Sutoratosu

"Well we got a slight rat infestation," Ethic began, deciding it wouldn't be veyr beneficial to piss off this asswipe any more than he already was. Rose would simply have to wait for a little bit to get her answers. "And by that, I mean we quite literally have a man-sized rat running around here dressed up like some gunslinger from the oldwest... or at least certainly acting like one. Aside from that, we have even more rats to deal with; I came across three individuals today whom had no placement on our little security detail." He gave a quick, barely noticeble glance to Taylor from behind the lens of his aviaotors, knowing damn well the man would know what he was talking about; and knowing damn well the guy had refrained from mentioning it... fine, Ethic would merely cut him out of the account. "A shady looking kid in a hoodie with a travelers pack whose honestly more skittish than a deer caught in headlights when you actually confront him. A boy, about mid teens or so, kinda reminds me of a boy scout with how he acts- has some type of strange ass powers which I can honestly only compare with Kenny's, and a masked man wielding a sword whose capable of apparently appearing out of nowhere whenever he so pleases. Quite obviously, we've been compromised at least 4 times today, and there's no telling how many others are working with these individuals, and yes, they are working together, as one of them rose to the defense of the other when I accosted the shady kid I mentioned already. An incident came up elsewhere however and I was forced to leave the... disposal of these individuals in the hands of Kenny, who had appeared to detain one of them anyway, and I left in order to go respond to the other scene. though, I'm guessing from your treatment of him just now he failed miserably. That is all... sir." Had he just ratted out a man who had saved his life before? yes. Had he ratted out the kid who looked like he had been about to piss himself when Ethic spoke to him? yes? he had ratted them all out. But was it his fucking job right now to do that and more? yes, it was. Was he sorry he had done that job and snitched? hell no... he wasn't about to let them get thrown into a damn vault. But was he sorry he had fabricated some of that report? Nope. The mother fucker had gotten the bits and peices that were important, so what? And plus he was threatening all of them, so... maybe Ethic didn't feel very inclined to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. and technically that was the truth depending on how one looked at it... calling this bastard Sir though left a bad taste in his mouth... especially give the fact that he was being bossed around by the Impenitent thief himself.

Mareek Change of plans then.. we'll wage a guerrilla fight from long range with Bonemerangs and Vacuum Waves and whittle her down bit by bit; have Nemo serve as a distraction of sorts and deal with Rhyhorn while Erce does her work... Though it would admitably go faster if Java could just get over whatever it is he's dealing with and would agree to fight... "Putting us at a complete type disadvantage then, I see," Mareek said, giving no hint of the re-strategizing he was doing all the while. "alright, not like these two haven't fought with things stacked against them before." Both of them gave cries in agreement, Nemo now twirling his club like a cane and tossing it into the air like a baton before catching it- showing off his skill with the piece of hardened calcium. Erce only rolled her eyes at the younger combatants showboating. "I'm looking forward to it," Their trainer said, just the barest hint of a smirk on his face as he turned from the girl. "See you out there later on." With that said he began to head back down the hall, Erce following behind... though Nemo seemed a bit hesitant, opting to stay there and look Raiza and Lana over for a few moments more, still twirling and catching the club in his tiny mits... Galen "Hell, that might actually work," Galen said, chuckling both at the absurdity and the potential usefulness of the boy's outburst. The only thing Pierre would ever lead them to, in Galen's mind, was straight into the ground where they would crash and burn. But maybe the little shit was onto something... and maybe this was the carrot on the stick he needed to keep the fool in check. "Alright then Pierre, let's see the validity of your little idea, shall we? Here's the challenge, how about you become the top coordinator of the entire first year class in every single aspect, and keep that position till the end of the school year? You manage to do that, and not only will you be possibly creating windows of opportunity for the rest of us to get some work done, but you'll also be proving to everyone and everyone's mother what you've been spouting so far about beauty and all that." He made sure to refrain from voicing any opinion concerning his genuine belief that Pierre couldn't even lead his way out of a fucking wet paper bag if he tried though... from what he had seen and observe so far last night and today, he had a hunch that the boy's Ego was too damn big to legitimately focus on what was truly important... so he might as well just try to relocate the kid to the role of serving as a Distraction here and now...

Ko'luki He could see no one else present at the gates when he arrived- no one save a handful of guards on patrol... or rather they should've been patrolling, instead of getting drunk in the small shack just to the right of the gaping, massive wooden doors. The slabs of blackened mahogany stood open to the night, the higher peaks of the Range visible in the distance along with the north star, blazing bright in the heavens like some strange beacon. The guards and their drinking games could be hear loud and clear in the crisp night air; mostly bouts of cursing and laughter with slurred talk, the occasionally clang of their cups piercing through now and again. It was something besides the intoxicated merriment and liquor driven dereliction of duty that drew his attention however. He thought it had been nothing more than a stray shadow in the light of the street lamps (Which themselves were filled with some strange magic rather than actual fire, tiny balls of flaring red and orange roiling within their glass prisons and casting flickering luminescence all around), but upon closer inspection he could see the clear outline of a man in the distance- what looked to be a spear stowed across his back, seeming to be holding something out in his hand and scanning the ground... ***** Maximus Nothing here as well... just as it had been the entire time; the Evochium was dark as death. At least that settled it, he could get back to the shop now, get what he needed and give the rock back to it's owner. Maximus couldn't help but wonder though; what exactly was Muinnat? He knew of what weapons made from it could supposedly do- everyone did, it was such a common urban myth: They cut through bone steel flesh and even some stones as if they were paper, withstand almost any blow or impact, held their edges and shape indefinitely, and from even a few accounts, were said to be able to strengthen or deflect magicks. He'd seen them a few times, hanging on the belts of an Arch Magistrate or two, swords red as fresh blood and glistening like it too, but yet, he had never figured out how one could possibly work a metal which could resist the strike of a thousand hammers, how one could try to shape and mold an ore that was so heat resistant that it could rest in a bonfire for an entire day and night and emerge without even a trace of warping. That's when a rather strange thought came into his mind... What if they used some kind of magic to do it? Hell, he'd seen more and more of the stuff as the night had progressed, things that could not possibly be explained away as being the Spheres, first some demon-god-man being called forth at the resurrection, then the Sky Slayer's Immortality, untouched by the ravages of the lustful hands of time (Which he still felt a bit of thrill and pride from having actually seen proof of firsthand), then an entire city somehow being engulfed in Light that acted more like water and burned all that it touched like Fire... then the demon who had appeared afterwards and captured the only members of their group who even knew anything about what the ever loving hells was going on in the world... Nix somehow existing, steeds who could make a weeks long trips in mere minutes or hours with the power of darkness and shadows... ravens who could apparently make ice rain from the heavens... It was actually a bit overwhelming now that he had thought about it, taken the time to really sit down and go over everything he'd seen, everything he'd experienced since entering the gates of that now dead city just hours ago. What did it all really mean? why had this... this seemingly jumbled and unearthly series of events just suddenly popped up left and right all over the place; turning all that was right on it's side and all that was left top-to-bottom? He'd been so ready to kill Rossephus, still was so ready for it; but he'd never actually stopped and asked... what the fuck is going on? Why did he need to kill the demon- because of how his lance had spoken out of nowhere and urged him to help the Sky Slayer? perhaps... but aside from that, aside from how he'd been presented the man as being some dire enemy from the very beginning... Maximus had to admit he honestly didn't know why death was seemingly the only way. And now he found himself standing there and questioning the one thing he'd refrained from; Why hadn't he himself thought about this? why had he so blindingly taken the words of others- while yes, in their honest defense, what they were saying to him at the time had been very much backed up by the appearance of certain circumstances. When you're told a man is a monster and afterwards see him send a piece of rubble tumbling to crush a crowd below and make another man choose whether to attack and kill him and save the people... would one not think they were speaking true? But then there was this whole business here... he'd seemed to be the complete and polar opposite of how he'd been before; the monster could've killed him and the others at any moment, could've taken them with daggers to their throats and ballistaes to their backs and had them at his mercy. And yet what had he done? He had not only returned those members he'd kidnapped, but... had also seemingly tried to genuinely warn them about something. He didn't know what the hell that something could be, but it definitely was a great and dark something. He was confused to be honest, vexed, conflicted. He'd simply gone with the flow, let the words of others guide where he point his spear for basically this entire night, he had barely given any deeper examination to things, even after leaving the plaza, but now... He simply didn't know what to think. On one hand, one could cite everything done in Cithalos as proof for one argument, while on the other; one could also cite the events of their visit to this city as proof for the other... "Enough," He said, turning his back to the night and heading back towards the gates. All this business wasn't his fancy, he was a man of action, not silly ponderings, damn it... that was work for the sickly scholars and bookworms who couldn't hold a sword right even to save their lives; for fools like that little freak Aaron... "It makes no damn sense... just, enough. I've a stone to return." ***** Octavia For yet the second time tonight, she was met with a surprising message on the pages. And even it was even better than the first one; this time the scathing rebuttal was written in a language she couldn't even read. Just a bunch of glyphs and dots scattered on the yellowed surface of the parchment in shifting black ink like the earlier one. "Figures..." She said dissapointedly as she closed the tomb and returned it to her bag with the locked book the Misanthropic excuse for an Angel had gifted her as well. Alright, yes, while some people would think it rather rude to go peeking in the man's private writings again, she had let her curiosity trump her sense of courtesy- she simply couldn't resist the nagging urge to take another gander... especially after hearing Zartanna call it a "Grimoire" whatever that was; It sounded like something that would be related to magic though, and while yes, she could've gone to Aaron or the man called Gilwyn and likely gotten an answer for them... well she was a bit vexed around Aaron, or Divinius or whatever the hell his real name is, to tell the truth. Things simply don't make sense when he's around; Demons break into homes and boil men alive and voluptuous women with wings black as night appear out of nowhere and hand young Apothecaries strange, mystically locked and previously stolen books along with cryptic warnings and plenty of insults to her kind. And Gilwyn... He was a high ranking member of the church, or had been rather, that much she knew, and apparently he'd had some type of past involving that highwayman who had helped her treat Eric's wounds... but aside from that, she was completely in the dark about the man. And something about him seemed... otherworldly to her, not quite the same way Divinius and the strange happenings did, but more in a... transecdent way. A dangerous way. Like the man knew so much more than he ever gives any sign of, like he sees things, hears things he should not... almost like he holds some power that could destroy any of them if he so wished to apply it to that end. And he intimidated her a bit for that very reason, the fear of the possibility of death, the fear that makes children cling to their mothers skirts instinctively at the slightest bump in the night, the fear that harries old men and women in their deathbeds and makes their hearts cry in grief in their final moments, the fear that can either drive or break soldiers in the field, the fear... "Young lady, are you alright?" said a concerned, dirosi accented voice. She looked left and right, only to realize it's owner was behind him. Rodriguez raised an eyebrow as she turned, a leather satchel filled with donated supplies slung across his chest and hanging at his right side. "You seemed to be have swaying on your feet for a moment- it looked like you were going to collapse in the street..." "What? Oh, oh no, I'm fine..." She said, not even realizing how far her thoughts had taken her down the rabbit hole of her own mind. "T-thank you for the concern though, really..." She trailed off though, realizing she'd actually been walking while trying to make sense of Eric's glyphs. This part of the city looked nothing like the surroundings she'd been in just a good half hour ago... instead of stone houses and narrow streets it was all on some broad avenue with a massive domed building dominating it all, columns and pillars holding up the impressive outer edifice and massive doors barring the way to countless goods from all over Rajom- and possibly from lands even beyond the continents shores... "Um... where?" "From what I have been told," Rodriguez said, not bothering to let her finish the obvious question. "This is the emporium as the city dwellers call it. Supposedly it has merchants and individuals from all across the land holding dealings within it's halls." He took his eyes of the grand building and returned his sight to the girl. "And you look rather familiar... were you not one of those in the company of Maximus?" ((Murdoc, they're basically right outside the emporium's entrance. You're free to walk out into the scene if you want; Eric and Gilwyn would be helping carry the saddles and bags outside to put the stuff on Elimus's back and let him carry it to the gates))

I'm honestly expecting Rose to rain down quite literal hell fire and brimstone on him now...

Sparks Using caution was indeed a wise decision... for as soon as Sparks got within a few feet of the goods; the ground fell away, the solid stone crumpling and sending countless pebbles upon pebbles tumbling down to the floor below. Luckily he'd been out of range- and lo and behold, the goods were alright... simply seperated from his reach by a small gap. But he could jump it, couldn't he? Honestly, it was only... a meter at most maybe? and there seemed to be enough room to land from the leap and get the plate on his back, surely...

So... you gonna move us folks in the bank to Gestas's office soon, our do we just waltz in ourselves about now...?

Dafuq was that about guys?

Mareek "Not really," Mareek began, smiling slightly. "I was just looking for you is all; figured I would wish you good luck for our match later on. These two here are gonna give it everything they have out there." Nemo nodded confidently, tapping his club against his palm again like a Mafioso about to have a "little talk" with an Racketee who had skipped out on a few payments... well, a much smaller and harmless version of one, to be honest. Erce on the other hand looked more than intimidating enough for the both of them- parring her claws against each other, letting off a subtle, grating sound that nearly sounded reminiscent of a knife against a whet stone, a glare hard as stone in her eyes and low rumble in her throat. The mantis was more than looking forward for a chance to put everything she'd worked on into practice at last... as well as seeing what this Girl was capable of dishing out in a battle... "See what I mean?" He continued, gesturing to the two future combatants as they stood by his side. "So what do you say that we show all the people who underestimate you here just how wrong they really are and give a fight to be remembered when the time comes; Sound good to you?" Galen The ex-Mafioso said nothing at his subordinate's retort, hoping the recent events on the field would suffice to shut the kid up and keep him occupied. He had to admit though; Sarah had a point, seemed this Evan kid might have some decent skill to be able to pull things back from the fryer like he just did. Not that he would ever admit that out loud, of course...

I think I may have found a theme song for ol' Galen what do ya'll think? He is rather smooth... and he's definitely got a criminal record.

"Very well," Maya said, still looking out at the sea. The man had a point; they would all be here for a while, and there wasn't much else for them to do to occupy themselves until things started, unless of course, one intended to help with the maintenance and labor on the ship... but that was what the crew was for, afterall. "What do you have in mind for this 'Training' exactly?"

"I mean it, Holmes!" Mareek shouted down the corridor just as the other boy disappeared around the next corner. "Don't you get in my way again; Next time I won't be so pleasant about it!" Then turning to Erce. "Come on... let's go find where Nemo wen-" He didn't even have to bother looking far; there at the opposite end of the hall Kenny had gone, was standing his little orphan. He seemed to be....waiting for someone? "Nemo?" He called as he and the mantis began to make their way over. The Cubone glanced over his shoulder in surprise, then gestured proudly up the steps with his club. "What, you found them? Figures, they weren't even down here to begin with..."

((Mmmhmm, yeah, sure, whatever...)) Mareek "Look, I don't know and I quite honestly don't care what you think is going on" Mareek began, infering enough from that "Master of Oceans and Valcanoes" comment that the fool probably had some inkling of the situation. His hands were shoved in his pocket as he glared coldly at the meddler, a stoney expression on his face. He honestly didn't like this kid, and he sure as hell didn't think anything good would come if someone as rash as him was gonna go prodding into things. It was like Henry had said... "But a bit of friendly advice," Mareek said. " whatever it is, keep ya head out of it, bub, because chances are you're going to seriously step on some toes and end up screwing things up for the people who actually know a little bit about what their doing. You know how badly you fucked things up for me and Java back there by opening your damn mouth? Too many bird watchers, and the raven takes flight."

Galen "Sit down, boy..." Galen ordered, sending out his Zoroark as he glared at the flamboyent trainer from behind. Within and instant the Shadow Fox created an illusion and muffled all noise from the situation to overshadow the spectacle; making it seem to any onlookers that nothing out of the ordinary was going on in the area where the four of them sat. The fox turned to him when she had finished the quick save, but his eyes were still glued on Pierre. "Do you know the meaning of discretion, kid?" he asked. "Because that's what's needed from all of you for the time being; Don't go doing stupid shit like you were about to and drawing attention to yourself at times when it could damage the mission, Capiche? Look, piere, you can be as flamboyant as you want later during contests and what not, but for right now, sit down and just keep under the radar... it would be a damn shame if I had to tell Teach this turned into a Charlie Foxtrot before we were even a full day into the operation." Even as he spoke though, he could tell he probably had his work cut out for him... "You can shine all you want when you're mopping the floor with the other coordinators in the contest hall, kid. But if you try something to create a spectacle here and now; you're going to be drawing a boat load of notice to all of us, and that's gonna make the mission nearly impossible if we have eyes on our position right from the very start. Understand what I'm getting at?" Nemo Oh... well how nice! it seemed that they were going to follow him and come to Mareek, alriiiiight, not only had he found em, he was bringing them; Mareek would probably be so proud of his success... especially when Java had failed miserably. "Cube!" He said enthusiastically, turning back and rushing towards the stair case giving a brief follow gesture before descending down the concrete slabs- hopping and taking two at a time, waiting at the bottom for the two students. Mareek "Alright then..." he said simply, walking away from the other boy. He followed where he'd heard Erce earlier and low and behold... who else was there but Kenny? Figures... "So, it was you." He said, glaring at the boy with the oshawot. "You made those foot falls I heard earlier, didn't you; Henry's Venonat probably picked you up with those Compound eyes of it's... It's a bit ironic though, I try to easedrop- and you go and mouth off to me and Java like you're so high and mighty, yet here I find you... and you're doing the exact same thing." Erce let out a growl of agreement. "Tell me, Kenny Holmes, do you understand what Hypocrisy is?" Erce She was about to respond to that pitiful defense when Mareek beat her to the punch and rounded the corner. She simply stared on as her trainer began to deal with the listener himself, only making a sound to give a grunt of approval when he pointed out the irony and double standard of the situation. She actually found this somewhat amusing though; the tables had been completely turned, and look who was confronting whom now...

Erce The Mantis stopped her shout and gave a few harsh, guttural growls that sounded like the cross between a dragon and an insect as the water type attempted to mouth off to her. By the time she was done she had created a full retort for the Oshawott; Why was he and his trainer just standing here within ear shot of this whole conversation then? She had seen the boy being stationary, not walking, he couldn't exactly go using the "I was just passing by" excuse here. And further more, why was his trainer ease-dropping on hers when the guy had reprimanded Mareek for it like some self-righteous prick earlier on; seemed really shitty to her that the Student would go and then turn right around and do the exact thing he'd caused hers grief over.... real shitty indeed. Mareek "Well obviously discretion is best when bird watching; of course I'll keep my observations under lock and key... unless of course, the Tower doesn't hold up and starts causing trouble for the town around it as it crumbles." With that said, he looked one last time at where Erce was, shaking his head and briefly muttering something in japanese...Then turning back to Henry. "Anyways, are we done here, Baldwin?" he asked. "Is this all you wanted to speak about?"

Aaaaaaand Erce found em. didn't even need to sense the air or use dem heightened senses as a Ninja-mon. and just to clear it up, Kenny, the Scyther line doesn't have access to the Compound eyes ability like Venonat does. She has a point though, is this not hypocritical on Kenny's part? Just saying...

Mareek nodded, keeping an ear out for those strange footsteps all the while. He could tell why Henry might want to phrase this a certain way... "I'm afraid so," He agreed. "So far, I've been trying to keep the damn Crows, as I'll refer to them as, and their Tower in close sight... though, All I've seen is the Tower they apparently like to land on, not the birds themselves. Basically everything I know is nothing but heresay and speculation at this point, though either way, I'm a bit concerned about whether or not the tower will hold it's structural integrity through all this..." He couldn't shake something from his mind though... the fact of the thing with Henry's venonat finding an easedroper a few moments ago, coupled with the footsteps going down the corridor from them... no one had been there when he looked, so either he'd glanced to late, or they were, quite simply, invisible. Java was still acting like an emotional teenager in their room when Mareek tried to call him out of the ball, so it was on to plan be. Without taking his eyes off of henry, he sent out the mantis beside him, Giving her a few Tactical Hand Signs and ultimately gesturing down the hall. Her mission was simple; go see if anyone was there. She gave a quick nod, then vanished in a blur of motion. Mareek continued. "Tell me, Henry, what do you think of irony?" He kept his eyes on the hall where Erce had gone the whole time, getting a bit of a hunch as to who could've made those foot falls... the fool had already demonstrated it once earlier. Erce's alarm screech came from around the corner. Mareek smirked. "Because I think we might have a bit right now..." Erce Erce rounded the corner using her agility, looking left then right quickly as she continued her patrol... only to double back at a strange sight indeed... a boy, seemingly hiding. Hey, actually, this kid looked familiar... in fact, he was the one Mareek had called on her in order to get away from, right? So why the hell was the little fool going to go and do the exact same thing he'd condemned Mareek for doing like some self-righteous prick? Oh well, not her problem to figure out the other boy's hypocrisy, she had another job to do now... "Scy...." She began, taking in a deep breath of air as she dropped her Agility boosted speed and became visible before the ease-dropper. "THER!!!!!!!!!!" the shout was almost deafening as she expelled the air from her rather powerful lungs, loud as she could, hoping to either scare the hypocrit away or alert Mareek that there was indeed someone watching here....

I ain't leaving till he gets his family back. Liam neeson style preferably. Yeah, I'm still interested.