Sutoratosu

Well, at least he can still take solace in the fact that Gigalith is a solar powered, laser firing, mountain vaporizing, completely badass monstrosity... And Hugh's starter was already preselected when we worked out who would be controlling which NPCs. I honestly kinda wanted to use his Manga team over his ingame BW2 one and give him a Trapinch as a starter though...eh, oh well...he'll probably still pick one up at some point down the line. Though even if he did get Trapinch instead of Osahwot, yeah, you still would've been screwed over with the short end of the stick in terms of general type matchup...

Well, might as well... Trainer! Hugh Walters THEME: BAG: STATUS: TEAM: This post will be used for any other major characters and recurring NPCs I directly control, by the way. Mysteriosa! Marcela ??? THEME: BAG: STATUS: TEAM: Mysterious Ranger! ??? THEME: BAG: STATUS: TEAM:

Sun broke the darkness on the horizon, supple, gentle oranges and reds and pinks mingling with the rich violets and deep blues of the night before. Rubble and wreckage dotted the golden sands of the shore, the only remnants of the vessel that had carried the bodies now laying strewn about the beach. The soft roar of the waves predominated the air, their sweet melody swelling and wavering with each approach and retreat of the tide. Wingulls glided on the warm breeze overhead, their cries mixing with the aria of the waves. A few of them pecked in curiosity at the first humans they'd ever seen in their entire short lives... "Gods..." Valeria groaned. The constant, warm lapping of sea tide against her face finally proved enough to arouse the servant's slumber. She pulled herself up into sitting position, her eyes adjusting to the flood of morning light. "Resh... where... where are we? what happened?" There was no response. She didn't even feel a single trace of the Arch Angel in her mind. "Resh? Resh? Come on... don't play this game, answer me...Damn it..." She tried to get to her feet, only to fall immediately at the first step. Only then did she notice the long, bloodied gash spanning the diagonal length of her calf. Her teeth gritted while the throbbing sting of pain and irritant of air and salt water registered all at once. She moved it in the sand, trying to get a better look at the damage. Again, the pain registered, this time hitting like a freight train in the forefront of her mind. "Bird christ... don't tell it's fucking broken..." She already knew well enough from the pain though. Nothing else could hurt as bad as a break... well, short of amputation, of course. Fire danced around her finger tips. She rose her hand to cheek them, only to sigh in frustration at the sight of the ruby flames. "He really is gone...of course. And that means no White Fire. I'd just be burning off my own leg right now." With a flick of the wrist the flares died, only to be replaced with a soft, salmon glow. Well... this was why she'd chosen to specialize in healing, gain some genuine prowess to call her own, afterall. As powerful as the dragon was, as reliable as he was, being fully reliant on Reshiram and his flame would prove useless encase they ever got separated... just like they obviously were now. She concentrated. The light grew in intensity. With it bloomed the same searing rush of agony she felt back before the crash, enough to send to her back yet again. Instantly, the power died in her palm. "Withdrawal... this... is withdrawal..." the words escaped her lip in little more than a whisper. "I should've expected it... he did warn me, afterall...not like a person can be constantly exposed to that much power and energy for so long and feel no effects when it leaves..." And then the world faded... again. ********************** "The strangers are all here and alive... I think. I can't find Jack or Tatsuya though... or Khan." "Well... it's better than no one, I guess. Those three probably drifted somewhere further down the shore... we can find them later." "Hows her leg?" "Ehhhh...mangled. Yeah, I'll have to make my diagnosis at a solid Mangled. Probably happened when she was caught in the blast back there..." "Soooo...what do we do then? She's kinda the only healer we got... and I've got a feeling Reshiram wouldn't have just left an injury like that untouched if he were around, especially on her of all people..." "Heh... Ingram, go find me some Sitrus Berries. If this breeze is anything to judge by, I'd say this place's climate is hospitable enough for them..." "Alright... I'll try not to get eaten then. Call me if Commander wakes up or she, you know, dies in your arms from infection or something..." "Just shut up and go get the berries." Valeria forced her eyes open as footsteps plodded further away in the sand. A familiar pair of spectacles was the first thing she recognized on the face towering over her, cracked and fragmented though their lenses were. The man looked like he wanted to crack a smile, though his mouth stayed in it's set, thin line of worry. His dark, silken hair fell in unkempt curls around his Moorish skin and chocolate brown of his eyes. "Ah, commander, you're awake..." He said. "good, now Ingram can't joke about you being a corpse whose gonna start rotting soon..." "Pleasant bit of imagery to wake up to..." The words barely left her mouth louder than a murmur. The man gave her a perplexed look. She felt his presence in her mind in a mere instant. "Ah... here, it's probably easier with thoughts for you right now..." "Thanks..." "So... now that you can respond; that magic on the ship though, that was something, wasn't it?" He paused the train of thought, like he was expecting an answer. There was hardly enough time for one before he picked up again though. "Yeah, see, I kinda calculated the source as best I could right before well... things went to hell in a handbasket. Whatever that stuff was, it originated from pretty far away... here in fact." Valeria's eyes widened. "What?" "Yeah, I'm not kidding. Right here, this very island... wherever the hell here is. But yeah, this is the place... just imagine the power of the heart needed for that though... I mean, I know that something like Resh or Zek could destroy entire continents in a single short rampage if they really wanted to, but... launching a strike that precise from so far away, with that much power and presence behind it on impact... I don't want to be that guy here, but... I think we might have pissed off upper management." She groaned at the very implication of the theory. "Look, if that were the case... we'd be gone, alright? And I'm fairly certain the gods are too, you know, occupied running the natural order of the world to take the time out of their day to nail us with a shot of their wrath." "Lord Azauqyar isn't..." "Lord Azauqyar's main concern is keeping his brothers from getting up and killing everyone and everything with another one of their pissing contests... so I'm sure not even he's available to take pot shots, as much time as he probably spends watching their prisons. But look, this argument isn't helping us... are the others alive?" "The ones we can find, yeah... all seven of them." "Jack, Tatsuya... the thing?" "No clue... we uh... we kinda got sidetracked from looking when we noticed how fucked up your limb is. I've got little Ingram fetching some supplies in the woods." "Are any of them awake?" The man paused, looking over at the row of unconscious travelers in the sand- dragging them over here from the shoreline hadn't been fun, he knew that much- None of them even stirred a bit as he watched. He looked back to his commander "Noooope. Out like lights, I'm afraid. Eh, they'll probably start coming to soon... we made sure none of them were drowning on salt water or anything, so no reason why they shouldn't."

A Roleplay within a roleplay... it's Role-ception. Ah, yet again, Hukuna asking me the tough questions...

Aurora, Lord Cyllis. Early Morning, The 1st day of the 1st month of the year of rebirth. Her thoughts drifted to to all the memories she'd made during her wandering... to all the times she'd been told to stop toying with prey since there were mouths to feed and time being wasted that could be better spent getting more food... to the emptiness she'd felt when the world was covered in the snow that did not freeze and was not cold... even to the cocoon of silk lying in the back of the chamber... and the girl and the squid man...her new clan... new kin...who she knew would be gone someday too... just like her old one... "Loyalty." The single, solemnly spoken word came almost unbidden to her tongue. But it was true... true for any Arachni. But for her it was probably more true than for any other. "Loyalty, faith, fidelity, allegiance, bonds... whatever alternate name others might call it doesn't matter. It's really all I've ever managed to keep hold of or at least find again in the end...even after I've seen everything and everyone else disappear and slip away. So I guess that loyalty would have to be my answer."

Juniper's Lab- Hugh The lone, spiky haired male youth was the last of the three young trainers to speak. He had spent the entire time since he'd gotten there eyeing the older participants, never lingering on one for more than a few seconds before sizing up their partners for those of them who had released them. The neutral line that constituted his mouth portrayed nothing as he stood there, arms folded and leaning his backside against the table. "The names Hugh," He said simply. Unlike Tara, his nerves were steady as steel, and unlike alia, that fierce, focused gaze in his crimson eyes made it seem he was so alert that, even if a giant jug of sentient, cherry flavored beverage were to come crashing through that wall behind him, enthusiastically shouting 'OH YEAH!' at the top of it's lungs and causing countless pokedollars in property damage, the boy'd still be ready for just about anything. "don't wear it out."

Aurora, Lord Cyllis. Early Morning, The 1st day of the 1st month of the year of rebirth. Aurora was surprised to find herself... actually speechless for once. From the magnificent strike she had just witnessed to the precision and accuracy of the handling, to even the apparent creation of fire without any Arcane or Faith based means she could discern, She simply didn't know what to say, let alone how to phrase it. It was strange, this feeling she had. Her ilk had long had stories and legends about certain warriors of their race; Arachni who either through their unmatched martial and faith prowess or their unbreakable will and courage had arisen to become Heroes, their names and deeds forever passed down throughout the generations and told to scions to give them something to aspire to, something to encourage them in their training, for those who proved strong enough to become warriors. She had heard of them all the time back when she was younger... but their effects had never been quite so profound as when she'd first heard it. That day when she was but a scion still to small to undergo the test of warriorhood, but her dam regaled with those tales anyway... this feeling she had now... it was so similar... This... this was ironically the first time she had seen this type of skill and power, like that of a level her people had so often attributed to their folklore and their heroines. True, what Lord Cyllus had just done might have been an admittedly simple technique on paper, but... it was no doubt a technique that, despite the relative simplicity, the end result and output was definitely far greater than the sum of it's parts. She found her hands moving on their own, at first thinking it to be some type of reflex, then quickly recognizing the near-metallic, reverberating call of one exoskeleton palm clapping against the other. Yet another alien practice, just like that embrace Slyvi had given her earlier. With a bit of effort she finally got it to stop. "I-I don't know what to say, my lord" She said. "Truly though... it was amazing."

Jesus christ, this introduction scene was supposed to be fast and done quickly... um, hang on a minute, let me go sort this out. We weren't expecting to take this long for this one tiny part...

Then we end it. Tomorrow I will make the final update for chapter 1 and set time to pass and things to happen. By chapter 2's beginning, we will already be on the isle. I just have to map it on paper first so that I can keep track and have a general idea of where everyone will wonder and so forth... And oh what fun we shall have come nightfall... I'm dancing in sick glee already. Edit: Actually, fuck it. School is cancelled for 3 days now, I've got jack to do other than apply to colleges. Chapter 1 will end tonight. Chapter 2 will go up tomorrow sometime Edit 2: Annnnnnnnd.... it's done. And before anyone starts panicking, you guys can calm the fuck down; you're not dead... as much as I kinda made it seem like that with how I wrote it.

On Deck "It's just nice to see that ghost get what's coming to it for once." The priestess- at this point, a priestess was probably the best way the group could refer to her- said idly as Joey rushed to stop the Serpent. The spectre had been just as ready to fight as the water type, it seemed. Or at least the black haze gathering around the twin crimson orbs serving as it's eyes proclaimed as much as they began to swell and burn with black light. The same that had impeded the police not long ago. Before the attack even fired though, it looked as though the Ghost's attention was drawn elsewhere, body craned to look behind her... as if someone were calling. She turned back to Joey and his dragon before long. A long, venomous hiss escaped her maw as she backed away, slowly. Then vanished from sight altogether. Valeria too seemed to have gone. Or at least, she was nowhere to be seen by the time anyone took their eyes off the retreating phantom. Instead in her place was none other than Felix stumbling out of the stairwell like he was being chased by a man brandishing a spanner... looking rather shaken at that. ********************************************************** Sunset, on Deck Approximately 5:13 PM The sun sat low in the heavens. Hours had passed, just as had countless miles of ocean. The seven strangers stood where they pleased on the deck. Asking for any more information on their situation had proved pointless since that morning- Khan had oddly been nowhere to be found since he vanished earlier and Valeria still refused to be any more generous on the subject than she already had. It was obvious that they had to make their choices soon. Goldenrod wasn't that far now. Probably just an hour more before it showed it up in the distance... even if the horizon was cloaked in fog. The rest of the daylight hours hadn't been too overly eventful. Not that they honestly could've, after the insanity they had all participated in. Oddly enough though, the mute Tatsuya seemed to have recovered enough from his wounds to come from below deck and gaze the setting sun like the rest of them. Even odder, The supposed "Captain" of the vessel had made a reappearance as well. The only way any of them even knew this however, was because the man had accompanied Tatsuya up from below deck. Neither one spoke a word about that morning. About the three assailants in black, the beast, how Tatsuya had been injured in the first place, or where Recci had been for so long. Nothing at all, no matter how hard anyone pushed. All they got was that the "Higher Ups" had ordered relevant silence onto them for now. As for who exactly these "Higher ups" referred to, either the entity called Khan or the Priestess Valeria... well, that remained up to anyone's speculation. It was obvious neither of them was going to go any further on it... Somewhere below deck... "Well I'll be, that's a new record..." Black lenses gazed down at pale and flaccid skin on the smooth, steel coroner's table. Khan turned his sneering smile up towards the others gathered there, at least four in all. One a ragged young man who looked more at home bumming it up on the streets than standing in that tiled room. Another a bespectacled man in a lab coat, busying himself on a tablet, stylus flying across the screen. The third, naught more than a massless, shapeless presence, really... an amorphous being enshrouded in fires of snow white, eyes like twin dying stars boring through all who dared stared back at them. The last of them meet his gaze with a smoldering glare of her own from under her white hood. Khan didn't seem to be all that perturbed by the fire crackling at Valeria's fingers. "Not that I'm surprised, of course... an angel versus mortals, well, it's a clear cut match right then and there. Still though, Reshi, twenty? All in one go? I honestly expected you to be at least a little merciful about it... always thought it was your brothers who were more for the crowd killing." "Don't patronize me, you pathetic little lamb." The being bedecked in white flame responded. "I've destroyed countless more fools than those who fell to my fires this day, you yourself should know this fact better than any other. Even besides the point though, you should watch yourself... I've yet to decide whether to add you to the count or not." The thing's smile did not fade. "You might want to make that decision soon though." He answered. "Looks like Valeria may well beat you to it otherwise." He prodded the cheek of the body, loling the head to the side with his finger, gazing right at her. "I really did do you a favor here today though, child. You should thank me, really... had I have let this one get away, you would've been sent for him. You know it just as well as any of us. Master dispatched to kill the prodigy she helped mold... the prodigy who would burn up almost anyone else sent for the job. It only makes sense, afterall." "Don't try that with me." Valeria snarled. "I'm not that stupid... you did this out of spite, you beast. Not out of any altruistic desire to try to save me any grief over the inevitability of things. Tringe may be blind, but I see clearly. I know what you are. I sensed it from day one." "And yet you did nothing, and continue to do nothing. Why is that, if you think me to be some big bad boogie man?" His sneer grew fiercer. His canines had gradually extended to full fledged fangs. As had all his incisors. The air rippled with the charged force of the violet miasma surrounding his frame. The ragged teen and the bespectacled man took a step back from the scene. "Well, Val? Answer me. why? Why didn't you do something then, when trying to tell Tringe didn't work? Why didn't you just burn me to the ground yourself right then and there- it's not like you ran the risk of burning any bridges, hell, you did that long before I came along, didn't you?" "I-" "She stayed her hand this long because I commanded as such." It was the being of white flame who broke in, positioning his fires between the two. His eyes met Khan's own without the slightest bit of fear in them. "You owe your entire survival thus far to me, fool. And only because I my brothers have been ordered as such. You stand where you do now only because of our efforts..." "Oooooooh please, you overgrown lizard... I stand where I do thanks to myself and myself alone. All that matters at the end of the day is that Tringe trusts me, alright? Let's face it, children, I've already-" He stopped. eyes gazing to the sealing. "I see... interesting. You're all going to want to grab onto something in about... 10. 9. 8. 7. 6...5...4..." They all didn't need his cues. The four of them could sense it themselves by now. That presence... that tugging, that tearing in their chests. It couldn't have been him, they knew. None of them had ever seen him unleash full force in battle, but not even he could be this powerful, to have such an effect with so little sign of being set up. "Get down, shield your-" Her feet flew out from under her mid sentence. The lights burst overhead and for the second time that day, the ship rocked as if the Lord Groudon himself were reawakening. Her eyes did not adjust as they should've in the darkness. This... was no natural shroud. Infact... now that she looked at it... it was surprisingly deep violet rather than black she was expecting. On Deck The changes were subtle at first. The fog rolled closer. Then it got thicker. No one really thought much of it. This was the ocean... fog happened sometimes, any mariner would attest to it. Just like Jack and Tatsuya had attested, the first thing they had freely said since they'd been out there. But it didn't stay mere fog for long. Not even five minutes before they were engulfed in it, the entire world faded from the misty laden grey of the fog to the deep, rust orange of the sun. The temperature seemed to intensify, from the frigid cold of winter to the sweltering heat of an oven. A roar not too much unlike the beast they'd slain that very morning pierced the dusk sky. With came the second tremor the group had felt that day... but this one far more powerful than anything the explosion had wrought. Jack was screaming something, orders, though they were lost over the din. Tatsuya was motioning towards the Ship's hatch, a clear indication to get below deck, now. Even if anyone had been paying enough attention to it to notice it though, none would've been able to follow the silent order. None could stand in this sweltering storm of heat and sound and fog and light. The air seemed to burn with the wrath of god himself as they struggled for breath on the acidic winds beginning to flow across the area. The roar raised in pitch and power, soon they all felt it rattling their very core. Reality was slipping too fast. Their minds to fragile, minds fit for mortals, not angel slayers. Their lungs seared, their skin too. Their eye's watered. The world itself seemed to slip to black, inch by inch as their bodies began to rebel against the forces working on them... The last thing the seven saw, before they finally gave in... was gold. The soft, vibrant glow of gold. And the end of the Pain's reign on their nerves. And then nothing. Nothing but the black of the void. The black of slumber. ... ... ... ... ...? And then the vessel cracked against the shore, it's hull shattered by stone and light. The Roar ceased. ((End of Chapter 1))

you might as well just save it for the next chapter. After chim posts and depending on whether murdoc still wants to continue this particular scene in the Ship's core, we'll probably be moving on soon. I don't even know where Darvin's gone at this point.

Well, I mean it's really up to you. This particular character will probably pop up somewhere again later on... so... yeah, whatever you want to do. Aside from you and Darvan, the only one I'm really waiting on is Chim.

She seemed pretty nonchalant about stripping, considering the stereotypically flustered response she gave the annoying one just a few minutes ago.... "Well, it's certainly an interesting one..." Makoto sighed, though otherwise apparently unphased by the juvenile disrobing. Xe turned to Kita's screen. "So, does that satisfy your curiosity and your adolescent urges then?" They paused for a moment, as if they expected an answer or something. Xe picked up almost immediately though, hardly enough time to get one "Good. Because we've Savages to find, targets to kill. And they certainly won't take their own lives, at least that's what I've come to learn over the years. Would be nice if they did though..." Xe smiled at the camera, lips curling so wickedly that it easily accentuated the feminine qualities of the Hit person's face. "But then, I'd be out of a job, wouldn't I?" Without another word, Xir screen in the video call went dark. Makoto moved towards the door, stowing the powered off device within xir coat, placing the opposite hand on the knob."This... is going to be quite the little ordeal. I can already feel it... I just wonder who will be the ones to make it into an ordeal- those two amateurs I'm stuck working with, or the Kiharas?"

Eh, don't worry about, we all got things that come up, etc... plus right now in particular just seems to be one of those periods where the entire forum as whole is slow. It's just one of those times... one of those times... As for the part about you waiting on me... nooooo, I'm fairly certain I'm waiting on a response from you right now. I got the last post up for Aurora days ago, see?

Sooooooo.... bout that update that went out a while ago... Anyone gonna take it? Anyone at all? Cause I mean, if not, I can just end the chapter here and move us forward to the main meat of the plot... we're honestly waaaaaay over the allotted time already and I'm only doing this since most of you were already so far in the scenes that I felt we might as well extend it a bit longer and try to finish them...

Hmmm? Oh yeah. I was gonna post something, but then Murdoc came up with that continuation of the conversation about abilities and what not and asked Kiyoko something... so I decided to just hold back a while and see her response to those two just keep going on and on... thought it would be funny encase she raged against the two of us or something for carrying on when we're supposed to be starting a hit mission. XD With serious the whole premise is, I imagine we should try to get in some comedy when we can. So yeah, go ahead... sorry, I probably should've said something about my change of plans earlier. just kinda slipped my mind.