A Game of Gods: Infinities

Chun-Li, Riverrock—Military District, City Watch Headquarters

Chun-Li had put Edward down once he was willing to behave, and then rubbed her shoulder.

"Thank you," Chun-Li said to Captain Stalgrim as glanced over at Envy's bottle to see him laughing. Chun-Li picked it up and shook his bottle like a soda can.

"You don't get to laugh, Envy," Chun-Li told Envy as she shook it and then she put the bottle back down.

Sabrina, Scaled Nations—Moot Hall, Corridor

Sabrina and Alakazam looked rather freaked out at Lune's maniacal laughter as she killed the Fiendish Deinonychus. Sabrina silently returned Alakazam to the Crystal Orb and turned away, not happy that a creature was going to be killed in front of her. She was wondering if Lune was the more fiendish one

Riverrock

"Waaah!" Envy cried as he was sent hurtling into the walls of the glass jar. "What is it with you humans and shaking things?!" He yelled out loud, curling into a little ball on the corner. " Just you wait, until I get out of here. You'll be the first one I eat, bitch. "

Leo - Riverrock—Military District, City Watch Headquarters

Leo rolled his shoulders a little, checking on his physical status.

What damage he'd sustained from the battle with Tzitzimil was, for the most part, better.

"Think you'll be needing backup? I think I can handle another fight." Leo asked of Farron as she and her unit got ready to leave.

Xigbar gave a loud whistle as he witnessed the arrival of the Eidolon and it's subsequent transportation transformation. "Well color me impressed, fro-man. I've got my trusty space pocket with a fair portion of our loot. Hope you don't mind me hitching a ride..." He began to climb atop the the fantastic machine-creature with the intent on cashing in on the spoils of the team's victory.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide at the sight of Brunhildr. "Oh wow, I didn't know you could summon Cybertronians!" she said excitedly. "Can I come too?!" the pony pleaded.

Sayaka- once again, why is everyone pulling out stuff after defeating the dragon?

After the mess with Kyouko had boiled over, Sayaka found herself gathering up the scattered dragon scales. The room had become uncomfortably quiet after the demise of the dragon and for some strange reason she found herself becoming increasingly unnerved by the multi-headed snake statue.

Sayaka shook her head and finished picking up the last of the scales, shoving them without a care into her cape- now turned bag. It had gotten so quiet now that she could hear the water dripping from the ceiling onto the soft cave earth next to her.

Her stomach growled.

...

...

Nightfall, the Ia-Kong Marshes

Sayaka breathed softly, wrapped up in her cape. The stalactite wasn't the most comfortable thing to lean against but the last few days had toughened her up. There had been a ridiculous amount of sleeping rough and when that experience was combined with the heart stopping fights she'd taken part in the past 24 hours, Sayaka was fresh out of damns to give concerning where she slept.

It was now, sometime after complete jungle darkness that Sayaka finally spluttered and swam back into the waking world. The chill had gotten to her and though she was perfectly toasty inside her cape, her face was still tanking much of the environment.

With a heavy yawn, the magical girl shifted uncomfortably. Her entire right side ached, complaining their unfair treatment at the hands of the stalactite...not that stalactite had hands.

A hand reached out of her cape and brushed away some stray hairs from in front of her eyes. Slowly, the events of the last few days came back- the trekking through the jungle, the fight with the Hydra, the duel with the lady named Sharro, the finding of the pyramid, the plague, the fight with the lizards and finally the encounter with the Urizen and the fight with Prazidio-something. Sayaka breathed a sigh of disbelief: this was some sort of out of body experience. The things she'd been doing...they were usually reserved for kiddie bed time stories. Under the cape, she tightened her grip on the wighthmammer ever so slightly.

When she got home, Madoka was going to get the spiel of a lifetime. Sure they might lock her up as crazy but the concept of being even a Magical girl was non-existent a few months ago. A slow smile spread across the magical girl's face as she snuggled deeper into her magic cape; she was in the adventure of a lifetime.

…Brunhildaaaa!

Sayaka's head snapped up and looked out into the darkness. The moonlight illuminated the rest of her group standing or sleeping outside the ziggurat, turning their skin to shining silver. Sazh stood alone upright and in his hand was one of his guns skyward.

For a moment the night became dyed with red as Sazh summoned his ultimate weapon. Sayaka let out an appreciative low whistle at the sight of the machine before immediately wondering why the man hadn't summoned it earlier when they were trying to get into the marsh.

"Right..."

Sayaka blinked something out of her eye snuggled deeper into her cape.

"I'm sure we aren't going anywhere, Mr Sazh. We'll just wait here till you get back..."

"Dammit"

The entire fight had gone to hell in a hand basket. They were down two people and the building was coming down with them. Meanwhile, Roy was quite sure that Death or whatever the hell he was, was still alive and kicking.

All the thing really needed to do now was to vanish and frame them for the terrorist act of blowing up a building of special importance. In that case, the only one left to vouch for them was the first shaman and he was fading fast.

Ignoring the pain from his own wounds, Roy mustang scrambled up from here he had fallen. Running an unsteady step through the burning wood and the falling timber, Mustang took the gamble and spent a precious few seconds hauling the first shaman out of the burning building.

Once clear of the dust and falling ash, the colonel laid out the lizard man on the ground. Wasting not a single second, Mustang ran his finger in a series of hasty and geometric gestures over the bleeding chest. Lines of blood, human mingled with lizard man twisted together into a simple circle with interweaving squares and circles filling up the middle.

"My skill in medicinal alchemy is almost nonexistent but at least I can do this..."

Mustang placed both hands on the Lizard man's ruined chest. No sooner had he done this did white lines of lightning erupt from the circle of transmutation.

"I can stop your bleeding. I can only hope that it will be enough to save you because if you die, we are all as good as dead."

What Mustang didn't realize was that he had not carried the first Shaman nearly as far as he should have. Should the building collapse in it's entirety, the wall behind him would bury him along with his patient.

Scaled Nations—Moot Hall, Chieftain’s Office

Tethrasur offered no resistance as Zero picked him up, hanging limp in the Reploid’s arms. The shaman had lost a lot of blood, and if Zero could sense temperature, he would be able to feel that Tethrasur’s skin was cold and clammy, even for a reptile. If nothing was done to staunch the bleeding of that massive wound on his chest, he would soon die.

As Zero, Mutran and Mustang took their leave, departing into the night, Death’s unholy black greatsword began to rattle ever so softly on the floor…

Hallway

The deinonychus, too weak now to protect itself, let out a long, keening screech as Lune sliced it open from gullet to gizzard. No sooner had she finished gutting it than the beast went limp, and its body immediately burst into flame, filling the air with the stench of burning meat. In mere seconds the corpse had been reduced to a blackened skeleton, the floor around it charred from the fire.

Moot Hall—Main Chamber

As Junko addressed the assembled chieftains and their retainers, Shinuaq’tan started to tremble. His expression seemed outwardly calm, but Jack would be able to see the truth of the matter in those cataract-clouded eyes. They were blazing with barely-suppressed rage, held in check only by the Grand Master’s iron will.

Shinuaq’tan opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it quickly. Before he could open it again, another of the chieftains—an elderly female—rose from her throne and approached Junko at a dignified pace.

“I will take those, child,” she said, her words calm yet brooking no room for argument.

Assuming that Junko complied, she began to flip through the evidence, examining the contents of the folder and file in great detail. With every passing second her brows drew together, and with every passing second her eyes narrowed. Then she turned to face Shinuaq’tan, and her gaze was colder than an arctic wind.

“I recognize these dates, Shinuaq’tan. And I’m familiar enough with your signature to know that these orders aren’t forgeries.” She held up the binder for all to see, and raised her voice. “These documents, written and signed in Chief Shinuaq’tan’s own hand, show that he ordered border patrols away from several of our outlying settlements over the past few months—settlements that were promptly attacked by warmblood raiders. Orders issued and received the very same day that the attacks took place,” she stated.

For a moment there was complete silence.

Then the assembly exploded with shock and outrage.

“And these,” she went on, holding up the black folder now, “show that he has been secretly selling weapons to someone outside the Scaled Nations. Payments made in pieces of copper, of silver, of gold and of platinum—the currency of the warmbloods!”

Shinuaq’tan, his mouth set in a very thin line, dropped Jack unceremoniously and straightened up. The Grand Master let out a low growl, and slowly the corners of his lips began to peel back, baring his teeth in the beginnings of an angry snarl.

He was caught, and he knew it.

And he was not the only one…

Chieftain’s Office

As the fire raged in Shinuaq’tan’s office, consuming decades and centuries of the tribe’s culture and history, a low, infuriated sigh of frustration rose from the pile of broken shelves and burning timbres.

The black sword was shaking now, jittering and clattering.

Then it leapt into the air, flying across the room—and at the same moment, a skeletal hand burst out of the debris with a thunderous crash.

It slapped into that waiting palm. Bony blackened fingers wrapped around the sword’s hilt.

Then a roar of effort split the air, and Death stood, throwing off the burning wood under which he’d been buried.

The undead swordsman turned toward the doorway, and uttered a single word.    “Accelero.”   

Then he was off, tearing out of the room at such an insane speed that he left blurred afterimages in his wake.

He sprinted down the hall, hurtling past Lune, Sabrina and Alakazam before any of them could even begin to acknowledge his presence. He burst through the doors of the main chamber, and the very sight of him silenced the enraged chieftains and their clamouring entourages, their anger and indignation smothered by palpable waves of fear and despair.

He stood there in the doorway, taking in the situation. The unholy lights of his eyes fell upon Junko and the elderly lizardwoman at her side, narrowing as they saw the evidence in her scaly hands.

Death let out a long, low-pitched rumble.

Then he laughed, a slow, ugly, utterly humourless sound.

   “Well played,”    he said softly.    “Well played…”   

With those words the undead warrior sheathed his sword, then turned and strode towards Shinuaq’tan. Every step he took cracked the floor, damaging the precious mosaic.

The Grand Master bristled. “What the blazes are you doing, Arawn?!” he hissed. “Do something!”

   “Like what?”    the dead man demanded sardonically, without breaking stride.    “Kill every single person here and raise them as undead slaves? I am many things, Shinuaq’tan, but I am no necromancer—and it would be rather suspicious if every single chieftain suddenly developed an aversion to daylight, don’t you think?”    ‘Death’ shook his head with a derisive snort.    “They’ve seen the evidence, you fool, and the very fact you called me by name just digs you deeper.”   

“No.” Shinuaq’tan backed away, baring his teeth in a snarl and shaking his head. “No. No, no, no, no! I did not spend all these years working with you and your master, building up my people’s strength and holding onto my hate, just for it to end like this!” He jabbed an accusatory finger at Death. “I can’t accept this! I won’t!”

   “You can,”    Death snapped,    “and you will. We lost this day, Shinuaq’tan, and you’ve nothing to blame but your own incompetence. Now shut up and accept your defeat with some dignity.”   

The undead swordsman glanced down at Jack’s prone form, his expression unreadable. For a long moment Arawn said nothing; then he let out a grunt.    “Her colours suit you, Samurai Jack,”    he said softly, his words carrying a hint of ancient bitterness.    “Better than most.”   

Death reached into a pouch then, one that had miraculously come through the blaze unscathed, and pulled out a stoppered phial full of blue liquid, which he placed on Jack’s chest.    “Drink this. It will heal some of your wounds.”    The dead man straightened up, looking down at the samurai.    “You and I will cross blades in the future, and I want you at your best.”   

Darkness gathered around Death’s feet, billowing like a thing alive. Slowly he began to sink into the shadows, Shinuaq’tan sinking along with him.

   “By the way,”    he called out as his waist sank into the darkness,    “Magically soundproofing every room in this building was most unwise. If not for that, you probably would have noticed the fire that’s about to bring this building down.”   

Shinuaq’tan jerked as if struck. “Fire?” he snapped. “Fire? You started a fire in my office?!”

   “They did, but that’s neither here nor there.”   

The Grand Master slapped a hand against his brow and hissed in inarticulate rage, clawing at his own face. The sound lingered even as he sank fully into the shadows and the darkness dispersed, leaving no trace of the traitor chieftain or his undead accomplice.

Threshold, Outside the Moot Hall

Villagers recoiled with cries of surprise and fear as Mutran flew out of the blazing hole, Link clutched in the Makuta’s hands. Some pointed up at him, muttering fearfully to themselves and each other, but the rest continued to pour water onto the blaze with their chain of buckets.

Soon after Zero emerged, Tethrasur cradled protectively in his arms, Mustang hot on his heels. As the alchemist took Tethrasur from Zero and began doing his best to heal the grievously-wounded shaman, murmurs of recognition, surprise and alarm rose up from the crowd.

Nevertheless, they did not interfere as Mustang went about his work; they could see that he was doing his best to treat the shaman’s injuries.

Tethrasur gasped weakly, mouth working with a grimace of pain as the medicinal alchemy took effect. Slowly the gaping slash on his chest began to clot over and close up, and his breathing and heartrate began to normalize.

Behind them, the wall creaked and groaned ominously as the blaze consumed it, though finally the chain of buckets was starting to have an effect; the flames were weakening, though it would take more time before it could be put out altogether.

Lieutenant Farron listened to Johnny, Leo and Edward, then nodded. “Sure, the two of you can come,” she said to the cyborg and the bard-in-training. “The sooner we find this arch, the better.” To Edward, she simple shrugged and said, “Suit yourself.

“Now let’s move, people,” she barked to the fifteen officers assembled behind her. “I want to find this thing before sunrise!”

Her subordinates saluted, gave synchronized shouts of “Yes, sir!”, and started out the door.

Lieutenant Farron turned to face Johnny then, and gestured towards the precinct’s main entrance. “Lead the way.”

Soon after the left, the mousy little clerk Vimes returned, a pair of robed figures in tow. The three of them made for the desk where Chun-Li and Edward stood, the two robed men examining the jar which held Envy with a critical eye. One of the wizards stroked his chin, while the other hummed thoughtfully.

At length, one of them spoke. “I think we might have something sturdier on hand to hold this creature,” he said slowly. “Though if you’re concerned about portability, I could simply cast arcane lock on the jar; that would stop anyone from unwittingly unscrewing the lid and letting him out, and it would toughen up the jar itself to make it harder to break. I should warn you, though,” he added. “The effect would be permanent, and only the person who cast the spell—namely, me—would be able to open the jar normally afterward.”

“So,” asked the other wizard, “what would you prefer?”

Xigbar would find the car’s metal surface warm to the touch, but not uncomfortably so. Brynhildr revved her engines as he climbed on, though what that meant was anyone’s guess.

Sazh gave Fluttershy a puzzled look, mouthing the words “Cyber-what, now?” under his breath. Then he sighed, shaking his head. “Y’know what, I’m not even gonna ask. You can come if you can keep up, ‘cause there’s only room for two.”

And without waiting for Saren to respond, he took Kyoko out of the Spectre’s arms and carried her over to Brynhildr. He laid the sickly girl down in the rear seat, then climbed into the driver’s seat and took the wheel; as he did so, the canopy swung down and locked into place. He glanced over his shoulder, looking at Xigbar through the canopy’s ribs, and said, “I hope that magic of yours’ll keep you rooted in place,” he told the Nobody, “‘cause this is gonna be a bumpy ride.”

Sazh gunned the engine, floored the gas pedal, and with a roar Brynhildr took off into the night, jets of flame belching from her exhaust vents.

True to Sazh’s words, it was a bumpy ride. The riverbank was smooth in some places, but in others it was covered with the thick, sprawling roots of ancient trees, and the sports car bounced and juddered as it went over these patches. Fortunately for Sazh and Kyoko, shock absorbers made the trip less bumpy than it could have been; even so, it was far from smooth.

Still, what the ride lacked in comfort it made up for in speed.

Nocturnal animals scattered at Brynhildr’s approach, vanishing back into the murk. Gleaming eyes watched from the treeline as the bright red car blew past, cringing from the noise and the bright light of the flames.

Sazh glanced over his shoulder, watching Kyoko out of the corner of his eye. Brynhildr didn’t have any mirrors, but that didn’t seem to matter; the moment he took his eyes off the path ahead, the Eidolon herself took over, the steering wheel moving of its own accord. “We’ll be there soon,” he said. “An hour or two, tops.”

"Well, actually, no - " Fluttershy said as the canopy closed. The pegasus looked away and covered her face to protect herself from the extreme heat when the car engine roared to life and shot straight into the jungle, a burning light that took a long while to fade away into the darkness.

At this point the pegasus was somewhat relieved there was not enough room in the summon for her to ride in.....and was somewhat dreading when it came her turn.

Junko; Moot Hall, Main Chamber

Although she had planned for a bit more resistance to her claims, it seemed the prospect of evidence was enough for investigation. The teenager calmly handed the documents over to the female elder, then stepped back and enjoyed the show. A subdued, but still malevolent smirk formed on her lips as she watched the Grand Lizard lose his composure.

Junko only grew more entertained as the dark, lich-like man who previously tried to stop her entered the room, conceding his defeat and putting the final nail in the coffin for the former Chieftain. It was all so entertaining. She only wished that the lizardman's desperation could be directed towards her. She wanted to be seen as the reason their plans had fallen. She wanted to be the cause of his despair. All in all, it disappointing how little a role she had played, being nothing more than a messenger, but no matter. Her mission was successful. She even saved the samurai...for the most part.

She figured she might as well tell Sabrina the mission was a success, if she could even hear from her current location.

"Hey! I did it. Didn't have to do much to convince them. You guys didn't get eaten, right?" She thought, relaying her mental message to the psychic.

She then turned her attention to her new, injured comrade.

The threat of the fire now spreading from the office didn't seem to worry her much at all. The kimono-ed fashionista jubilantly walked over to the samurai.

"Hiya Mr. Jack!" Junko quickly dropped any sense of formality she had previously attempted to adopt, her civility serving no further purpose.

Looming overhead, the girl quickly began discerning the samurai's wounds. With how badly beaten he was, she wondered if he was even able to drink the potion Skeleton Man gave him.

"Do you need any help?" She tried to give off a warm smile, intentionally un-fitting for their current situation.

edited 3rd Sep '15 10:45:44 PM by lightdarkhero250

Lune - Game Over (Scaled Nations - Moot Hall, Hallway)

Seeing the body of the dead deinonychus suddenly combust right in front of me was really surprising, and it made me feel an odd mix of satisfaction and frustration. On one hand, I was quite proud of my work on the thing, and I'm sure it reflected on my face as I watched the thing burn; but on the other, I kind of wanted to do something with the body before that happened. See if its meat was edible for devils, or find a way to use those huge glowing foot claws as weapons, for example. It also frustrated me a bit that my left arm was still trapped under it, so I had to quickly take it out of there before it got burnt too bad, and put out the fire on my sleeve before it consumed my...

"Huh?"

It took me a little while to realize that not only my coat, but also the rest of my clothes had changed too. My uniform had changed into some fancy dark blue shirt with matching skirt, and the white coat had been replaced by a robe. However, my shoes were not that different, and neither was my bag. It was curious...

It also took me a while to notice 'Death' running past me because I wasn't paying attention; it was only when the gust of air he caused hit me that I saw him standing on the doorway Junko had gone through, cursed sword in hand. For a moment I considered attacking him from behind while he was distracted, but the large crowd of lizard people I could see inside prevented me from doing it, so I just cloaked myself and floated to the doorway once he walked into the room, just to see and hear what happened inside.

It was only after both of them were gone that I backed away from the doorway and headed back to where the burnt skeleton was, determined to at least keep that skull as a prize and decoration. I knew I'd have to be careful with it if I didn't want it to shatter in my hands, so I couldn't just pull like a brute until it came off. But there were other ways to separate it from the rest of the body.

"They escaped," I noted to Sabrina while I prepared to snap the skeleton's neck. "We'll have to track them down and kill them both, along with their boss."

SNAP

"Also, I found something while I was checking the shelves that you may want to see later," I added once I had the still hot skull in my hands. "Oh, and there's a huge fire at the lizard's office, so all the others may or may not be dying... if they're not already dead."

I really couldn't care less about the fire, but the others could probably help with getting rid of the loose ends that had escaped. However, there was something else in my mind that had far more importance to me than any of those people that had stayed back to fight at the office.

"You got anything to eat?"

Jack lay on the floor, wishing for a brief moment that he could stay there for a while. But only for a moment. There was still work to be done. Shinuq'tan's plot had been exposed and the war, he hoped, averted, but the chieftain had escaped with an agent of his master and that agent had sworn retribution. The samurai did not doubt that if need be, the black knight would cross worlds to deliver it. And it seemed there was quite the fire going.

Groaning, supporting himself on his good arm, it seemed to take an eternity to push up off the floor to a sitting position. The little vial tumbled down into his lap and he looked at it suspiciously. He did not intend to drink something provided by so vile a creature as the death knight unless it was examined first. To the question asked of him, he had to take two tries to answer, for the chieftain's iron grip around his neck had left his voice rougher and quieter than before.

"If you have a way to heal me," he said to her, "I must do what I can to stop the fire." The council would have to wait.

Johnny - Insert Witty Title Here

Johnny led the way out of the Headquarters of the City Watch, and into the Vagabond District.

After a stopping and starting a few times to get his bearings, he managed to arrive at the correct church and the hollow column that lay within.

It took around half an hour, but he managed to lead the Watchmen and women down to the chamber which contained the vampire's remains, mostly by following the disabled deathtraps.

"This is it. Pretty sure this time."

Zero looked at Mustang trying to heal the shaman.

"Do you think you can handle this? Because I'd like to see if I can do anything about the fire."

Riverrock — Military District, City Watch Headquarters

Before stepping out to leave, Leo turned to Chun-Li with a little knowing smirk on his face.

"Take care. And keep Edward and Envy out of trouble."

With that, he turned to Johnny, ready to let him lead the way.

Chamber (the name of which I'm unsure of but I'm sure Sullen will fill it in with his next post I'm making this way too long aren't I)

The whole trek through the church Leo had exercised caution. Thankfully, they didn't run into anything...but he had a sinking feeling that this wasn't going to be so simple.

"Alright, what's next?"

Johnny - Catacombs

Johnny turned to Leo with a surprised look on his face.

"I don't even know why you're here, man. I'm only here because the other two people who knew the way down were impaled."

Chun-Li, Military District, City Watch Headquarters

"We shouldn't use arcane lock," Chun-Li said, knowing that if they let him lock Envy in the jar, Envy would be stuck in there forever if they took him off this world. "He deserves it, but we have our reasons to avoid using arcane lock on him if possible."

"Let's see this sturdy thing you have on hand," Chun-Li suggested to the two wizards.

Sabrina, Scaled Nations, Moot Hall, Hallway

Sabrina was also surprised when the dead deinonychus suddenly combusted, surprised enough to only notice Death pass her too late. Sabrina turned ready to summon Alakazam to attack Death from behind, but instead he took the loss well and left with Shinuaq’tan in tow. Junko sent a telepathic message to the two.

Lune and I are alive, Junko, Sabrina sent back to Junko, getting a good look at her from the doorway. After this, Lune mentioned needing to track and kill them, along with their boss. She also mentioned that everyone else may be dead.

"I don't think we'll be able to do that," Sabrina noted to Lune, frowning. "At least, not until we know where they went."

Sabrina was also frowning because of the fire in the Chieftain's Office, and could feel that the samurai was reluctant to take the potion, though with good reason. Sabrina decided to reach out to the samurai telepathically, as she walked to the doorway into the Main Chamber.

Samurai, I am a telepath and an ally. I can tell you that the dark-type who gave you that potion is at least honorable. He only fought us to prevent us from revealing Shinuaq’tan's deception. Once the deception was revealed, he broke off from his attack even though he was powerful enough to easily kill us all.

"Quickly, is that potion safe to drink?" Sabrina asked the lizard-people surrounding the samurai, hoping that they would know more about it. "We can discuss our punishment for the fire later, but we want to do all we can to stop it as soon as possible, and we'll need the samurai's help to save the others still in there."

edited 5th Sep '15 6:24:14 PM by GameGuruGG

Catacombs

"Because I thought you might need the backup."

You never knew. In a situation where he could afford it, Leo always offered to help in any way he could. That was how it was way back when,, with the rest of Strike One.

Junko; Moot Hall (On Fire), Main Chamber

Junko looked at the samurai with momentary confusion, then gave him an answer.

"Eh, me? No. Sorry, I'm normal. Can't really wave my hands over you and make you all better-" She was interrupted by the response and sudden entrance of Sabrina.

"Hey! 'Brina! Nice to see you! Glad you're not dead!" The girl gave the psychic a big smile, as if she just saw a long-time friend.

"'Course, if we don't get out of here, we'll probably all be dead anyway, so..."

"Mr. Jack. It would probably help us a lot if you just drank that potion." Junko said, turning her attention back to the samurai.

"After all, there's maybe like, three of us around, and it would probably be kind of a pain carrying you out of here. Not to mention it's usually kinda bad to move somebody as messed up as you."

"Besides, if that guy wanted to kill you, all he'd have to do was stab you while you were down. I wouldn't have been able to stop him." She admitted bluntly, with no hint of sarcasm or humor.

Honestly, she had no idea whether the potion was good or not, but she was somewhat interested in finding out. It'd be really horrible if the skeleton man decided to just poison a heavily battered and wounded man at the brink of his life. So horrible that it almost made her mouth water.

Lune - Hallway, Moot Hall (Scaled Nations)

Sabrina had made a fairly solid point. Even if I wanted to, I had neither the means nor the information necessary to actually look for those two, let alone find them. And so I was left alone with the deinonychus skull on my hand and the rest of its skeleton lying on the floor next to me, pondering which could be my next step. On one hand, we'd done what we came to do, and we had no obligation to really do anything else but leave and never return; but on the other, if Shinuaq'tan, or Arawn, or whoever that "K" guy was tried to pull off another "cunning plan", we'd probably get sent out again to deal with it, and I really didn't want to get called all the time to babysit a human city for the rest of my life.

I pulled the triptych out of my bag and, after repressing the sudden urge I had to crush the smiling people in my hand, examined it for a while. Without a doubt Shinuaq'tan and K had signed an alliance, or at least some kind of partnership. The lizard looked quite younger than the one I'd seen back there, so the whole thing had probably been years earlier. Still, for such a confidential document, it sure didn't seem like the meeting itself had been very secretive.

Then my eyes landed on K, the only one of the trio that I had not seen in person yet. The striking outfit, the haircut, the face... whoever he was, he was definitely important, I knew that much. Possibly a member of nobility like myself, or maybe someone involved in the government of wherever he came from. If that was the case, he could've also made a public visit to the lizards for diplomatic reasons.

But those were just theories, and theories didn't do shit for me; I had to find out for sure whether or not I was actually on the right track. So after putting away everything that wasn't the triptych and concealing the celestial robe as well as my own horns, I made my way towards the main chamber, dragging the burnt skeleton with me. Someone had to throw that thing away after all, and it sure wasn't gonna be me.

Sayaka- Ia Kong marshes

Sayaka huddled in her blanket and blinked into the night as Sazh vanished into the gloom with an ear numbing rumble. Kyouko had gone with him...Sayaka did not know what to think. On one hand, that girl was unbearable- having her taken out of her sight was a relief to the mind.

The magical girl sighed into her cape. It was no use; no matter how much she hated Kyouko, the utter wretchedness of the veteran magical girl tugged her heart strings. Inexplicably, inexorably, her heart wrung itself dry over Kyouko's terrible past. If- speaking only hypothetically- if Sayaka herself had to endure something so traumatic, could she have ended up in any other way?

The answer forced itself into Sayaka's mind, past all the denial and all the avoidance. The answer broke into Sayaka's mind unbidden and unwelcome like a rotten egg- the truth was that such a tragedy would have broken her even more than it had Kyouko. What she would have done...she dared not even think.

The magical girl ground her teeth in frustration. The current situation sat ill in her heart. Something just wasn't right with what was happening; maybe it was how the wind blew, or how her companions were all strangely silent. Sayaka fidgeted, hands clasping and unclasping the wighthammer hidden under her cape. Closing her eyes, she prayed for sleep to come again.

Otherwise, it was going to be an unpleasant night.

For a moment Mustang held his breath; lightning crackled and danced over the Shaman's ruined chest, flesh stretched and melted together, burst vessels slowly connected. It was haphazard, maybe too haphazard, but what choice was there? As the shaman's breathing calmed, Mustang tensed- undecided whether he had succeeded or failed beyond all hope- but after a few seconds he too relaxed. It was done. The first shaman would live, for while longer.

Mustang sat back, wiping away some of the cold sweat that had burst out from his brow. His hand twitched, his hand felt weak and clenching the hand not only brought about an intense surge of pain but was all but impossible. Lune's box cutter must have cut a tendon or something. The bleeding had been somewhat abated- what remained of his glove was now dark red with dried blood. A thing smile formed at the edges of his lips- he'd never thought he'd end up like this: beaten up and bloody in a different reality.

Zero broke him out of his reprieve. Turning with no little effort, Mustang looked over at the reploid and then at the flames behind. It was his fault- he had resorted to heavy fire power when he saw the girls retrieve what they had come for. In the end, it wasn't worth it- the whole spell casting of the thing had thrown him off- he had no idea what 'death' might pull out next. Unlike him, Death wasn't a one trick pony.

With a heavy sigh, Mustang rose from where he knelt. The skin on his back screamed as the burnt skin was pulled taut.

"Actually, Zero, I think I'd be more useful helping to put out the fire."

As he said so, he looked down at his left hand. Ash and dust had been smeared over the glove in liberal helpings but the crimson alchemic circle inked onto the surface was undamaged. That was all he needed. His alchemy worked on the basis of him transmuting the air into a volatile mixture of tri-nitriles, ammonia, Hydrogen, Cardon monoxide and so on, all that was needed afterwards was a spark to get the explosion going.

However, it also meant that he could transmute the air into something fire resistant. Carbon dioxide for example, one of the first things he'd learned to make with the alchemic symbol of air transmutation. Now, he'd use it to smother the flames.

"Get going, I'm going to try and smother the fire with carbon dioxide. Tell those near the building to stand clear. And find a real doctor for the Shaman as fast as possible- I only stopped the bleeding."

"I have Ice abilities. I probably could help extinguish the flames, too."

But he was right, the shaman wasn't exactly in the best shape. And Zero certainly wasn't a medical reploid. He decided to carefully lift the shaman up, and walk into the village, at which point he asked, "Is there a doctor anywhere around here?"

The Doctor looks over at Saren and then glimpses Sayaka shivering. "Saren, we will speak about your treatment of the girls in a moment. First and foremost..." The Doctor shivers, suddenly realizing the cold of a nighttime swamp. "It's getting cold out here. I'm sure as a...bird? Lizard? Whatever you're descended from, you're feeling it too. You want to help me gather some wood and make a quick campfire?"

He looks over to Fluttershy. "I almost forgot you know about Cybertronians actually." He chuckles. "The time we've spent here is all starting to blend together. Fluttershy, once we're out of here...I hope the Nomads let you go. That you're not dragged for another round in their game, another ride on the roller coaster they've set up. Stay home. With your friends, your family...whatever you have at home waiting. They must be worried sick assuming time's actually progressed at your world."

"They probably are," Fluttershy said. "I'm mostly worried about Angel bunny and all the critters I left behind before heading into the Everfree. Honestly, sometimes I feel like we've been on this journey for years instead of months. I hope they're all okay."

edited 11th Sep '15 12:18:35 PM by UdtheImp

Catacombs

"The only thing that was down here is a pile of dust in that coffin over there."

Johnny pointed at the coffin, which lay on a plinth right next to the archway covered in draconic runes.

Catacombs

"Unless the pile of dust reforms into a bunch of zombies that eat flesh and cybernetic parts?"

Said with more than his usual minimum of sarcasm.

"Hey look, who knows what could happen? For all we know, I might be useful for something."