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Post by Talon on Dec 6, 2009 0:54:17 GMT -5
Thaea's motorcycle screeched to a halt outside of a small abandoned warehouse, and gestured her new Eva companion inside as she flew the vehicle onto the roof. After both had entered, Thaea pried her nano-tech armor off and carelessly tossed it in a corner. The place was rather well-furnished, bearing a large television and several couches, as well as bean-bag chairs, in one room; a fridge and table was in the next room, and several bedrooms were strewn about the three floors.
"Moved in recently, and to my surprise, all the stuff was already here." Thaea mused aloud to Asuka.
She paused, then issued a sad sigh as she flopped down onto one of the couches.
"I asked my dad about it... and he told me this place used to belong to someone important to a lot of us..."
* * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, across the street, in the home of Nightshade's infamous emerald wyrm, the demon (in human form) known as Garrett/Charon stirred. He blinked his eyes open, finding himself lying on a cough, and lazily looked about.
"It's nice to get some rest and all, but... not when I wake up in an unfamiliar-"
He paused, taking in the surroundings a second time. His eyes widened slightly upon recognizing some of the features, and as he stared at the ground, muttered,
"... I remember this floor. This is Kisara's house! The hell am I doing here?"
He recalled his ordeal at the Cliffs, and vaguely remembered passing out. Putting two and two together, he thought,
Myrr and Xeno... no surprise. Crap, I can't stay here! Phalanx's goons'll show up!
He scowled, then upon spotting his sword leaning against a nearby wall, attempted to rise and pick it up... only to crumple to the familiar floor.
"OW... so sore..." He whined.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 6, 2009 20:13:04 GMT -5
Asuka frowned at hearing the 'used to' part of Thaea's explanation.
"I guess the poor guy, or girl, is dead now?" she asked, before scowling to herself. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to..."
Thinking to herself, she also took a seat, wondering where to go about this from here.
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Garrett felt himself being lifted back onto the couch by an invisible force, just as the source of said force entered, noticing the disguised demon waking up.
"Don't strain yourself, Garrett, the Myrrs explained what they knew about this development once they got you situated to rest." Solranous spoke up, taking a seat.
"Heh... one way or another, it seems few of us here actually stay dead when we get killed." the dragon quipped, chuckling at his own joke, before regaining his composure.
"Soooo... besides the demons that were dogging you for a while and your peculiar situation, now, how have you been?" Solranous inquired.
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Post by Talon on Dec 8, 2009 0:00:28 GMT -5
"Yeah, he's dead... name was Garrett. He died saving this planet, believe-it-or-not..."
Thaea sighed, rubbing a clawed finger on the back of a nearby couch. She glanced back at Asuka, then scratched her ear, stating,
"And this is going to sound odd, but... 200 years from now, he and I were... um... 'close-knit'... obviously he was much different in that time period."
She looked out the window, and added with a knowing smirk,
"And yes, I am in fact, from the future... strange, hmm? You're not the only one who's life has borne strange circumstances."
* * * * * * * * *
Garrett rubbed the back of his head, muttering,
"'How have I been'? Well other than the previous situations stated, dead... Hell's quite the place, you know. Much colder than expected, or at least Gehenna was."
His face hardened, and he added,
"Currently, I'm extremely sore in every muscle I can think of, and I'm still being hounded by Phalanx's forces... I will continue to be until he kills me or I kill him."
He glanced longingly at his weapon, and finished,
"And apparently, I can't do so until I'm at full potential, or so my boss tells me... how I do that, I'm not sure, but it's got to do with my sword..."
He sighed, rubbing his shoulder.
"So... how've you all been? Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" He inquired, looking out the window across the room.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 8, 2009 0:49:28 GMT -5
Asuka shrugged, "I never expected to get fused with my Eva... but here I am. You coming from the future isn't too much of a stretch now..."
She then sighed, staring up at the ceiling.
"Well... what're the chances that I'll meet your grandfather at somepoint? Assuming I'm as stuck here as we are all sure I am..."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solranous sighed, shaking his head.
"Kisara's practically gone ballistic about five or six days ago and ran out of the house, screaming, quote, 'Oh shit, what the hell have I done!? I've gotta go, don't know when I'll be back! Don't follow me!'"
The dragon casted a worried glance over his shoulder, presumably at Kisara's room.
"I think this is about Onyste's disappearence the day before that... I'm worried about them..."
Solranous then waved a hand over Garrett, the soreness of his muscles receding slightly.
"As for your muscles, I've been working on that. It's harder to assisst a demon, however unwilling he is of his current state, then a human, augmented or not."
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Post by Talon on Dec 8, 2009 22:38:49 GMT -5
Thaea blinked, then placidly jabbed her claw at the structure across the road from her own abode.
"The chances are incredibly high, lass. Almost everyone here knows him, and if not, they usually know -of- him. He's got quite a reputation around here. Hell, he lives across the street along with my mother, aunt, grandmother and her friend!"
She twiddled her thumbs a bit, then added,
"The entire Abandoned District is a home for those of us who... tend to 'scare' regular people. Last I checked, my dad, uncle, and pseudo-uncle live around here as well... where, that I don't know. But yes, chances are you'll run into all of them eventually, more likely soon. Oh, and don't worry, we don't bite!"
* * * * * * * * *
Garrett nodded at Solranous in thanks, then sighed, casually replying,
"Trouble between the two, I see... hmph. Maybe I should go look for 'em when I get the time... I owe Kisara for something she did a while back."
He scowled, looking at Requiem as he held it in his hand. The guard's macabre visage seemed... asleep, almost. His hand clenched around it, and he muttered,
"That probably won't be until my job's done anyway..."
His eyes took on a bit of a yellow tint as he stared at the ground, then slid Requiem into it's leather sling/sheath upon his back. He paused, then looked up and glanced around the room with a curious expression on his face.
"Huh... I just got a really wierd feeling... like deja vu, almost." He mused aloud in a low, surprised tone.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 9, 2009 2:10:59 GMT -5
The Eva nodded, and shrugged.
"Inevitable, basically..." she summarized. Asuka glanced at the house Thaea indicated half wondering what Solranous looked like, but seeing as he was Thaea's grandfather, the German figured he could look like anything, seeing as its more often then not the parents' genetic traits that show up in the kid, rather then there grandparents.
"I should probably just get it over and done with as soon as possible, so I don't agonize over it later. I get the feeling that if I don't go meet him of my own volition, he'll cross paths with me sooner or later whether I like it or not. Or someone will bring me to him..."
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Solranous shook his head at Garrett's comment of helping Kisara.
"I'm almost positive she'll refuse the aid. After all, she refused mine before I even offered it, and certainly you can understand how easy it can be for me to find someone. No... she's implied that this is something she feels she has to do alone... Its this thinking, and the fact that she's managed to block me out of her mind, that leads me to believe she feels responsible for Onyste's disappearence... perhaps she's going to try and find some kind of forgiveness from her partner, to atone, for lack of a better word."
The dragon sighed sadly, wondering how she was doing, if she had found Onyste or not, and if so, did she manage to make up for whatever wrong she might have commited? Those questions couldn't be answered at the moment, and so he let them recede into his subconscious.
"Deja vu?" he finally asked, physically hearing Garrett's musing, "What for?"
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Post by Talon on Dec 9, 2009 21:43:43 GMT -5
Thaea cocked an eyebrow at Asuka, then paused, staring up at the ceiling with an inquisitive look, putting a claw to her chin.
"Hmm... eh, I don't see why not. C'mon, I'll introduce you!"
She literally grabbed Asuka and hauled her out of the building, then stopped the moment she and the red Eva stepped outside. Her face paled slightly, and she muttered,
"It's... much hotter than it should be..."
* * * * * * * * *
Garrett sighed at Sol's response about Kisara, then replied to the deja vu question,
"Just an odd feeling... feels familiar. Like something bad is going to happen really soon."
He paused, then edged over to Sol's doorway, and stepped outside... only to get swatted down the street, clothes burned as he hit the ground at high speeds, finally stopping as he struck a rusty, debilitated old mailbox. He coughe,d then looked up to see a creature roughly 25 feet in height, composed of black, scaly muscles. It was tauric in shape, with the lower body of some sort of canine or large cat, and the torso was broad-shouldered and spiky, ending in some sort of horned lion's head. The fact that the thing was sheathed almost completely in fire also added to it's frightening presence as it clenched the fist it had used to strike Garrett, then brought a heavy, metal slab of a sword as tall as it was into view.
"Sh*t..." Garrett breathed.
"Master Phalanx has demanded I bring him your head, Hound of Arma!" The demon boomed.
Garrett snarled, then snapped into his own demon form, bringing Requiem up before himself.
"You know, at a time, I thought it'd be nice to be popular..." He grumbled.
The fiery demon roared once more, charging forward as he slammed his massive sword into the concrete, Charon barely able to avoid it as it splintered the blacktop with ease, then proceeded to melt the surface surrounding it. The tauric beast wrenched the blade out and issued a snarl of challenge, to which Garrett responded with his own bellow. Meanwhile, Thaea scowled at the new demon, not having seen Garrett before he turned into Charon.
"Great... demons." She sighed.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 10, 2009 5:14:08 GMT -5
Asuka blinked at the sight of the two demons.
"Ugh... deja vu, 'cept the enemy is of the opposite side of the spectrum..." She muttered, getting the gun pod Nocturn had given her. She was about to take aim at the fiery demon and, well, open fire, until she heard another voice.
"Oi! Who in the six hells do you think you are that you think you can go barraging in on private property?" Solranous quipped as he walked out onto the street, not the least bit bothered by the eminating heat from the tauric demon.
The dragon then shook his head, "Whatever, if you would kindly get the fuck out of my sight, I'll refrain from using lethal force."
Asuka just blinked at the dragon's words, then turned to Thaea, "Is he serious about all that?"
A few seconds went by, the demon seemingly ignoring Solranous, causing the dragon to sigh.
"Don't say I didn't warn you..." he muttered as he pulled Kizoku out, igniting the blade. 'I don't think I'll need chaos form to take him on, but I can always shift to it in a pinch.'
Solranous abruptly charged at the tauric demon, leaping up and roundhouse kicking him in the face, telekinetically enhancing the blow with enough force to cause the fiery demon to skid back several feet. Solranous landed with a scowl on his face, which then turned to a grimace of pain.
"Ow, note to self, shield body when in close combat..." He muttered as he glanced down at his burnt leg, shedding the scales like a snake would shed its skin and regenerating the damage until his leg's scales shone as brightly as ever before.
The near by Eva could only gape in shock, "He really is serious... and with one hit, he sent something more then twice his size back several feet...?"
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Post by Talon on Dec 10, 2009 22:31:56 GMT -5
Thaea nodded, barking,
"Yep! He's not even started yet!"
She produced her own blade, then paused, glancing at the demon as he scowled at Solranous, muttering,
"Quite an impact... however, these flames are a bit dense. Rather difficult to get through, wouldn't you say?!"
He heaved his sword and slammed Solranous back into his house with a well-placed swing, a large, cauterized gash stretching from the left side of Sol's neck to the dragon's right hip. The demon snorted, then roared,
"I AM BERIAL, CONQUEROR OF AVERNUS!! DO NOT THINK ME SO EASILY HARMED!!"
Thaea glanced at Charon as his chest orb abruptly shone, then blinked as he fired off a 'fireball' of angry emerald energy that slammed into the demon's fiery aura. To his surprise, the aura lessened a bit, and the tauric fiend snarled, swinging in the red demon's direction. Charon scowled under the faceplate before tumbling off to the side, then ran up the blade before charging his left leg's Buster Orb, delivering a powerful kick to the flames surrounding Berial's face and making the demon grunt, head lashed back from the force. Sadly, the attack was ineffective (other than its flame-dampening), and Berial grabbed Charon, slamming him into the ground, where his flames began to melt the surrounding concrete and severely scald even Charon's heat-resistant hide.
Something's familiar about the red one... Thaea mused, then shook her head.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 10, 2009 23:56:41 GMT -5
Berial was quickly yanked off of Charon, and hoisted up by Solranous, who had Flash Stepped back out and shielded his arm prior to grabbing Berial.
"Name's Solranous, one of the many defenders of this planet. Don't think I'm so easily disposed of." he hissed, his arm shimmering as he held Berial a loft, the tauric demon flailing.
Solranous then swung him around once, then twice, before hurling him high up to the sky.
"YOU PICKED THE WRONG PERSON TO MESS WITH YA damn MONSTER!" Solranous abruptly roared, Flash Stepping up to the demon, kneeing him the face, causing his face to contort from the impact. The dragon then spun, kicking Berial to the left, Flash Stepping below him as he fell again, and kicking upwards, the demon's body bending around his out-stretched foot.
Finally, the dragon grabbed Berial's fire tail and charged down like a meteor, before swinging and slamming the tauric demon full force with all his telekinetic and physical might in his normal form, cracks appearing in the street for several meters.
Solranous scowled as he flash stepped into veiw again, before reaching a hand up to his cauterized wound and tearing it open again, allowing him to heal it naturally.
At that point all Asuka could do was stand and gape, "What... the... hell?"
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Post by Talon on Dec 12, 2009 16:23:44 GMT -5
Berial staggered to his feet, his flames crackling at only a quarter of their initial size as he growled with audible pain,
"Solranous? ... ahh... so you are The Tear... Hell owes you quite a debt, it would seem. However, I can't let you interfere with my mission... now DIE!!!"
Berial promptly stabbed his blade into the ground, and a low rumble was heard before a pillar of fire shot up through the ground beneath Solranous and 'stabbed' him through the stomach, then quickly receded before the process was repeated several more times, the emerald dragon now bearing several plate-sized, cauterized holes bored through his frame. Berial then promptly batted Solranous aside with a swing from his blade, then whirled around, swatting him even further away with a strike from his flaming tail. The Conqueror of Fire then snorted twin wisps of smoke, and turned toward his previous opponent, of whom was staggering out of his pool of liquid rock, heavy burns lacing his frame as he did so.
Charon's eyes were burning with a malevolent, inhuman fury as he staggered forward, Requiem's red-hot blade raised to the side before the crimson demon rushed forward, flipping through the air as he delivered a brrage of jabs, slashes and stabs at Berial's front. Berial snarled and staggered back before a one-two combination from a charged leg and arm Buster Orb send him skidding back, a small burst causing his flames to disperse completely, revealing the rest of his muscled, scaly black form and several glowing-red streaks. The fire demon panted, trying to get a grip on his stamina, only to receive a chest Buster Orb's blast to the face, issuing a hiss of pain from the demon.
Charon then charged forward once more, Requiem flashing as he leapt through the air, intent on running Berial through like a hunk of spitted meat... however, it was not to be. Moments before he impacted, the air shimmered around Berial, and a powerful explosion of fire sent Charon flying backwards, chunks of chitin having been blown off as the ground nearby was slagged and ravaged. The smoke thinned, and Berial's bodily flames were fully restored, and he boomed,
"Hmph... to be put down, like all dogs..."
Charon collapsed forward, smoldering badly as he lay on his own blade, blood running forth from his cratered, cauterized and torn torso onto said weapon. Berial patiently paced forward, raising his own sword, gripping it with both hands as he held it over his head. The fire surged around his body for a moment, and he smirked, knowing he was about to put an end to his master's misery. However... something didn't feel right. An eerie sense of dread abruptly washed over the area, and other than the sound of Berial's flames crackling, all was silent.
"Wh-what...?!"
Charon's wings abruptly shot out to their full wingspan, and he managed to rise back to his feet without the use of his hands, as if he'd been pulled back to his feet against his will. Every one of his Buster Orbs was shining with an evil emerald glow, and his once-human eyes had turned completely yellow with a black, reptillian pupil. The most startling change however, was the fact that Requiem had changed almost completely- the fiendish guard's 'mouth' had split wide open, forming a pair of guard-bars stretching forth from either side of the blade, making the fiendish visage appear as it if were belching forth the sharp edge. The eyes on the 'head' themselves had turned to a gem-like, reflective green, as if to show it had awoken...
[shadow=orange,up,300][glow=red,2,300]"AND FROM THAT DAY FORTH... I HEARD A VOICE... ... 'EMBRACE THE SHADOWS FROM WHENCE YOU CAME...' ... AND I HAD ACCEPTED... SO LONG... AS I WAS ALLOWED... TO LIVE..."[/glow][/shadow]
"WHAT?!" Berial exclaimed.
"Ohh... that can't be good." Thaea muttered, thumbing the switch on her sword.
The strangely-acting Charon slowly raised his 'new' sword, both arm-based Buster Orbs starting to crackle with energy. He sprinted forward once more, then delivered an upward cleave to Berial's front that was twice as strong as the previous swings had been. A spray of molten blood rewarded the crimson demon as Berial howled in pain, the blade cleaving straight through the flames, and the demon attempted to swat his smaller enemy, only to have the red fiend tumble out of the way. Charon then used his momentum to tumble forward, and delivered two Buster-charged kicks to Berial's lower jaw, sending the tauric beast staggering back even further. Charon then issued his own horrid howl, holding Requiem before him as his Buster Orbs did a strange thing- they all tore free of his frame and slowly floated around the blade. They all flashed, then abruptly shot into the blade one by one, creating a visible 'ripple' of red-orange energy that built with each Orb added. Finally, Requiem's blade was alight with hellish red-orange power that seemed to distort the air around it as he roared,
[shadow=orange,up,300][glow=red,2,300]"THE HOUND HUNGERS FOR THE BLOOD OF HIS MASTER'S ENEMIES... AND HE SHALL NOT GO UNFED... ... ... THE BOUNDARY HAS BEEN SHATTERED."[/glow][/shadow]
He then whirled forth, the wind howling around him as he leapt through the air a final time, skewering a flat-footed Berial straight through the skull... and the tauric fiend choked before Charon tore the blade out, the wound looking more like a rip between dimensions! A distorted landscape was seen beyond the wound before Berial's corpse began to crumple inwards, then quickly pulled into itself and dissapeared into the tear in the fabric of reality without a trace. The rift itself had dissapeared the moment Berial's corpse had fed it, and Charon lowered his blade, blood seeping out from the spots where his Buster Orbs had previously been. His eyes still bore that hateful, feral look as he turned to Thaea and Asuka, the former of which raised her blade in a scowl, barking,
"Bring it!"
Charon then took a step forward and promptly collapsed, out cold as Requiem slid across the ground. Thaea blinked in suspicious confusion, then slowly raised her sword, the blade issuing an audible humming noise as she muttered,
"We don't need your kind to bring their pissing contests here..."
She stood before Charon, and prepared to swing the blade downward...
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 15, 2009 20:42:52 GMT -5
Solranous abruptly flash stepped to the two, lightly grasping Thaea's blade before she could swing it down.
"As much as I don't like demons in general, we need this one alive," He started, looking Thaea in the eye. "Berial's words about me being 'The Tear' have disturbed me, and I need answers. If Hell supposedly owes me a debt, then most demons should know details... I need those details if I'm going to get to the bottom of this new mystery, and if I'm going to get them as fast as possible, I need this demon to live."
The dragon turned his gaze to Charon.
"Besides... you don't know the whole story behind him, either. What if you found out something important to us required him to live after you killed him? Wouldn't you feel horrible if killing him brought something for more sinister and powerful down on us? Like it or not, we need him alive..."
Asuka blinked, wondering how he managed to travel twenty to thirty feet in the blink of an eye. "Uh..."
The dragon abruptly locked eyes with the Eva, startling her.
"I don't believe we met, sorry to be rude, but proper introductions will have to wait." Solranous said, quelling any question the German girl had for the moment.
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Post by Talon on Dec 15, 2009 21:34:04 GMT -5
Thaea grunted, wrenching the blade free from her father's fingers, and snorted.
"Did you not just SEE what he did?! That THING just tore open a goddamn rip in reality with his sword! Did you not hear his creepy speech?! That thing needs to die, and SOON! Look, you can get whatever questions you want from him, but there's no way in Hell I'm keeping that demon here... and I highly doubt killing it would make things worse, okay. So hurry up, or I'll kill it myself, and you'll need to find another one."
She nudged Charon in the head with one of her foot-talons, causing the demon to groan and stir. She gave a slight yelp, then brought her sword down, the tip just inches from Charon's throat. He blinked his eyes open, then gave a slight gag as the tip was pressed into his esophagus. He blinked again, then looked around, scowling slightly at Thaea under the faceplate.
"Gck... can I help you...?!" He grunted.
He paused, eyes widening slightly.
She seems familiar for some reason... He mused.
Thaea, however, simply scowled more deeply, and thumbed the switch on the handle.
"My grandfather would like a word, so TALK." She growled.
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Post by Azure_Ghidorah on Dec 15, 2009 22:35:50 GMT -5
Solranous sighed, "I was hoping to get away with not telling so soon, Thaea... but the demon in front of us is actually Garrett. He was revived and sent back." Solranous said to Thaea, then leaned down to Garrett.
"Hey... That Berial guy said something about me being some kind of "Tear," do you have any clue as to what he was referring too?"
Asuka merely shook her head, confused to Hell and back, before she abruptly glanced up and towards the outskirts.
"What the...?"
'What is that thing? Could it be...? No... we killed them all back home...' she thought, remembering the massive monsters back in her home dimension.
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Post by Talon on Dec 15, 2009 23:01:18 GMT -5
Thaea did a double-take, then slowly staggered back, staring at Solranous.
"Wh... what?! No! No, that can't... he's not... that CAN'T be him! Garrett's HUMAN! That's some monstrous FREAK! It... it..." She stammered.
She collapsed against a nearby wall, running a clawed hand through her hair as she stared at the crimson demon. She recognized several similarities in what parts of his face she could see, and her pupils contracted as she drew in a sudden, pained gasp.
"OH YE GODS... IT... IT IS HIM... but... no...!" she breathed.
Garrett sighed, shaking his head at the babbling Thaea, then glanced back up at Solranous.
"A 'Tear'? I haven't heard anything other than a few bits and pieces... I've overheard some other demons talking about something back on Earth that had so much power it was ripping open planar boundaries, but when I tried to ask they ran off."
He paused, then his eyes shrank in realization.
"Wait... he called YOU that?! ... Sol... I didn't... think... that you were causing those-"
He stopped dead in his tracks, then his eyes shifted to their demonic state again as he snapped his head in the same direction Asuka was looking, faceplate breaking apart as green mist issued from his fanged maw.
"WHAT... IS THAT....?!" He rumbled, beginning to rise to his feet.
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