Sutoratosu

(Mirror Edge, Argentum) Somewhere in the Waterways, Near the Lake of Miracles The sprite hesitated. It was a good question... the why of it all. She'd gone countless centuries without needing to be bound to any object or trinket. This housing was a formality... if she really wanted to, she could've easily shattered what piddling remnants of the ever fading magic keeping her. She could've done so even back when those remnants had been in full force, had gotten more than enough practice... And yet I stayed... She knew why. Ruby burning, her voice again resonated against the stones "It's... difficult to explain, to one who doesn't partake of the concept. But, it's like why I choose to stay in this jewel. While true, most of my kind despise the mere thought of being locked away into trinkets, beings in some cases several eons old, turned into mere lap dogs by some clever trap or overwhelming force... I have no reason to hate the one who put me here. She didn't deserve my fury; not like the others. She didn't force, she didn't coerce, she begged. She pleaded. I came into this trinket of my own free will... because I was curious. Because I was tired. After tangling with so many others who'd have me by raw might with no care of sentient will, she was like a respite. True, I could've just turned and left. But I didn't want to... what else would I have found if I had; more of what I always had, that's what. Mortals are crude, they're primitive in their culture and beliefs, only judging the world around them by what they can immediately sense, always presuming that their pitiful preconceptions as law. They think they see all, but they are all blinded by their own arrogance. And their arrogance always brings strife with it. So when I found, this one being, this one mortal... who defied that mold which I had seen proven over and over again, I couldn't simply leave her to die. I had to see more. At first, she was just an experiment, and oddity. But... well, just like this amulet, she grew on me. Eventually, it got to the point where I didn't defend her simply because she was odd, but because I truly did care about her fate. Or the one that was stolen from her, rather... I don't particularly like her child, you see, or her spouse. They don't matter to me, but they mattered to her, and that girl was a literal part of her... so long as she still draws breath, the last tangible part of my friend lives on as well. That, sir, is why my oath is so important. I may not be overly fond my current job, but it is a labor I do for her nonetheless... and there's nothing else in this plane I'd rather do. Sometimes, to protect what is dearest to us, we must do things we find... unsavory. But we bear the burden, and we do them regardless. The mortals seem fond of calling it 'Love'. I have no word for it. I never had a word for it before I met her. But yet, even I understood it in the end." Aurora, 1st day of the 1st month, Year of Rebirth. Afternoon. She prodded it again. And again, the corpse rolled to it's side, revealing the crescent sheath of scorched flesh. The head lulled on what precious little was left of the spinal cord, practically hanging like a ragdoll. She had been right. The rat had had a pack... and here they were, the other half dozen of them. Deader than doornails, no less. Flurries of light still haunted the area, meandering in the air like aimless fireflies... every now and again Aurora would see a few fade and a few more rise from the wounds of the dead to take their place. "What type of power could have done this to you?" The slain gave no response, simply stared back at her with those distant, beady pupils. She made no effort to hide the morbid curiosity on her face, still poking and rotating one after another to fully examine the scene "Fire magic... that would've been my first guess, but no, no... this is far too controlled, too precise. Fire's greatest strength is in it's raw chaos; it's inherent wildness. It would make no sense to use it so delicately, so focused. And this excess he left behind, it doesn't feel like any Arcane magic I've seen... it's too reserved... too lofty, grand, even.... like it is not for any mere pair of common hands" If anyone else were there, it probably would've sounded a strange description, unless of course, one were a cleric of some sort. Even though she knew beyond a doubt this had to be of divine origin, this didn't feel precisely the same as when she used practiced- and in many cases failed -her own blessings alone, or had participated in rituals with the others, back when there were even others to begin with. No... this was too great. Like someone had opened a virtual floodgate of some hallowed force and then focused and condensed it all to a razor point to carve through each of these poor vermin like hot steel through butter, and once it was done carving it simply broke free of it's hot knife and lingered in the corpses to continue eating away at them, like vultures scavenging a kill... and even the amount she felt here was probably middling compared to the full brunt. What power she felt briefly course through her as her patterns again blazed to life and swam over her body... it was child's play compared to this pinpoint-perfect carnage. She let it recede back into dormancy before her eyes could gain their carnal radiance. "So..." she snarled, tossing the body in her hand to the waterways. The matted fur vanished beneath the waves like a stone, the surface glowing white as it made it's way down the canal. She watched it go "Puss is a Holy Knight of some sort then... and a powerful one, at that. Well... can his god save him from a dragon? or will he be left to rot in the sewers forever as well?" She stopped at that thought. She could've turned around, found Ajax, tell him she had lost the lion. Part of her truly did want the fucker dead for his "holier than thou" attitude, and the mere knowledge that he was obviously far more accomplished in the service of his God than the likes of which she could ever dream of down in this pit only set more fuel to the fire. But another part cared about what Ajax thought of her, cared that Ajax, through thick and thin, was a friend. And that latter half carried a forest fire. Her spiteful side had naught but a bonfire in comparison. "At least I'm getting close now..." She sighed, kicking the other bodies out of her way as moved on, some of them flying against the nearest wall and others into the canal to join their earlier brother. "damn alpha feline... left his filthy scent all over the place."

6-0 eh, long time since this last happened... http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/randombattle-384308521 Feels good to use pink bubble gum again, btw. Feels reeeeal good :feelsgd:

Well, lookey lookey, mah favorite priestess (whose patron deity I still to this day don't know) has returned. Good to have you back, Zeph, for however brief it might be... Now that that formality is out of the way, feel free to leave your sanity at the door, standard procedure and all, you know the drill, old gal.

Ah, Slim... you are among the last of the "true" rappers, as far as I'm concerned. There was a time when rapp was more about social commentary or stories of personal hardship and triumph... nowadays though, seems to be all narcissistic, self-absorbent verses mainly focusing on subjects along the lines of "fucking bitches and gettin' paper" oh how far it has seem to fallen...

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/randombattle-383527453 Ah, Stoutland, you glorious bastard... EDIT: I prayed to the RNG gods, and in my next battle, there I saw him, descending upon the earth. The wrath of the Heavenly Lord... http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/randombattle-383532363

I...I don't even know.

Sully will remember that... "Eh, was alright." He said, waving his hand dismissively at the question. "Got paired against some bloke called Supernova, I think it was. Guy was a SMO, not even a few seconds after the match starts, and he's strafing around, trying to distract me with these piddly little laser bursts. Obviously, I shut that nonsense down as best as I could, but then the guy comes TPing in for a direct attack to my front. So I say, alright, and I just let the fool come in close before I show him who he was really dealing with... after I jack up his shit a bit, he still tries to up the stakes, came out guns and fists literally blazing while he tried to chase me around, my co-pilot thought we were completely fucked; those flames seemed to dampen whatever energy strikes we tried, almost like a shield, and the damn things were so hot that getting in close again to make the kill blow wasn't an option. but I had a little surprise up my sleeve for both of them... and that's all she wrote." He gave a passive yawn as he continued to kick the chair off the ground, eyes returning to the ceiling. His eyes closed for just a breif moment as he accessed the shared status information they'd all been given; a mere firing of neurons and the mechanized components of his mind did their job as the dossier and data- however brief it was -of the woman called Strider flashed before the darkness of his lids. "Lowest possible seat, eh? Interesting... and the info she gave me on Silent's a nice tid bit as well. If we just... add that in... there we go, nice little note, might be able to build more on it later." With the Intel work done for now he let the data dismiss itself, opening his eyes just as the burning, orange HUD vanished back into blackness, gaze again fixed on the girl. "Anyway, I'd wish you fortune with your next match, but to be entirely honest, luck doesn't do jack at this level," another yawn as he leaned back even further, resting his arms behind his head "it's all about skill. Either you've got enough to pull through in the end, or ya don't. No amount of well wishing can change that..."