NationStates Jolt Archive

i think there should be a new age. a dictator age, gloriously ruled by the sadistic and cold hearted leaders of the world. DICTATORSHIPS UNITE!!!!

OOC: You know, 5CN, i initially had doubts about letting you put Xuanyu, a god, into this, as it was fodder for godmodding, and i only did so because you were a RPer i respected. So let's work this out. The Ancient Charm is but a conduit of a limitless power from a parallel dimension, a power which is felt and not seen or heard, and which even the Heirs themselves do not have much knowledge of. And which they can only draw upon in times of great need. Let's make a deal. We fight this battle to a stalemate, with more words exchanged than blows, then we take the next step as it comes. Or do you have a better idea?
(OOC: I agree... Just stop taking control of my character, since you don't really know who he is and his full background...)

IC:

Xuanyu stayed impassive as he watched the three heirs tap into their mysterious source of energy and power. Xuanyu slowly began to laugh, a booming laughter that seemed to fill the air.

In a condescending voice designed to cow his opponents, Xuanyu spoke. "Come now, young pups, you really have no idea who you are facing... I would tell you who I am, but the time is not right for me to reveal myself. However, I will tell you this, three impetuous young pups will not defeat a being that has lived for as long as time..."

With an arrogant laugh, Xuanyu leapt into the sky and began to channel forth his energies once more, but on a scale more than a hundred times greater than before. As the dark and light energies filled the air, all that could be heard was the cackling laughter of Xuanyu...

Abruptly, Xuanyu stopped and slowly returned to the rooftop of the science facility. "You have much to learn and you will learn all that you can if you leave now. Do not fight me... How can you who has no abilities beyond tapping into a mysterious interdimensional force win against a being that has learned and trained for an eternity?"

Xuanyu turned and began to walk away, a voice ringing through the air. "Enough of this farce. If you actually wish to fight, train for another thousand years and then you may even have the barest hope of victory..."

IC: With a gasp of comprehesion, Michiko blurted out, "Xuanyu!"

The being known as Xuanyu turned around, now more surprised than ever. "How do you know who I am, pup?"

Michiko merely replied, "I have studied legends and myths of countless ages. I know who you are, Xuanyu. You are not evil, you are not good......"

She trailed off. Slowly, she walked around the motionless god. Arashi and Shinji did the same, and they had Xuanyu surrounded in a triangle defined by the position of the three.......the formation where the god-slaying Ancient Charm will take place. Xuanyu could feel the unknown force pouring into the world from other dimensions, settling under his feet.......a throbbing vibration almost electric in nature.......a subtle force wholly unlike the overt power he wields, yet great in potential magnitude........perhaps greater than he is......

But they were not preparing to fight him, Xuanyu knew. It showed in their eyes, all they wanted was parley........what they were doing was merely an insurance, something to ensure their own safety against himself......it was a precaution, not a threat. They would now not raise their hands against him.....as long as he offered the same security.

Michiko, eyes burning with the light-blue fire of her Glacial flames, asked, "Xuanyu, god of this world, why do you aid the evilness of the villain known as RV, the paragon of neutrality as you are? Why do you put yourself, the paradox of the world, under the dominance of an being bent on destruction?"

OOC: Ok, 5CN, how do i say this.......I'm really starting to dislike how this is turning out. I asked for heroes in this thread, not gods. And i thought you would take steps to tone down your character's power......not assume the mantle of chief villain unasked. Please do something about it, cause you're starting the spoil the plot here.

(ooc: Sorry, using Lin a second, I am attempting to break this down into short time slots to give people time to resond rather than simply saying he does this or goes there like some people have been doing, also, injecting some more humour, glad you liked Faolan's pant adventure btw)

A blast of electricity hits Mr Mercury and zips around him in all directions until it dissipates. Being non-conductive he merely cocks his head (and Simon's by default) at Lin with no face but still obviously quizzical. "Hmmm curious, just what does she think she can do to me?" Lin looks confused and angry she cannot harm this walking metal ghost and fires off a few more rounds with the same result.

"Alright Merc?" he grins, "so who's this live wire then? And what the bloody hell has she done to my shades?" his accent slips back into his London cockney.

Mercury replies, "no idea on both counts but I'm sure my new friend the doctor could do something to restore them for you... shall we take a walk?"

Simon grins again, "who's doin' the drivin'?" knowing full well what Mr Mercury is about to do.

Mercury simlpy picks up the bike and walks toward the hover with complete disregard to Lin

"You know if I had a buck for every time I had to save you sorry ass.."

"Hey that's only happened once! Besides, I don't know what happened, she got luckier than me, this doesn't happen to me often..."

"I bet you say that to all the women..." he turns to Lin as he walks away "hey he wants to know if you want to get lucky..."

Simon snorts and giggles like a kid "Shut up shut up shut up..."

"Why not man? C'mon, it could be a very electrical relatonship. Highly charged. I'm sensing sparks already..."

"Oh I'm exstatic... Can we, y'know?"

With this Mr Mercury senses the muscle movement Simon wants to do and raises their right arms into a one fingured salute.

(OOC: Don't worry about it, Gothic... Xuanyu will not defeat your characters and he will not actually fight... We'll talk and Xuanyu will just sort of step back and watch over things...)

Xuanyu grimaced at the constant mentions of him as a god. Shaking his head in exasperation, Xuanyu glared at Michiko, his eyes burning with fury and rage. "I am NO GOD. I could have chosen to be one, but I refused..."

Xuanyu closed his eyes, attempting to calm down his raging temper. Taking a deep breath, Xuanyu slowly let out his fury and anger. When he began to talk, Xuanyu was the epitome of an emotionless being, clearly enunciating his words but expressionless. "The things that I choose to do is outside of your realm of comprehension... I have spent nearly five hundred million years trapped within a weapon known as the Hellblade, acting as a pawn, a minion, to the chaotic but good dragonlords of Mt. Skyfire. My actions as a tool of the light and good, has forced me into a substantial debt to the forces of evil and darkness... Thus I must repay my debt."

Pausing briefly, Xuanyu opened his eyes and regarded Michiko. "Few, outside of the circles of the dragonlords know of my existence... It is an honor for me to know someone who knows my name."

Sighing, Xuanyu gazed up at the dark sky and continued softly. "I will not fight, for there is no honor, no glory to be had in your destruction... I have only seen a part of your fate, but from what I've seen, you will not fall at my hands..."

OOC: I'm not RPing anything new. There's nothing to play off. In my eyes at least. Anyway, I'm at a Conferance until Sunday so I won't be RPing for the whole weekend. I give GU, and only GU, permission to RP for me in cases of emergancy.

OOC: Ok then, 5CN.........i just had an interesting idea. How about, when this thread nears its end, Xuanyu pays off his debt to evil by pouring in a small portion of his power into my chief villain, RV? That would be most interesting......I'll send you the bio of Original RV when i have the time, and you can look through it and see what additional powers he can gain when Xuanyu gives RV some of his power.

IC: The three Heirs vs. Xuanyu......

Arashi looked pissed at what Xuanyu had proclaimed, and Shinji's face was also betraying great emotion. Arashi was about to bark out at Xuanyu's words when the Ancient Charm, which has also conferred upon them temporary telepathy amongst the three Heirs, brought to his mind words from Michiko's head.

"We are not to destroy this being yet. It would have grave consequences for our world. It would unbalance the forces of good and evil, for this being is the personfication of the two forces. We will not move against this being......unless we are forced to do so."

Michiko sighed, and looked at Arashi and Shinji. They nodded to show they had gotten her message. As one, they withdrew the Ancient Charm from the world, and the invisible crackling power triangle they formed between them dissipated. Now, all that limitless power was reconcentrated within themselves, not yet gone back to its dimension, but latent within their bodies, ready to shoot out again.

Michiko, her eyes still glowing with Glacial fire, asked Xuanyu. "Would you stay? There is much we, and the world, can learn from you."

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On board the Hoverbird

Reiko glanced at Tala's festering wound, and withdrew the Hoverbird's onboard First Aid kit.

"No need. I will heal by myself", Tala protested.

"Yes, I know, but still......", without leaving room for Tala to protest any further, Reiko started tending Tala's wound.

The Hoverbird flew over the Facility, and they got a full view of Xuanyu against the three Heirs.Tala gasped, and pressed herself against the window overlooking the scene.

"Arashi.......", she muttered.

"Don't worry, young lady. Arashi can take care of himself."

Tala turned to the Sensei.

"Yes, you heard me right. Arashi has enough of what it takes to survive out there. He now holds the Hiyuuki Clan's Crystal of Courage, and he, along with the other two, has the ability to slay gods at need. Besides, you look carefully again. I don't think they are even fighting."

Tala looked. The Sensei was right........

(ooc: seems nobody wants to be caught by shard even though SHE (not he) has lightning speed...)
OOC: I know Shard's female; the electricity was going to Levin Bolt. There is no charge around Shard. LB is pulling electrons to himself out of the walls, and electrons from the floor under her are moving through it to replace them. This results in an increasingly large negative charge around him, and an increasingly large positive charge under her.
I know Shard is fast, but both of my characters are as well- especially LB, when he's in lightning form, and he's also impossible to grab then. Something 20 meters long isn't going to be able to move as fast as something shorter, and the distance gave my characters a bit of warning. You still caught the one that can be caught that way.
She laughs as the shards fall to the ground from the broken tentacles and simply regrows more and more. The electric charge around her tickling her as it sparks off her crystalline skin. "Wow. Handy"
"What game shall we play... tag?" Levin Bolt called. "Bet you can't catch me!"

THC managed to clear off the tentacles that held her, and dropped to the ground. Sweeping the chain in a figure-eight around her to ward off other tendrils, she traded the shears for a spear point and advanced toward Shard.

OOC: Sorry about the delay. I didn't expect to be this busy...

(sorry I've been out so long. My internet's gone dodgy at home, so I've had to make my updates at school)

Allan pumped a fist, shouting "YES!" as he saw people jumping from the chopper, parachutes opening. He had thought hard about taking it down. He hadn't wanted to hurt anyone, and no-one had been.

He clamped onto the top of the hoverbird and stuck his head into the open hatch.

"I'll be getting off here." He lifted himself back to the top of the craft, and the OKTO's arms readied to spring and shot out, launching him into the air as the Hoverbird flew low.

He landed on the arms, and began firing Flashbangs at the soldiers clustered around the door of the facility, blasting them away and stunning them. Three dodged it and fired their rifles. Allan coiled the arms around himself, the bullets pinging off the metal. He waited until he heard the clicking of the empty guns, and then fired out three arms, clamping a claw around each of their necks and hoisting them into the air as they dropped their weapons with surprise. One shouted "What the hell are you?!"

He brought him in close to his face, his eyes rendered emotionless by the dark glass covering them.

"You can call me Kraken." He then slammed all 3 of them together, knocking them all out, and dropped them.

He climbed onto the top of the building and fired Pulses of energy at anyone who tried to come near the building, and at the Chinooks who tried to land, driving them back into the air.

_________________________________________________________________

Just before the biker was fried, a silver shield enveloped him, Lin's bolts glancing harmlessly off. A conversation took place between the Shield and "Simon" as the Biker was called. The shielded biker began to walk away, and gave Lin the finger as it did.

She was too stunned to even return it.

"...What the...?"

She then remembered. Faolan. She leapt through the sky as a blue-white bolt, landing closeby.

She was about to kneel down, when a horrible stench filled her nose. She groaned with disgust and recoiled.

"Aw, Shit!"

Faolan, to her surprise, looked up, and with a shaking voice, said "DingDingDing! Whadda we have for her, Johnny?"

Then he looked at her glowing form. His eyes bugged out.

Lin smiled. Though her mouth wasn't visible, her voice showed it. She held out her arms and turned around like a model on the catwalk.

"Like it?" Hearing no Response, she said, "Thought so."

An explosion caused her to turn to the building. She fished out a pair of binoculars she'd swiped from a soldier, and she saw the oddest sight. A man in a trenchcoat with six mechanical tentacles sprouting from his back stood on the roof of the building, firing blasts of energy at any soldiers who tried to enter the building.

Those who got past the barrage of energy were taken down by well-placed strikes from the tentacles. Some soldiers were grabbed and slung through the air, away from the door, landing hard.

Lin turned to Faolan and put the binoculars down next to him.

"Be right back."

Phobia
Trumpeting in pain, Phobia returned to his true form and jumped back.

Well, now. Maybe I'll have a little fun, He focused his bloodshot eye on Henry and dove deep into his mind. He fond the man's deepest fear and slowly began to transform...
(ooc: You'll have to RP the transformation as I don't know what Henry's worst far is. And don't say he doesn't have one, everyone's afraid of something.)

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Spiritwalker
When the smoke poured out of the dice, a small voice whispered, Incoming. Spiritwalker brought her hands up and the willow the whisp fireballs swirled into a shield. Then, she began firing more spirit flames into the smoke, knowing that when one contacted it would cause pain akin to white hot knive jabbing into every part of your body. The resulting scream would give away Zell's location.

Zell dodged. And dodged. And dodged. But there was no avoiding them all.

One of the spiritfires hit him, and he screamed out in agony. He couldn't help what he did, but it was a bad mistake all the same, for Spiritwalker turned at the noise, and all the spiritfires turned his way.

Not a good situation to find himself in. But he still has some tricks.

His hand shot out, and despite his agony, his aim remained true, and the silver-edged cards streamed out and met the spiritfires head on, dispersing them. Then Zell, by now free of the agony, was in full swing again, running here, there, everywhere. Spiritwalker couldn't keep up with his movements.

Suddenly, two cards flashed out at great speed, and hit Spiritwalker before she or her spirits could do anything about it. She tried to move.......but found herself paralyzed. The cards were stuck in her body, hitting two of her acupoints, and paralyzing her. She looked at the cards embedded in her body, and realized that one was the Ace of Spades, and the other a King of Spades.

Blackjack.

Zell loomed in front of her, and tackled Spiritwalker to the ground, himself on top of his opponent. He couldn't see Spiritwalker's expression behind the mask, but he felt something soft against his chest.......

"A girl!", Zell thought, with a thrill of doubt. What a mess, now he was on top of a girl on the floor.......thank goodness there was no one else around to see this most incongruous scene.......still, he pressed a sharpened card to her neck, ignoring the fact he was on top of a girl in battle, and not where the situation should happen, in a bedroom.......

"Who are you, now?" he whispered.

Sorry ladies and gents, but because of technical difficulties on Friday, and the fact that I won't be home for another 16 hours or so, I won't be posting for a bit. Also, Maggedon, you have brought up an interesting question. I always kinda figured that Henry was afraid of everything pretty much equally, maybe other snipers more than anything. However, it gives me a reason to work up some more of his past, so I will try and come up with something better soon.

IC: The three Heirs vs. Xuanyu......

Arashi looked pissed at what Xuanyu had proclaimed, and Shinji's face was also betraying great emotion. Arashi was about to bark out at Xuanyu's words when the Ancient Charm, which has also conferred upon them temporary telepathy amongst the three Heirs, brought to his mind words from Michiko's head.

"We are not to destroy this being yet. It would have grave consequences for our world. It would unbalance the forces of good and evil, for this being is the personfication of the two forces. We will not move against this being......unless we are forced to do so."

Michiko sighed, and looked at Arashi and Shinji. They nodded to show they had gotten her message. As one, they withdrew the Ancient Charm from the world, and the invisible crackling power triangle they formed between them dissipated. Now, all that limitless power was reconcentrated within themselves, not yet gone back to its dimension, but latent within their bodies, ready to shoot out again.

Michiko, her eyes still glowing with Glacial fire, asked Xuanyu. "Would you stay? There is much we, and the world, can learn from you."
Xuanyu shook his head in sadness as he regarded his utterly naive opponents. His face a mask of sorrow and agony, Xuanyu began once more to speak. "You cannot learn much from me and I cannot teach you... For although I am an ageless being born before time existed, the wisdom and knowledge that I have collected over the years cannot be shared with those whose lifetimes are measured mere tens of years... It does not matter if you have such power in your youth if you do not know how to employ it effectively. In the space of five seconds, I had already pinpointed the cracks and weak points of your defense and attack... Although you have all trained to the pinnacle of your current abilities, you cannot grow unless you truly will work together as a team. Sunzi once said that 'Know yourself, know thy enemy, never know defeat...' But you do not know yourself and barely have any knowledge of your enemy... You can only fail... Learn to work together as a team and you have a chance to prevail..."

Pausing briefly, Xuanyu's began to weep. "I recall my former master, Omnus Stormrider used to have a friend by the name of Lance Crusade, a legendary swordmaster with abilities and knowledge far beyond anyone has ever managed to accumulate... Although Omnus was weaker, in a battle in which the two of them worked together, the two balanced each other out, working effectively and beyond anything the two could have accomplished alone. Learn from this lesson and you can only grow."

Michiko nodded.

"We learn everyday. All beings do. There's always something new, and through learning, we strive towards growth."

She stepped forward.

"But you are mistaken if you think our powers are limited only to our years. Our powers, though you perceive them as justly inferior to yours, are the result of the accumulation of the experience of our ancestors of many thousands of years. We are, in effect, the personification of our Clans' history, and we have since taken your advice to work as a team. After all, without our working as a team, we would not have defeated the Dark Power, as powerful as you as it was."

She smiled.

"We will take your advice. I shall personally study you more, for the next time we meet. Until then, we shall meet you again."

She stepped back and put her hands together in a fist, and Arashi and Shinji did the same.

Allan leapt from the building, landing on the ground in the middle of the soldiers tenacious enough to try to get past him. Instantly all of the OKTO's arms snaked out and started pummeling and throwing soldiers. He extended 2 arms about ankle-level and swung them wide, blowing all of the soldier's feet out from under them, but that didn't stop a bullet from sinking into Allan's arm. Pain shot through him, and his arm went numb.

Gotta do something about this before someone gets lucky...

All the arms extended in a circle around him as he activated the electromag pads. The soldiers' guns were torn from their hands, clustering onto each claw. He whipped them around and slung them far away.

The OKTO's arms raised over his back and twisted into a tree-like shape. They unraveled again, firing rapidly as he took down the remaining soldiers with a Stun Blossom.

Something occured to Allan. This was the first time the OKTO had ever been tested in open combat. It was holding up pretty well.
He was just about to congratulate himself when he heard a voice behind him.

"You're pretty good."

He turned. A Young Japanese girl wearing mostly black stood before him. (OOC: She shifted back) Her hair was dyed purple and tied into a short ponytail, with bangs going almost to her shoulders. He looked into her green eyes and asked, "Who are you?"

The girl smiled sweetly at him. "My friends call me 'Livewire'"

"Mine call me Kraken."

Livewire giggled. "Well? Aren't you going to ask me why we're doing this?"

He shook his head. "Money, right?"

"Bingo. I'm getting 100 mil if this goes right, and it can't go right with you keeping our choppers in the air, now can it?"

A smile crossed Allan's face. "What are you gonna do about it?"

She grinned back. "This."

He had no warning. A blindingly fast punch to the face knocked off his glasses and sent him reeling, followed up by a flurry of punches that he knew were going to leave huge bruises under the armor. He stumbled backwards, and was felled by a roundhouse kick that connected solidly with his head. He fell to the ground, blood pouring from his nose and lip. Grunting in pain, he raised all of the arms, ready to fire, but Livewire simply held up a hand, and they bent away from her, instead aiming themselves at Allan. He tried to move them, but they wouldn't budge.

Livewire laughed. "Oh, come on! You were doing so well with all those grunts!"

She put down her hand, and Allan could move the arms again. He lifted himself to his feet.

"I want a real fight this time."

Allan, filled with adrenaline, rushed the girl with a barrage of tentacle strikes and grapples, but no matter how fast he moved, she moved faster. Then she started throwing bolts of lightning. The OKTO was equipped with electric pulse dampeners in case something like this happened, but dear God, it hurt!

Soon Allan was lying on his back, too stunned and fatigued to move.

He tried to call for Merc, but all that came out was a hoarse whisper.

Livewire giggled, then leaned over him, smiling.
"I'll leave you here to lick your wounds. We'll fight again when you've had a little more practice. Bye!" She stood and walked away.

Allan blacked out.

"Who are you, now?" he whispered.
"People call me Spiritwalker," Her consentration had been broken when Zell hit her, but her in the stillness it came back. The card ignited with blue fire and burrowed themselves in Zell's arm. Then, spirit flames rushed in from every angle...

That hurt.

Zell merely gritted his teeth this time, as the agony buried itself in his shoulders. Quickly kneeing Spiritwalker in the gut to break her concentration, he felt the agony lessen in his shoulder, and quickly grabbed her and rolled over such that she was on top.

It worked. The spiritfires swerved away, not willing to hurt Spiritwalker, but Zell frowned. All this close contact and groping is getting too intimate even for Zell, and to be taking place in a battlefield.......he liked women, but not in such a situation......

He got up, pulling Spiritwalker to a standing position, and turned her so her back was to him. He then backed himself up against the wall, and the spiritfires could find no way to get at Zell without hitting Spiritwalker. His arm was around her neck, ready to break it at a moment's notice.

"Let's see who you are.....", Zell grunted, and his other hand went to her mask.......

OOC: Mageddon, you need not have Spiritwalker's identity blown if you don't want it to, just RP it any way you want.

ooc: GU, I sent you a tellegram. Also, this is my primary nation now. Mageddon is gone.
IC:
It didn't matter that Zell pulled off her mask, he wouldn't recognise the small-town girl from another nation anyway. All he knew about the girl behind the mask was that she was pissed.

"Let me run you through something: the spirit flames come from me. Therefor," the fireballs struck her and, rather than crying out in pain, she burst into spirit flame. For a few moments it hurt Zell. Then, it coiled around him, wrenching the mask from his grip and reafixing it on Spiritwalkers face. Spirit walker grinned, prior to her metamorphasis, this part of her power had only worked on herself.

"Now, let me run you through another thing," Zell flew through a window.

IC: Glass broke, as Zell swore. "What the **** is this *****?", he thought to himself. She was almost invincible......but then Zell remembered that he hadn't employed most of his tricks yet. Well, she's asking for it, and that's what he's gonna give her. He sighed. Too bad she was so pretty......

He leapt back through the window, showing signs of having taken one too many hits. That's gonna change.....the spiritfires charged at him, but he dispersed them with a stream of flying cards, and strafed around Spiritwalker.

[i]"Let's see you eat this, lady!"[/b], he thought to himself. His two hands shot out, and mahjong tiles shot out by the dozen, impacting her everywhere but her face. She bent down, winded.

Still dodging the spiritfires with relative ease, he bore down on Spiritwalker again. This time, she tried to get out of the way, but she was stopped in her tracks by another stream of flying cards, which cut slashes in her robe, and one even damaged her mask.

Then, as a finale, Zell dispersed the remaining spiritfires with a flourish of cards, he threw a coin at Spiritwalker, which hit her straight in the face and stunned her. Zell watched the coin fall. Heads.

With a movement borne almost of instince, Zell rushed over and dealt many blows to Spiritwalker, finishing with Zell grabbing her, then throwing her into the air, then throwing another hand of cards in her direction.

She slumped on the ground, hurt. Five cards are buried in her body. Ten oh Hearts, Jack of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts, Ace of Hearts.

A Royal Flush.

Zell grinned. "Think i'm so weak now?"

OOC: Ok peeps, we have to end this brawl soon. Have your villains escape on the Blackhawks, back to the airship.

She looks around and decides this is not fun anymore. "Two against one girl? Naughty naughty. You guys have to phone in advance to arrange it and pay more for that..."
With that she shifts form into that of a tunnel drill and disappears underground, spinning so fast she is at a waiting BlackHawk, on board and blowing a kiss before THC or LB can trace where she sent.

(ooc: sorry, been away from internet at dad's 60th birthday all weekend. also sorry Shard turnd out to be so lame but then that's not always bad.)

Depositing Simon and his bike in the hoverbird the Sensei alerts him to Allan's stricken form.
"Shit." and within a few seconds Allan's form is covered with a silver armour which stands him up and walks him to the hoverbird effortlessly dragging the extra weight of the OKTO arms. "Jeez dude you gotta lose some weight..."
In a few moments he deposits Allan in the hoverbird and asks Simon to try and wake him up (with Simon's luck power that isn't hard).
He goes gas again and gets outside for the last time and tracks a chinook...

Lin strode back to Faolan, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

Hah. That nerd hadn't put up any fight at all.

She leaned over Faolan again.

"I think we'd better get you home so you can... clean yourself up."

She tried to take him under the arms to drag him back to the chopper, but he pushed her away.

"I can take care of myself."

Lin nodded, saying, "Alright... see you back at base."
She headed back to her chopper, stepping in and telling them to take off.

_________________________________________________________________

Allan came to on the Hoverbird, with a very familiar pair of shades hanging over him. Something wasn't quite right with his vision... he put a hand to his face, and found his left eye was swollen shut. He must have looked a mess.

He tried to sit up, but pain shot through him again. He winced and laid back down. After a few minutes, he was strong enough to sit up. He felt around for his glasses, finding them on the floor close by and slipping them on.

He opened the chest panel and went through the process of taking off the OKTO. As the chest pieces opened, Allan saw his torso was covered with huge, blue-purple bruises. He was thankful for the OKTO's body armor. If he hadn't added that, he might very well have had broken bones, or worse.

He stood shakily, and, with assistance from Simon, limped to the cockpit, where the Sensei and Reiko sat. He didn't care if Simon was a reporter anymore... it was nice to have someone helping him when he needed it.

"How'd I get back here?"

Reiko looked up briefly. "Merc dropped you off, then he headed out again."

A smile appeared on Allan's bloodied face. "Remind me to thank him sometime."

OOC: I'm back! It was pretty cool!

IC: Tala felt that tingle that meant she was all better. She quickly unwrapped her arm and used the bandage to rip off the burn. It looked like burnt steak, but Tala's arm looked fine. Not so much as a scratch. She looked a Allan.

"Geez, Doc. You don't look so good.",Muttered Tala. She then turned to Reiko and as she pointed her thumb at Allan said. "See, ALLAN needs first-aid!"

Tala sighed. She started boucing on the spot. "Grr! I want to be out there again, but until the serums perfect I can't.",Tala Growled then suddenly she brightened. "Unless they didn't have any silver. I mean I probably won't bump into Faolan again."

Tala then jumped out of the Hoverbird and ran into the compound. She didn't listen to any warnings that may have been given. Sub-conciously she knew her wolf side was getting power on her. Not so much to control her reasoning, but heat and the must fight attitude seemed to be getting harder to resist. She'd have to watch herself. Tala followed her senses and instincts to her next fight.

OOC: Okay someone can chose where I end up.
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Faolan ran to one of the bathrooms. It was the same bathroom that he'd left his extra gear in. Luckily, he always kept fresh clothing with his extra gear. He washed up and put on the clean clothes. He then headed for the chopper, he could sense Lycan Girl was around but wasn't in the mood to find her. Especially after what that weird guy and done to him. He reached the chopper as it was about to take off. He hopped in, sitting across from Lin. He was quiet for a few minutes, then he mumbled. "Sorry." He was sure she knew what he meant.

Lin smiled and ruffled Faolan's hair. "It's ok."

She watched the water rush by under them and sighed.

Faolan turned to her. "What's wrong?"

Lin stared out the window. "D'you think we'll get paid for this?"

ooc: From now on, GU, be aware that since spirits warn spiritwalker, you can't pull huge combos on her.
IC:
Spiritwalker
As everything went dark, Spiritwalker used the last of her strength to send a particularly jagged piece of glass across Zell's cheek. Then, she passed out and a black astral snake took advantage of the moment, sliding into her parcially open mouth.

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Phobia
Henry was back against a tree, cowering as Phobia, in the form of his worst fear (whatever it is), advanced on him. Then, Phobia felt it, they had what they had come for and were pulling out. Transforming to his true form and then to the form of an albatros, Phobia took off and followed the choppers back to the airship.

OOC: Sorry all. Long weekend. I'm kinda glad though, because it gave me a good long time to think of how to respond to Phobs. Still couldn't come up with any reason for anything to actually paralyze him with fear, so I leave it a little unspecific. Ah well, I hope it works anyway. Soo, the long awaited...

IC:
Henry had his gun half way out when he hit the ground. pushing his heels in, he rolled backwards, away from, whatever that thing was. By the time he saw the black shape with one eyeball, he wasn't sure what was the true shape of the creature. However, when the thing actually broke into his mind, Henry was sure of one thing, it had to die.
The only problem was, it morphed again. This time, it changed slowly, eerily, into a being, a childhood memory, that Henry never quite got over. A huge black, ghost-like shape formed, drifting in and out of a demon-y shape. Glowing red eyes slanted down at him. Indescision gripped him for a moment, could this thing be stopped with bullets? Backing up to buy some time, he was about ready to shoot it, whether it helped or not, when it started all over again. The beast looked glanced up, as if listening, then *poof*, it was gone, and all that was left, was an albatross flying away. It didn't take long for Henry to decide what to do about that. Lining up the huge body of the bird in the target peep sight of his revolver, he loosed one copper jacketed hollow-point at the tail end of it.
Not bothering to wait for the result of his spent cartridge, he deactivated his camo, and located the dropped long gun. Stuffing the mask into one of his pockets, he felt his bruised ribs. His whole mid-section hurt, but nothing seemed broken. Slinging his sniper rifle over his back, he started jogging towards the building, wincing slightly as the buttstock bounced against his bruises. He would probably be alright tomorrow morning, but it didn't feel so good now. He was just about to hail a running Tala, when some guy bursting through a first story window, closely followed by blue flame, caught his attention. The suprising part was that he guy actually got back up, and went back in for more, throwing, what Henry's sharp eyes percieved to be, playing cards. Yelling to Tala, Henry ran over, unslinging the rifle as he went.

OOC:Have fun with that, boys. Sorry Dancing penguin, but you had to pick a big, slow moving target like an albatross.

Levin Bolt loosed his mental hold on the charge, allowing a bolt of lighning to blast the floor where Shard had been standing, but she was already gone. He floated down to the ground, breathing heavily.
"Well... That was quick."
"She doesn't like two on one, eh? Next time, I'll get her myself."
"You're just annoyed 'cause her powers are more versatile than yours, and a similar variety."
"I am annoyed because she took powers similar to mine, and made herself into a petty thug!"
"You've got to admit she's kinda pretty, though..."
THC snorted in disgust and stalked back to the Hoverbird. Levin Bolt followed, chuckling. Quite though she was, it wasn't often he beat her in an exchange of words.

He grins when Allan says he ought to thank Merc. A lot of people often said something similar. Others said: "Who was that shiny big metal bastard and why am I in jail?"
He followed Allan to the cockpit, "I know this is probably a bad time to ask this doctor but I don't suppose you could take a look at my shades sometime soon, kinda helps if I get some pics with my story. Split the proceed with you fifty fifty."

OOC: Dancing Penguins......do please give Spiritwalker a weakness that can be taken advantage of. I don't want to have to create weaknesses out of nowhere and be called a godmodder because of that.

5CN, i'll RP that Xuanyu had just gone away, leaving my Heirs free to take the next action. Sorry, but the plot has to go on.

IC: As they watched Xuanyu depart, the tension dissipated. The Ancient Charm also took that time to dissipate as well, leaving the Heirs somewhat exhausted, despite not having done any fighting.

"Well", Michiko said, "We have to go stop them."

They ran towards the landing pad, where the departing choppers were, but it was too late. They had left.

"Argh!", Arashi cursed. "They got away!"

Neither Shinji nor Michiko was looking particularly happy as well. At length, Michiko finally said.

"Well, so be it. Let's get back to the Hoverbird. We have to prepare for the next time."

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On board the Hoverbird

As Allan turned to Simon's offer, he got his ear pulled by Reiko.

"Now now! Sit still while i tend to you!"

And tend to him she did, very expertly too. Allan flexed his muscles, breathed in, and winced at the pain.

"Thanks, Miss Hiyuuki."

"That's Reiko to you, Doctor Allan Fisher!" She tweaked his nose, and went back to her seat. The Sensei laughed.

"Don't mind her, Dr. Fisher, my Reiko's a little feisty, but otherwise she's all right."

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Zell swore as he got cut by the glass on his cheek. That's his face she was dealing with here.....! He contemplated dragging the unconscious Spiritwalker back to the Vengeance for punishment for what she did to his face, but then he gave himself a reality check. His special balm would put his face back in mint condition in no time at all, and besides, he didn't want hauntings on the airship......

He turned and ran back to the helipad, to see that they had loaded everything, and just about everyone was back on board the choppers. He leapt in, and they took off. On the ground, he could see the three Heirs arrive too late to stop them.

The mission was a success. RV would be so proud. And of course, RV may have a bad streak in him, but he didn't welsh on his promises, Zell knew.

OOC: If there's any villain who has not yet been RPed to board the choppers, RP him or her to board the chopper anyway. The Hoverbird, on the other hand, will hightail it back to the Hiyuuki Dojo.

At the same time as the black snake thingy jumps on SpiritWalker...
He stops in mid air and screams.
Turning into a solid figure of himself literally twisted in pain hands not on his ears but IN his ears...
He falls straight to the ground through the roof of the facility, not too far from the source of his problems, crushing the floor and embedding himself in concrete and earth. Still screaming a loud blood curcling scream that can even be heard on the HoverBird despite the engine noise...

(ooc: OK now Merc really needs SpiritWalker to wake up.... screaming outta do it...)

OOC: Erm, Scotsnation? Your last Merc post is pushing it a bit far for now. There will be a storming of the Vengeance, just not now. Edit your post, or change the direction your RP is going. If you don't want to, suits yourself, but i will respond in.....kind......

OOC: Seriously you guys have got to either find Tala and drag her back to the Hoverbird or find something for her to do. Because she's losing to her wolf side so, she bored, hyper, and violent. NOT GOOD!

IC: Tala was getting antsy. She was just itching for a challange. She didn't want to fight, she needed to fight. She knew in the back of her mind it had something to do with heat. She'd read about it when she started changing. Female wolves had a cycle where they would get really hot and also really aggressive. This affected female werewolves ,too. It was the one aspect Tala could never control. She knew she was about to attack someone she just didn't know how.

OOC: I've made a desicion. The werewolf virus can only affect you if you get it in your blood stream. I.E. it's not an STD and you can't get it from a kiss. Thank you.
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Faolan thought about what Lin said and frowned.

"They damn well better be paying us.",Replied Faolan. "I didn't go through that shit..." Faolan cringed at the memory and rephrased his words. "I didn't go through all that, just to get a pat on the head. You and I both deserve the money. Maybe more for...um....emotional damage." Faolan laughed without humour.

ooc: GU? I posted Spiritwalker's weakness when I created her: loud, continous sound that disrupts her consentration. Also, I'm not saying you can't hit her, just saying you can't pull uber combos on her.

IC:
Phobia
Phobia, half way between the dieing birb form and its true form, hit the ground hard. It shook itself and retransformed into a hawk. Shooting off for the air ship, it mentally added Henry to it's "people who will suffer" list.

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Spiritwalker
Spiritwalker's eyes opened. I took her a moment to realize what she was looking at. It was herself! She watched in horror as her body sprung up and raced to a shining form that had fallen through the roof and spoke with her voice:

"You okay, Merc?"

Henry was in the middle of carefully hopping through the broken window, when a screaming silver ball fell out of the sky. Henry's head was already through the window, and when Mr. Mercury came through the ceiling; his head recoiled hard against the top of the frame, knocking a few pieces loose to hit his neck. Brushing the pieces off, he quickly climbed the rest of the way through the window, running over to help Spiritwalker pull Merc out of the hole.

Henry: You guys all right? I can't really tell about you, Merc, but you*turns to Spiritwalker* aren't looking so grand. Let's get you back to the Hoverbird. I would hate to find out later that all those cuts are poisoned.

OOC: Ok, DP, I get the message. Sorry i overlooked that.

IC: The Heirs were walking back to the Hoverbird when they saw Tala charging out towards them. Tala, but how changed. She seemed excited, even mad......whatever she was, she looked dangerous now.

They froze in their steps, wondering why Tala had suddenly turned against them, and arriving at the same conclusion: that she's not meaning it, she doesn't have any control over what she's doing, for some reason.......just then, they saw a big silver ball crash through the roof of the now trashed facility.

Then Arashi took charge.

"Shinji, don't stay here, she'll probably go for you first. Go check out what happened there." Shinji nodded, then left.

"Michiko, go back to the Hoverbird. Tell my father to fly the craft here. We have a situation." She nodded, and went another way.

Now it's only him and the maddened Tala. How was he to fight against a friend........

He stared right back at Tala, who looked like she was spoiling for a fight. He knew silver would affect her the most, but Arashi had no intention to hurt her further, not with that bad wound on her shoulder. His leather jacket should be able to withstand any scratches........his right hand caught fire. Maybe Tala's pyrophobia would wake her up......

(OOC: Ok Thrope, RP this any way you want, just don't infect Arashi.)

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On board the Hoverbird

Everyone heard the scream of Merc.

Just as he was about to take off for the sound, the Sensei saw Michiko running towards them. He landed, and Michiko climbed on board.

"Sensei Hiyuuki.......Arashi's in danger. He's facing Tala by himself....."

The Sensei frowned, then

"Yes, that's worrisome, especially with that wolfgirl. But he can take care of himself. He's smart. We have to see how Merc is doing first...."

With that, he took off for Merc, Henry, and Spiritwalker......

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On board the Vengeance

The choppers entered the yawning mouth of Vengeance's hold. Inside, they landed, and disgorged the mercenaries and those of the Spetsnaz lucky enough to survive the Hero Team, while others unloaded the diamonds and dragged away the captive scientists to a place where they will be held until they agree to cooperate.

Zell led the mercenaries back to the conference room, where RV sat, still cloaked in shadow, waiting for them.

"Good work", RV said, "We have got what we want. Please stay aboard the Vengeance. Your next mission will be coming soon."

Lin took that time to butt in. "What about our paychecks?"

"Paychecks? Who said anything about paychecks?" RV gestured to the table. On it were bank account books, each designated for every mercenary. They picked it up and opened it, and saw that there was US$100 million in each of the accounts.

"I took the liberty of opening a personal savings account for each of you, with your pay in it. In the future, our payments will go towards your account."

With that, he left.

Lin literally jumped for joy when she saw the bank book, hopping up and down, giddy as a little girl. She grabbed Faolan in a tight hug and cried "We're rich!" over and over.

A few minutes later, she let him go, and said, "I have decided that I will reward myself for a job well done... with a nap."

She strutted into her quarters, throwing her coat on the floor, laid down, and slept, a smile across her face. Pleasant dreams followed.


_________________________________________________________________

Allan turned to Simon, after looking at Reiko to make sure she wouldn't grab his ear again.

"That depends on what kinds of pictures you had. No offense, but I don't have much respect for people who invade others' privacy. I've had enough of your buddies storming Jarikos Tower, demanding pictures and interviews already."

He stands up with help, even though he is heavy, and looks at Henry for a split second. Guy is stong... Head hurts. Looking what can only be described as groggy he barely manages to say:
"Did anyone get the number of that truck?"
He looks around at the floor and says "Oh... that's never happened to me before I swear I..."
When his gaze hits SpiritWalker he freezes.
Before anyone knows it he is gone and re-appears clinging to the wall and ceiling in the top corner of the room, to anyone who has ever owned a cat they would think it looks like he was hanging to the curtains and hissing at a threat.
Then he is gone again and up out of the hole in the roof.
(ooc: hope you don't mind SW since Merc is basically only a spirit with a ball of mercury to control I reckoned you being out of it would be a good weakness)

Tala sighed. "Arashi if I look dangerous don't try scaring me. Fear leads to more anger. That's not good. Besides, I'm not angry. My hormones are messed. But let me explain something; There are two parts of the brain that are subconsious. The ID and the superego. ID is the stuff that will bring you pleasure, whether good or bad. The Superego tells you what is right and wrong. My Superego is strong. I know how to control my urges. So Arashi as my friend do me this favor." Tala watched Arashi put out the flame. It was obvious he didn't want her to get hurt, but he was concerned about the others. "Take me by the arm and lead me to the Hoverbird. Talk to me calmly and keep me away from any situation that might make me freak. Especially Shinji." Tala took a calming breath then smiled, seeming much calmer. "Hang out with me until I'm all calm and then it'll be fine. Should I get out of hand just pinch me right here." Tala pointed to a small bunch of nerves on her shoulder. "That'll knock me out."

Tala smiled againg offering her hand. "All I need is a hug and some herbal tea." She prayed Arashi trusted her enough to take her word.

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Faolan smiled at Lin. "Great idea. I think I'll do the same." He then went to his room and had a nap.

Arashi sighed. This is a delicate situation.......he went over to Tala, and hugged her, nuzzling her neck.

"Very well, Tala. Let's go home."

He put his hands on her shoulder, and rubbed her shoulders to ease out her knots. "Everyone's stressed, so when we get back, i'll take you out to see the nightlife of the City of Darkness. Wouldn't you like that?" He cooed, and she smiled.

He thought to himself. Herbal tea......that's not a problem, Michiko makes the best herbal tea in town. Now as for Shinji, that could be a problem, especially since the Hoverbird is seperated only by the pilot cockpit and the common seating area......maybe he could get Shinji to go sit in the cockpit in place of Reiko.......

On board the Vengeance

In the darkened room where RV had disappeared to, he and Zell were alone.

"I've lost many a chopper tonight, a few to some crank who had AA guns, and apparently one of the Chinooks was chopped up......" RV murmured.

Zell flushed. "We did what we could, RV. But you know yourself we are outnumbered against the Hero Team. Moreover, you did not expect this too....."

"Hush", RV commanded, and when Zell obeyed, he spoke. "I'm not saying i'm unhappy, oh no, not by a long shot. We still got what we came for, and we have the materials neccessary to go on to the next step. The Ultima Cannon will be ready soon, now i've got the laser-lens diamonds. I'm just saying that, next time, we should have a plan to......minimize our losses......."

"Yes, of course, sir", Zell said.

Silence. Then,

"That's all. You may go."

Zell bowed, and went out.

RV turned to the lift, and entered it, for another visit to his daughter.......

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At the facility

The Hoverbird came to a stop mid-air over where Henry and Spiritwalker was, hovering in place. A door popped open, and Reiko appeared.

"Is everyone okay here?"

"Mmm...",Muttered Tala leaning against Arashi as he rubbed her shoulders. "That sounds about as good as this feels. And this feels nice." They walked slowly back toward the Hoverbird. Tala was happy because the aggression had faded, the bad thing was every part of her was telling her to kiss him, and that was something she knew she shouldn't do. Instead, she just walked with him. When they got to the Hoverbird, they sat down. Tala laid comfortably on Arashi's shoulder. Feigning sleep, she snuggled in closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. She smiled happily to herself, a late night out with Arashi would surely be fun. 'He feels firm and soft, and he smells so nice.' She thought and made herself more comfortable. She could blame heat all she wanted for the attraction she felt, but she knew that if she hadn't been attracted to him in the first place she wouldn't be holding herself back so much now.

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Faolan knocked on Lin's door. He had a bad feeling that she'd hurt him for waking her, but he was bored and couldn't sleep. He knocked a few times with no response so he called through the door, "Lin, are you awake? I can't sleep, my adrenaline's still pumping. I'm tired, but I'm not really sleepy. Wanna do something?" He waited for a response.

Spiritwalker
Holly crap! Someone stole my body! The astral Kayla exclamed in a voice no one could hear as her body boarded the hovercraft, winsing slightly at her wounds.

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Phobia
When Zell left RV's chamber, Phobia was waiting for him.

I had the exact same idea. Once everyone's rested we should gather then together and make a list of our enimies and their abilities. It will help us ready a welcome for the heros next time.

Allan turned to Spiritwalker as she boarded... there was something weird about her...
"You ok?"

_________________________________________________________________

Lin woke to a knocking sound at her door. She got up groggily, hair a mess, wearing a baggy white T-shirt. She hit a button on the panel, and the door hissed open. (OOC: Assuming this sled has automatic doors) It was Faolan. She fought back the urge to punch him for interrupting her nice nap...

"What'd'ja have in mind?" she mumbled, either not knowing or not caring that she was practically in her underwear.

Faolan smiled and the groggy Lin. "Did I interupt your beauty sleep?",He teased, only to have her take a tired swat at him. He jumped back.

"Okay, because I'm sure the more you wake up the more your reflexes will return, I'm going to stop ribbing you.",Assured Faolan with his hands up in an "I surrender" pose. "I was thinking board games." Faolan stepped past Lin then pressed a code into the panel. One wall opened to reveal sports gear, board games, and other fun items. He turned around and with a bright, charming smile said, "So what do you wanna play?"

Lin stood, dumbfounded. Here she stood, on the base and transport of a Criminal Mastermind, who apparently had... board games. This was getting weird.

She briefly poked among the games, before spotting one that she thought would be fun.

She reached in and pulled out an old Shogi set. (OOC: for those of you who don't know... which would be... most of you, Shogi is Japanese Chess.)

She set it up on the table, pulled up a couple of chairs, and after teaching Faolan how it was different from chess, started.

She smiled to herself. She'd been playing this for years.

(OOC: Hint Hint)

OOC: Chess boards on the airship of my biggest villain???!!! Erm......okay, i can live with that. After all, RV's a father, you gotta expect him to have something ready to occupy his daughter......after he's done what's neccessary to save her, lol :p

Ok people, have your villains and heroes do their stuff until the coming afternoon, when the villains get the briefing for their next mission.

IC: On board the Airship

Arashi sat silent, savoring the warmth of Tala's body on his. The other would have been teasing them about their behaviour......but their faces were withdrawn, haggard, and Arashi knew why.

They had failed.

He closed his eyes, not wanting to drown himself in the tension, and focused instead on Tala. Her body was so supple, so tender......he pondered letting his hand wander, but discarded the thought.

He laid back with a sigh......

Back at the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Hoverbird touched down in the basement garage, and everyone disembarked. A tired-looking Michiko addressed the Hero Team.

"I thank you all for the assistance you have rendered tonight, in place of the Prime Clans of Atros. As you all may have known, we have not succeeded in preventing RV from getting what he wanted tonight.......but he will be back soon. It's been a long night."

The Sensei added, "Please, make yourself at home in any of the guest rooms, and have a good rest. We have to be ready for tonight."

They all went their seperate ways after this, and Michiko noticed Arashi and Tala was walking towards the main gates, instead of the guest rooms......

"Where are the two of you going?"

Arashi, without looking back, replied. "We're going out for a night ride. I think you'll agree that we all need some R&R. Oh, and Michiko.....", he turned back, and whispered in her ear, eliciting a tired reply. Then, putting his arm around Tala's shoulder, he walked off. (OOC: Thrope, the herbal tea is gonna take some time to boil :p)

Shinji, who had kept himself in the background, took this chance to take Michiko by the arm. "Michiko", he whispered.

"What, Shinji?"

"Look at Spiritwalker."

She did.......and noted how she seemed.......different, after tonight.......

"She's.......is she possessed?"

"No way to find out until she does something. Warn the Sensei. We might need his help."

She nodded, went to the Sensei, and whispered in his ear. He nodded, assuming a poker face so as not to give anything away, and nodded again.

There would be no sleep for him tonight.......

(OOC: DP, i'm thinking a fight between the Sensei Hiyuuki and Spiritwalker, what do you say?)

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On board the Vengeance

Zell cocked an eyebrow at what Phobia had said to him.

"You know, it's really not polite to peak into people's minds. Anyway, we'll go through the plan tomorrow. Until then, get yourself some rest." And he walked off.

She goes back to her room and crusts up the place again. SHe thinks about the evening and giggles for a while. new toys to play with...

Once they are out of the hoverbird Simon asks the doctor if he is OK and if he would mind taking a look at his shades in order to restore the fried data.
Mr Mercury is still no-where to be seen. (ooc: I'm surprised you left the facility without checking he was aboard the hoverbird as I never RP's him going there...)

OOC: Well, ok, i know i've left a lot of people back there, but you may all just play catch-up if you wish, or in other words, RP your characters boarding the Hoverbird anyway, then fast-forwarding to now. As for Merc, Scotsnation.......i didn't think he'll need a ride, after all, he can fly along :D

As Henry helped Spiritwalker board the hovercraft, he noted her slightly odd behaviour.
That's not the same Spiritwalker we had yesterday. Did that beating she took knock her brain around to much? Or is it something else? Or is it nothing?
Henry couldn't come to any real conclusions, so he resigned himself to watching her for more clues. When they arrived back at the dojo, Henry absorbed Michikos debriefing gravely. He then proceeded up to his room, and changed out of his camo. Coming back downstairs, he toasted a ham and cheese sandwich for a late night snack, and sat down to mull over the events of the day.

Henry: *mumbling to himself* "Well, first things first, I will have to find a shooting range, preferably at least 500 yds., to see if the dropping hurt the sighting of my gun."
Henry's mind then shifted quickly back to his opponent of the evening. I wonder what that thing was... A mind reader for sure. A shape shifter.. I wonder where he came from? Henry pondered on this for a moment, delving into his memories before the fight. There wasn't anything mobile near me... No, wait, there was a little movement there, out of the corner of my eye, as I was shooting. It was a squirrel! That would explain a lot. I'll never underestimate small animals again. Or small anything. But how was he able to see me? Henry kept this up for another half an hour or so, carefully evaluating each aspect of the fight.

ooc: You know what? Whatever. I don't really care that much. GU? I sent you another TG (sorry to bug you like this).
IC:
Spiritwalker
Sneering at the spirit she felt floating around her, Spiritwalker returned to her room and logged on to the computer there (if the evil airship has board games, than the dojo certainly has computers). She went online to a site of a company named D Corp. She logged into the members area, pulled up a blueprint, and printed it out. She folded up the pages and, shoving them in the bag around her waist, rushed out of her room for the front door.
(ooc: Enter the Sensei...)
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Phobia
I require no sleep. And how else would you have me speak? Phobia turned and slunk off to find his own entertainment...

OOC: GU, you said we could give the ship whatever we wanted, and RV does have a daughty. Spiritwalker, I'm not going to post a reaction from Tala, she's to out of it to notice. But the next day she might sense something, hightened sense. I mean dogs and wolves can feel ghosts, storms, etc.

IC: Tala walked happily with Arashi to the front gate. Then she stopped. Arashi looked back at her.

"What's wrong?",He asked looking puzzled.

"I'm dressed in my heroine clothes. Give me a sec to change."

Tala ran into the dojo. She came out moments later looking very attractive. Her hair was curled in soft ringlets, she had a black satin choker with a blue rose that matched her eyes. She was wearing tight blue jeans, her leather jacket, her boots, and a hankercheif shirt. She spun around in front of Arashi.

"Don't I look just delectable?",She giggled. "Oh and can I ride with you on your bike. I'm to tired to drive."

(OOC: Arashi filler. you figure it out)

Moments later they were riding on Arashi's bike to a hot little club downtown. Tala was pressed tight against him, holding on for dear life. It was much scarier without the driving to distract you. Still, Arashi felt solid and warm, plus he smelled very nice; leather, sweat, his cologne or soap, and a scent Tala knew was just Arashi. She loved that scent.

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Faolan frowned at Lin. "No we are not playing another game.",He repeated firmly. "I'm sorry I woke you up, but you've beaten me fifteen times. Let's just play something else. My choice."

Faolan watched as Lin gave a reserved nod. He got up and went through the closet and found ther perfect game.

"Candy Land?",asked Lin with confusion.

"No!",yelled Faolan putting that box away. "You and I are playing Asshole."

Faolan tossed the cards on the table and they started to play.

Lin didn't know how to play Asshole... needless to say, Faolan was getting his revenge...

_________________________________________________________________

Allan went into his room and removed the OKTO. After changing into clean clothing and steppind out again, he heard the door to Spiritwalker's room open, and heard footsteps headed to the front door. He managed to sneak up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder as she reached for the door.

"I don't think that's a good idea. This place can be pretty rough at night."

He knew something was wrong. A feeling of unearthly "wrongness" seemed to be floating around her...

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

As Spiritwalker was distracted by Allan, the Sensei appeared at the door.

"Where do you think you are going, young lady?"

Suddenly, he felt a chill down his back, and instinct told him he was in danger of this girl for some reason or other......behind his back, his hand turned palm up, and the Hiyuuki "Courage" flame ignited.......

(OOC: DP, start the fight any way you want)

________________________________________________________________

Just a few minutes ago

Arashi smiled as Tala paraded her new look in front of him. "Looking hot, lady!" He grinned. "Well, let's go blow the town away!"

They got up, and Tala rode saddle as Arashi revved, then rode his Yamaha out of the driveway.....on the way, he felt that Tala was hugging him tightly.....merely because she had to, or because she wanted to? Arashi wondered.

"Erm, Tala?"
"Hmm?" She spoke dreamily.
"Brace yourself. I usually get a lot of attention from......the other side, you know what I mean? Anyway, you would come in for a lot of jealousy." He grinned. "That's what comes of being by the side of an eligible, celebrity hero bachelor like me. Just thought you needed a heads-up"

She smiled.

"Well, here we are", Arashi said, pulling up at the club entrance. Putting an arm around Tala, he walked up to the bouncer, who, seeing who he was, asked no questions and immediately let them in.

They entered the club, and Tala could see Arashi was right.......she was gonna be in for a lot of jealousy from other girls who would regard him as a steal.......Arashi hugged her tighter.

"Don't worry, they won't do a thing. Not with me around."

Levin Bolt put his armor out of the way and settled down in his room with a book. THC, on the other hand, couldn't make herself relax. Frustrated by her failure to capture Shard, or even inflict any significant damage, she found a clear area (outside or in a practice room, whichever) to practice before resting.
Running through various moves and frequently switching between different weapons, she accelerated until the air around her was filled with the blur and sound of fast-moving steel.

OOC: Feel free to encounter her and strike up a conversation. Allan might want to try finding Jack, who could possibly help him think of ways to counter Lin.

OOC: As for Merc, Scotsnation.......i didn't think he'll need a ride, after all, he can fly along :D
(ooc: good point and I thought the same thing 2 minutes after posting then shrugged my shoulders and thought, meh...)

Ah well so the resolution wouldn't be so good but the button cam, belt buckle cam and boot cam had all performed well. (ooc: journo who takes his own pics, if you think he ain't bristling with extra cams you got another thing coming) He hoped the shades were recoverable as they lay on the bed beside his laptop downloading whatever would be found. As he sent his story the shades slowly copied the data to his laptop and popped up a notification to view. As he scrolled through them they were pretty much all screwed up before the fragging they got. Damn and he so wanted to be reminded of Faolan's face...
Some shots inside the hoverbird were partly complete but still skewed, twisted, negated and fuzzy.. what the f... aw jeez.
He picks up the phone and starts swearing at someone loudly while the screen displays a picture of spiritwalker where the fried shades have caught the aura of the displaced spirit that should be in the body and a... mask... a twisted visage hidden behind the girl's face, something that is not thinking good things....

OOC: Oh, DP......the Sensei fights by holding back and throwing Fireballs, but if someone tries to engage him up close, he's a pretty good block-and-counter type of fighter, with not as much firepower as Arashi, but with more hand-to-hand skills. Just so you'll like to know how to RP him.

Spiritwalker
"Foolish old men!" The voice that booms from behind the mask is not that of a teenage girl, but that of a phychopath. "You know not what forces you fight!" The flames that then consume Allan are not the usual blue ones, but evil-shaded purple ones that seem to ooze power. Allan is lifted and thrown back. Spiritwalker turns just in time to raise a shield against the Sensei's fireball. The energy, however, simply passed through and the jagged crack in the mask left by Zell's cards weeped silver tears. The purple flames turned on the Sensei, flinging him like and abused ragdoll out onto the lawn. Consumed by purple fire, Spiritwalker darted out the door as well. She focused her attention one of the ponds. The rocks bordering it crackled with purple flames as they wrenched from the earth and came in a deadly hail tword the Sensei.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kayla (Spirit)
Kayla darted about, hoping the Sensei could strike her rouge body in the head. It would give her a chance she needed.

(ooc: GU? I'm gonna let you RP your own character. I think you can tell what I need you to do...)

Tala frowned as the girls in the club frowned at her. 'Mine!', Screamed a little voice in her head as Arashi's arm wrapped more tightly around her. 'Maybe he does like me!', She thought. Arashi led her to a quiet corner. Tala smiled as he pulled out a chair for her, then pushed her in. 'Always such a sweetheart.' Arashi ordered them drinks. They both agreed that the song that was playing was terrible. Tala smiled at the smiling Arashi as he made a joke.

"So cute!",She gushed, realizing too late that she'd said that out loud.

"What did you say?",Asked Arashi. Tala had a feeling he may not have heard the whisper over the music. But it was best to be honest. Tala took a deep breath and made her admission.

"Arashi, I have a crush on you." Tala blushed and looked away right after saying it. She forced herself to look him in the eyes and continued. "You're handsome, smart, fun, funny, sweet....you're....Well you're amazing. I mean I know we don't know each other that well, but....well..."Tala played with one of her curls. "I can't stop thinking of you."

Suddenly, a slow, really romantic song started to play. Tala's blush deepened. She muttered shyly, and quickly. "Wannadance?"

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

Faolan smiled. "I win!"

"But I had a 3."

"Yeah, and three 6's beats all."

Lin glowered at Faolan. "Now I know you're just making it up."

Faolan laughed. They game did have alot of weird rules.

"Let's just play checkers.",He suggested with a shurg. "Regular and Chinese. I mean everyone can play those. We'll probably end up beating each other evenly."

OOC: What do i need to do, DP? I can't tell. Anyway i'll take a wild guess and see if i'm right.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei saw his Fireball had hit Spiritwalker, who had seemed to turn rogue, but he felt himself thrown out the door onto the lawn. With a speed and agility that belied his age, the Sensei turned in midair, and landed softly on his feet like a cat.

He knew for sure then, that Spiritwalker had been possessed.

She darted out, and her purple spiritfire darted into the poolside rocks and came at the Sensei. But he didn't so much as flinch.

The rocks flew at him........and the Sensei merely reached a hand out, and grabbed hold of a rock that was going straight for his face, to such effect that he made it look easy. The spiritfire on the rock in his hand struggled, but was dissipated when the Hiyuuki Flame of Courage ignited in the Sensei's hand, bathing the rock in red fire.

As the Sensei caught hold of the second rock and dissipating the evil spiritfire with the Courage Flame, he threw the first rock at Spiritwalker. The rock shot out, red and burning........whoever Spiritwalker was now dodged the rock, but now the Sensei was picking rocks out of the air, charging them with his hereditary firepower to get rid of the evil influence, then throwing the flaming rocks in the numbers she had tried to throw at him. And there was no dodging them all.

She swerved and weaved on the advice of the spirits, but could not dodge one which hit her in her gut, making her double over in burning pain, and then another, which smacked her in the face, causing her to lose command of the rocks still hurtling at the Sensei, and dropping them out of the air like.......rocks. (OOC: sorry for the bad pun :p)

The Sensei took advantage of this, and rushed forward before Spiritwalker could recover. The spirits warned her, and she tried to stay away, but while her powers were probably at their peak, her body was never as well trained in physical combat as the Sensei's was, and there was nothing she could do as the Sensei did a Sword Thrust flaming punch in the gut, followed up with a Jawcracker by grabbing her robe and kneeing her in the chin, then a Skullcracker by knocking his hard, battle-trained skull against her soft skull, finishing with a Stun Slam attack, grabbing her head, lifting her up, and slamming her head into the ground with a sickening thud.........

OOC: DP, the emphasis on her head is what i believe you want me to do. If i'm wrong, tell me and i'll edit.
_______________________________________________________________

At the club

Arashi was left speechless by Tala's open declaration of love for him. And people said he was forthright........he didn't know what to say. He didn't have to, though, for when the romantic music started playing, Tala took the initiative, "Wannadance?"

"Er, er......", he still failed to say anything, and Tala dragged him onto the dance floor. Surprisingly, Arashi discovered he could dance pretty well, despite his lifelong belief to the contrary. They held each other tightly on the dance floor, moving to the beat to the music.

He felt her warm breathe on his neck, her warm breasts pressed against his chest, her tender waist on his hands, and for the first time since his childhood crush, he blushed in front of a woman.

"I.....I......", he groaned inwardly to himself. When did he lose the ability to charm women out of their skirts like a hobby? he cursed inwardly. "What?" Tala said, expecting a reply.

It never came, for some other couple collided with them, and caused them to tumble against the wall, Tala pressed against the wall by Arashi. Her eyes were closed.......and she felt something moist and soft against her eyelids. The warm, moist thing withdrew, and she slowly opened her eyes, to see a furiously blushing Arashi.

He had unintentionally kissed her eyes........

(OOC: Thrope, take it from there :D)

OOC: Okay, i need the villains to fast-forward to the next afternoon.

ooc: Perfect, GU.
IC:
Kayla (Spirit)
Kayla slammed back into her body with Sensei's Skullcracker... just in time to take the Stun Slam.

"Okay, okay!" She shouted out in her own voice. "I'm back!" She got up, painfully, and looked at the Sensei. "I'll never look at the elderly the same again." With that, she looked to the sky and was surrounded by her usual blue flames.

"I'm a small town heroin, I usually deal with muggings and occational drive-bys. Not criminal masterminds. But I'm willing to give this another shot if you guys are still willing to let me." She looked back at the Sensei, "I know I seem unstable, but I can bring my powers under control. I have to."

In her rush to make a heroic statment, she over looked the fact that the invaiding spirit hadn't left her body.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
???
As Arashi and Tala danced, a woman watched them from a dark corner. Some might confuse her for another jelous admirer as she cracked a smile at Arashi's kiss blunder, but it was genuine humor.

Let the lovers have tonight. She thought about what she had to tell them, Such troubles can wait.

Tala giggled at Arashi. She wasn't shy anymore, because she was far to amused by Arashi's discomfort. She wiped the back of her hand. She laughed as Arashi turned even more red.

"It's okay, I didn't have any eye gunk on. So we'll both be fine." Tala tried the best she could to keep a straight face, but she couldn't. She watched as Arashi seemed to get more embarassed. "I thought you were supposed to be really smooth with the girls. It looks like you shoul practise your kissing technique."

Tala had a feeling she'd gone to far. Arashi seemed beyond mordified by the whole "Eye kissing" fiasco. He started to pull away, which was the last thing Tala wanted. Luckily, her arms were still around the back of his neck. She smiled at him and whispered, "It's more like this."

She pulled his head back towards hers. She pressed her lips softly and sweetly to his. At first is was like kissing stone, Arashi was obviously shocked by another bold move on her part. He soon started to respond ,though. The kiss deepened and became more passionate. Finally, Tala broke it. She smiled up at Arashi, circling his chin with her finger. Her lips were still parted and her eyes were half closed and dreamily clouded over.

"So you are a good kisser after all.",She murmured with a lazy smile.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What's the score now?",Asked Lin with a loud yawn, as Faolan packed up the giant RISK-A-THON(every form of Risk together) that they started a few hours before. They had played every game in the room, including Candy land and a skip rope championship.

"I lost track after are fifth game of Goldfish.",Murmured Faolan tiredly.

"Was that before or after tiddly-winks?",Inquired Lin.

"I think it was after X-treme snakes and ladders.",Laughed Faolan.

Lin frowned at him. Faolan knew that the games had gotten a little out of hand. He shrugged and said, "How about we just get a midnight snack?"

Lin laughed. "Don't you mean breakfast?"

Faolan looked at his watch and did a double take. "Um...Lin",He muttered in a frightened voice. "It's 1pm."

He then ran out of the room before Lin could hurt him. Forgetting of course that she could zap him

OOC:Yay! I wrote it. Okay I can't wait to see where this goes.

Allan picked himself up... again. His day was getting suckier by the minute... he was getting the shit kicked out of him by kids.

He had to put together that Electronet Launcher. He'd be ready if Spiritwalker went Berserk again. He limped over to his room, and grabbed his satchel, heading for the workshops downstairs.

Once there, he set up the seemingly random odds and ends on the table. He managed to dig up a metal tube and a few bits of metal that had been lying around. He took out his notebook and opened it to the page with the blueprint on it.

He buried himself in his work. Welding, wiring, soldering. Within hours, the gun was finished. Now to build a few cartridges.

It took a while to fold the netting in such a way that it would fan out to entangle the one it hit. He wove a few electrodes in to produce a net that hit with quite a shock, enough to knock out a full-grown man. He attached a powder charge to the back, covered it with bits of scrap metal, and repeated. And repeated. And repeated again. He soon had 3 cartridges, and had run out of netting.

He pushed a C-cell into the breech and loaded a cartridge into the tube.

He aimed it at a small worktable in the corner and pulled the trigger.

WHUMPH! The kickback was almost enough to sprain his wrist. In the quasi-dark of the workshop, a faintly-glowing blue grid flew through the air and wrapped itself around the table. Yes! It worked! Out of curiosity, he popped out the battery and checked it with that nifty little power-check thing they put on them now... the charge was half-gone. He'd make a note of that. He flipped it around his finger like a cowboy before popping the battery in again, and ejecting the cartridge casing.

If anyone tried to beat him again, by God, he was ready for 'em now!

Lin pointed a finger, and a small bolt of lightning hit Faolan in the seat of his pants. She smiled to herself as he ran scared. He tried to be all tough... but she knew he was just a big teddy bear. He was cute, too... Pity he was obsessed with "Lycan Girl".

She packed up the games, closed her door, and laid down again; After all, everyone needed to sleep. She briefly wondered whether or not she could help Faolan with his obsession as she slipped away.

Faolan jumped in the air as he got hit in the butt by Lin. She was really a spitfire that girl. He finally reached his room again. He knew he should get lunch, but he was so tired. He went to bed and dreamt of a girl. But this time it was Lin, and the dream was pleasant. If only all his dreams were this nice.

OOC: Ok, where is everyone else?

IC: At the club

It was nothing like Arashi had experienced before, experienced flirt though he was. Too used to taking the initiative, he was naturally stunned when he found that Tala was even quicker at the initiative than he was. Soon though, he relaxed, and reciprocated to the best of his ability, which was saying a lot.

She hung back her head, still in a dreamy state. Arashi smiled. Tala was now his.

"It comes with the territory", he joked, and watched her laugh. This was no more a time for word. Instead, Arashi started nuzzling her in the neck, kissing her where she was most sensitive.......he heard her moan......

(OOC: This is getting a little......intense, don't you think, Thrope? :p)

________________________________________________________________

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

"You better, girl, 'cause I can't afford anything like this again", the Sensei said. Picking her up, he said, "You seemed like you were possessed. Go with Michiko, she'll see how she can help."

Spiritwalker nodded, and went with Michiko back to the Dojo. The Sensei walked off, but then he turned his head back, and yelled out, "And I am NOT elderly! I'm only 50!"

He went for a walk, but soon heard noises coming from the downstairs workshop. Just in time to see the Electronet Launcher make its debut. Dr. Fisher turned to see the Sensei, and grinned.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. That was a work of art, Dr. Fisher", the Sensei complimented. Then, he took out a pair of hand gloves meant to support the wrist when high-caliber pistols were being used, and threw them to Allan. "But if you want to use that, you better wear this if you don't want a bummed hand."

Tala moaned as Arashi kissed her next. The guy had skills. But they were in a crowded club. This was neither the time nor the place. She'd just let him keep it up for another few seconds. She liked the feel of his lips on her next and his hands on her hips. Finally, she decided to stop him. She lightly pushed him away.

"Arashi I don't think we should be making out in public.",She giggled. "Or at least not here. You know the club we were at earlier?"

Arashi nodded and Tala smiled. "Well, there having Kareoke! Plus they have comfy little boothes. It'll be fun! C'mon!"

Tala grabbed Arashi's arm and pulled him to where they'd left there coats. Tala quickly downed her pop and pulled Arashi into the parking lot. She gave him a big kiss and then asked him.

"So what do you want to do now?", Asked Tala with a wink.

???
The woman followed Tala and Arashi outside. When she saw them making out again, she shook her head. She walked into the parking lot, stopping at a black motorcycle with a large sidecar. Putting on her helmet, she started the bike up. As dangerous as it might be, it seemed she would have to go to the Dojo alone...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiritwalker
As Spiritwalker followed Michiko, she asked:

"So, what are you going to do to help me?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phobia
Phobia's frustrated thoughs boomed through the skulls of all aboard the airship:

Damn it, what are we? Are we a group of villians or a bunch of low-budet soap opera stars!?!?

Faolan was shaken awake by Phobia's booming thoughts. He angrily stalked to where the creature was. The began to yell at it.

"I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THAT COMMENT MEANT, BUT US HUMANS NEED REST! SO CUT OUT THE DAMN TELEPATHIC YELLING THING!"

Faolan then turned and stalked back to his room and fell back into a dreamless sleep. Before falling asleep, he prayed for no more distractions.

High up in the remote mountains far to the north, Xuanyu quietly stood in contemplation, greatly troubled, as he attempted to find a way to sort his mind. It had been several millennia since he had felt such internal turmoil and unease. Over the millennia, the intricate balance between good and evil, the yin and the yang, the light and the darkness, had been destroyed by Xuanyu’s long servitude to the dragonlords of the east and with the birth more than two thousand years ago of the legendary swordmaster… The balance has been broken, good for the first time in many millennia is finally triumphing over evil, and it must be restored… But how? I feel such internal turmoil… I have been a servant to the dragonlords for too long… I have grown soft… I as the epitome, the manifestation of the balance that exists within this universe have lost my characteristic traits… I have placed myself wholly in one camp instead of straddling the dividing line that separates them… With a heavy sigh of disgust, Xuanyu closed his eyes as he made a firm resolution. The balance must be restored… When there is a will there is a way. With a roar of determination that coursed heavily through the cold mountain air, Xuanyu began to levitate into the air, traveling to seek a solution to his woes…

Allan slipped on the gloves. They fit like, well... gloves. A layer of padding protected his wrists and his dexterity was unaffected. He loaded another cartridge into the Electronet Launcher and slipped it into his coat. It brushed against a bruise on his chest, causing him to wince briefly in pain and embarrassment as he remembered Livewire beating him to a pulp.

He then had an Idea...

He turned to the Sensei, looking through his good eye.

"Hiyuuki-Sensei, may I ask you a favor?"

He nodded. "What do you need, Dr. Fisher?"

"Can you teach me to fight?"

Phobia
You're hardly human. Faolan shot Phobia a deadly look before stalking off to his room. Surpressing an urge to strangle every last one of the so called "villians," Phobia began to once again impatiently pace the halls.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
???
The black motorcycle pulled up to the Dojo and the woman got off and leaned against the bike, wondering if she would get a welcoming.

OOC: Dagnabit! I missed a good fight....

IC:
Henry rushed out of the kitchen, just in time to see the possesed Spiritwalker get beaten to the ground. Having nothing helpful to say, he started back to his room, when he heard a motorcycle pull up to the dojo. Softly calling, "Visitors!", to anybody who might be near(figure it out for yourselves), he made his way outside to see to the lady that was now getting off the bike.

Henry: Is there something I can do for you?

OOC: Ok, i will have the second villain's mission coming up soon......you guys just hang on a bit. DP, TG me, we need to talk about Phobia.

IC: At the club

Arashi smiled at Tala's cheeky question. This was getting interesting.......

"I don't think I need to tell you what I want to do next", he grinned, getting on his Yamaha. As Tala got on, he gunned the engine, then sped off to the jazz club......

(OOC: Thrope, take it from there :p)

________________________________________________________________

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei listened to Allan's request, which made him frown. Allan only saw the Sensei merely pace the floor, brows furrowed in thought. Finally, the Sensei turned back to him.

"Considering you have four extra arms, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to teach you", the Sensei said with a grin. "Besides, there is another problem. The Hiyuuki-ryuu kobujutsu, or what can be translated as the "Hiyuuki- style martial arts", can only be learned by members of the Hiyuuki family, and select pupils of the Hiyuuki Clan. Therefore, please understand. There is no way I can teach you the Clan martial arts, even if I wanted to. Besides, as you are without the hereditary Courage Fire of the Hiyuuki family, your fighting skills will not improve beyond anything a typical martial arts like karate or taekwondo would do, if I were to teach you my Clan's way of fighting."

"However, I have traveled and seen much of the world. And as a martial arts exponent, I have had the......privilege, of learning many other types of fighting. To that effect, I suppose I could teach you some basic Russian martial arts to complement your OKTO. How would that sound?"

Meanwhile

Michiko did not reply to Spiritwalker's question, and instead, led her to a darkened room. There, she beckoned Spiritwalker to sit on the floor, and Michiko also sat down, in front of her. Then, Michiko reached inside her dress, and pulled out an amulet she had been wearing around her neck. It was a necklace, fitted with a light blue crystal that danced with light as if of its own volition.

"This is my Clan heirloom, the Crystal of Wisdom", Michiko said, holding up the crystal, which began to glow with a clear, light blue light. "Of the three Crystals of the Prime Clans, only I can control my Crystal of the Hikoori Clan. It allows me to dive into the astral plane, and projects my inner power into that plane. Now, I shall use it to see what's wrong with you, and purge you of anything that may be residing within you, if possible."

Then, she began to chant in an unrecognizable language, and the Crystal glowed brighter and brighter. The Crystal sent out tendrils of cyan light, which weaved around both Michiko and Spiritwalker, some of which entered Spiritwalker's body and exited her as well. Spiritwalker could feel a source of power, entering her body.......

(OOC: DP, do what you want, but whatever you do, do not steal, touch, corrupt, or generally tamper with the Crystal whatsoever!)

Allan held up his hands and shook his head. "I would never dream of asking you to teach me your family's Martial Arts. I'd be happy knowing how to throw and take a punch... but your idea sounds better. Thank you, Hiyuuki-Sensei."

He shook the man's hand. "When do we start?"

_________________________________________________________________

Lin woke up and got dressed. She hopped out of bed and headed for the canteen again.

After breakfast, she headed to the gym and started training again.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei took Allan's hand and shook it. Then......

"Not now, I hope. It's getting pretty late in the night, and even I have to sleep, you know", he said with a smile. "Maybe tomorrow morning. Your OKTO is a great asset, so perhaps I will devise a customized training session for you that will set you on the way to being proficient in..........tentacle-fighting?" he suggested. They laughed at the preposterous name.

"Well then, good night, Dr. Fisher. Rest well, every day is a new day with new challenges." With that, the Sensei walked off. But at the door, he stopped as if he thought of something, then turned back to Allan.

"By the way, have you seen Arashi?"

Allan: "I think he and Tala went for a night out."

Hearing that, the Sensei sighed.

"Tala had better be careful then. That son of mine is a real smooth one". Shaking his head again, he went off."

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance

Zell had gone to sleep for a long time, but Phobia's mental yelling woke him up so bad, he couldn't go back to sleep even after Faolan yelled at Phobia for him. Tossing and turning, Zell finally got up at 10 a.m., and made his way to the music room.

Interesting, how RV can manage to fit a music room of all things in an airship. Still that suited him.

He sat down at the piano, glad to get his dose of the finer things of life. The tunes of Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu started straining out over the piano............

Meanwhile, at the research outpost on board the Vengeance

RV was there, overseeing the installation of the laser-lenses diamonds into the Ultima Cannon. A technician went up to him.

"Sir, the hardware for the Ultima Cannon is 60% ready. However........"

"However what?" RV's voice grated against the engineer's nerves, making him shiver.

"Erm, how do I put it........we need more computing power for the Ultima Cannon. What we have on board this airship now isn't sufficient. From what I know, our targeting program is 73% complete, but it cannot progress further without more powerful chips."

He winced, scared that RV might take offense and hurt him. At length though, RV merely sighed, and said,

"Very well. Carry on your work. I will handle the chips. In the meantime, continue the construction of the Ultima Cannon on schedule."

"Yes sir." The engineer scampered away, gald to be out of RV's presence.

RV turned. There will have to be a new plan, a new mission........

When they reached the club, Tala made a mock pout. "It was just a suggestion I thought you were more creative then this."

She heard Arashi laugh, but it sounded more like nerves then amusement. Tala smiled at this. She grabbed his hand and pulled him in the club. They got a nice corner booth(the horse shoe shaped kind) and ordered some drinks. Tala ran up quickly and signed herself up to sing. She was going through the book of songs when Arashi's hand came down on a page.

"I think you should sing this one.",He murmured in her ear with a rakish smile.

Tala shivered with pleasure. She smiled at Arashi giving him a little peck on the cheek. She then looked down at the page. Slowly she scanned it until she found the selection Arashi had chosen. Her eyes widened and she punched him hard in the arm.

"You know Tala girl, you really should control that anger.",Teased Arashi.

"You were asking for it.",Hissed Tala angrily. "I'm not singing "Hungry like a wolf!""

Tala crossed her arms and turned her back to Arashi. It seemed like a good plan, except Arashi had finally gotten over his shock and was playing the seduction game. He pressed kisses along Tala's bare shoulders and neck. Tala couldn't help, but lean back against him. 'What a guy!',She thought with a happy grin. Her eyes began to close, when she saw something on the page. She pushed away from Arashi and read the page more carefully.

"Oh my god! This is perfect!",She exclaimed giddily.

""Burn by Jo Dee Messina". I've never heard of it.", Said Arashi in confusion. Then he smiled a knowing smile. "Oh you're trying to get even with me."

Tala shook her head still smiling. "No silly. I'm going to sing it to you."

She then got up on the stage and showed the selection to the DJ. Soon the music started to play. Tala sang the song.

"Do you wanna be a poet and write
Do you wanna be an actor up in lights
Do you wanna be a soldier and fight for love
Do you wanna travel the world
Do you wanna be a diver for pearls
Or climb a mountain and touch the clouds above

Be anyone you want to be
Bring to life your fantasies
But I want something in return

I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn
Burn for me, burn for me

Are you gonna be a gambler and deal
Are you gonna be a doctor and heal
Or go to heaven and tough God’s face


Are you gonna be a dreamer who sleeps
Are you gonna be a sinner who weeps
Or an angel under grace

I’ll lay down on your bed of coals
Offer up my heart and soul
But in return

I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn
Burn for me, burn for me

Laugh for me, cry for me
Pray for me, fly for me
Live for me, die for me

I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn
Burn for me, burn for me"

Tala was a natural on stage. Her lithe body swaying to the music. She kept her ice blue gaze on Arashi the whole time. Her lovely body and penetrating stare would be enough to make any man melt, but she had a better weapon when she was on stage. Tala hadn't told any of the other heroes because...well...they hadn't ask. But she could sing like a siren. So on stage that was what she was; A mythological siren incarnate.

OOC:That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Oh and Faolan's still sleeping I'm just not RPing it.

(OOC: Song reaction--> :eek: -> :confused: -> :rolleyes: )

ooc: All right! Super Heros: The Musical!
IC:
???
"Something you can do for me? Well, I'm here to speak with the heros." The woman pulled off her helmet. Her skin was slightly pale and her hair was shoulder-length and dark black. When she turned her eyes to Henry, he saw that the irises were a vivid purple. She held out a hand,

"I'm Jezebel. I was sent here on a mission from Dancing Penguin's government."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiritwalker
As the energy passed throught Spiritwalker, it came out an unholy black. These black tendrils twisted and writhed, becoming astral vipers. They hissed, showing fangs of darkness as a shadow cobra pulled out of the silver mask. The crystal's energy pushed at the serpents, trying to drive them out. They wrapped themselves around Spiritwalker and dug in their fangs. Spiritwalker screamed as the cobra focused its eyes on Michiko. It spoke in a hissing voice.

If you continue to try to drive me from thisss girl, I will take her sssoul out with me.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

Michiko gave no indication that she heard the serpent. After all, not only was she expecting such a ruse, she had also seen much worse than a puny serpent spirit.......still, the fact that the evil spirit is entangled in Spiritwalker's body is cause for concern.........she waved her hands around, and the blue light coming from her glowed brighter in intensity, provoking a reciprocal response from the serpent, becoming a contest of wills for one girl's soul........

"Begone, evil one! Trouble not the afflicted!" she screamed. At the same time, she increased her mental grip on Spiritwalker's soul, determined that whatever the outcome, the serpent will not have her soul.......

_______________________________________________________________

At the club

Arashi stood up clumsily, enthralled by Tala's singing. He moved slowly to her.......then clasped his hands on her waist, swaying along with her.......he couldn't help himself.......he started crooning the lyrics softly with her. His hands started wandering, and he sung in her ears, taken totally with the moment.......

Tala soon realised that Arashi was not too bad a singer himself, even though in no way could he match her. His soulful tenor matched the soul-rending siren of her voice, building up into a strain of music that touched anyone close enough to listen......

_________________________________________________________________

Back at the Hiyuuki Dojo

Reiko came out the front door, wondering where Henry went, and saw the woman who introduced herself as Jezebel. She went up to Jezebal, and curtsied.

"Welcome to the Hiyuuki Dojo. I am Reiko Hiyuuki, daughter of the Sensei Takeshi Hiyuuki of the Hiyuuki Clan, and sister to the legend and Heir of the Clan, Arashi Hiyuuki. How may I be of service?"

Henry held out his hand, but got no further then telling his name, when Reiko stepped out. As it was her house that was the object of discussion, he thought it best to let her do the talking. Stepping backwards, he coughed a couple times, trying to cover up his chuckling, as the name of this woman's home country popped back into his mind.

Tala couldn't concentrate on anything, but the music and Arashi's hand on her. When the song ended, there was a great wave of applause. Tala opened her eyes,which she hadn't been aware she'd closed, and looked around. The whole room was clapping and cheering for her and Arashi. She blushed and gave a little bow before running off stage and into the booth. When Arashi returned, before he could say anything or touch her, Tala looked at him and laughed nervously.

"Can't keep your hands off me can you?"

OOC:I'm letting Faolan sleep.

At the club

Arashi grinned at Tala. "Pretty hard to keep my hands off, yeah, especially if it's a hot babe like you", he replied, earning him a giggle. Then he sat down besides her, and started kissing her passionately. He laid a hand on her waist, and another on her back, moving them up and down.........she reciprocated more than competently, her hands wandering up and down......the sound of smooched was drowned out by the booth's music, but neither seemed to care......

OOC: Thrope, we have to cut this at some point if we want the thread to move on :p

Allan, pleased to know his days of being pummeled like he'd been on the playground in Grade School were coming to a close. He headed to his room and went to sleep. (OOC: Assuming this is nighttime)

_________________________________________________________________

A few hours later...

Lin pummeled the punching dummy furiously, thuds and screams of "WATAAH!" echoing through the gym. If the Punching dummy had been an actual person, He would have gone down a long time ago... if real people stood still and took every blow you gave them.

Lin hopped backward, assuming her stance, grunting with exertion and frustration before diving at the dummy again. She never liked training with dummies and punching bags. Too stable. They never moved around, they never countered or blocked, you couldn't practice grapples and throws, and you couldn't knock them over or take them down...

She desisted, flopping onto the mat, red-faced and sweating. She lay there, panting. Faolan was asleep, and she didn't know if anyone else on this ship would make such a good sparring buddy...

She briefly wondered if RV could help her out with her training issues... I mean, if he could build an airship, he could certainly make a robot or something to train against, couldn't he? Oh, well...

She nipped up to her feet and resumed training, imagining what she would buy with her newly-earned 100 mil.

The energy continued to duel over Spiritwalkers body. The corbra's eyes gained a red glow as it opened its hood. Black energy pulsed forth, overpowering all else.

I made a bargain with the forssses beyond. You cannot defeat me!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jezebel
Jezebel focused her vivid violet eyes on Reiko.

"I'm here in pursuit on an unregistered mystic. I was informed that I might find her here."

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

"An unregistered mystic?", Reiko thought to herself, wondering what it could all mean. "The only mystics we have are Spiritwalker........and to an extent Miss Michiko, but........Spiritwalker? Is this woman going to harm her? I better play a delaying game."

She moved closer to Henry, and grasped his arm with a seductive smile, causing Henry to gasp.

"Hmmm hmmm, that's interesting. Who is this mystic, and why might you be looking for her?" she asked in her most polite voice. At the same time, she put her hand behind Henry's back.......and out of Jezebel's sight, she started tapping his back with her fingers.

Henry stiffened, but then he realized there was a pattern to it......."Morse Code!", he thought. Reiko's command of Morse Code was elementary, but it served the purpose, as Reiko managed to convey to him,

"Warn Sensei. Possible danger to walker of the spirits. Must save the spirit walker. Need Sensei's help."

_________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile

Michiko's brows were drenched with sweat, as she struggled to contain the unexpectedly and exponentially increased power of the serpent. "This should not be happening!", she thought to herself. She attempted to increase her use of the Glacial powers, but she knew that an outside force was aiding the serpent.

With no other option, Michiko wordlessly cried out, "SHINJI!!!"

In a matter of moments, Shinji burst through the door, and seeing what was happening, immediately sat on the floor, and started practising hand movements, summoning the black flame of Fear, his Crystal of Honor glowing dark blue. Michiko channeled the shadowfire from Shinji, and added it to her own, delaying the serpent longer, and increasing her grip on Kayla's soul. However, she knew this would not last.

"Michiko, this thing is strong! What do we do?"
"The Ancient Charm would defeat this serpent, but Arashi is not here, and he has the Crystal of Courage with him."
"Great. Just when I want him here, he's nowhere to be found."
"Call him, Shinji! We need help here!"
"Will do. Hold on a little longer, Michiko........"

_________________________________________________________________

At the club

Halfway through their making out, Arashi suddenly foundered, and clutched his head. The Crystal of Courage he was wearing as an amulet around his neck suddenly glowed bright scarlet, illuminateing the walls of the booth.

"What's wrong, Arashi?" Tala asked.

He didn't reply for a while. At length, though, he whispered.

"Tala.......there's trouble at the Dojo."

(OOC: Sorry to cut it short like this Thrope :S)

Shard walks into the gym and looks at Lin.
"Wanna play?"

Tala sighed. "Damn it! I'm not that upset that our little make out session is ending. We can catch up later." Tala gave a little wink as she and Arashi walked back out to the parking lot. "But I want to sleep! If there's something going on at the Dojo, especially if it's spiratual, I'll be on edge until it's over."

She was sure Arashi would have laughed had he not been so focused. They drove silently and far too quickly back to the Dojo. The closer they got the more on edge Tala came. By the time they stopped, Tala was growling uncontrolably.

"I'm going to wait here until whatever this is is over.",She muttered between growls as they walked through the gate. Arashi gave her a nod and ran off. Tala layed on the cool grass and did her best to push the unease out of her mind. Soon she had slipped into a dreamless sleep on the grass.

OOC: Feel free to tuck her in later.

ooc:Sorry, but the spirit needs to stay in her.
IC:
Spiritwalker
My time in thisss body isss far from over! A dark shockwave threw Michiko and Shinji backwards, breaking the energy their crystals had been casting. The serpents entwined with Spiritwalker and were gone.

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Jezebel
"I'm sorry, I have no time for your questions," With that Jezebel began assembling parts she pulled from a compartment on her bike. When she was done, she held a short pole with what appeared to be a large tuning fork on the end. She pushed by Reiko and headed for the Dojo.

Henry had come to approximately the same conclusion as Reiko, so when the morse code started, he had things figured out pretty quick. He was about to make some excuse to go back inside, when the Dancing Penguins lady tried to push past them. He figured on the tuning fork looking thing to be an electrical prod of some sort. Based on that, he let the lady past, the swung around behind her, grabbed hand that held the prod with his right hand, and used his left arm to try and pull her over his conveniently placed left leg, following her down, to try and pin her to the ground.

Henry: I'm sorry, but you will have to find some time to answer the lady's questions.

Jezebel
"Counter pulse on." Henry caught sight of something moving in Jezebel's ears as she twisted the end of the rod. This was no tazer, but a Sonic Splitter. The pearcing screach it emited caused Henry, and everyone else in the area other than Jezebel, to clutch their ears and scream. Jezebel easily knocked Henry off of her and shut off the Sonic Splitter.

"Counter pulse off." There was more movment in Jezebel's ears. She looked at Henry. "I came to help you people. The mystic is a danger to everyone near her. I do hope you will remember your manners from now on."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(ooc: I'm taking your sugestion here, GU.
IC:
Spiritwalker
When the Sonic Splitter went off outside, the serpents fanned out from Spiritwalkers body, writhing in agony. A blue willow-the-whisp flame shot out of Spiritwalker's body and disappeared into Michiko's crystal. The snakes vanished and Spiritwalker fell to the ground, uncontious.

Lin looked over her shoulder to see Shard standing behind her, glittering in the lights of the gym.

"So, you finally came out of your room, huh?"

She hopped back from the punching bag and took her stance. (OOC: Think Bruce Lee...) "Sure, I'll go. Just don't use anything sharp, got it?"

_________________________________________________________________

Allan was Jolted awake by a sudden loud screeling sound. (OOC: Screeling=Scree(ching)+(Squea)ling))

He leapt out of bed and grabbed the Electronet launcher, bursting out of his room and holding it at the ready.

"Don't Move!"

She turned to him, looking extremely frustrated, and almost screamed that she was there to help.

Allan decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

He lowered the ENL and extended a hand.

"I'm Allan. I'm sorry about that, but I thought something worse was going on..."

Jezebel
Jezebel turned to Allan, throughly exasperated. "Damnit! I'm hear to help!"

At the Dojo

Reiko jumped up quickly, ready to stop Jezebel if she tried her sonic attack again, only to see Allan extending a hand to her. Non-plussed, she wondered what to do, thoroughly confused. Just then, the Sensei stepped out, disturbed from his sleep by the noise.

"What's going on here?!" he yelled. Then he fixed his gaze on Jezebel. "I heard everything, and I have no idea whether or not you are for real. What is it about our comrade that you have to pursue her?"

Just then, Arashi ran past everyone. The Sensei tried to stop him, but Arashi brushed him off, saying, "Sorry, can't talk, gotta run!" He ran inside.

Meanwhile

Shinji and Michiko picked themselves up, stunned by the power of the serpent. Then Michiko frowned.

"What's the matter, Michiko?" Shinji asked.

"We lost", she replied blandly. "I can feel Spiritwalker inside the Crystal. That evil thing inside her body has control."

Just then, Arashi rushed in, to see the gimlet eyes of Shinji cast on him. "Took you long enough, you a**", Shinji said.

"Enough talk, what's this all about?" Arashi asked.

"An evil entity has Spiritwalker in its clutches", Michiko gestured at Spiritwalker's fallen body. "We need the Ancient Charm to drive it out."

Arashi merely nodded, and sat down such that his, Shinji's, and Michiko's positions formed a triangle. They started practising hand movements, and the summoning of the Ancient Charm started. The light blue Aura of Wisdom started to glow from Michiko, the dark blue Aura of Honor glowed from Shinji, and the bright red Aura of Courage glowed from Arashi. The three Auras started to converge on Spiritwalker's body........

OOC: DP, get Spiritwalker out of there before the Ancient Charm can take effect.

Spiritwalker
Spiritwalker's eyes shot open and purple fire consumed the three crystals, driving them into their owners' foreheads. Then the purple flames sent Spiritwalker, dragging the three legends behind, through the roof.

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Jezebel
Jezebel could only watch as the purple fireball exploded out of the Dojo. It shot overhead and the legends fell as human hail: Arashi landing on the Sensei and Shinji landing on Reiko. Michiko landed on Allan, who fired off the Electronet launcher in surprise. Jezebel quickly stepped out of the way and watched the web of electrical doom plow through a group of animal rights activists who happened to be protesting across the street. Shaking her head, Jezebel put the Sonic Splitter away and went over to the Sensei, who was buried under Arashi.

"To answer your question, that was why I was after the girl."

The Sensei stepped out of the dojo, and Allan turned to him, meaning to tell him the situation was under control, but he was interrupted by Arashi's sudden appearance and just-as-sudden Disappearance.
Then a ball of purple flame exploded from the roof of the dojo, sending Arashi, Shinji and Michiko falling from the sky. Before he could react, Michiko had landed on Allan, knocking him to the ground, and causing him to involuntarily tighten his grip... and pull the ENL's trigger.


WHUMPH!


The Protesters' cries to save the Blood-Sucking-Brains-Eating-Acid-Spitting Hamster quickly turned to screams of pain as 1500 volts went through them.

Meantime, Allan was now pinned to the ground by this beautiful, unconscious girl, who was now lying on top of him. Awkward. Very Awkward. He couldn't move, and no one seemed to notice him. His face began to turn red... He hoped she'd wake up soon...

Over the din of the aftermath, one could very faintly hear Allan's voice.

"...Help..."

The Protesters' cries to save the Blood-Sucking-Brains-Eating-Acid-Spitting Hamster quickly turned to screams of pain as 1500 volts went through them.
ooc: Thank you... soo much...
IC:
Jezebel
Jezebel heard Allan's faint cry and hurried over. She easily lifted Michiko off the man and set her gently on the ground. Jezebel stood Allan up and dusted him off.

"Nice shooting," she jerked her thumb to the bodies of the protestors, which were still twitching involutarily. "No, I mean it," She smiled, revealing four fangs: two desending from the top and two assending from the bottem.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

As the possessed Spiritwalker made her escape, Arashi and Shinji jumped up, unfazed by the attack.

"Sorry dad", Arashi said offhandedly to the Sensei, who sat up and brushed himself off.

"Ooph! You're heavy!", Reiko complained to Shinji, who stood up and growled. He turned to Arashi and said, "Thanks to you, we let that thing go!"

"Hey, watch your tongue! You didn't expect this to happen yourself, why should I?"

"Hush!", commanded the Sensei, and they stopped quarreling. Presently, the Sensei stood up, brushed himself off, and looked at Jezebel. He sighed, said nothing for a while, then said,

"It appears that you know things that we ought to know. Very well. Come with me into the Great Hall of Courage. We need to talk about this, Miss Jezebel."

He turned, but Reiko tugged his arm. "What is it, daughter mine?" the Sensei asked. Reiko merely pointed to the roof, and the Sensei saw the great big hole created by Spiritwalker's departure.

"Egad! Now I have to fix it again! Just when I've only recently renovated the Dojo too!", he groaned, to the amusement of all, and lightening the tension a little. "Nothing I can do about it now, I suppose."

He turned to the others. "If anyone wants to hear what Miss Jezebel has to say, you may come along to the Hall."

He left for the Hall, knowing that Jezebel would come along. Just then, Shinji tugged Arashi's sleeve. "Hey, what about her?"

"What about who?" Arashi asked, then he saw Michiko was still unconscious. "Hmm. Looks like she took a bigger blow then we did." He put the Crystal of Courage back around his neck, and Shinji did the same with the Crystal of Honor. "Well, she'll wake up. I need to go get Tala." He went outside to pick up the sleeping Tala. (OOC: Thrope, I'm thinking you may either want to have Tala go to sleep or listen to Jezebel, so RP it either way you want.)

Just then, Michiko sat up.

"I can feel Kayla within the Crystal", she told the rest of them. Then, she mentally dove into her Crystal of Wisdom.

"Kayla......Kayla Starr. Can you hear me?"

OOC: DP, Kayla's spirit can communicate mentally to Michiko through the Crystal, but she cannot make herself known to anyone else, and if you want her to say anything to everyone, RP Michiko communicating to her, then telling everyone else what she wants to say. Moreover, Kayla's spirit can also draw on the power of the Crystal of Wisdom such that she can command spirits like she used to do.

Tala hadn't slept on the new serum yet. It had been a big mistake. It was messing with her ammune system and nervous system. The minute she had fallen asleep, it had began. Her ammune system had become over active, while her nervous system wasn't fonctioning all that well. She was unconscious and paralyzed. There had been too much silver in the serum. The only reason Tala wasn't dead was because she'd fallen asleep in the unconscious postion.(the position you put an unconscious person so that they don't swallow their tongue) Tala was no in a good place though, because even if you ignored the nerve failures, black sludgy gunk was pouring from her mouth.

OOC: Now all we need is for the villains to raid the Dojo while all this is going on, or perhaps a meteorite strike in the middle of the building...
IC:
THC, having arrived a bit earlier and gone unnoticed in the commotion, followed the Sensei without a word.
Levin Bolt came hurrying out of the Dojo.
"What happened? I heard an explosion..." He trailed off, seeing the wreckage.

Allan watched the ambulances rush away with the Protestors in them. They'd be alright. Although high amounts of electricity could damage the brain... what was there to damage?

He limped past Michiko, following the Sensei (OOC: *singing* We're following the Sensei, the Sensei, the Sensei...)

"You're Welcome. Human Landing Pad's always here." He said with a smile to her as he entered the building.

He wouldn't be surprised if most of his bones had been broken by that... Fate seemed to enjoy seeing him get hit with heavy objects.

Oh, well... at least he'd enjoyed it this time...

Arashi stepped out of the Dojo, where Tala was waiting for him. What he saw made his blood freeze.

He ran to Tala, who not only looked deathly pale, she was also vomitting some black gunk. He tried to shake her awake, "Tala! TALA!!!"

But she didn't respond. At the end of his wits, Arashi picked Tala up, and ran into the Hall, screaming, "We have a situation here!"

The Sensei ran to him, opened one of Tala's eyes and gazed at it, then shook his head. "I don't know anything about lycan physiology........maybe Dr. Fisher could help?"

Allan shook his head, "I don't think I know enough to know what's happening......"

Just then, Tala's cellphone dropped out, and Arashi picked it up. "Maybe someone might be able to help.......", he said, looking through the contact list. There was this James.......not knowing who to call, he merely pressed the call button at "James"........

OOC: DP, you may have the possessed Spiritwalker contact any villain except RV. In fact, no one is to use RV at any time, I'm saving him for a special occasion.......

She was quick, that was the first thing Lin learned. Must have something to do with the csrytaline structure and her complete control over her form.
Every punch and jab and Shard either dodged or blocked.
She got a few kicks in which was when Shard decided to up the ante a notch.
Lin's next kick aimed at her head connected but was instantly trapped as Shard's head wrapped itself around the foot and became her arm and fist instead, jerking and lifting Lin off the ground and swinging her upside down above the floor.
"And would you like to try your powers now?"

He had been sitting in the lotus position at the bottom of the bay for a while now...
Meditating was great, it kept body and soul together... ha ha ha...
Although there was still something wrong, and at the time of the fight his head starts twitching involuntarily.
Dammit, that freaky SpiritWalker and... whatever the hell that thing was it was in control now...
Being nothing but a spirit in control of a bunch of mercury his senses could pinpoint her location like a compass...
A second later there was a large disturbance on the surface of the water as the large volume of gas that was Mr Mercury surfaced in a fur and started whipping up a tornado or air an water 50 metres in diameter. Fury and rage were fuelling this spectacle which ended and fell back into the water as the cloud of mercury shot off in the direction of the invading spirit.

OOC: OK I'm aiming for the SpiritWalker anti-spirit. I assume it will sense Mercury in the same way...

Source gas was an incredible thing. Once it got stuck to something or someone it was near impossible to get rid of.
When he shot Faolan he had included a round of this amazing stuff.
When Faolan had gotten changed and covered his clean clothes and pack in the stuff and taken it home with him... Simon was left wondering if all super-villains played weird board games...
He examined the pack and realised it was a new version. Source Gas 2.1 "now with tracer gas included free!" and clipped the barcode of the pack into his laptop which began pinging with a green sonarstyle scope...

He grinned in his evil and mischevious way as he was already on his way to the Dojo on his bike with his laptop pinging away in the bag.

OOC: GU if this is too much again let us know and everyone can disregard it. Again this is all stuff from the Transmetropolitan comic.

OOC: Scotsnation........honestly, I can't truly say anything's wrong with your source gas thingy.......let's see what the others have to say.

OOC: Blood-sucking-brains-eating-acid-spitting-hamsters? Awesome, reminds me of Invader Zim...
As for the source gas, whatever. Just don't ask me to come and rescue Simon when he gets caught snoopng around the Vengence

Henry just stared at the sky for a while, being one of the lucky ones not to have people land on them. The Jezebel lady is right. This has to stop, Spiritwalker is to much of a danger to the party.
He slowly walked back into the house, trying to plan out how to track down this newest villain. Deep in concentration, he almost walked right past the commotion in the hall. When all the yelling finally broke into his conciousness, he walked up behind Allan and the Sensei. Seeing the black gunk coming from Tala's mouth, he moved himself to behind her head.

Henry: *Speaking fast* It looks like a poisoning. We need to clean out her lungs. Somebody help me flip her over, then we can pump the gunk out.

Jezebel
Jezebel, who had headed back over to her motorcycle to grab her laptop, entered the room. She stopped and sniffed.

"Lycan, if I'm not mistaken." She looked at Tala and shook her head, "Another werewolf trying to cure her silver weakness. I can't tell you how many times I've come across my targets like this." Noticing how everyone lokked over at the word "targets," she shrugged. "Hey, I'm a slayer. I kill paranormal beings who get out of line."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiritwalker
Sencing Mr. Mercury's aproach, the purple fireball stopped. It spoke in a deep, almost demonic voice:

"If you are wise, you will leave this area now."

"Y'know something? I think I will."

No sooner did the words leave Lin's mouth when an immense flash filled the room. Shard was kicked in the stomach and felt Lin's ankle leave her hand.

When it cleared, Lin stood before Shard, crackling and glowing.

"Now we can get REAL nasty." Then she rushed at Shard, striking and parrying at a speed comparable to hers. (OOC: Hey, she technically IS lightning... so why not give her lightning speed?)

Shard and Lin had become a blur of punches and parries.

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

Arashi stared at Jezebel.

"And you will not slay Tala, do you hear me? She's a friend. And she's very important to me. If you step out of line......", he growled, "......I'll show you a trial by fire even Hell itself would be hard-pressed to match."

He turned away, disgusted at her righteous attitude. Did she really think the real Spiritwalker was like that......? He listened to the ringing on Tala's phone, hoping against hope this James would answer. Meanwhile, he did as Henry said.....

Henry: I'll stick with Arashi. Tala is one of the group, like Spiritwalker. Whether we like them or not, we protect them. And if you try and kill either of them, before I have the chance to get them under control, you will not know what hit you. I'm a sniper, that is my job.

Meanwhile, He and Arashi get Tala on her back, and Henry starts pumping in proper first aid fashion.

OOC: Sorry guys, I couldn't quite remember how all that was done, so don't ask me to save you in real life. Just pretend I know what I am doing.:)

Jezebel
"Sorry, I will guard my tongue." Jezebel set her laptop down and walked back out to her motorcycle. A few minutes later, she reentered with a hypodermic needle filled with a clear glittery substance. She handed it to Arashi.

"It's an anti-silver I confiscated a while back. I've seen it in action, trust me it works." She returned to her laptop, "Now then, since a certain 'sniper' prevented me from retrieving the mystic, we've got a serious problem on our hands." She brought up an image of a large black "D."

"This is the logo of D Corp., a massive corporation in Dancing Penguin." Noticing a few half smiles, she added, "The name comes from the penguin regime which controls almost every aspect of life there. They are especially careful to regulate every business... except one. This one. D Corp. specializes in paranormal weaponry, blending science and sorcery in often catastrophic experiments. Enter the Hellkey." She brought a blueprint for a ray cannon looking device. "It's a weapon created to open huge gateways between our world and hell. The chief designer was a man named Steve Hill," The screen showed a picture of a man who was quite obviously insane. "This picture was taken shortly after his arrest."

"The Hellkey's first run went quite well, a small portal was created. However, the mystic required to run the thing shut it down when he realize what it would do. The mystic was found, gruesomely dissected, at the bottom of a lake. That mystic's name was David Starr, he was Kayla's father."

"Steve went on a rampage, the murders of twelve other mystics have been traced to him. At each murder, Steve slid away with the add of forces unknown. Due to the nature of the murders, it became quite obvious that Steve was trying to obtain mystic powers of his own. He was finally captured and executed five days after his twelfth killing."

"The government preferred that the killings remain secret. They didn't want to throw the populous into a panic. As such, Kayla and Mrs. Starr believed David had left them. D Corp. wasn't done with the Starrs yet, however, orchestrating a shooting at Kayla's school which resulted in her boyfriend's death and the awakening of Kayla's power. Thankfully, Kayla was intercepted by a retired Slayer named Genie Curio."

"Under Genie's guidance, Kayla became Spiritwalker. As she fought crime, we thought it best not to trouble her with the registration process. This proved to be a fatal flaw as she has now fallen under the control of Steve Hill's spirit. He is no doubt going to try to construct a new Hellkey." She looked up at Arashi, "If he succeeds, you will have your trial by hell's fire."

There is quiet laughter that floats all around SpiritWalker.
"I've never been known for being wise..."

Allan thought he was going nuts. First, his fact-centered world, which told him that people throwing fire or spirits animating balls of liquid metal or people controlling spirits were impossible, had been blown away, NOW someone had added a few cups of Psychopath Trying To Open A Portal To Hell to this already bubbling stew of insanity.

Great... just Friggin' great...

He decided to speak up.

"Well? Are we gonna do anything about it or let Kayla wander the Ether for all eternity while we get our souls devoured by demons?"

Henry: No, we are not. We are going demon hunting.

With that, he went upstairs, getting into all of his regular gear, with one addition, his pocket bible.

OOC:Sorry this took me so long. My bro banned me from the PC.

IC:James Masters began to unlock the door to his apartment. Dr. Issacs had let him teach the class again. Helping teach bio-chemistry used to be one of James' favorite things to do. But the classes were dull without Tala there. He sighed, Tala was like a little sister to him. But now she was gone playing super-heroine in Astros. He only hoped that she didn't get herself in trouble.

When James entered his appartment he heard something strange, it sounded like "Puff the Magic Dragon". "Damn!",Cursed James. "My cell!" He had known he had forgetten something. There was no telling how long it had been ringing. He trashed his whole apartment looking for it, but finally found it. His heart soared when he saw it was Tala. He smiled as he answered the phone.

"Hey little T. Checking in on me?"

"Um....are you James?" This voice was not Tala's. It was a male voice. One that sounded frantic and frightened.

"Who is this?",Asked Jame suspiciously.

The man explained that he was Arashi Hiyuuki. He said that he was one of Tala's team mates and that she was in trouble. According to Arashi, Tala had taken some Silver serum and was now vomiting black gunk. James almost dropped the phone in shock. How could Tala be so stupid?

As James ran to a special teleporter in the physics lab, he grabbed some serum that he knew reversed all of Tala's previous biological problems. He then asked Arashi some questions. First he wanted to know if Tala was on her stomach. Arashi said she had been, but he had flipped her after a man named Henry said to. James said to get back on her stomach. Not only could she choke on her tongue, but the gunk would probably flow into her lungs. Arashi then mentioned something about Anti-Silver. James said no. There was a compound in anti-silver that Tala had always been allergic to, and for some reason her Lycan powers didn't help her overcome it. James said for Arashi to just get Tala back on her stomach and wait for him to get there. He asked Arashi for the co-ordinates and then hung up.

It didn't even take a second for James to arrive at the dojo. He ran in and found Tala surrounded by people. James smiled internly, he was glad that her teammates cared for her. James leaned over Tala and shot the serum into the back of her neck.

"Now what?",Asked Arashi seeming more concerned then ever.

"Now we wait.",Muttered James staring at Tala.

Eventually the vomiting stopped and they were able to clean her up. But she still wasn't awake. James noticed Arashi seemed the most concerned, out of the others, for Tala's safety. James had a feeling that it was more then just watching out for a team mate.
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It's was almost 2 hours later when Tala regained consciousness. Everyone had left except Arashi and Jame. She slowly opened her eyes and thought she was hallucinating. Sitting next to Arashi was a man about 28 years old. He had moss green eyes and short,dirty blond hair. He was thin yet muscular, wearing a green T-shirt and a pair jeans. Tala blinked a few times.

"James?",She croaked.

"You bet kid!",Smiled James.

Tala squeeled happily and threw her arms around him. She was so happy.

"Hey careful, we don't want to make your boyfriend angry!",Laughed James when she broke away. He pointed his thumb at Arashi. Tala blushed and bowed her head. She asked what happened and James and Arashi told her every detail, From Arashi finding her to Jamess and Arashi brushing her teeth while she was unconscious to remove the remaining gunk. When they were finished, Tala moved over to Arashi and gave him a light kiss on the lips.

"Arashi!",She exclaimed in a whisper. "You saved my life! You're my hero."

"What about me?",Demanded James with a huge fake pout as Tala hugged Arashi.

"Oh yeah right thanks. It's so hard to give a girl a needle."Tala tried to say it without feeling. But her giggles gave away the fact that she was just teasing James.

James laughed. "Be that as it may, kiddo. I'm going to stick around and keep an eye on you and your chem usages."

Tala stuck out her tongue at him, and James simply ruffled her hair. Then he smiled and began to walk away. Before he reached the end of the hall he turned around and called to Arashi,

"If you make her cry, I make you cry!" Tala knew he was just being over-protective. James had always been like a big brother to Tala. She then realized that she and Arashi were alone again.

"Some night, eh?",She muttered not looking at him.

OOC:GU, you can take it from here. And yes everyone, Faolan's still asleep. If you want him to be awake, have someone wake him.

Jezebel
"Did you even listen to me?!" Jezebel shouted at Allan and Henry as they left the room. "We're not after a demon, we're after a mystic. And, with Steve's research of mystic powers, he's going to be much more powerful than Kayla could even dream to be." She shook her head as the two gathered their gear. "Whatever, meet me at my bike when you think you're ready." She looked at the rest of the heros, "Anyone else want to come?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Hill
The purple, soul-roasting flames grew bigger. "You know you're a spirit, right? Guess what these flames do to spirits."

Allan looked Jezebel right in the eyes.

"I was listening to you. I wasn't saying Kayla's a Demon. I was saying we're gonna have Demons if whatever this psycho's trying to pull gets pulled."

He looked over at Jezebel's bike.

"I hope you're not planning on hauling us all on that thing."

OOC: DP, if you're thinking of having RV build a Hellkey, you've got another think coming. RV's ambitions doesn't stretch as far as destroying the world.......just blackmailing it.

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei stepped out of the front door to look Jezebel in the eye. "Just in case you didn't realize, it's midnight out there. The rest of us have to sleep, you know. And there ARE vampires out there, but they are much more well-behaved than most you'll see anywhere else, so if you shoot one of them, be prepared to have the entire government of Atros come after you. I will not help you if you do that." He sighed. Some people are just so individualistic......

Meanwhile

Michiko looked at Allan. "Kayla is not lost, Allan Fisher. She is right here, in my Crystal." She showed them her Crystal of Wisdom, and they saw that it was now glowing with a light blue light. "I will tell you if she wishes to say anything. Now, it seems like she is a little.....distraught, at losing her body, if you know what I mean. No worries. Of course we will deal with the demon."

Meanwhile, Arashi was hugging Tala tightly. "Oh man, I thought i've lost you there......" he sighed. "Don't do anything so stupid again, you hear me?"

Tala nodded, a little frightened at Arashi's tenderness. Presently, he said, "I'm sleeping with you tonight."

"Wha-?" Tala was shocked, and Reiko nudged Arashi. He looked at Reiko, then groaned. He sighed, "Yeah, I know that was the wrong thing to say......but right now I just can't leave you alone anymore......."

He opened his eyes. "Reiko, would you keep Tala company tonight?"

Reiko grinned. "Of course, bro." She took Tala's hand. "Are you okay with that, Miss Tala?"

ooc: GU, here's the thing: Steve escaped the murder scenes because of a wish demons from the other side granted him. In exchange, he promised to find away to free them. The demons promised him another wish once he freed them. RV could have that wish in exchange for his aid... But if that doesn't work for you, I can work in another direction.

OOC: DP, I'm sorry, but i still can't work with your idea. It just gets in the way of mine. It's pretty cool, I admit, but at this point in time, it merely means that the first villain's mission would have become irrelevant if we go along with your idea.

DP, TG me your email addy, so I can discuss with you how you want the plot to go.

Tala got over her momentary shock and said,

"Actually, I'd be more comfortable sleeping with Arashi. I mean, just being asleep together." Tala's cheeks burned crimson. "I don't want to...um..do anything. Not that that's what your suggesting Arashi."

Tala was getting more red and out of breath. She pulled her hand back from Reiko. Then she took a calming breath and began again.

"It's obvious that Arashi is concerned about my welfare, and I feel protected when he's around. Besides,",Added Tala in a caring, yet teasing voice as she leaned her head back and looked at Arashi who was still holding her. "You're so concerned right now you'd be checking in all night. It would be easier for you and I to be in the same room."

Tala leaned the back of her head against Arashi's shoulder. "Also, it would be less weird if I was half-asleep and you you were a teddy bear, then if it happened with Reiko."

Tala laughed a bit and then added her final little debate. "Arashi saved my life. He should have to right to watch over me. I'd feel safer if he was there anyway."

The laughing still surrounds the posessed body.
Then he speaks again in a chidlike copy cat mocking tone:
"You know you're a spirit, right? Guess what these flames do to spirits?"
The laughing stops and his tone becomes not only loud but incredibly angry.
"You f***ing IDIOT! You think the fact I am a spirit might have ELUDED ME??? You THINK your flames SCARE ME? Here's a thought... You'd have to actually HIT ME...." His little rant is cut short as Steve Hill blasts out a complete sphere of flame in an attempt to catch out the surorunding spirit laughing around him but the rant was set up time Mr Mercury used to move and prepare to dogde which he does without even going to maximum speed.
Zipping around the body like an electron orbiting a nucleus he sings in a mocking tone at random intervals changing direction at random.
"Your..
Flames..
Are..
Too..
Slow.."

Shard throws out an arm which forms into a spike and embeds itself in a wall then her other arm into the wall on the opposite side of the room.
Quickly more of these spikes start to fill the room reducing the space in the room to one wall only hemming Lin in, normally with a more physical opponent this would have been useful but here it is only a setup when Lin lets off a charge Shard implements her plan and absorbs the whole lot firing off a new spike that detaches, fragments into thousands of shards which hit the wall embedding themselves before exploding and taking a majority of the wall down leaving a hole through into a kitchen full off startled staff...
Looking back around Lin can see Shard standing in human form again having detracted all of the other spikes.
"Now that was cool. We should work together out there."

"Still, it's not proper for a Heir of a Prime Clan like I am", Arashi stuttered, unsure. Reiko immediately cuffed him around the ear.

"Oh, quit being a sissy bro! I'll sleep with the two of you tonight, if you want." She blew a raspberry at him, then took Tala's hand again. "C'mon, Miss Tala. I'll show you the room, you're looking too tired. C'mon now, you can have your James come with us if you want", she teased.

Watching them leave, Arashi sighed. Then, he turned back to the rest. "So how are we going to settle Spiritwalker?"

"Like I said, Arashi, the Ancient Charm will break the hold of Steve Hill over Kayla's body", Michiko stated. "As you should have known by now, the Ancient Charm summons a form of 'anti-power' in infinite proportions, which can effectively neutralize any form of power in this dimension. The 'anti-power' will break the power of Steve Hill, so all we need to do, when we next meet the possessed Spiritwalker, is to defeat her body in battle, then cast the Ancient Charm upon her."

"Well, that's all and good," growled Shinji. "But what do we do about Xuanyu? That's a godly being probably as powerful as the Dark Power itself, and goodness knows we had a hard time subduing it 2 years ago."

The three Heirs quietened down, troubled by this scenerio. At length, Michiko spoke up again.

"For some reason, I do not feel like sleeping just yet, so I will go back to the Hikoori Dojo, and search the library there. If it comes down to fighting Xuanyu, a task only the three of us have the remotest chance of accomplishing, the Ancient Charm will neutralize his power temporarily, and thus we can defeat him. Of course, as you know, the full power of the Ancient Charm can only be utilized when we are at the peak of our battle fever, and it is not inconceivable that Xuanyu could have us defeated by then. Thus, we need something else to keep his power at bay until we can get the full Charm to work."

She stood up. "Good night, all." She left the Hiyuuki Dojo.

Shinji stood up too. "Where's Naomi, by the way? I haven't seen her all day", Arashi asked.

"Hah, damned if i know where my sister was all day. All i know was she was tagging your disciple along with you."

"Rico, huh? Well, she's probably doing something evil to him", Arashi said with a smile.

"Probably. You might want to stay up, cause Rico might not be in his best state when he returns", Shinji chuckled. "Anyway, I'm off too. Later."

"Next time", Arashi replied, as he watched Shinji walk off to the Hikurai Dojo. He yawned.

"Damned, it's getting late."

Tala rolled her eyes as Reiko led her to her room. Tala told Reiko to go off while she got her PJ's on. Reiko agreed and went off to talk to Arashi. Tala quickly changed out of her club clothes and into her PJ's. She stood in front of the mirror looking at her black silk pants and tanktop. She then grabbed her phone and called James.

James woke up with a start when he heard his phone ringing. He answered it groggily. "Hello?"

"Over here. now."

James listened to the dial tone with confusion. Then his mind started to work again. Tala needed talk to him. He got up and walked down the hall until he reached a room with Tala standing in the doorway. She quickly signaled him in then shut the door. She plopped on the bed and hugged her plush wolf, Fang, to her chest. She sent him a grin and asked,

"Shouldn't you have a shirt on?"

James looked in the mirror. He had nothing on but a pair of tarten lounger pants.

"Shouldn't your boyfriend be protecting you?",Teased James. Tala frowned and looked away. James got mad. "What did he do?"

"Nothing really it's just..."Tala explained the situation with Arashi and his sister.

"Is it a good idea to crowd you?",Inquired James in a tone that meant he knew the answer.

"No.",Answered Tala anyway. James watched as Tala took down sheets, blankets, and pillows. He'd seen her do that a million times before.

"I'm not sleeping in a raptor's nest on the ground.", Replied James to Tala's unvocalized suggestion.

Tala turned and made puppy dog eyes at James. "Puh-lease James, Jimmy, Jamie, Jim!?"

James shrugged. "So you're admitting you can't take care of yourself for the night?"

Tala rolled her eyes. "Yes. I need someone to watch over me. And I'd rather my James, the guy who's like my big brother, to be the one to do it. Arashi and Reiko are nice. And I care for Arashi. But I don't need guardians, I need family." Tala then hugged James and repeated what she said before, "Puh-lease James, Jimmy, Jamie, Jim?"

"Well I...." Tala started to tickle James until he gave in. "Alright. Alright I'll do it!"

Tala smiled largely. She then picked up a piece of paper, scribbled something on it, pinned it to the front of the door, and locked the door. She turned to find James already all snuggled into his raptor nest on the floor. Tala turned out the lights and climbed into bed. Hugging Fang she started drifting to sleep.

"Psst...T?",Whispered James.

"This isn't a sleepover Jamie Jim! It's time to sleep.", Muttered Tala.

"Yeah, but what did you write on the note?"

"It just says that two's company, three's a crowd. It'd rather have my James watch over me, then two people who barely know me."

"You don't think you and Arashi are close now?",Questioned James.

The only sound that came from Tala was a snore. Whether she was really asleep, or faking. It was obvious she wasn't going to answer the question.

OOC: Scotsnations, just so you know, Atrosian vampires aren't given to tailing people. They don't bother to hunt since the local Atrosians tend to offer them their own blood anyway, and they usually don't bother foreigners :p Anyway, the vampires of Atros are not gonna play a part in this story, so try not to get them involved.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

Arashi yawned, and started walking back to his room. On the way, he noticed that Tala had pasted a note on her front door. He took a look, and smiled. Apparently Tala must have been pissed at him......but there was nothing he could do about it.

He opened the door slightly, to see James looking back at him.

"She doing okay in there?"
"Yes, Arashi, she's doing just fine.:
"Good, good.", Arashi replied, then closed the door. He yawned again. Time to crash........

_________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile

Shinji was driving home in his Mercedes-Benz, back to the Hikurai Dojo, ancestral home of Clan Hikurai. As he reached the main gates, he saw two figures out of the corner of his eye......

"Isn't that Naomi? And that Rico kid?"

He stepped out of the car, and walked towards them. Indeed, it was Naomi Hikurai all right, his sister, with Arashi's number 1 disciplr Rico Anderson tagging along with her.

Shinji observed them. As usual, Naomi was dressed in a tight satin sleeveless top, with black lycra pants, and a dark blue sweater tied around her waist. Her hair was blue, and her eyes violet, cold and soulless on the outside, but twinkling to show that she knew family.

Shinji turned to Rico and observed him. A white guy from Hell's Kitchen in New York, Rico was a tough wrestler in the tough place he grew up in, and was the best fighter in town.......until Arashi came around to best him, Shinji remembered. After that, Rico had taken Arashi's offer to train at the Hiyuuki Dojo.......as usual, he was wearing a baseball jersey, cargo pants, and a skullcap, along with accessories that showed his hip-hop roots.......and he looked tired.

Shinji turned back to Naomi.

"What did you do to Rico, sister?"

"Oh, nothing. Today, I had him beat up a whole gang for me. Those guys had been bothering me a while now. Rico had to take them all by himself, but he did so impressively. Then I had him spar with me. Of course, he wasn't my match."

"Then what?" Shinji asked. He lit a cigarette with his family flame, then took a puff.

"Then......", Naomi licked her fingers suggestively, "I had him......show me some of his moves, you might say."

Shinji nearly choked on his cigarette. "That's pure evil, Naomi! How did you do it?"

"Not hard, brother. Either he did all that for me......or he's going shopping with me."

Shinji stood there, stunned. Then he began to laugh, a deep, evil laugh.

"Very evil, Naomi! I couldn't have done better myself!"

He turned to Rico. "Get your a** home, Rico!"

"Yes, Master Hikurai", Rico said, then ran off.

Henry wasn't about to try and sleep with something like the possessed body of Spiritwalker flying around. In another couple minutes, he walked out the door, pointing out calmly to Jezebel that most of the "evil spirits" in this world are demons, or are aided by demons. Climbing into his truck, he flipped a few switches, activating his GPS and radar systems. Then he drove about two miles in the direction that the purple flamed maniac was last seen going. Then, he parked, and climbed onto the highest near rooftop, and glassed around for about ten minutes with a pair of high power nightvision Steiner binoculars. He continued with this plan, until, about four stops later, he barely caught a purple explosion out of the corner of his eye. Quickly homing in on that spot, he noticed a faint purple glow, about one mile away.

I gotcha now, my friend.

Quickly climbing back down to his truck, he took off in in the same general direction that he last spotted the evil apparition, and started praying, silently, for the protection of his spirit.

Lin apologized to the staff for the mess before turning back to Shard.

"Wow. Remind me to ask for a demonstration sometime. Right now, I have a wakeup call to make."

She left the gym and headed for Faolan's room, cracking open the door and peeking in.

Faolan was lying on his bed, sound asleep, snoring lightly.

Lin smiled to herself. She'd said it before, and she was saying it again. He looked so peaceful, Like a little kid.

She snuck inside and kneeled by his bed for a while, looking at his chest rise and fall with his breathing.

She reached out and caressed his cheek before she stood up.

Let the big teddy bear sleep, she thought before slipping out of the room and heading to her quarters.

Tala and her father were sparring. He'd always told her that kickboxing(especially free-style) was difficult but she never found it that hard. She knocked him to the ground the punched just short of his head.

"I win Daddy!",Tala laughed.

"Oh yeah?",Asked her father. His ice blue eyes, matching Tala's, sparkled with mischief. He then kicked Tala from beneath and knocked her over.

Tala laid sprawled on the ground, frowning at her dad. He just stood over her raked his fingers through his short black hair and winked at his daughter.

"Now Kael, be nice to your daughter."

Tala watched as her mother came over and punched her father in the arm.

"Go mom!",Exclaimed Tala as she kicked herself up.

"Now Mairi, the girl needs to learn to protect herself.",Argued Kael with a shrug, as he wrapped his arm around his wife. Tala smiled at her parents. Her mother had long strawberry blong hair, elfish beauty, and a lithe form. Tala's father was tall, strong, and handome with black hair and blue eyes. Tala's hair was dark auburn.

She smiled at her parents. In 21 years of marriage her parents had always been loving and sweet. She was happy.

"I'm going to get some OJ, you want some?",Inquired Tala as she walked toward the house.

"No sweetie we're good.",Called back her mother.

As Tala got close the house it began to change. Soon the house was nothing, but a burnt ruin. She heard a scream and turned around. Suddenly, she was back to 5 years before, witnessing her parents murder. Tala woke up with a scream.

James ran to her side.

"It was my parents. They were alive. And it was now, but they were okay and I wasn't a werewolf. Then the house was gone and I was back there... and....."

James took Tala into his arms and gave her a hug. He told her to calm down then tucked her in and gave her Fang. He told her a story as you would with a young child and told her to get some sleep. Tala nodded.

James returned to where he was sleeping and shook his head. That girl had been through some much, it wasn't fair.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan smiled as he felt a soft hand running over his cheek. He opened his eyes a bit, but the room was pitch black and no one was there. He shrugged, guessing he had just imagined it. It didn't take long for him to fall back to sleep.

OOC: God I wish it was morning in this thing. I'm running out of people sleeping ideas. I don't want to use them all now.

OOC: I agree with Thrope. All these side stories is delaying the plot by too much. Everyone, push up to the morning as soon as you can.

IC: Tala's scream woke Arashi up, and he dashed to her room. Opening the door, he saw James holding Tala tightly. Tala herself looked deathly pale.

"Is everything all right there, Tala?", Arashi asked in a worried tone. "What happened, James?"

OOC: Thrope, take it from there.

(OOC: Sorry, GU. Didn't know it was such a bother. *pulls out a remote the size of a Cadillac and hits Fast Forward*)

Allan went into his room and pulled on his pajamas. Possessed Mystic or No, He needed sleep.

Before he knew it, it was morning again... That was the problem with sleep... It felt wonderful... but it was so damn short!

_________________________________________________________________

As she walked down one of the Vengeance's many hallways, a realization suddenly struck Lin; She'd been training all day! God, time was a weird thing... Well, nothing she could do about it...

She headed to her room and changed, then, after her "Exercises", she laid back and closed her eyes, letting her subconscious take over.

ooc: Sorry guys, I've been crushed by wave upon wave of homework...
IC:
Jezebel
Jezebel watched Allan go back inside and in spite of herself, yawned a little. She looked over at Henry's retreating truck.

"You know, Steve's gonna need some serious funding before he can construct a new Hellkey. I think it's safe to catch up on my sleep." Jezebel fond a nice patch of earth, flopped down, and was asleep within minutes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Hill
Mr. Mercury's taunts are cut short by a Dragonball Z style wail from Steve. A masive collum of purple flame surounds him. When it disapates, Steve is gone.

(ooc: Sorry Merc, but Steve needs to disapear until the villian's next mission. GU, I am prepared to adhere to your terms.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phobia
The new dawn found Phobia still pacing the ship, awaiting the next mission.

Tala had had another bad dream. This time it was Master Mitsurugi's murder. God her life sucked! Just as James began to calm her, Arashi burst in sounding concerned. 'If he was so concerned he would have watched over me last night!',Thought Tala spitefully. James let her go and smiled broadly Arashi.

"Tala had a few bad dreams. Also she seems to be mad at you. So you're going to take her out for breakfast!"

"NO HE'S NOT!",Screamed Tala in shock.

"Aww, don't be difficult. You need to deal with your emotional issues. You know you only have nightmares when you're in a bad mood. So you need to talk to Arashi." James said this is a "James-knows-best" tone, then turned to Arashi and took on a protective brother attitude. "And you need to apologize to my little Scruffy Puff...." Tala giggled at the nickname. "And tell her your whole life story."

James turned back to Tala. "You'll tell him everything about you, too. Deal?"

The room was immensely silent. Then Tala spoke up.

"I don't feel like it."

"You're spoiled!",Replied James silently, then fermly added. "Now get dressed and have breakfast with Arashi. You need to expand your inner circle, and you need to go out with more boys! Now get dressed, young lady!"

Tala rolled her eyes, but grabbed some clothes and went into her bathroom anyway. She had always responded to James' orders with obedience. It was probably because he knew her best and most of the time knew what was right for her, even if she didn't want to agree.

Moments later, Tala came out of the bathroom. She had her hair hanging loose and was wearing a black knee-length skirt, Knee-high boots, and a white silk blouse. Arashi had returned fully dressed. Tala wondered what James had told him.

"There's a little bakery down the street, we can walk.",Suggested Arashi.

Tala gave a non-chalant shrug. Half-way to the bakery Tala spoke.

"So are you going to tell me your life story or what?", She seemed a bit less upset and more happy.

OOC:Okay GU have Arashi say his piece or whatever.

Allan padded down the stairs the next morning, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. He was eager to start his training today. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a man he'd never seen before, sitting at the table.

"Good Morning. Can't say I've seen you around here before."

The man looked back with a smile.

"Good Morning. Can't say I've been around here before."

He extended a hand, Allan shook it, and introductions were exchanged. He decided that the training could wait a couple minutes.

They made small talk for a short time before Allan finally asked.

"Where'd you come from?"

"Thrope."

"But that's Hundreds of Thousands of Miles away, and I don't think they've invented Teleportation yet!"

(OOC: Thrope: You know what to do.)

_________________________________________________________________

Lin woke up at 6:30, showered, did her hair (Ponytail with Bangs down to her shoulders), and put on her jeans and a white sleeveless shirt, then headed to Faolan's room.

He was still sleeping, a look of absolute serenity on his face, but Lin decided to wake him up; he'd been asleep a long time.

She slipped over to the bedside again, kneeling down until her head was level with his... then she reached out and tapped him on the nose.

"Outta bed! We're gonna get breakfast!"

IC: En route to the bakery

"My life story?" Arashi turned to Tala, then turned away. "Well. It's a pretty long story, and besides, seeing we're both ordinary people blessed, or rather cursed, with superpowers, much of what I say might seem familiar to you anyway."

"Try me." Tala teased him.

Arashi sighed, then turned back to her.

"Well, how do I start. As a Hiyuuki, I was born into my powers, so to be honest, I never really had an idea of what a normal life means. It was always, the Heir Arashi, the Hero Arashi, the Legend Arashi. Never just plain Arashi. I had a knack for fighting, as is the legacy of my family, but sometimes, I wish I could just be myself......"

"I was always the popular one in school. There was no one who did not know my name in town, and that was purely because I was the son of Takeshi Hiyuuki, the Sensei of Clan Hiyuuki, a famous name in town for his legendary fighting skills. I had many who claimed to be my friends, but I never knew if they liked me because of who I really am inside, or if in fact they stuck by me because I was Arashi Hiyuuki, the desirable one in school. From young, I was taught how to fight, and at the tender age of 14, I defeated my father in battle."

"You didn't say!" Tala seemed shocked at this.

"Yep. My father's not the most powerful of the Hiyuuki Clan. I am." Arashi said with a smile, obviously proud of this achievement, then he frowned again. "By rights, I could claim the title of Sensei of the Clan, having defeated my father, but well......I never really had an interest in managing the Clan. Anyway, by the time I was 15, I was champion fighter of the region, and undefeated by any. Shinji Hikurai was the only one who came close to defeating me, and in fact, he and I are evenly matched. But enough about him; if I went into the ancient feud between Clan Hiyuuki and Clan Hikurai, and how it persists today in me and Shinji, this tale would never end."

"Anyway.......two years ago, I almost died."

"How?" Tala asked.

"In the history of Atros, there was always a evil god-like entity forever threatening to shadow Atros with its fear, then the world. That entity was the Dark Power, all-powerful, merciless, none could withstand it. None but those who had pledged their lives to defeating the Dark Power."

"These would be the members of the Prime Clans of Atros, the Clans Hiyuuki, Hikurai, and Hikoori, of whom the ancestors of the Clans made an ancient pact to defeat the Dark Power, and restore peace and hope to the land. The Dark Power cannot be destroyed in itself, but with the pact, the Ancient Charm was bestowed upon the Prime Clans, and its descendents are fated to battle, and defeat the Dark Power forever, neutralizing the Dark Power for their lifetimes. This Ancient Charm took physical form in heirlooms of Crystals, one of which is with me here."

He put a hand down his shirt, and withdrew a necklace he was wearing. The pendant was that of a blood-red crystal, which glittered with light as if it was alive.

"This is the Crystal of Courage, the heirloom of Clan Hiyuuki, one thirds of the key which would unlock the Ancient Power. Two years ago, the Dark Power awokened once more, and despite my enmity with Shinji at that time, we had to swallow our pride, and work together with Michiko of the Hikoori Clan to fight the Dark Power. It was a tough fight, and many times we were close to the brink of defeat, but by tenacity and pure luck, me, Shinji, and Michiko finally managed to defeat the power of the Dark Power, and our Clan Crystals worked their power together to unlock the Ancient Charm, sealing away the Dark Power and ensuring it remained no longer a threat to Atros or the world. For now."

"It was a life-changing fight, and my world view was irreversibly changed because of that. Now, I accept that this is my fate, that I might yet have to fight the Dark Power again, and so would my progeny. But still........sometimes, I still think the Ancient Charm came at too high a price."

"What kind of price?" Tala asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Well......in exchange for the key Crystals to the Ancient Charm, the Clans were each bestowed with a Curse. The Curse of Clan Hikurai was that their hereditary powers would become corrupted, and would cause them to become changed in their personalities. That would be the black Flame of Fear you see Shinji wielding, Tala, for that is the corruption that the Curse bestowed on his Clan. The original Flame of the Hikurais was the dark blue Flame of Honor, which now only shows its face at the summoning of the Ancient Charm, and now the shadow Flame of Fear maddens each descendent of the Hikurai with dark thoughts. That's why I respect Shinji, Tala, even as I accept that fact that I have to continue the family feud with him. He has been through much more than I did, and so, please try to reconcil with him, Tala. He really is a nice guy underneath all that anger in him."

"The Curse of Clan Hikoori was that each descendent of the Hikooris would gain mystic powers, but the physical power of the Hikooris would forevermore be weaker than that of the Hiyuuki or the Hikurai. I have defeated Michiko many times during our spars together, and although by no means is she inferior to me technically, her Flame of Wisdom lets her down. She handles it well, I am sure, but a prouder Hikoori might not have taken it well."

"What about the Curse on your Clan, Arashi?" Tala butted in.

Arashi sighed at that, and paused. Then he continued.

"The Curse of Clan Hiyuuki.......was that each descendent of the Clan was doomed to only have one progeny. And if they attempt to break that Curse, a tragedy would befall him........have you ever wondered why you never saw my mother, Tala?"

Tala furrowed her brows at that. It was something she had overlooked....."Why?"

"My mother is dead. She died giving birth to my sister Reiko. My father had attempted to break the Curse of the Hiyuuki by having my mother conceive Reiko......and the jinx hit my mother."

"Oh." Tala didn't know what to say.

"I don't remember my mother much at all. But sometimes, my father would remark how much like her mother Reiko was, in looks, behaviour, everything, and that the only thing she inherited from the Hiyuuki side of the family was the Courage Flames.......sometimes, I myself would wonder whether Reiko was really the soul of my mother reincarnated in the form of my sister."

Arashi sighed. "I don't know. I don't know what to think anymore."

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei Hiyuuki got up early in the morning, and promptly dressed. He went down to the courtyard, and started on his morning exercises. He noticed that Arashi was already gone.........

"Hmm, he's gone with that Tala girl again", the Sensei thought.

Reiko came down to the courtyard as well, dressed in a figure-hugging jumpsuit that showed off her ample curves.

"Morning Dad", Reiko greeted, then started on her own morning exercises. Then, the Sensei heard the sound of the main door opening, and Rico Anderson, Arashi's self-styled no. 1 disciple walked in, in a tracksuit and pants.

"Morning Sensei", Rico greeted, and started on his morning exercises as well. The Sensei nodded, and regarded Rico intensely. This Rico kid was dedicated to the Clan, and although he would never have the Courage Flames, he worked hard at the Hiyuuki kobujutsu nonetheless. In terms of technical proficiency in the Clan kobujutsu, he already had Reiko beat, and that impressive in itself.......shaking his head, the Sensei went back to his morning exercises.

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance

Zell jumped out of his bed, and looked at the time. Damned, last night's battle really took a toll on him......rubbing his eyes, he fumbled his way through his toilet, dressed, and went in search of breakfast. RV would probably brief them later today.........

There is a moments silence before the laugher bursts out again in guffaws.
"BFWAAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAA"
He then yells to the empty night
"BOOOOOOO-RING!"

Henry had just about caught up with "Steve Hill" when he did his burst-o-flame disappearance. Getting up on another roof quickly, he glassed about, to make sure it wasn't just short range teleportation, or such. Failing to pick up any trace of him, he went back down to his truck, mumbling incoherently, and drove back to dojo. As he got back around three in the morning, he went to bed, not giving a giving much thought to the disappearing mystic. So, he slept. Getting up in the morning, he walked down to the kitchen, wearing the normal dark t-shirt and jeans.

Henry: Good morning ladies and gents. Do we have breakfast yet?

Faolan made a slight groaning sound when Lin tapped him in the nose. He opened one eye. He eyed Lin.

"What time is it?",He asked groggily.

"About 7.",Replied Lin with a smile.

'Aww, cute!',Thought Faolan as he rolled over and got out of bed. He was wearing what he noramally wore to bed, a pair of lounger pants. Sitting at the end of the bed he slipped on some socks and shoes. He then grabbed a green hoodie and pulled it over his head. He and Lin walked toward the dining hall when Lin turned to him and tried to ask something.

"So, Faolan...."

"Just call me Lan. It might confuse other people, but I hate my full name. So what did you want to know?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
James smiled at the man.

"Oh we have teleportation. It's just not public yet. They only fixed all the bugs six monthes ago. I think they want to wait a bit longer before making it public. But what do I know? I'm not a physicist. But judging by the Doctor in front of you name, I'm guessing you're one, right Allan?"

Allan nodded. "Yes, I specialize in robotics."

James laughed. "So you're the guy with the robotic tenticles? Tala told me about you. And how you tap people on the shoulder at the most inapportune times."

"And what do you do James?",Asked Allan conversationally as he sat at the table to join James for breakfast.

"I'm a grad student at UofT. That's the University of Thrope. I'm actually just trying to get my thesises written up."

"What are you studying?"

"I'm working on my PHD. It's a double major in Celtic Studies and Bio-Chemistry."

James couldn't help ,but let out a laugh. Allan was giving him a strange look.

"Okay I know those two subjects don't sound like the mesh, but I was interested in both and couldn't pick. Also, I know I should be older if I was getting my PHD. I mean you practically have to have a science degree to get into Bio-Chemistry. The thing is I graduated from high school at sixteen and got a chance to start university early. So by the time I was 18 I was well into my studies. I was actually supposed to finish last year, but I haven't figured out my thesis for either subject."

Allan nodded in understanding.

"Actually,",Said James with a crooked grin. "That's how Tala got into Bio-Chemistry. I've known Tala since she was born, so I've had alot of effect on her. She and I made lots of little experiments together. Tala's actually the first student in the history of UofT to get into an advanced sciences program straight out of high school. That's why they accepted her stress leave request. I mean no one's ever had to go from high school into the Bio-chemistry program without two years of university science. And Tala did it without even one."

James then returned to his breakfast. He and Allan made small talk for a while then James asked something he'd wanted to ask since Tala told him about Allan.

"Can I see you OKTO in action?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Arashi I'm so sorry."

Tala hung her head a bit. She was shocked by Arashi's tale. It was so sad. Part of her wanted to hug him until he felt better, but a small part of her was still angry. She wondered why he hadn't asked her about her story. She wanted to tell him, but if he didn't ask she wouldn't. She had never tried to hid her life from anyone. Yet no one except the Sharpes and James knew much about her. It was because no one asked. Tala wasn't the type of girl to go on about her life and pain. If they asked, she'd tell. if they didn't, she wouldn't have to. If Arashi wanted to know about her she'd tell him. A small battle raged in her mind. One side wanting to tell Arashi every little detail of her life, and the other trying to protect her heart.

The realization hit Tala hard. She'd already fallen for Arashi. She wasn't head over heels for the guy, but the seed had been planted. She didn't know how or why, but something about Arashi had gotten to her in the past couple of days. That was what she was afraid of. Not losing all her secrets, but losing her heart. She knew that the moment she told Arashi about her life, she'd be vunerable. Arashi would be able to sneak past her defences and steal her heart. The thing that made Tala the saddest was not the possibilty that Arashi wouldn't know he'd stolen her heart. It was that her heart was crying out to be stolen.

Tala sighed, and waited for Arashi's next words.

OOC:I couldn't help the ending there. It seems to me that both are falling for each other. So GU, I do want you to have Arashi ask Tala about her past. Sorry if my Tala scene is a little to gooey.

Graz(I'm calling you Graz), You can take the other storylines from here. Take them where you want, I trust you.

(OOC: 200th Post! Woo!)

"Ok... Lan." Lin blushed slightly. The rest of the Walk to the canteen was spent in near-silence. When they sat down and ordered their breakfasts, Lin looked across the table at Faolan, trying to muster the courage to talk to the man she was starting to fall for.

"Anyway... I was going to ask you... Where did you come from?"
_________________________________________________________________

Allan looked at James. "That depends. I have work to do on it. I need to add a few electric dampeners and such."

James looked at Allan questioningly.

"It's a long story. Let's just say that while the OKTO is a battle harness... I'm not a battle person... yet." He then changed the subject. "So, you're going to be a teacher? I was considering that myself. My last job was at this Medical/Military Science Corporation called Jarikos Industries. It turned a little... rough, so I quit."

Allan stood. "It was nice meeting you, James, but I have to speak to the Sensei."

He headed out into the courtyard and saw the Sensei doing his morning exercises.

"Good morning, Allan. Are you ready to start?"

"Should say I am."

OOC: Graz I never said James was going to be a teacher.

IC:James sat in confusion as he watched Allan walk away. James kept staring even after Allan left. "I don't want to be a teacher!", He pouted. Then he added in confusion. "Did I say I wanted to be a teacher?" ( :confused: < James )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lan smiled at Lin. She was so cute when she stumbled. Then he realized what she was asking.

"I'm from the southern part of Thrope, originally.",Replied Lan with a frown. "The whole damn country is swarming with werewolves."

Lan pushed his food around a bit then looked up and smiled at Lin.

"So where are you from?"

Allan smiled to himself as he noted the confusion in James' voice. It was so fun to mess with people's heads sometimes.

_________________________________________________________________

"Well, I'm from a country called Grazhkjistan. My parents were refugees from Japan. It was a little confusing. I was the only Asian kid there. Everyone else was Russian, or Polish, or German. You should have heard the crap I caught... 'You don't even ACT Asian!!!' they told me... Like they knew how I was supposed to act..." She giggled.

After breakfast, Lin looked to Faolan again.

"Gym?"

James sat muttering in the kitchen, sounding rather crazy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lan shrugged. "Sure let's go to the gym. But we're not sparring. You're Asian you know kung-foo." He laughed loudly until Lin punched him lightly. He then pouted and cried, "Ow, you don't love me!" He pretended to cry and got the desired result. Lin started laughing. Lan loved that sound. He didn't know why, but he felt happier around Lin.

His greetings eliciting no response from the small gathering in the kitchen, he turned to finding himself something to eat, and keeping an ear to the conversation. He had just found some bread to toast, when Allan left strange parting remarks. Seeing the confused look on James' face, Henry started laughing quietly, carefully holding in a chorus of guffaws, before putting his bread in the toaster.

At the bakery

Arashi didn't reply to Tala's apology, but continued walking on. When they reached the bakery, Arashi gazed at the rows of cakes and breads, unable to decide. Then he turned to Tala with a smile. "So what would you like? I haven't had the chance to ask."

Then he turned serious again. "Oh. I've been talking a bit too much. Anyway, enough about me. So what about you? What's your life story?"

_________________________________________________________________

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

"Good, good", the Sensei said to Allan. "Nice to see an eager student."

He looked Allan up and down, his eyebrow cocked. Then he said, "For a dusty, red-eyed scholar, you've got quite the powerful body, almost like a bodybuilder. Hmm hmm. Well then, I guess all I need to do is to teach you the basics first then. Are you ready?"

"Sure I am", Allan replied.

"Very well then, let's start with the basics", the Sensei said.

30 minutes later......

Whatever kind of method the Sensei used to teach his students, it must have been very good indeed, for in a mere half an hour, Allan had learned to take punches, block attacks, and counterattack. (OOC: Graz, you'll need to provide the details, i know shit all about Russian martial arts :p)

"Not bad, Dr. Fisher. You impress me. Rico!"

The young man trotted up to the Sensei, "Yes, Sensei Hiyuuki?"

"Help me out with training Fisher-san here. Block all the punches he throws at you."

"Will do, Sensei", Rico replied, then turned to Allan. "Okay, Fisher-san, let's go then!"

Allan started throwing punches at Rico, and Rico blocked them all in an elementary exercise meant to build up Allan's strength. Just then, Michiko walked into the Dojo, and went up to the Sensei.

"Good morning, Sensei Hiyuuki", Michiko greeted, with a nod from the Sensei. Then she turned her attention to Allan, and putting a hand to her mouth, she giggled.

"C'mon, sister Michiko! Let's go get something to eat!" Reiko said, pulling Michiko's hand, and leading her to the dining room. As they departed, they giggled like schoolgirls. Allan lost his concentration, and looked at them, then......

Whump!

"Ow!"

Allan rubbed his head, which had just been on the other end of a whacking by a newspaper wielded by the Sensei. "Concentrate, Doctor!", the Sensei admonished.

"Er, yeah, right", Allan stuttered, and went back to his training.

Around this time he pulls up outside the dojo with Mr Mercury appearing behind him and he carries the laptop still pinging away towards the front door.

Allan was distracted by Michiko's appearance, but the newspaper soon brought him back to reality... painfully.

Allan threw a mix of Open Palm and Fist Straight Punches, throwing in a roundhouse or a backhand punch at random times. Rico blocked them all easily.

Then the sensei began to teach him kicking techniques. They were simple enough, then the sensei demonstrated a roundhouse kick to the head, after which he lifted his leg and delivered a downward heelslam. Needless to say, Allan would need a little work to pull that off correctly.

But aside from that, The Sensei was an incredibly good teacher. Within a few hours, Allan had most of his new fighting style down pat. He smiled to himself as he trained with Rico.

Let's see Livewire try and hit me now.
_________________________________________________________________

Lin looked at Faolan as they walked down the Hall. "I have another question. It might seem a little personal..."

Faolan smiled. "Go ahead."

Lin fought back a blush. "...I think Faolan's a pretty name. Why don't you like it?" Dammit! She still couldn't ask him! This man was really something if he could reduce her to this!

OOC: Okay this might not fit with the sample I had made before. That's because I wrote that before I had my ideas straight. This is what happened.

IC:Tala looked around the bakery for what she would like to order. She then turned to the cashier and made her request.

“I’ll have a chocolate chunk muffin, a dozen of those big cookies, half a dozen sticky buns, and a one liter jug of chocolate milk.”

The baker nodded and gave Tala her order. He then pointed out the courtyard where Tala could go to eat. Tala picked up the bag of food and walked out into the courtyard. She sat there watching the sunrise for long moments before Arashi came and sat down across from her. He didn't say anything, just started to eat. Tala got the feeling that he didn't want to push her. She appreciated that. Still staring at the sunrise she began to speak,

"I was born in Lycan City to Mairi and Kael Wolf. My mother, Mairi, was a great Celtic musician. She loved the old music. She had the sweetest voice, and when I was scared at night she'd sing me to sleep. Oh and she was so beautiful! Like an angel. My dad, Kael, was a paranormal researcher and professional fighter. He had lots of Lycan and vampire friends. He spent lots of time researching or competing in battles. He was always gone, but when ever he had even a moment of free time he'd spend it with me. We trained together, he helped me with school, we went to events together. I really loved my daddy. We never fought, I argued with my mom a few times over stupid stuff. But she was there being human while my dad was off being a hero, in my eyes at least. In my eyes my dad has never had a fault, and I've come to realize my mom's weren't all that big. I just noticed because I looked for them."

Tala took a breath.

"There were Hunters that wanted my dad to work for them. All kinds ranging from normal bounty hunters to those who hunt vampires, werewolves, and other powerful beings. Dad helped many of them, but refused most. He was strong and knew everything about them, but he had no want to harm innocents. There were times he did away with ones who had become to dangerous, but usually this was requested by the individuals family. Dad always told me that "good and evil are not what you are, but who you are". It took me years to figure it out. There are some people who believe that it was evil Hunters who killed my parents. I don't know if it's true or not ,but when they did that to my parents, a terrible hatred was born in my heart. I lived the three's after the murders as an introvert. I spoke to no one, except James and the Sharpes. None of my other friends could contact me, especially hunters and supernaturals."

Tala let out a laugh without any humor in it.

"My friend Ko Higurashi, a born lycan, tried to warn me about my camping trip after grad. He told me that there was a renegade werewolf who had left his pack, he was dangerous. Ko warned me I wouldn't survive if I went in there."

Tala sighed feeling very choked up.

"I told him he was full of it and I went anyway. Well, I got bitten by the rogue and Max found me. Max then took me to the Higurashi Dojo. Ko's father, Mitsurugi Higurashi, took me in and started training me in Lycan combat. He helped me understand what I was now. He told me that born Lycans have easier times controlling there powers then turned ones. Not because born were better, but because they had there childhood to adjust. You see if a child is bitten they will not survive. Born Lycanthropes are the only Lycan cubs there are. I spent the whole summer there training and then ,after starting university, I stayed on to train and teach. Ko and I got closer with the more time we spent together. He was my first love."

Tala smiled sadly at the memory of days spent with Ko.

"It was Christmas break when it happened. Ko and I had returned to the dojo for a holiday with Master Mitsurugi and the new generation of Lycan warriors. It was the first time any of the student got to see Ko and I outside of training session, and it was actually quite fun. We had invited some Hunter friends along with us. It had taken me alot of soul searching to realize that supernaturals were not evil, and neither were Hunters. It wasn't what you were, it was the kind of person that mattered. One night between Christmas and New Years, I had gone off with my friend Nicolette, she hunted everything, to get more wood from the stockpile. We noticed it was empty, so we went off into the woods to cut more. Then I heard it....."

Tala took deep breath. She didn't know when she had started to shake, but she was shaking harder now.

"There was a scream. A terrible, blood-curdling scream."

Tala cringed.

"You didn't have to have super hearing to hear it. Nicolette and I knew it was coming from the Dojo. We were so far out and we didn't know if we'd make it on time. We ran as fast as we could, Nicolette on foot and me in wolf form. When got there....everyone was dead. The snow around the dojo was all stained red, we couldn't find any white anywhere. That's when we saw them. Two Lycan Hunters. The kind that thought all of lycanthropes and those who hung around them were evil, scum. THEY WERE EVIL, SCUM! They were stading over Amy, one of the other Hunters I'd brought to visit. They were going...."

Tala shut her eyes and clenched her fists. IT was obvious she was trying not to freak out.

"They were tring to...to....do things to her! Nicky freaked and started firing at them. One shot Amy as Nicky shot him. The other tried to shoot me, but Nicky dived in front of me and got him first. She smiled for a second, then collapsed. The jerk had gotten her in the gut. I kept telling her I'd get her to the hospital, but she said it was too late. She told me that killing was stupid. Evil had to pay, but killing was stupid. She said that I had to help people, not hurt them. Then she died. I just sat there thinking about it. Almost everyone I cared about died. My parents, my boyfriend, my Sensei, my friends. How long before something happened to Max or James or Mr. and Mrs Sharpe. I sat in the bloody snow for hours, then I just got up. The police came and I gave a report. I felt numb, but it wasn't from the snow. I returned inside and went to the shower to wash of the blood. I bet you could have heard me scream all throughout Thrope. I just screamed and started to cry. They cleaned up the Dojo and told me to go home, but I stayed. I trained five times as hard as normal. I mediated alot and decided murder and vengence were stupid. I vowed to use my powers to help people, and I swore no one close to me would ever get hurt because of me again. It didn't work out like that."

Tala could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I had been Lycan Girl for 3 monthes, which would be last April. When I was struck with tragedy again. There was this little girl about six years old. I think her name was Marrisa. She thought the sun rose and set by me. She was my biggest fan and she followed me around whenever she saw me. One day there was this mugger in the park that I was trying to stop. Marrisa saw me and ran over. The guy was high and really anxious. He shot her. That was the first and only time my powers ever got out of control. I mauled the guy to death. Do you want to know the worst thing?!"

Tala practically screamed the question at Arashi.

"They pardoned me! They told me one life isn't that much! That I was just protecting the public and it's happened to police all the time. Her parents hugged me and said that it wasn't my fault! But it was! Anyone who cares for me dies! James and the Sharpes are either flukes or on borrowed time. So you see, I have a curse, too. If you're smart, you'll run away now."

Tala was screaming and crying through everthing she said. But when she reached the last part she became strangely calm and looked Arashi square in the eyes. She then burst out crying and through her head into her arms.

OOC: That took me a while I hope it makes sense.

Faolan smiled at Lin. Damn, but that little asian was cute!

"I don't like my name because Fay is a girls name. And as you said my name sounds "pretty!"",Faolan laughed then he frowned. "Secondly, my name is Gallec for Wolf. It makes me think of Lycans." Faolan's face contorted with anger and hate. Then it suddenly it softened and he smiled at Lin with a mixture of teasing and flirting. "Besides, Lin and Lan sound cute together. Don't you think?" Faolan winked at Lin and saw her blush deepen. 'Now that's interesting.',He thought with a self-assured grin. 'Me thinks that Lin might like me.'

OOC: And to think the Black Eyed Peas had to ask, "Where is the love.......". LOL. Anyway, let's get it on. The second villain mission is coming right up.......after DP has settled what she wants to do with RV.

IC: Arashi said nothing, but put his hands around her. There was nothing he could have said in this situation........Tala's tale was every bit as sad as his, perhaps even worse. It was said that those who had been in similar trials could empathize with each other, but now, Arashi didn't know if it was true.

All he knew now was that Tala and he were both beings cursed by fate, and even now, Tala needed him. He continued holding her tightly, not saying anything.

Now though.....he felt confused. He knew he genuinely cared for Tala, but he also had an inkling that Tala's feelings for him were more than.......mutual. This confused him.......just how much did he care for her? He was a flirt, true, but he was also naturally cautious in the ways of the heart, and right now, he didn't know if it was that good an idea to bare all like he did just now, and now like she did.

He's going to have to take this slowly........

ooc: OH! I thought I was going to do that durring the second villian mision. Okay then:
IC:
Phobia
There was a spider on the wall watching Faolan and Lin. It now scurried into the hall, transforming into an angry Phobia.

I have all of eternity yet you still manage to waste my time! I am done with your soap opera antics! It punched out a window and jumped, transforming into a hawk.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phobia flew for several minutes before it hit it: a ball of purple fire. As the pain surged through it, Phobia reverted back to his true form. Its attacker came into sight: a young woman in a tattered cloak and a cracked mask. When she spoke, however, her voice was that of a man.

"You will be perfect." Phobia felt a powerful tug and its body fell to the sea as Steve deposited its eye in a burlap bag. Steve then took off for the dark shape on the horizon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jezebel
In the mist of her morning ritual, Jezebel felt a silenced scream that traveled up her spine. Somewhere, a powerful demon had been killed.

Tala felt Arashi's arms around her. She knew that he was just trying to comfort her, she knew he cared for her. She was unsure how far his emotions ran though. She was even more unsure of how to manage the situation. She had no clue what she was really feeling toward him. It could be love, she wasn't sure. Or it could just be lust and caring. She mentally shruged.

Ko used to tell her that the more loss she suffered the more she'd be black and white with emotion. He'd said that she'd either completely shut people out or be very intense with her feelings. All Tala knew was that she needed to take a step back and just let the situation flow. She'd just hold back at bit and see what happened.

When she had calmed down a bit she spoke.

"Well looks like we've both had tough lives. But no one's life is completely sorrowful so I think we should say the good things in our lives. So let's see, I grew up with two loving parents, I've always had someone who cared for me in my life, I have two awesome best friends, amazing adoptive parents, I'm idolized back home, and I'm doing very well in university, studying a subject I love. Plus, I'm a talented singer, billard player, and fighter, not to sound cocky. And I'm pretty. Plus, I'm impurvious to illness and I've never been in a situation where I was starving. My life's pretty wonderful outside of the loss."

Tala slipped out of Arashi hold and faced him. She picked up her muffin and started to eat it. She smiled.

"What makes you happy in life? What brings you great joy?"

Henry finished his toast, then walked towards the courtyard, patting the still confused James on the shoulder. He leaned against the door jamb for a moment, watching Allan throw punches and kicks at a person he had only seen today, but seemed to be well acquianted with the dojo and it's patrons. He instinctivly started appraising the style of the stranger(Rico), noticing that he used the same style as he had seen Arashi and the sensai use. He also noticed the form of the punches that Allan was throwing drew roots back to many forms of russian martial arts. Huh, use one, teach another. I wonder why?

OOC: C'mon people, lets keep the story rolling.

James was thrown out of his self-made trance by Henry patting his shoulder. He blinked and stared at Henry who was leaning in the door jamb watching Allan train. "Okay. Who are you you? And why did you touch me?", Asked James in angry confusion.

Henry turns his head around to look at James.

"Me? My names Henry Richards, and I'm the guy on this team that runs around with a really big gun.*Chuckles* Seriously though, I come from Pottsylvainia, where I am the one man para-terrorist squad. And I, qoute, touched you, unqoute, because I was sympathizing with you. Allan really knows how to throw a guy for a loop.

Arashi smiled. Now they were out of embarassing territory, his old self was coming back.

"Hmm, what brings me great joy in life?" Arashi wondered for a moment, then,

"Strange as it may sound, that which brings me great sorrow is also that which brings me the joys of my life", he said. "In other words, Reiko. Many times I have wondered about her being really my mother, but most of the time, I just don't care. She's my little sister now, one of the greatest beauties of Atros, and that's all that matters. We're pretty close to each other, and I won't have it any other way."

"Of course", he said, turning a palm upwards and igniting flames on his palm, "the fact I am the best fighter in the region, and undefeated so far, is my pride in life. Being a celebrity in Atros also brings me a lot of love, and I'm also not a bad racer. I've got many achievements in life, even at the age of 20. Although I was never really much of an academic person", he laughed.

"To be honest, apart from the superhuman trials I've been through, I can't really say I have much to moan about. In fact, right now I'm feeling like something of a fraud", he grinned. "I'm of a rich, famous family, with a bloodline that's stronger than any other I've seen, I'm the person many others wish they could be", he sat back, and sighed.

"I can't believe I can withstand being so sad for so little", Arashi said. Then, he ignited flames on his hand again, and turned to Tala with a grin.

"Care for anything hot to eat?"

They sit quietly in the control room with Simon's laptop pinging away.
Mr Mercury sits back with his arms folded and finally speaks:
"You know, it would be really useful if someone took notice of this.." he says in a dry sarcastic tone.
Simon simply nods and looks sarcastically sincere.

Allan, finally taking a break from the Sensei's lessons, headed to his room and grabbed the OKTO, hauling it into the workshops. He'd need to figure out a way to block electricity...

He noticed Merc and Simon hunched over a laptop.

"What're you guys doing?"

Mr Mercury notices he is hunched rather than sitting back... hmmm how did that happen?
"Nothing, watchin the bad guys... havin a bud..."

IC: On board the Vengeance, 0800 hrs

In the darkened room, Zell stood at attention, as RV laid out an electronic map before him.

"Zell, listen carefully. The Ultima Cannon requires better software and more powerful chips, so we are going to have to find a way to get them. What you see here is the headquarters of the Royal Atros University Research Station. In that structure over there, is what we need."

Zell looked carefully, then gasped, "We are going to attack the University and attempt to take their supercomputer?!"

"Correct, Zell. We are not going to attempt to lift off the whole supercomputer away, of course. That would be pointless and wasteful. What we need there are the core components of the supercomputer, as well as software that was researched to guide the usage of an anti-ICBM laser."

"Something like the precursor to the Ultima Cannon?"

"Yes. The software, once you get it, will be tweaked to suit the Ultima Cannon. Now listen carefully, Zell, for you're going to be responsible for detailing this plan to the mercenaries......."

Half an hour later

Zell nodded at the end of RV's explanation, then said, "I will do as you say, and give the briefing at 10.30 AM, RV."

"Go."

OOC: Everyone is to have their villains ready at the conference room by their next post. DP, you can have Spiritwalker contact RV now. But don't attempt to describe how he looks like, he's gonna hide himself in shadow until the end.

Tala smiled sadly at Arashi.

"Wish I had a big bro like you. Or a sib at all. It would be nice to have some family."

She then smiled and shrugged.

"Oh well, C'est la vie. You can toast my buns if you want."

Tala watched as Arashi gave her a mischevious grin.

"I don't know what's on your mind, Mr. Hiyuuki. But I just wanted you to get me a toasted bagel."

Tala watched as Arashi gave her a silly pout as though he was disappointed. "Haha I'm sorry I hurt you! Now get me a bagel please."

Tala watched as Arashi got up and then returned with a seseame seed bagel with butter. Tala bit into it and smiled with joy.

"First you save me from Shinji, then you saved my life. But this is the nicest thing you've done yet!"

Tala then threw herself at him and hugged him hard. Then broked away laughing her butt off. She then ate ALL the food she had when she finished she saw Arashi staring at her in shock.

"Ummm...",She mumbled sheepishly. "I want ice cream."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So you and Allan are the powerless heroes, eh?",Laughed James at Henry. "So the lil pisher was just messing with me? Darn!"

James then returned to his tea.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan and Lin were talking more about there childhoods when an announcement came on telling them to go to the conferance room.

"Well looks like we'll have to train later.",Shrugged Faolan.

He and Lin then went to the Conferance room and sat down.

Steve Hill
Steve arrived at the airship and quickly found his way in: a broken window. He slid through and silently floated through the halls, listening intently to the spirits for guidance. He quickly found his way to the head honcho's room. The door opened and he plastered himself to a wall, spirit flames at the ready. The man who exited, however was in to much of a rush to notice him. Steve slid into the room.

"Hello, hello," Steve said, "Have I got a deal for you!" Without waiting for a response, he hovered over to the desk and puled a blue print out of the bag at his waist and through it down over the other papers. "I give you The Hellkey!" He looked to the man at the desk, but couldn't see anything through the shadow.

"Some friends of mine told me you're trying to build a lazer cannon. Do you really want to be so cliché? No, of course not. You want to be something unique. Why bother with such a lame weapon when, with a few small adjustments, you could have a device capable of bringing the world to its knees?" Steve floated back, hoping his mismatched body and voice wouldn't be a deterrent, as he waited for the shadowy guy to respond.

IC: At the bakery

Arashi continued staring at her. Slowly, he started to clap.

"Quite the performance there, Miss Tala! I shall never again underestimate the dietary capabilities of a pubescent girl.", he said with a grin. "Even Reiko would be hard pressed to match you, Hiyuuki that she is."

He stood up and offered a hand. "Very well. Ice cream it is. But don't expect me to heat it for you", he said jokingly.

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance, RV's personal room

Before the girl with a man's voice had a chance to react, she suddenly found herself pinned to the wall by a huge tentacle of wanton flesh. The tentacle was made up of muscle, bloodied and bulging, and cybernetic implants were evident all over it. What is strangest though, is that the tentacle seemed to extend back to the man known as RV.

"Firstly", RV started, "You are on my airship without my knowledge, much less my permission. Secondly, you insult my intelligence by hinting that I want to bring the world to its knees. That, is only my last resort, and my main aim is to blackmail the world. Lastly, I already have a weapon that can bring the world to its knees, and I am not concerned about originality. So tell me, why should I not kill you now and be done with it?"

The possessed Spiritwalker tried to reply, but only managed a squeak. Then RV said,

"I'll tell you why. Because I'm in a relatively good mood today. Therefore, I shall allow you a chance to amuse me."

The tentacle let go of Spiritwalker, dropping her to the ground, and seemed to shrink back into the figure of RV.

"Now, tell me what is in that head of yours. Amuse me enough, and I might consider letting you live."

She crawls through the air ducts delighting in the idea. Form the vent in her room to the conference room took a while and a few wrong turns but her sense of direction wasn't that far out. Filling the air duct with a long cube of crystal which rolled in on itself at the back and out at the front working like a 360 degree caterpillar track the shards gripping the metal to propell her along like some giant insect. Reaching the conference room she showers down on Lin and Faolan from a ceiling AC vent before reforming and saying "Taa-Daa!"

Like an angelic being of estruction and salvation, Xuanyu ascended up into the sky, speeding past the cumbersome Vengeance like a screaming fighter spewing destruction from its machine cannons... But as Xuanyu was no fighter, he was slowing the Vengeance down, freezing it in its position. With a grimace of disgust, Xuanyu dissolved his magic, allowing the airship to lurch forward once more...

Henry: Well, not quite powerless, in my case. My senses, especially eyesight, are keener then most humans, and my muscle mass and sense of balance are slightly higher then 'normal' people. But, no, I can't change shape, or throw fire, or anything like that. Just your slightly above average person, out to save the world, by taking down one bad guy at a time.*Chuckles* Yeah, and I wouldn't be calling Allan a 'little pisher', considering he can probably now beat you up any time, extra arms or not.

"Well I'm sorry I called you "powerless".",Laughed James. He then leaned back in his chair. "And I didn't mean "lil pisher" as an insult. Mean names are usually a term of affection back home. Second, I doubt he'd be able to kick my butt without his tentacle things. I don't doubt the guy can fight. I'm angled to see him out in the courtyard."

James nodded to the door and sipped some of his tea.

"But I'm a pretty darn good fighter. So I think I'd beat him." James leveled his gaze with Henry's. "In a fair fight of course."
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Tala walked with Arashi licking at her 3 scoop cone of Death By Chocolate. She was having a good time hanging out with Arashi. She hadn't had a day without worry in a while. They walked around talking about different subjects. They were walking through a park when Tala saw it.

"There's an amusment park at the edge of the city?",She demanded.

Arashi nodded.

"Is it open? Today I mean? At this hour?!"

Arashi nodded a few more times.

"Oh take me please! Take me to the amusmant park! Puh-lease?! Puh-lease?! Please Arashi?!"

Tala continued to beg Arashi hoping he'd break and take her. She needed a little excitement in her life that didn't envolve crime fighting.

That's cool. I was mostly kidding about you insulting him, but take it as you will. However, since you seem very confident in your fighting skills, I wouldn't mind taking you on. You feel like giving it a try?

Steve Hill
Steve stood up, massaging his neck. "You are too kind..."

I need a selling point. His thought was answered by a passing spirit and he listened intently for a few moments. Then, he swung back into his salesman pitch.

"Your lazer cannon may be frightening, yes, however it doesn't have nearly the scare power of the Hellkey. You see, the Hellkey opens portals to hell. What do people fear more than hell? That's right, nothing."

This "RV" seemed slightly interested, it was time for the kicker. "Not only is this a far superior weapon, but you could have whatever you desire in exchange for your help. You see, the demons who asked me to build this number promised me a wish for anything. Excluding more wishes, of course. If you will help me build this device, I will allow you to have that wish. Think about it: money, women, power, or..." he leaned over the desk, "Perhaps a cure?" He let the statement hang in the air for a moment before extending his hand. "What do you say?" Steve also braced himself, if the guy lashed out with his arm again, he'd be ready.

Lin leaned back in her chair boredly before turning to Faolan.

"Whaddaya think we're doing this time?"

_________________________________________________________________

Allan was now hunched over the laptop with Simon, while Merc sat back with his hands behind his head. (ooc: sorry 'bout that...)

Finally, Allan spoke.

"Well? Am I gonna have to tell everyone about this?"

"Would you? Oh that would be marvellous!!!" he says in mock pride and prejudice period drama accent before grinning widely.
"Yeah, knock yourself out." jabs thum in the direction of himself, "not a member of the team see?"

Mr Mercury sits in silence all the while.

IC: Near the amusement park

Arashi merely looked at Tala beg him, somewhat bemused at the apparent fact that Tala, despite her years and experience, was really just a little girl deep down inside.

"If this was an anime, I would be sweatdropping by now", thought Arashi. Still, there seemed no harm in it, and besides he had excess capital to blow.

"Very well, girl. What'll it be? The rollercoaster?"

(OOC: Thrope, if you really do want Tala to ride the rollercoaster, feel free to RP Arashi getting weak in the knees at the tougher rides :p)

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance, the conference room

Zell rushed in, panting.

"Sorry, people, I had kinda an emergency", he gasped, trying to regain his breath. Presently, he stood up, and walked up to the holoprojector table.

"Alright, this is your second mission."

The holoprojector table glowed, and a 3D map of a sprawling complex formed on it.

"What you see here is the campus of the Royal Atros University, the premier college in Atros. And, this is what we want", Zell pressed a button on his remote, and one particular building lit up red.

"In this structure, one of Atro's most powerful supercomputers reside, and it is used for many types of research conducted by the local professors of the college. What we need is software from the supercomputer, as well as some key components of the supercomputer itself."

"For this mission, RV will send professional field hackers in to complete the task of obtaining the software, and removing the requisite hardware for transport to the airship. Again, there will be Spetsnaz troops to back you people up. Your role here is to hold this building and its surrounding areas long enough for the hackers to complete their jobs, then ensure everything we need is safely transported back to the airship."

"We will commence the operation at 1700 hrs. Security will be present, but they will not hold up against the Spetsnaz troops, much less you guys, so don't bother about them. We are going for a straight-out invasion here, so take over the building fast. Unlike last time, the University is easily accessible, so expect police and the Hero Team to arrive soon after. If possible, take hostages among the professors and the students to use as hostages. There should be Special Ops units deployed against us, so watch out for snipers. Payment for this operation is again US$100 million. This is a survive-for-the-set-time operation, so good luck."

"Are there any questions?"

_________________________________________________________________

In RV's personal room

RV didn't speak for a while, and the possessed Spiritwalker started to think that this might be a success. Then, the tentacle of flesh suddenly shot out of the shadows again, and "Steve Hill" attempted to duck. But this time, instead of attempting to grab her, the tentacle split apart at the end, and she was staring into the barrel of a machine gun barrel, extending from the tentacle.

"And I suppose you think I am mad enough to actually unleash demons from Hell onto this earth?", RV demanded. "How much of a fool do you think I am?!"

Then, he calmed down, although the machine gun stayed fixed on "Steve's" position.

"You are right about the scare factor though", RV conceded. "Maybe. But only if you don't demand I use it straight away."

"I wanna go on "The Anialator"!", Yelled Tala jumping up and down. "This is going to rock!"

Tala began dragging Arashi toward a giant coaster in the center of the park. The closer they got the harder Arashi became to pull. She looked back at him and saw he had an anxious look on his face. Tala stopped and turned to face him. With a knowing smirk she murmured,

"You're scared!"

"No I'm not.",Responded Arashi defiantly.

"Okay.", Replied Tala with a shrug. She began dragging him toward the coaster again. She knew very well he was scared, she could smell it off him. But if he wanted to play it tough, then he'd have to deal with the downsides.

"And look the line's short as can be! We can probably get a seat up front!"

Tala heard Arashi gulp and smiled to herself. When the got on she saw that the front car was empty. She dragged Arashi to the front and stuck him in the seat. She then sat down, and before he could utter a work she locked the safety bar.

"Now we're safe and tucked in. Can't get out until the park attendant let's us out."

Tala sensed Arashi's fear and half-pitied him. But the great "Legend" said he wasn't scared of Coasters.

Tala had to admit that was the most frightening rollar Coaster she'd ever riden. The turns, the hills, the G-force. It had been amazing. Of Course Arashi looked like he wanted to die. She smiled sweetly at him and said,

"Would you like to pick out the next ride, Arashi?" Tala made an innocent face and batted her eyelashes.

OOC:I vote for the Tunnel of Love. Or a lame kiddy ride. Hehe.
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Faolan smiled at Lin after the presentation. "I guess that's what we're doing." He then looked at Zell and said. "That's for the broadly specific view. What are we doing individually?"

Steve
"Of course I wouldn't demand that," Steve spat, eyeing the gun barrel warily. "Doubt I could force you to do anything. Now, if you wouldn't mind getting that out of my face and showing me to you weapon, I can start to make the adjustments."

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Jezebel
Jezebel sat down on the porch and began to think. I wonder where Steve Hill's going for help. It'll have to be some renagade billonare or, she chukled, Some super villian with a lazer cannon hanging around. Her violet eyes widened.

"Damn!" She hurried inside to find Michiko to ask her about the villian the team was facing.

Allan bolted from the room and into the middle of the Grand Room.
He startled himself when his normally quiet voice rose to a bellow.

"GUYS!!! HERE! RIGHT NOW!!!"

Levin Bolt appeared with a long, echoing thunderclap.
"What happened? What happened?"

A few moments later, THC glided quietly into the room.

At the amusement park

Arashi clung on to Tala, weak-kneed and green in the face, mentally slapping himself for being such a wimp in front of a girl. "But then again, even if I'm a Legend, I'm still mortal, aren't I? I'm still entitled to my own fears", he thought to himself. But it was still embarassing.

"Well", he gasped, trying not to puke, "Anything but that, I suppose......."

OOC: Thrope, you choose. I'm never very good at RPing characters having fun :S)

_________________________________________________________________

At the Hiyuuki Dojo, the dining room

Used plates remained on the table while Michiko and Reiko continued engaging in gossip like the schoolgirls, which Reiko is, and Michiko is not. Then, Shinji came in with his sister Naomi.

"Morning, Shinji-san", Reiko and Michiko chorused, then they along with Naomi collapsed into another fit of giggling, while Shinji merely smiled, embarrassed.

"Well......I suppose I'll leave Naomi here with you girls then", he managed to say, then quickly made his escape.

Naomi joined them, and if it was a gossip session between Reiko and Michiko before, now with Naomi with them, it was a riot.

"Did you see this bracelet I got? It's so expensive......."
"Oh, you shouldn't have let him get away so easily......"
"Did you see his face when........"

Then Jezebel burst in, and demanded, "Michiko! What kind of villain are we facing here?!"

The three of them stared at Jezebel, shocked out of their giggle session. Slowly, Michiko reassumed her usual serious demeanour, and composed herself.

"The villain we are pitting our wits against is pretty much unknown, as to his identity. All we know is that he is known as RV. Whoever he is, he seems to have a lot of resources, given that he could hire super-villains to his cause, as well as the many squads of ex-Spetsnaz Russian special-ops troops we have faced."

"And?", Jezebel demanded.

"I don't know what you want to know", Michiko stated directly. "All we know is that the various moves he has made means that he's preparing for a big bang of sorts. The last time, at the Iradel Research Outpost, his minions were there to secure specially-made artificial diamonds which were said to be usable in an anti-ICBM laser......."

________________________________________________________________

The Hiyuuki Dojo, Allan's position

The Sensei rushed to Allan's voice, then saw Simon Bethlehem, as well as Merc together in the room. Putting his hands on his hips, his voice boomed,

"Merc. Explain. Now."

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance, RV's room

The gun barrel stayed in "Steve's" face without budging for a moment. Then, it slowly withdrew back into the tentacle, which again shrunk back, and disappeared into the shadows back to RV.

At the same time, a lift suddenly opened to "Steve's" side.

"Go then. I will join you later. And don't try anything funny."

Jezebel
"Laser?!" Jezebel slapped herself on the forehead, "What an idiot I've been!" Seeing the confused looks on the other women, she added, "It would take a few small adjustments to turn an average laser cannon into a Hellkey! I'll bet Steve's already contacted this 'RV.' We need to find him. Now." Then, she heard the Sensei's voice and rushed over to where he was.

"We got problems. Steve might already have a new Hellkey."

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Steve
At that moment, Steve was, in fact, on his way down to the laser cannon. He mentally patted himself on the back he entered the room.

"We're making some changes!" He shouted, slapping his blueprint on the table. People stopped and stared at him, unmoving. "Come on, people, don't make me tell your boss you're slacking." That got everyone moving again. Steve floated around the cannon.

"All right, the laser emitter's gotta go. As you can see on the blueprint, that's where the cockpit goes. I'm gonna need some thing to focus the spirits..." he noticed the diamonds. "Someone's one step ahead of me! Also, we'll need to change the barrel. It needs more of a bowl shape so I can mount this." He held up Phobia's eye. It was slightly smaller than a basket ball. "We'll also need a fairly advanced targeting system. I need to be able to target tiny fluctuations in the spirit channels." Someone shouted out that the were expecting a better computer shortly. "Excellent." With that, Steve went to work, focusing spirits to carve intricate symbols onto the sides of the weapon."

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei turned to Jezebel, and saw that Michiko, Reiko, and Naomi was chasing up to her as well.

"What? Explain, now", demanded the Sensei. Then he turned back to Merc and Simon.

"And the both of you. I'm expecting explanations later", he pointed at them. Then he turned his attention back to Jezebel.

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeace, the holding area of the Ultima Cannon

"Hey, wait a minute, who says you have the authority to command us here?", one of the supervisors suddenly asked "Steve". This flummoxed "him" for a moment, but just then, the voice of RV rang out over the loudspeakers,

"She's cool, boys. Do as she says."

"Er.....yes, sir", the supervisor stammered, then yelled to the workers, "You heard the man! Let's get it on!"

The workers redoubled their efforts, pleasing "Steve". Then, "Steve" noticed that the holding area was large enough to hold two of the Cannon he was working on.......then "he" noticed there actually were two Ultima Cannons in the hold.

"I see what you're looking at, girl", RV's voice rang out again over the loudspeakers. "Just work on the one you're doing now. Leave the other one alone. I'll need it, just in case you screw my first Cannon up. Carry on."

Mr Mercury clears his throat and pulls the laptop over.
He points at the screen pinging away in a 3d sonar scope.
"Co-ordinates of where the bad guys went after the facility."
He sits back again.
"See, some people took the thought to hit someone with some source gas, coupled with a tracer... While lovebirds are off chatting each other up, letting their guard down, taking time out in between attacks like nothing's happening and others turning into bad guys..."

Simon suppresses a grin, "Yeah the papers would love that...."

"Let's go on the Ferris Wheel.",Suggested Arashi.

"No way!",Defied Tala. "Those things are dangerous! But if you want to go on something slower...."

Tala scanned the park and then her eyes hit it. She smiled big. How could she go to an amusment park with a cute guy without going there.

"Let's go to the Tunnel of Love!"

Tala dragged Arashi over to the line and stood there with him. She smiled hugely at him.

"We're going to snog! We're going to snog!", Tala bounced around smiling happily holding on to Arashi.

Tala and Arashi got into the big coushy swan and they began to float down the dark tunnel. Arashi seemed to be leaning to one side. Tala leaned square to the center and the swan began to lean toward Arashi.

"We'll flip over if you don't sit in middle, Arashi."

Arashi moved caustiously toward Tala. Tala began to wonder if he was just playing around or was really trying to to get near her. Tala leaned on Arashi's shoulder when he was close enough and waited to see what he did next.

OOC: GU, take it from here. You can do whatever you want. Meanwhile I'll think of other rides. ^-^

Jezebel
When the Sensei's attention returned to her, Jezebel spoke quickly, "Michiko just informed me that your 'RV' stole some laser focusing crystals. Steve is infamous for his ingenuity. I fear he may have approached this 'RV' and converted his cannon into a new Hellkey."

IC: At the amusement park

"Erm.....alright", Arashi said, and sat over with Tala. Slowly he began to relax, and put his arm around Tala. He sat back and sighed.

"Y'know, this isn't so bad after all", he concurred. Then, almost as if by automatic, Arashi leaned over and nuzzled Tala's hair.

"Ahh......now that's the scent of a woman", Arashi sighed.

_________________________________________________________________

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei listened to Jezebel with a grim countenance, then grimaced. This was just getting worse and worse........

"Indeed", the Sensei said, "That's not good news, indeed. In that case, we may be facing quite a crisis. However, there's a silver lining in every cloud, as they say. In this case, the silver lining comes from RV himself. We don't know much about him, but so far, what we can deduce from his actions and threats point to the suggestion that RV's goals is not to destroy the world. Even if your evil Steve manages to convince RV to build the Hellkey, very likely he will not manage to convince RV to use it straight away. That's what we are banking on right now, since wherever RV is, he's managed to elude all detection systems."

Then suddenly, the Sensei seemed to realise something, and turned to Simon.

"Does that mean you know where they are right now?"

Tala nuzzled up closer to Arashi.

"You don't smell too bad yourself."

Then cautiously and quickly she pecked him on the lips. Then she waited....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
James walked over to where everyone had been talking. He didn't hear them, but they looked somber.

"What's going on?"

Henry remained in the doorway, far away from the excitement, and mulled over what he heard from across the room.
Does that mean we are going to try to take the fight back to the bad guy home front? There would probably be a lot of defense systems to take out... Just my specialty. And, what about this Hellkey thing? Even with the Sensai and all the others thinking it wouldn't work, I still wish I had cornered that Steve Hill/Spiritwalker thing. Well, whatever happens, things will probably be looking more lively around here.

OOC: I just realised something. Scotsnation, you must somehow find a way to have Simon NOT be able to find out where they are. It's far too early for the end yet.

OOC: Wouldn't the "source gas" tracer wear out after a while? Just an idea I suppose.

OOC: I don't know what any of you plan to do. But I suggest that we move forward with this topic.

OOC: Yes. Let's.

Allan stood back from everyone, listening. This was gonna be Epic.

OOC: Ok, someone contact DP and Scotsnation. This is getting too ridiculous by far, they're holding everyone else up.

ooc: HOW IS THIS MY FAULT!?! I'm waiting on Snotty just like the rest of you!

OOC: He said he stuck it on Faolan or Lin right? Why don't we just have them find it?!

Like an angelic being of estruction and salvation, Xuanyu ascended up into the sky, speeding past the cumbersome Vengeance like a screaming fighter spewing destruction from its machine cannons... But as Xuanyu was no fighter, he was slowing the Vengeance down, freezing it in its position. With a grimace of disgust, Xuanyu dissolved his magic, allowing the airship to lurch forward once more...
Remaining outside of the airship known as the Vengeance, Xuanyu hovered motionless in the night sky, his eyes closed, as he meditated, contemplating the full import of the past, present, and the future. Before his very eyes, Xuanyu relived the events of the past, his creation, his reign of terror, his capture, his imprisonment, and finally his release. As one of the oldest beings within the mortal plane, Xuanyu had amassed the brilliance and knowledge of millions of mortal lifetimes, his mind swiftly sorted through the information as he searched for his course of action.

With a start, Xuanyu's eyes flew open, as a solution to his predicament was reached. The balance must be restored. Albeit, the death of Omnus Stormrider and my release allowed for the threadbare balance to retain a certain equilibrium, only with the appearance of evil to undermine the good and pure, will a true equilibrium be reached. There are only three solutions to this problem... Xuanyu sighed heavily, the compiled stress of hundreds of millions of years weighing heavily upon his soul, as he realized the only solutions to his problem.

In a quiet conversational tone, Xuanyu outlined the paths to himself. "There is a three-fold path to restore the equilibrium to its true balance point. Alas, none of them are any that I would have chosen to utilize... The first solution is to kill the swordmaster known as Lance Crusade... The second solution, disavow my oath of epitomizing the balance in the universe and walk the paths of darkness... Finally, the third, imbue a heir to the thrones of the King of Kings and restore the coveted position to its former greatness and power. The result, the creation of a being that will rival any force of good and purity... Alas, the only viable choice is the last, but there is no one that can fill such shoes... For if I make a wrong decision, even I cannot comprehend the dire consequences of such an action..."

Simon simply smiles and says "Yeah, 's why I'm here" He reads off some co-ordinates

(OOC: OK you don't want the airship found just yet I understand, but it would help if the villains were on their way to the university and the airship moved. Faolan could simply be let on to it by another villain (RV?) and remove the tainted clothes... So they meet them at the Uni?)

OOC: Right, stop it you two, DP and Scotsnation. If it's anyone's fault it's mine. Just don't be cluttering up this thread with flames, yeah? It's my fault, end of story. Let's go on. Oh, and Scots, if you're expecting a long holiday next time, do OOC a warning to us, okay? Alright then, Scots, I'm taking your idea here.

IC: For the first time in his life that he remembered, Arashi blushed, and he immediately berated himself silently. Arashi, the famous player of Atros, blushing........? Then, he relaxed, and what he did next came naturally to him.

He looked at Tala with suddenly tender eyes, then cupped her chin in his hand, and kissed her, long and hard..........

_________________________________________________________________

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei's eyes hardened, then he breathed hard, pondering what to do next. At length, he said.

"If you do know where they are, very well then. You may stay, as long as you have a way to track them."

He turned to the others.

"Everyone, contact anyone else who is not here yet. We may consider making a move on RV soon. Let's go!!!"

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance, the conference room

Zell stared at each and every one of the mercenaries, noting and getting irritated by the fact that the arrogant one, the one whose name he could not remember for some reason (OOC: that would be Xuanyu), and the demon Phobia, seemed to be missing. No matter, RV had promised to him earlier that there would be reinforcements soon........

"No questions?", he cocked an eyebrow at everyone else, who all seemed to have decided to remain silent. "Very well then." He pressed a button on the tabletop.

RV came out of a shadowed lift landing, and he was just as covered in shadow as he was during his last meetings with the other mercenaries.

"Well then, we are moving towards the University now. Buckle up, people. This is going to be a tough one."

Just then, a tentacle of bloody muscle shot out from the shadow around RV, startling everyone present. The tentacle grabbed at Faolan, who was too shocked to get out of the way, and it tore off his jacket, threw it up in the air, and a flamethrower appeared out of the end of the tentacle. The flamethrower fired a jet of flame, totally immolating Faolan's jacket, before the entire tentacle withdrew back into the shadows.

"HEY!!! What's the idea?!?", Faolan protested.

"There is a tracer on your jacket", RV announced solemnly. "And on the rest of your clothes as well. You've just given away our position."

Faolan stood, stunned. "But.....but......it wasn't me......"

"Shut up. I know it wasn't you. One of the Hero Team must have managed to bug you somehow", RV said. "But, you will change out of those clothes if you want to stay. You will have an exact same change of clothes waiting for you in the bathroom. Take a shower as well.", RV ordered.

(OOC: GU, it would be nice for some people on the airship to notice a guy hovering in the air outside of the ship...)

Lin barely had time to react as a tendril of muscle shot from RV's position, ripping off Faolan's Jacket and incinerating it, and drawing back into the shadow.

She heard RV say something about a tracer on Faolan's clothes, and order him to remove them, and take a shower. A few images flashed through her head, but she shook them off. Now wasn't the time for that...

OOC: Erm, right, 5CN. What am i supposed to do? Shoot him down?

IC: On board the Vengeance, the bridge room

The engines whirred lazily as it always had, while the onboard crew sat at their monitors, checking every stat about the great airship.

"Erm, sir?" a young ensign called out.

"What is it?", the commanding officer said, walking over to the ensign.

"There's a man floating nearby our ship........"

OOC:
"RV had promised to him earlier that there would be reinforcements soon........"

Does that mean I should be working up a villian? ;)

James stood up after listening to Simon's explanation.

"I'll call Tala she's gone off with James!" James then pulled out his cell phone and dialed Tala's cell.
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Tala was almost certain that she'd seen Arashi blush. But she must have been imagining it. Just a trick of the eyes in this dim lighting. What she knew wasn't a trick was the sudden tenderness in his gaze. Then he cupped her chin and kissed her long and hard. Tala melted against Arashi, enjoying this amazing kiss. Just as it was getting good though Tala heard something weird. It was the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" from Disney's The Three Little Pigs. Except it was in beeps. Tala groaned angrily and pulled away from Arashi. She pushed the talk button on her cell and growled into the mouth piece.

"This better be good!"

Tala's anger slowly began to fade. She muttered "Uh-huh"'s and "oh no"'s. She began to become more and more sad. The ride ended just as she turned off her phone. Arashi helped her out of the boat. She then began to drag him away from the park.

"What's going on?", Demanded Arashi stopping.

Tala turned around and faced him.

"They found the villans. We have to get back to the Dojo." It was impossible to tell if the anger in Tala's voice was from the knowledge the villan's were at is again or from being interrupted with Arashi. It was most likely both though.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan smirked a bit at the small blush that formed on Lin's cheeks when RV mentioned him having a shower.

'That girl must have a keen imagination.' He then walked out of the conferance room and to his own to shower.

OOC: Erm, well, Potts.......actually, i've been meaning to add a new villain on my own. But you know what, if you can do it, go ahead ;)
Ok everyone, the villains are starting their mission at the Uni soon. Let's get it on!

IC: At the amusement park

Arashi sighed, then shrugged with a wistful grin.

"That's the life of a superhero, huh? Well, we better get going then. Let's go." He walked quickly back to the bike, with Tala in tow, and once they were ready, he sped off on his bike, Tala riding pillion.

_________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance

Once Faolan was out of the conference room, RV's voice boomed out from the shadows again.

"I would like you to introduce you to your newest team member. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Mira Illumna."

A petite figure, swaddled in an elaborate silk dress that looked on second thought like a wedding dress, appeared out of the shadow. Mira Illumna had a small mouth, large eyes, and long white hair. In fact, she seemed like a cute babe out of an anime.......if not for the fact that her eyes were soulless and withdrawn. In her hands, a mirror set in elaborately carved jade took pride of place.

"We will reach our next objective in half an hour. Until then, you may feel free to get acquainted with Mira.", RV said, and with that, he disappeared.

Mira looked around at the company, not deigning to say anything at all, waiting for someone to speak to her.

She steps forward and smiles at the new figure.
"Hey hey crystal tips, pleased to meet you. Name's Shard, pretty self explanatory and visibly obvious what I do. What powers ya got?"
She doesn't expect much back, looking at her she looks like one of those villains that takes themselves way too seriously...

On board the Vengeance, the conference room

Mira turned to Shard, but did not say anything. Instead, she turned her mirror to face Shard.

"I know your strengths and weaknesses", murmured Mira.

Suddenly, the mirror glowed, and a specter appeared in front of the mirror. To Shard's surprise, the next thing she saw was a replica of herself. Not quite an exact replica, however.......the pseudo-Shard had a slightly darker skin tone, and her eyes were glowing a deeply evil red.

The pseudo-Shard started morphing and twisting, and displayed all the powers Shard had, much to the original Shard's annoyance. The real Shard hit out at her doppelganger, convinced this was some trick......but was surprised when the pseudo-Shard dodged, and actually hit her back, landing a physical blow to her face, and sending her onto the ground.

Then, Mira closed her eyes, and the mirror stopped glowing. At the same time, the pseudo-Shard just.....vanished.

OOC: Erm, right, 5CN. What am i supposed to do? Shoot him down?
(OOC: Well you could allow RV to meet with him out there or something...)

She props herself up on her elbows and smiles up at Mira.
"Oh very well done" she says in mocking congratulatory tones.
She thinks to herself "And just for you telepaths. A bit up yourself no? You just made my list."
She then says out loud: "Mirror mirror on the wall who's the biggest prima donna of them all?"
She stands up and growls "Next time you do that don't close your eyes"
And with that she walks to the nearest outside window, head butts it into shards and dives out into the air and clouds, narrowly missing some random floating guy, quickly dissapearing from view........

OOC: Right, 5CN. Although I'll still have to keep RV's looks hidden for now........

DP, you might wanna consider RPing "Steve" going about building the Hellkey, since you don't have a character in the upcoming fight :p

IC: The exterior of the airship Vengeance, picking up speed

The appearance of the floating man caused quite a stir in the bridge room, whose crew went into a chaotic discussion as to what to do. Some vaguely recalled that the man seemed to be one of the mercenaries their boss RV had hired, although he was as yet nondescript to them. Finally a decision was taken to get RV himself to deal with the situation.

Loudspeaker antennas started to sprout up, and a booming voice sounded out over the loudspeakers, definitely loud enough for the floating man to hear RV's voice blaring out,

"You there! Come inside!"

Lin put her head in her hands. She didn't like this girl. She looked to be cold and impersonal. The type who would lock herself in her room between missions and go into long, poetically boring soliloquys about her tortured past, and how she knew all your powers and could use them against you.

She rolled her eyes. Typical Angsty Anime Chick. Bah.

_________________________________________________________________

Allan turned to the Sensei.

"Shall I fire up the Bird?"

Tala hung onto Arashi as they drove to the dojo. She was thinking about the past few days trying to figure it all out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
James pulled out a small chemistry set and began to work on a serum for Tala. He had much more experience with this stuff. When he finished Tala would have momentary immortality. How momentary he didn't know.


OOC: Faolan's showering. Feel free to play off that or I'll just have him return later.

Steve
A slow clap comes from outside the door. Steve enters and Zell quickly stands, recognizing his foe from the last mission.

"Calm yourself. This body is under new control." He turned to Mira, "Mira, mirror. You realize how corny that is, right?" He addressed the rest of the group. "Well, all we need is that new targeting system and the Hellkey will be finished. I hope you guys don't mind if I join your heist."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jezebel
Jezebel looked at the Sensei for a moment. "What makes you think Steve's gonna wait for this RV's okay?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kayla
And, from Michiko's crystal, a voice only she could hear yelled.

Why aren't you doing anything? I want my body back!

OOC: Ok, nice going everyone. Ok, this is how it's gonna go. The heroes will be getting ready to attack the airship, but the villains will get to the University first, and the heroes will have to be sidetracked in that direction. 5CN, TG me, i still have no idea as to what you are intending with your character.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The sound of a Yamaha race motorcycle resounded in the yard, and soon everyone saw Arashi and Tala rushing in to the meeting.

"What's up?" Arashi asked, and his question was answered by the Sensei, who said, "Buckle up. We're going after the villains, thanks to Simon here", pointing to the said Simon.

The Sensei then turned back to Jezebel.

"Simple, Miss Jezebel. Your Steve may be cunning, but RV is ruthless as hell. A while ago, before you guys even came here, we found the dead body of a villain who was known to be in the employ of RV. From rumors of what we heard, this villain had attempted to ignore RV's orders in order to pursue his own ends, and he paid his life for it. Since then, we also heard that RV has taken measures never to let anyone cross him like that again. That's why I can trust RV at the very least to ensure Steve will never have his way, by any methods possible."

Just then, Michiko's expression changed, and she went into a trance for a while, before her eyes cleared, and she turned to everyone else.

"People. We need to go. Kayla's getting impatient."

The Sensei nodded at that, and turned to Allan.

"Yes, please do. It requires some time to warm up."

Meanwhile, Michiko's eyes were blank again, as she communicated with Kayla in the Crystal.

"Don't fret, Kayla. We are going to be doing something soon. Just you see."
________________________________________________________________

On board the Vengeance, the conference room

Mira refused to say anything more, and merely took a seat at the table, going into her daydreams. Zell, getting over his shock at seeing an erstwhile enemy now on their side, now looked over at Mira, and sighed. This could be tough........he was responsible for getting them to work as a team, and this new girl was not helping any........

Clearing his throat, he addressed the rest,

"So i take it we are ready for this next mission?"

________________________________________________________________

The cargo hold of the Vengeance, holding area of the Hellkey and the Ultima Cannon

As the weird girl with a man's voice who called herself "Steve" left the area, a dopey-looking man with a laptop walked over to the as-yet unfinished Hellkey, which was what "Steve" called the modified Ultima Cannon. Seating himself in the newly-installed cockpit, RV's hacker linked his laptop into the Hellkey's hard drive, and started tinkering with the programming of the Hellkey. This new program would deny full access to "Steve", and instead transfer it over to RV........which is a good thing, the hacker personally thought. Whatever RV is, he seems to be sane enough at least to not be obsessed with releasing demons into this world, which is more than can be said for "Steve"...........

Allan nodded to everyone and headed to the HoverBird's Garage.

He sat down in the Pilot's Seat and began punching keys.

The displays and HUDs lit up, and the Hoverbird's engines began to hum, softly at first, then building to a deep purring sound.

He dashed upstairs again to grab the OKTO and his things. As he passed Simon, he remembered something.

"Can I borrow your sunglasses for a few minutes?"

Simon hands over the shades

James immediately walked over to Tala. He was holding her serum shooter in one hand with a vile of emerald serum in the other.

"Turn your head to the side please."

"Yes doctor.",Muttered Tala sarcastically.

"Haha, make fun of the guy who doesn't have his doctorate."

"Thanks for the permission.", Giggled Tala with a wink before putting her head to the side.

James smiled and administered the serum. Tala hissed in a breath and shut her eyes. Through gritted teeth she muttered, "It stings!"

"Wait.", Replied James in a clipped tone. Soon the pain ebbed away and Tala felt amazing.

"Wow!", She murmured in aww. "This is great."

James then placed a Celtic Cross over Tala's head.

"Platinum?", She asked admiring the craftmanship.

"Actually, it's silver.", Explained James to Tala's shock. "Should you see any signs that this is wearing off then you'll know to leave. We don't want last night to happen again."

James ruffled Tala's hair and told her to get into her heroine outfit. When she was gone he walked up to Sensei Hiyuuki.

"Sensei, if it's alright I'd like to come with the team. I'll stay in the Hoverbird. I just want to make sure that, should Tala or anyone needs my help, I'm there."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faolan entered the Conferrance room again. His hair was wet and slicked back, he had on shades, and he was wearing new clothes. He had not put on the "exact same clothes" as RV had advised him to. He had not done this to be rebellious, only because he wanted to wear what he was wearing now. He sat down by Lin and played with his silver hooped earing(OOC:like a pirate). He examined the room and saw there was a woman sitting there who hadn't been there before. He leaned in toward Lin.

"Lin, babe, Who's the new girl?"

[ooc: GU? I assume you mean the hydraulics and targeting systems of the Hellkey, as the rest of it is essentially just a funnel to increase and focus a mystic's power.
IC:
Jezebel
Jezebel hurried out to her motorcycle and pressed a button on the sidecar. The sidecar unfolded, revealing numerous weapons. She quickly grabbed knives (throwing and regular, most silver) and a pair of silver hand guns. She looked at the guns for a moment, even if they weren't fighting demons they could still be useful. She went to the other side of her bike and unhooked something. She held a weapon which only by size could be called a broadsword. It looked like an over-sized kitchen knife: flat across the top with a sloping razor edge on the bottom. It's handle ended with a spike and there was a second handle built into the top of the blade. She strapped it onto her back and hurried back inside to the HoverBird.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve
Steve clapped his hands and grinned.

"I'm ready."

Henry was getting ready to go almost before the Sensai made the official call to arms. He once again carefully checked his equipment, and gave his fighting knife a couple swift strokes on a strop. He was going to be ready for some close quarters fighting tonight.

He then ran downstairs, and climbed into the hoverbird. Noticing Jezebel's astonishing variety of edged weapons, he noticed a lot of the knives in particular.

Henry: Silver? How do you keep those knives from bending?

OOC: I have a villian idea, but he still needs some refining. He will likely end up like a street kid, so I was wondering if RV's "talent scouts" would find him, or if I should change the profile. Silver knives... butter knives maybe. :D Heehee, as I make knives, I get a kick out of that...

Allan left the room, and returned a few minutes later, wearing the OKTO and the rest of his "costume". A tentacle extended toward Simon, with his Shades in the Fine Manipulation Claws.

"That should do it."

He headed into the Living Room and reached into his coat, pulling out the ENL.

He opened the breech and checked the cartridge.

Last one. Better make it count.

He slapped it shut and waited for everyone to finish preparing.
_________________________________________________________________

Lin smiled at Lan as he sat down.

Ah, the "Pirate Look". Sexy.

"Her name's Mira. She's an angsty kid with a magic mirror. Clever pun, ne?"

She punched Lan on the arm.

"And don't ever call me 'Babe' again."

OOC: Erm, yeah, DP, that's what i meant, but anyways........

Potts, TG me with your villain idea, and I'll look it through to see how he can fit in, if at all.

IC: At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei turned to James, and smiled.

"We'll be glad to have you on board, James. It always helps to have a trained medic on standby, and the Hoverbird can definitely hold one more person."

Meanwhile, the three Legends, Arashi, Shinji, and Michiko were gathered together in a huddle, discussing the plans.

"Okay", Michiko started, "We are going to be attacking RV's stronghold for all we know now. And you know what we might have to face."

"Xuanyu", Shinji growled.

"Yes, Xuanyu himself. Xuanyu, who was in his time a match even for the legendary hero Lance Crusade. None of us alone can match the power of Lance, much less Xuanyu, and even together as we are, in the Trinity of the Charm to which we are bound, we are still going to be facing an uphill battle against Xuanyu."

"So what are we supposed to do? I thought you said the Charm would help to defeat Xuanyu.", Arashi observed.

"It will, but it'll take some time, and the very limits of our abilities to work", explained Michiko. "As I said the last time, it is not inconceivable that Xuanyu could have us defeated before that happens. As such, I have yet to find a reliable counter to Xuanyu's powers, but perhaps this would help."

She reached behind her neck, and unbuckled the chain on which hung the Crystal of Wisdom. Seeing it as a cue, Shinji and Arashi did the same with their Crystal of Honor and Crystal of Courage respectively, and held it out to Michiko. She then put the hands holding the Crystals together, and covered them with her other hand, chanting a prayer all the while. When she was done, and they had put their Crystals back around their necks, both Shinji and Arashi marvelled at the fact that their perceptions seems to have......melded with each other's, and with Michiko's as well.

"You know this power of the Crystals", Michiko stated, "We used it on our battles with the Dark Power. With this, we will fight as three parts of one entity, just as our Crystals are but three parts of the Artifact of the Charm. Hopefully, we will be able, through this, we can hold on long enough against Xuanyu's power, to bring forth our own true power.

Faolan rubbed his arm. "Alright Lin I won't. I'm just used to calling everyone a pet name. Looks like I'll have to think of a new one, eh pet?"

As Faolan said this his accent came out more. It drawled over the affectionate term and his onyx eyes sparkled at Lin. They then flashed with amusment as he put up his arms in a mock shield and acted scared.

"Please Lin don't hurt me again.", Faolan laughed then added. "As for they Mira girl. That is the lamest and dumbest pun of a name I've ever heard. Just for future reference ,other then Lin, what can i call you?"

Lan leaned on his hand and stared at Lin with great interest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
James muttered thanks to the Sensei then explained. "Though I am a trained medic. I don't technically have my degree in Bio-chem or Medicine yet."

"Yeah, but if you took more time to do your classes and study you'd be done by now!"

James turned to see Tala coming toward him in her heroine outfit. She had pushed her shades to the top of her head and was laughing sweetly.

"Oh yeah, Well atleast I didn't run off to play the hero.",Retorted James.

Tala pushed her shades back on her eyes. She when she reached James she pushed them to the end of her nose and winked at him.

"Yeah. You did.",She answered with a laugh.

"Oh. Yeah. Right. Sorry."

"Damn right you are.",Teased Tala. "Now come one and get into the Hoverbird."

James shrugged. He quickly thanked Sensei again and ran off behind Tala. They then climbed into the Hoverbird and waited.

Simon
Simon puts the shades back on and runs through the images that have been restored. He nods at Allan.
"Thanks"
He waves and leaves the hoverbird and heads for his motorcycle, the pinging co-ordinates of the target on the controls of the hoverbird copied from his laptop. The signal is getting fainter so and Simon preffers not to be all eggs in one basket in a prototype hoverbird with a bunch of unlucky heroes.

Mercury
"I'll follow the bird. When we get there I'll see what I can do externally. Good lucjk everyone."

Wow...

Lin's heart skipped a beat when she heard Lan's accent. She smiled at him as she reached out and ruffled his hair.

"I've had a few nicknames... but I'm not telling you any of them just yet."

_________________________________________________________________

Allan sat boredly, cleaning his sunglasses. The OKTO's arms wrapped around each other to form a "chair", on which he sat. He looked around at everyone else in the Living Room.

"So. Any sort of an Overplan, or are we doing this off-the-cuff as usual?"

IC: On board the Vengeance

Suddenly, the PA system booms out with RV's voice.

"This is it! We are at the Royal University of Atros! You know what to do! Go go go!"

OOC: Okay, the villains are to attack the University and secure the area where the supercomputer is. At the same time, the heroes are to be almost ready for the attack on the airship when a sudden news report of the Villains' attack on the University flashes on the TV. Thus, the Heroes will go there instead.

There were now two blips on his laptop screen perched precariously oon his motorbike handlebars.
One was very faint but it was still there... He decided to check it out and changes direction towards the University...

(ooc: you wanted it on TV)

OOC: I meant on the news, Scotsnation :p Ok, i want everyone's villains to RP the attack on the University before i run the news report at the Hiyuuki dojo.

Without acknowledging anything, Xuanyu continued to think as he slowly followed the airship, his eyes closed as he continued to contemplate the conundrum that he now unwillingly faced...

(OOC: By the way, GU, Xuanyu never fought Lance Crusade... Xuanyu has only battled some of the dragonlords along with Arithon)

Steve
He dropped from the airship like a stone, landing outside the ivy-coated building. Humming under his breath, Steve spread out his hands and the front of the University was consumed by purple spiritfire. Steve slammed his fists together and every front window shattered as the front door was ripped from its hinges. Steve wrapped himself in his spiritfire and floated through the doorway.

OOC: 5CN, note i did not say Xuanyu fought Lance Crusade. I merely said that he was a match for him had they fought.

Lan winked at Lin.

"I await the day you feel comfortable enough to tell me."

It was then that RV's voice came over the PA. Lan mentally cursed, he'd rather talk to Lin at the moment.

"Well, it looks like we're going now. Want to stick together? I have a bad feeling that little pisher's going to be with the hero's. And an even worse feeling he's going to pull some stunt on me."

Lan cringed.

"I swear I'm going to hurt him!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tala yawned with boredom and climbed out of the Hoverbird. She was rather angry now. Not only had her day with Arashi been cut short. It now appeared to be for not. No one was making a move yet and she was getting bored. She then saw James jump out of the Hoverbird too.

"Setting up your med lab?",Questioned Tala boredly.

"Aww, poor puppy you're bored.",Teased James, before shrugging. "Eh...I'm up for dancing with wolves."

Tala giggled. "It is a good way to pass the time."

Tala then transformed into her wolf form. She walked up to James and stood on her hind legs. She placed her front paws on his shoulder and they began to dance around. It either looked very fun, weird, or dangerous. Tala knew it was all three, and more.

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

As the heroes got themselves ready, rushing about for their equipment, nobody had noticed that the TV was left on. It was such that when Arashi ran past it, he took a look at the flash news report currently being broadcast, and his stomach turned to ice.

Turning tail, he yelled to everyone, "We have a problem here! RV's minions are attacking the Royal University of Atros already! We have to get there first!"

Jezebel
"What!?" Jezebel rushed in and saw the purple fire on the T.V., "Steve." She rushed out to her bike and grabbed the Sonic Splitter. She hurried back into the hoverbird, shouting,

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for!?"

Lin smiled and grabbed Lan in a hug.

"Don't worry. Lin-chan'll make sure he doesn't get you again."

She nodded to the door.

"Shall we?"

_________________________________________________________________

Allan looked up at Jezebel, as the "legs" of his OKTO-Chair began moving, walking toward the Garage.

"For someone to say..." his voice rose to a shout. "EVERYONE QUIT SCREWING AROUND AND LET'S GO!"

OOC: Everyone RP your heroes getting on baord the Hoverbird. As for the villains, RP them securing the supercomputer complex. I do not want the heroes arriving at the scene before the villains have secured the complex.

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

"Word!"

Allan barely managed to hear that, before Arashi, Shinji, and Michiko all plowed through him in their haste to get on board. "Sorry", Michiko barely managed to say. The Sensei also arrived at the scene, and literally leapt into the pilot's seat, toggling switch after switch. The engines of the Hoverbird started to increase its power, and a loud roaring noise filled the garage. With James coming on board, Reiko was staying behind, and manning the control center in the Hiyuuki Dojo to coordinate the Hero Team from a distance away.

The Sensei leaned his head out of the Hoverbird, and yelled, "Right! Everyone get in by the count of ten, or we're leaving without you!!!"

He went back in again, and turned his gaze at Allan.

"Dr. Fisher, or shall I say, Kraken. Would you have the honor of assisting me in the piloting of the Hoverbird again?"

Lan slung his pack over his back then offered his arm to Lin.

"We shall."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the sound of Sensei threatening to leave her and James behind, Tala decided to stop messing around. She hopped off James and dove into the Hoverbird. She was still in wolf form when she landed on Arashi. The minute she hit him she changed back.

"We must stop meeting like this.",She giggled rolling off him. "So looks like we have a long night ahead."

James climbed into the Hoverbird and saw Tala stretching out on the floor. He laughed because the moment Tala moved away from Arashi and finished speaking. She stretched out and said,

"Don't let the sleeping wolf lie. I need some rest before our battle but I don't want to miss the action."

She then changed into her wolf form and fell asleep.

Jezebel
"Dr. Fisher, I like you. You understand what needs to be done." She smiled a fanged grin. Then Tala burst in. "These clowns, on the other hand.."

She left the cockpit, unhooking the heavy sword from her back. When everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her, she shook her head as laid the weapon on the ground.

"Still don't trust me, do you?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve
"Stop right there!" Steve turned to see a man with a gun leveled at him. The man's eyes widend as his hands and gun became wreathed by purple flames. Slowly, Steve forced the gun up under the man's chin and pulled down on the trigger.

Allan sat down in the copilot's seat.

"I would be honored to, Hiyuuki-Sensei."

He turned around in the seat to everyone in the back of the Bird and faked a bad Jamaican accent.

"'Ey, jus' lettin' ya know now, Tha engines need a li'l work, so 's'gonna be a bumpeh ride!"

James spat at Jezebel.

"I don't know about the others ,but I don't trust you.", He scowled darkly at her. "And Tala is not a clown. She's only a child at heart. She's immature at times, but she does now how to act in a combat situation. She acts as an adult when she must. There's nothing wrong with that."

James' stare became even more hatefilled. "And I don't care what you meant by your actions a second ago. But you ever, EVER dare to draw a silver sword after shooting a pointed gaze at Tala. You will regret it. And that's not an empty threat."

James then returned to his med-lab and began to organize everything.

Jezebel
The woman smiled a playful smile as she looked down at her sword. "For a smart kid, you sure don't know you metals. This is iron, not silver."

She turned her gaze onto James, all playfulness gone from her violet eyes. "Don't worry, I have no need to kill your pet. She's not in my nation and not my consern."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kayla
The teen's spirit paced rapidly around her crystal prison. She senced a change in the Spirit Channels, a sudden rush of souls with a similar story.

He's killing so many...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve
He stood before the computer lab, a trail of bashed and mangled bodies behind him. He paused, waiting to see if anyone else was coming.

Henry was waiting outside the hoverbird when the battle cry rang out, but he hustled the rest of the conveniently close heros into the flying machine, before getting in himself. He banged the door shut and gave a go ahead signal to the sensai and Kraken. Then he turned on the others, particularly James and Jezebel.

Henry:Okay boys and girls, you can resolve your little whining contest when this is over. Believe me, we are a team, and anybody who hurts a teammate of mine, unless someone else is very quick about killing them, will answer to me. Oh, and Jezebel*a slight smile plays an his lips for a moment*, if that sword was iron, wrought or cast, I would question the one that made it. I believe the proper wording would be steel. There is a difference you know.

Jezebel
"Ah yes, that would be the correct metal," she shook her head and sat down. "I must apologise, I should not be fighting with you. I am just very worried, there's a madman on the loose with the resources and will to destroy our world."

At the supercomputer complex of the University

From a distance away, several blotches could have been seen in the sky. These blotches resolved themselves into Black Hawk and Chinooks helicopters, which seemed to grow larger as they neared the complex. They could have been easily seen.......that is, if anyone attempting to escape the clutches of the mad girl on the rampage bothered to look.

The choppers landed around the complex, and Spetsnaz spilled out of them like water. They soon mopped up the effects of "Steve's" work efficiently, and proceeded to start securing the complex against attack. Security forces would arrive soon.

Out of one of the Black Hawks, stepped Zell, along with Lin, Faolan, and Mira. Once they had disembarked, a team of professional field hackers disembarked from another chopper, and ran into the complex, heading for the control room where they will start with their work.

Zell sighed, and held a rose to his nose. "Let's move out", he commanded the mercenaries with a sigh, heading for the control room.

________________________________________________________________

At the Hiyuuki Dojo

The Sensei looked behind, and noted that everyone was on board (OOC: If your character isn't on board yet, just assume that he or she is). Then, he said to Allan, "Let's go then, Kraken-san!"

The Hoverbird lifted off, and contrary to Kraken's not-too-serious warning, the Hoverbird lifted off a lot more smoothly than the last time. With a movement of the joystick, the Hoverbird turned in the direction of the University, and jetted off.

Soon after, monitors popped out from the roof of the cockpit, as well as the passenger area. The monitors flickered, then lit up to show the faces of Reiko Hiyuuki, as well as Rico Anderson, and Shinji's sister Naomi.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen", Reiko started with a cheeky grin on her face, "I am Reiko Hiyuuki, and I will be your coordinating officer for the day. This is Rico Anderson, and Naomi Hikurai, my assistants for the day."

Then her face turned serious.

"According to sources from flash news reports, RV's minions are out in full force at the supercomputer complex of the Royal University of Atros. It appears as though they are getting themselves ready for intense pressure from security forces, like the local army, or the police force, as well as us. Be advised, police and army are likely to be in the area trying to counter the minions, so avoid friendly fire. Be advised also that the Spetsnaz in the area are heavily armed, and seems willing to defend the complex against all odds. The supervillain mercenaries of RV are also present too. Sources indicate the presence of Zell "Cardsharp" Alderin, Lin "Livewire" Sukohara, Faolan Slayer, as well as a new supervillain named Mira Illumna, and the entity known as "Steve Hill", in the body of Spiritwalker. The being known as Xuanyu is as yet unseen, but I expect he will appear at the complex soon enough. That is all for now. We wish you guys a successful mission."

OOC: Alright, i expect you guys know what to do :p

ooc: Erm GU, you don't read my posts very clearly do you? Or do you just ignore the fact that Shard smashed a window with her head and jumped out shortly after meeting "mira"?

Simon
There is a squeal of tyres as his bike tears up the drive into the University grounds

Mercury
He flies behind the hoverbird for a while until he picks up the scent of that annoyance with the purple flames and zoomed off ahead of the bird to intercept it. "round two sucker"

Steve
The spirits were full of info: police numbers, the arrival of the Hoverbird and- what's this? Steve's purple spiritflame flared up and he floated out of the room.

"I know you're here," He looked around, but got no confirmation, "Anyway, last time we met, you made a good point: my flames are too slow. But here's the thing: you can't touch me either. If you do, these flames will strip you of your soul and all we'll have is a pool of mercury to remember you by." He floated out a window and onto the street. He began to hum and smiled as a cruiser flipped over on the cops who had been using if for cover.

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Jezebel
After hooking her sword on her back and grabbing the Sonic Splitter, Jezebel exited the Hoverbird. She stopped short as the cruiser flipped and saw Steve laughing as he unleashed his wrath on the cops.

"He must be stopped... at any cost!" As she shouted this and ran into the fray, a blue flame shot from Michiko's crystal.

You leave my body alone!

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Steve
"Mwahahahaha!" Steve felt... giddy as he flung both people and vehicles aside. It was simple joys like this that he had left the afterlife for.

"Counter pulse on," Steve heard a voice and turned to see a woman pointing a large tuning fork at him. He was brought to his knees by a horrible screeching sound.

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Jezebel
The Sonic Splitter rattled in her grip. Too much longer and it would be destroyed by its own sound. Then, a blue spark entered Steve. Jezebel turned of the Splitter, deactivated the counter pulse, and put a hand on the now motionless body's shoulder.

"Kayla?" The head snapped up, hatred flaring in the eyes beyond that silver mask.

"No." And Jezebel was flung back by a wave of purple fire. She hit a wall hard and groaned as Steve slowly walked over to her, hands outstretched. A purple firestorm whirled into his palms. "Pardon me if I make this hurt."

OOC: Sorry Scots. I'll edit it as soon as I may.

Allan leapt from the Bird, Drawing the ENL in mid-air and landing behind Steve as he approached Jezebel. He thumbed the intensity up to full.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"
He pulled the trigger and FOOM! An electrified net flew toward Steve.

Then Allan realized Steve could probably burn right through it.

Scheiße...

IC: At the Royal University of Atros, the supercomputer complex

As the Hoverbird touched down near where the police force were making their stand behind their cars, Jezebel and Kraken leapt off before anyone else did. The Legends were not too far behind, and as they leapt out, all three saw that the both of them were keeping "Steve Hill" busy. Michiko pondered helping them out, then decided against it, and ran with Arashi and Shinji into the complex entrance.

There, Spetsnaz started firing upon them, but a few Fireballs soon kept them quiet, as they continued their headlong rush to the rest of the villains........

_________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, inside the control centre

Zell and Mira was with the hackers at the control room, watching over them while the other mercenaries went about their jobs, just in case any of the Heroes managed to bust in. As he took a look at the CCTV cameras, Zell groaned when he saw the Legends already inside the complex. The last time, they were held up by......something.......but Zell had no illusions about his chances against them. Mira, however, seemed unperturbed.

"They are coming", was her bland, dry observation of the situation, which annoyed Zell no end. Sighing, Zell picked out a pair of dice, rolled them over and over in his hand, and stared at the door.......

OOC: Okay, no one is to fight Mira except me.

(ooc: any of this you don't like I can edit)

Can't touch you eh? What does s/he know? he thinks to himself. I am a soul controlling and inhabiting a bunch of atoms of a substance, did I say I had to be in contact with them to control them? No.
He solidifies a short distance away from SpiritWalker as the electronet distracted him/her and point his arms. He fires his arms off. They fly toward their target and wrap themselves around her arms, pinning them to her. He kicks and his leg from the knee down wraps itself around her ankles bringing her to the ground. These bonds then supercool to 4 degrees Kelvin. Try burning those off he thinks as he goes gaseous again to avoid any attack. Right, now, where's Sparky? he flies into the building heading in the general direction of Lin and Faolan

Henry jumped out of the hoverbird just after ( ), then ripped one of his two small explosive packages off his vest, and tossed it into the nearest group of ex-spetznatz, before unslinging the rifle, and ducking into a kneeling shooting position. . He then quickly unloaded one magazine’s worth of ammo towards the slinking groups of ex-spetznatz. He then quickly ejected the used magazine, and popped in a new one.
………………………………...................
The thin figure of Jimmy McFarland was asleep in the lobby of the Royal Atrosian University, mostly unfilled papers of admission in front of him. How was he going to get around the fact that he hadn’t attended a regular school since 4th grade? What could he tell the admissions office to conceal the his original home nation? And even if he was accepted, where was he going to get the money? Maybe it was about time to try another country. He’d been through two other countries in the last week, why not? But he would at least take advantage of the comfortable couches before trying to hitch hike his way out of Atros. He had left Pottsylvainia almost a month ago, traveling only with 2 pairs of jeans, three t-shirts, a small duffel bag for what little extra clothes he had, and what he carried in his pockets. Mostly he had hitchhiked his way to Atros, begging or stealing food, and sleeping anywhere he could. Only one being lucky enough to ride in the cargo section of a small plane. It wasn’t fun being a bum, and he wanted to settle down. In Atros he had figured on being far enough away from Pottsylvainia to start over. He had grown tired of the gang scene, and wanted to try and live by the rules, to be independent without living on the streets. He hadn’t realized how hard it would be. He was even to young to be given a decent job in many countries. Now all of a months stress and internal frustration was coming to a boil. And all he wanted to do was sleep, to get away from it all for a couple hours. He hadn’t been asleep for long though, when he was rudely awakened, by an explosion. Opening his eyes to see flickering purple lights in the hallway, and hearing the sound of shots, he decided that he was not in the place to be. He sprang up from the couch, grabbed his bag from its place underneath the couch,and, as quietly as he could, ran down the opposite hallway. What he found was mass confusion. The campus guards and what seemed to be a numerous body of well armed terrorists were engaged in a running gunfight all over the campus. He did his best to make it out of the school without fighting, but in the last leg of his journey to the outside, he ran smack dab into three of the tactical squad types. Even as they were raising their guns, he had dropped the duffel, and was in among them, a tiny switchblade knife balanced delicately in his right hand. He jumped at the first one, twisting in mid-air Olympic high jump style, bending his knee to try and hook his leg around his face. He then reached out for the two others, slashing at the face of the man on his right, punching at the throat of the man on his left.


OOC: I am posting my new villian's stats and stuff in the origanal thread, in case anybody was wondering.:)

James lightly shook Tala's wolf form.

"Wakie, Wakie."

Tala stirred a bit then awoke. Still in wolf form she rose ,then sat in front of James. She turned her head to the side in confusion.

"Yes you'll be fine.",Assumed James hating the guessing game. "Now go."

Tala stood and dove off the hoverbird. She saw the battle raging between "Steve Hill" and some members of the hero's team. She had a good feeling that they could handle the situation. She sniffed the air trying to locate Faolan.

'Interesting!',She thought as she ran around. 'There's a female near Slayer. And there are two new scents, I can't be sure if there villans or not. But they're there.'

Tala ignored the new scents and followed Faolan's. She was going to stop him.
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OOC:Graz, I'm going to RP a few words for Lin. Thanks

IC: Faolan walked around with Lin, not exactly sure what they were supposed to do.

"Did Zell tell you what our personal mission was.",Asked Lan with a bored sigh. "There's got to be more to this mission then wandering aimlessly."

Faolan saw Lin shrug and smile.

"What?",Asked Lan.

"Well if we hadn't distracted each, we have heard what we had to do."

Faolan muttered a "yeah right", then suggested he just call Zell. He placed his bag on the ground and went through it. He searched throughly then cursed.

"What is it?",Questioned Lin.

"I lost my damn cell phone. What the hell do we do now?"

Like the wrath of gods, Xuanyu arrived over the university complex, his energy sizzling through the air as he slowly warped his internal and external chemistry. A dark, suffocating miasma slowly permeated the cold night air, as Xuanyu, like a god, began to play with nature. Slowly, but surely, Xuanyu was becoming like Arithon, a being that he had loathed and defeated years before. For Xuanyu was fully embracing the dark side of his nature, bringing forth and emanating a chilling, malicious power that wrapped around Xuanyu. With a smile of content, Xuanyu continued his acts of god, propelling his dark energies to inconceivable levels.

With a roar of defiance, Xuanyu, for the first time in history, became evil, a malevolent power that could change the very course of history... As his eyes glazed over with a hatred against the light fueled by nearly three billion years of imprisonment, Xuanyu slowly joined his palms together, concentrating the last vestiges of his former nature together. And with another roar, released his previous life, creating a new course for the universe's greatest paradox, a paradigm of hypocrisy, a symbol of the equilibrium of the universe...

With his newfound embracement of his dark side, Xuanyu began to call forth a storm of epic proportions. As the lightning slashed through the dark sky, its eerie light illuminating the mortal world below, Xuanyu hovered motionlessly in the night sky, oblivious to the growing tempest around him.

With supreme patience, Xuanyu waited for time to pass... For, vengeance, well aged was so sweet...

...and his leg from the knee down wraps itself around her ankles bringing her to the ground.
Steve
Or it would have, if Steve hadn't had a handful of spiritfire. The Spiritflames stopped the electronet and wrapped around him as the mercury limbs did, giving him a tiny bit of space. It was all the space he needed, however, to simply rise out of the shinny doughnuts.

"I will wait no longer to release my wrath!" He shouted as he took off back toward the University.

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Jezebel
She would later recall that, after Steve left, the sky... broke. There was no better word for it. It was clear and calm and then -BAM!- it just opened up. At that time, however, she didn't even notice. She was focused on only one thing: saving the world from Steve's evil. She ran toward the spetznatz, her heavy sword in two hands, and threw herself into the air. She landed, like the angel of death herself, with a flash of lightning. The next bolt revealed three bodies, all decapitated. She took no pause, but hurried into the University to bring Steve down.