. He was still lost in location, but he knew what time he was in now, and had somehow been pulled from his future location back a few years to the old days. He glanced forward, noting the behemoth in front of him, and decided that maybe the rest of the crew in the building had the right idea: run like hell. He spun quickly, and started his spellcasting instantly, casting his slipstream technique flawlessly on the run, skipping every other second in time along with his incredible run speed, giving him the appearance of blinking forward at an incredible rate, flashing in and out of sight in small, dim flashes of bluish light. He soon caught up to the others already in full flight, and glanced to Strike quickly.

Why do I have the feeling this is your doing somehow? he asked, his trademark grin crossing his face without worry. He had good company, and that was all that mattered to him, life or death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Figured I'd make a stop in, I gotta do something around here to get this stupid

"Hello Crono it appears that you have not posted on our forums in several weeks, why not take a few moments to ask a question, help provide a solution or just engage in a conversation with another member in any one of our forums?"

thing off my screen, no?




Posted by S

OoC: Sorry for the delay, real life and all that jazz. Couldn't get a moment for myself, besides sleep.

"Because it usually is?" Serra answered, nodding at Crono.

Strike shot a glare at her, and she just couldn't keep a straight face. Waving the peace sign in his face, she shot ahead of him. Sliding her feet in the air as if an ice skater, she turned to face them while skating backwards. Using the dimensions to her advantage, she removed the element of friction between her and her surroundings. "
So a better question, what in blazes do we do? Bullocks if we go down now, this easily. Do we seal it or-"

Caught mid-sentence, her neck snapped back and then shot forward into the ground. Crumpling beneath the force, she rag dolled behind the others.

"
ESCAPE, YOU SHALL NOT," screeched the Dijinni, retracting Its enlarged forearm from where it struck Serra.




Posted by Strike

(Points to the end of last post)

I indicated we entered a room full of motorcycles... how could you pass up an opportunity like that? When fate smiles on you like that...
:D




Posted by S

OoC: -shrug- I'm in character. Everyone else forgot, maybe?




Posted by Xhalo

X-halo:"Everybody, get out. I'll hold him off."

* X-halo turned to the Djinni, his aura of light gone long ago, and crossed his arms in front of him. *

X-halo:"It will be just you and me now. Think you can handle that?"

Djinni:"Fool!"

* The Djinni thrust its long forward towards X-halo. X-halo suddenly jumped into the air. Halos formed over all of X-halo




Posted by Chiaroscuro

"Slow it down as much as you want, you're not going to take that thing out alone," Nido called back to X-Halo, moving in Haste down the corridor with the others and mounting a Vincent Black Shadow."We've got bigger things to worry about than some silly bodyguard!"




Posted by Crono

Crono's slipstream was only sped further by the haste aura now surrounding him, and he only had to exert half the effort to move at his incredible speed now, saving energy for later on, and he figured he would undoubtedly need it. The flashing auras of him blinking in and out of time stopped, and he broke into a normal run that was almost as fast. A sprinting leap landed him on the nearest bike, but he realized quickly there were no keys in it. He growled at it, and jammed his palm onto the ignition switch, forcing the bike to start with a quick surge, the engine roaring to life ready to go. He slammed the kickstand out of the way and gunned it, headed down a dark tunnel into nobody knew what, and shouted quickly as it started to break 90.

Get a move on, folks!