Saga of the Worm and the Dragon- Part One: Never Again (I... Fight... On!)

[Sarai and Samiel]

It all began long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away. And that is the truth. It began one million five hundred thousand and some loose change ago, on a planet in a solar system orbiting the center of a galaxy in a reality completely separate from any of those currently mapped and/or known.

However, to keep it simple and reduce the numbers involved, we will take it for what it, for all purposes, is. A long, long time ago, in a place far, far away.

Let us look in on a small home on a planet not too much unlike Terra, in terms of environment and elemental make-up.

************************

"OOOOH!" She groaned. "Lower! Lower! M-"

************************

*ahem*. My mistake- wrong house. I meant this one over *HERE*.

************************

"I tells ya," The gnarled old man muttered, "It's a bad crop o' quirmelons this year. There's a-gonna be a freeze comin' through just after plantin', an' that always kills off th' quirmelons. Shoulda gone with Jorkert. Now there's a vegetable as always sells."

His son sighed. "For the last time, grandfather, you're the only man left on this continent who actually likes those things. Nobody wants a mouthful of roughage."

"Nonsense, boy!" The aged mass of wrinkles snapped. "Why, I remember that in the year of-"

************************

Hm. Okay, that's not it either. Where's my map?

...thank you. Hmm. Says here... oh. The first one WAS the right house. Ah, that's the problem. We're off by a day or so. Hang on- there. Fixed it.

Now, then...

************************

Joance woke slowly, relaxedly. He couldn't remember feeling so good after a night of sleep in some years. He never had liked being alone in the old house, small though it was. It had been nearly a decade since his parents had passed on, and he had grown used to tending the farm.

It wasn't for a good two minutes that he realized something was seriously different. He half-sat up, propping himself off of the bed with his left elbow, and looked at what was lying on his right arm.

It was a head. Furthermore, it was attached to a rather stunning young woman. Blinking, he only half-noticed when the woman muttered something to him. Coming to the conclusion that yes, there was a woman in the bed with him, and yes, she was real, and furthermore that they were both naked (and you don't need to know how he knew that part, thanks), he shook his head.

Screaming, he decided, wold be rather counterproductive in a situation like this. Instead, he opted to ask "What?"

"Lie back down.." the blue-haired woman said, her voice half-blurred by sleep. "'S only first quarter."

Not really willing to disobey the orders of someone in a very good position to... well, let's just say that he was sure she could be very persuasive. Therefore, he laid back down, and glanced at the window. She was right- the sun was hardly up. Having no livestock, Joance could get up later than some of his neighbors.

Staring out the window, he tried to think.

What did I do yesterday? Who is this woman, and how did...

With a flash, it all came back to him. She had arrived in the small hamlet tired, worn, and dirty, claiming to have been traveling for months after a bandit attack. Most of the other villagers hadn't the room or time to help her, but Joance had quite a bit of leeway, living on his own. He'd taken her in, and she'd brought him lunch in the field. He smiled slightly as he recalled. Her midnight-blue hair had blown slightly in the wind, and though she seemed as if she might still be tired, and by all rights ought to have been asleep on her feet, the woman- her name was Nemui, he recalled- had made very nice conversation. They had flirted a little as they talked over luncheon, and she had remained in the fields to talk with him while he went through the weeding and preparing to plow next week. There were not many weeds at this time of year, but those that were growing were prone to growing up again even if turned under by plow, and their roots held quite well, so he had been out there some time.

She had excused herself in the early evening, and when he got home an hour or so later, there had been a hearty stew waiting for him, and more conversation.

And more flirting.

Things had, as he would have put it, flowed naturally from there.

Hazel eyes looked up at the ceiling silently as he thought.

After a few moments, he realized someone was looking at him. It wasn't too hard to figure out who, and so he looked down at the soft green eyes of his bedmate. With that gaze upon him, he was utterly steadfast. Nothing could daunt him, nothing could topple his steady assured sense of self.

She smiled, her thin, elegant face beaming warmth up at him. "Our child will be so beautiful."

Abruptly totally confused, Joance just stared back at her for a moment, mouth hanging open. One slender hand raised to prop his jaw up, and Nemui smiled still broader.

"W-wha?" Joance blurted. "Y-what? What child?"

Nemui grinned. It was like staring into the face of one of the scholars as a child- an expression that said 'I know so much more than you, and that fact is so funny, I'm almost splitting my sides.'

Joance decided that he didn't like that look.

"Why," Nemui answered, slowly and casually, "The one we're going to have in about ten sirals."

No, he didn't like that look at all. "Wha? Y-you mean?" At her warm nod, he spluttered. "B-but! I mean, how would you know?"

Nemui laughed, then, a laugh of joy and amusement- the kind of laugh that is so pure, it is found only in dreams. "So tell me- how does it feel to know that you slept with a goddess?"

Quite certain that Joance and Nemui would be putting it through more torturous loops and breakings of known reality if it continued paying attention for even one millisecond more, Joance's brain left on a short vacation.

***************************

Does not seem to have much to do with anything, does it? But that is the true start- the one at the root of it all. Because of what happened that morning and during the day proceeding, so much would happen. Sole cause, of course, is not from this event. But it is the most definable reason behind what happened.

Now, I am as certain as you are tall that you do not wish to read of the full time, the hundreds of days, and even years, between that event, and the point in time, the series of hours, that wound up the focal point of events. So, we shall skip forwards to what some- or rather, many- would consider the end. The end of a story. The end of a battle. The end of a war. The end- of an entire reality.

Three hundred years later...

***************************

She was nervous. She couldn't help it. They all were.

But only she was here, in the darkness, in this mountain on a barren planet, waiting. Waiting for that which would obliterate not just her, but everything. Would remove it all from the is- and possibly from the ever- for all when .

She shuddered, and her fingers clenched slightly on the plastic of the radio. Raising it to the side of her head, she licked her lips, soft pink tongue tracing two bands of golden flesh, the path only interrupted by the peaks of two teeth- her upper canines.

She stared out into the darkness, and took a shaky breath, then pressed the button on the radio.

"Manifold Magician, do you read? The bone is in position."

Releasing, she waited. For a few seconds, there was still nothing. A long, reptilian tail, with an arrowhead spade of cartilage on the tip, lashed slowly, tougher-than-diamond scales scraping against the stone floor of the cavern.

She was too late. It had found them, and it had destroyed the system, killed the massed arcane power-users, and rendered the plan unusable, and they were all going to never was , and- the radio crackled to life.

"Roger that, Dragon Walking in Rainy Dreams. We are ready to throw the stick. Is the steak going to be well-done?"

She nodded, though they could not see it. Heck, she herself could barely see it. The fingers of her free right hand dug under the collar of her bodysuit, which somehow seemed suddenly restrictive, and she swallowed nervously as she depressed the button again with her left thumb.

"Well-done isn't even close, MM. We're talking crisped here."

For an answer, she got a dry, humorless chuckle. "Roger. We're ready to implement the plan." Strangely, the command to begin wasn't given. Silence continued for a few moments, and then the voice came over the two-way once more, sounding nervous, worried. She hated that. He was so confident, so sure- and even he didn't really believe this would work.

"A-are you sure about this?" He asked.

Her right hand went to her hip, the padding on the palm of her battle-glove making a faint sound as it rubbed the khaki of her cargo shorts. "We've been over this and over this, Onyx. This is what's left- we've got to do it. There isn't anywhere left to go- it's all been unmade."

"B-but there's the portals!" Onyx whispered hoarsely, desperately. "I-I mean... you could escape! You'd survive what's in there, Yume!"

Yume shook her head, hazel eyes narrowing. " No , Onyx. Dammit, I'm not going to let everyone else die to no effect. Besides, you know as well as I- if I could survive it, so could It . I'm not going to take the chance that It would follow me through that thing, do you understand?"

Silence.

Yume patted one of the struts for the metal cage embracing her torso, outside the vest and bodysuit. This was half of the plan, right there. It would allow her to survive phase one. She would have prayed to the gods that she would survive even long enough to conclude phase three, but for two things. She knew the gods- they were too petty to care. And, but much, much worse, the gods were gone, unexisted by the very thing she was here to stop.

"I... I understand, Yume. I wouldn't want that on my conscience either, even if I... wouldn't be around to know it..."

Yume nodded. Again, the motion was wasted, other then allowing her to note the way the long braid of her hair seemed more weighty than it had before. This entire plan sat upon her like lead weights.

It had to work. There was no need for a reason anymore, and there was no room for failure. It would work. There was no other way.

"Alright, Yume... we're all ready, and we're all rooting for you. Even if you don't think we should be. Segment check-in, please."

"Narcolepsis is green." Came another voice over the radio.

"Charcoal is green." Came still another voice, this one slightly frenetic. Charcoal... Yume knew that they would not survive this plan, no matter what. It was perhaps fortunate that most of them were unstable to begin with. Though, she knew they could be counted on. Unstable, yes. But their survival instincts were as strong as anyone else's.

"Rubber Stamp is green." Replied the final segment.

"Alright, Manifold- Onyx." Yume stated, quietly. "Let's do this."

"Roger, Dreams- Yume. Yume... you go for it, okay?"

There was a momentary pause, not long enough for an answer.

"Throw the stick."

Then- silence.

There would be no radio communication, nor telepathic communication, while the operation was underway. It had not yet shown signs of being able to read either type of signal, but there were to be no chances taken. Not with the last hope.

Yume waited, timing her heartbeats. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. NOW.

Reaching up, she gripped the bars that came over her shoulders, and pulled the triggers.

With a quiet hum, a crimson field, like a sphere of flame, appeared around her. She kept her tail close, within its confines, and half-crouched, ready. When it came, she would get through it, and then she would have not more than a few seconds to prepare. The field itself would last for several hours- more than enough time for It to arrive, and the first phase to go into effect. Or at least, it would last for several hours notwithstanding the first phase.

Yume heard it before she saw it, and she heard something else before she heard it.

Screaming. Charcoal was the segment composed of a series of mages, psionicists, sorcerors, wizards, and elemental beings attuned to fire. And every last one of them, down to the last man, the last phoenix, the last orc, the last salamander, even the greatest dragons of flame, had just annihilated him or herself in the universe's most painful orgiastic frenzy of flame. Even the mighty dragons and phoenixes screamed, not roared nor cried, but screamed in sheer pain as all their energy, all their mass, every last iota of anything that could be brought to bear was consumed, was burned down to component atoms to generate heat.

Then she heard the whoosh of air, as the mountain, easily ten miles high and over thirty wide at the base, melted from the inside out.

Abruptly, a rush of heat, barely felt through the most powerful single-person protection that could be brought to bear, and then Yume was floating. Suspended by the sheer force of expanding air and sublimating rock. It was not the largest, nor the most spectacular fireball that would ever happen anywhere, but it was by far the most intensely focused one that would occur within the next few hundred millenia.

**********************************

On another plane, in another reality, an immense orange-red serpent that would one day be known as Apep shuddered in fear. Still elsewhat, beings in many realities, sun-gods and flame-gods alike, felt the pulse of true FIRE, and some made to prevent such from ever happening again.

And one pair of indigo eyes, laughing insanely, determined instead to repeat it.

**********************************

All around her was fire, was flame- but the shield held. Vaporised rock blasted out of the mountain through numerous large holes, melted them until their sides had turned from the ribbed barrels of chewed tunnels to smooth walls of rock. The shield shook, as the air vibrated. Somewhere nearby, something was howling in pain, with a voice so deep that it was more felt than heard, and so loud that her teeth threatened to vibrate out of her head.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, it left. A tremendous sphere inside of the mountain was utterly empty- at first. Then, stone condensed out of the air, became liquid from gas, fell from the very air and pooled in the bottom like brandy in a snifter. The walls of this immense spherical cave still glowed well enough to light the room, and the rock in the bottom cooled so quickly, so rapidly- and the room suddenly had a floor, a flat plane of solid obsidian.

It was this that Yume fell on, leaving a small, jagged crater, but coming nowhere near being seriously harmed herself. Even as she impacted, the field, overloaded by what it had endured, flickered out, and the electrical backlash would have exploded it, had not all the connections been severed by the thing's crumpling under the force of impact.

Standing, Yume brushed off the contraption, reduced to shards of steel and plastic, letting it fall to the reflective black ground. Her large hazel eyes were fastened on something nearly half a mile away across the bottom of the fire-shorn cavern.

Something tremendous, sandy-brown, and long... nearly a kilometer long. Twenty feet diameter. She knew- she had seen it before, had had to run from it before, had looked down the *mouth* teethteethteethteethteethDOOM -

And she walked forwards, slowly, carefully. The obsidian quaked and trembled as the titanic worm, apparently in intense pain despite the lack of visible injury, thrashed about. Then, it stopped.

Like some giant snake, it lifted up its forepart, and eyes opened- three in a row on either side of the blunt head. Eyes of black pupil, brown iris, and bloodshot white. The tripartite mouth on the front of the head shifted, giant lips grating against each other.

For a few moments they stared at each other. A nine-year-old girl with scales of brilliant, glowing gold (or was that the light from the walls reflected?), and a giant-worm, sandy and brown, with four long blades at the tip of its tail. David and Goliath never appeared so strange, nor was so... UNRIGHT .

The little girl, the little Yume, seemed somehow slightly unreal, as if a bit of dream torn loose on an edge of reality and gathered together.

And the giant worm was somehow ineffably WRONG . It bore with it a sense that this was where things unbecame, where reality ended, where true nightmare had been melded with reality, and things had gone even wronger from there, until it cascaded in on itself and collapsed to a more simple form.

Two hazel eyes met six brown.

YOU... Thundered a voice like boulders grinding. I HAVE SEEN YOU BEFORE THIS.

The little girl nodded. "And you will not see me after."

Though it did not move, there was the sense that the worm was cocking its head to one side. AND WHY IS THAT? HAVE YOU COME TO BE CONSUMED?

Its answer came in the form of a small glass sphere, hurled by the little girl (little girls shouldn't move that fast, no no no. Breaking the laws of physics is against the rules and we're going to tell on you.) straight at the underside of it's 'head'- or rather the part of its body that held its eyes.

The sphere shattered, and there was an eruption of flame, the worm abruptly jerking back, tender flesh already burnt exposed to heat again.

Six eyes narrowed.

YOU WILL BE CONSUMED.

"No." She stated.

*******************************

In a space station orbiting the barren planet, the bustle of activity stopped.

Hundreds of thousands, all those who could not help with the other parts of the plan, were all here. Orcs and elves sat together, next to brain moles and power-armored psychics. Titans and gnomes, rasts and ravids and demons, celestials and even ambulatory fungi. All stopped, and turned, and focused their attention to a particular point on the planet below. A creature like a tapir muttered a half-hearted 'Drow...', and fell silent, focusing too much on the task at hand to even speak its customary mantra.

All that remained of those who could made to do one thing, and one thing alone- bring sleep to the immense worm.

*******************************

"It will stop here, Kry'tull." Yume said, dead serious.

The worm did not laugh- it struck. It lashed out with its head like a cobra, to crush this little speck of defiance. There was an immense crunch, and a grinding, as several hundred tons of titan-worm impacted volcanic glass, and then it passed over the spot, curling about to look down at the long gouge made in the floor. There was no sign of Yume- just a gouge and billions of shards of black glass.

Then a pile in the center of the gouge shifted, and sank, as a form raised itself up out of a deeper hole.

And Yume stood. Tears stood in her eyes- that had hurt more than anything she had ever felt- but she had survived. She had to. She would.

Again, the worm struck, this time with its mouth open. Yume dove to the side- much too fast. The immense creature moved as if it were a normal sized snake, hundreds of times faster than it ought to be able- but Yume was still faster.

However, she was also inexperienced, and young, and half-distracted. There was a spray of carmine and a cry of pain from her, and then the worm was past, raised up again, and looking down at the girl, who was slowly getting back up.

Tears ran from her eyes in rivers, and she dared not look. Blood flowed steadily from the end of her amputated tail, but not enough to cover where the vertebra poked out from ripped flesh. Kry'tull had not bit down and severed the appendage neatly, but instead dug in several teeth and rip/shredded the last half a foot off.

That such a thing was even possible to do to one as ludicrously tough as Yume was almost unbelievable, but it had been done.

But she stood, and faced the worm, and reached into her pockets. A look of utter rage graced her face, the makings of a screaming tantrum- but one that would be all the more dangerous for what was in her pockets.

(what has it got in its pocketses?
A thread? It's hands? A shard of wood?
A knife? Oh, it's up to no good.

A key? A candle? A disk? A match?
An egg? No, nothing that will hatch.

Blood? A card? Even some dice?
No- just something not very nice...)

Withdrawing her hands from the lower pockets of her vest (not yet a minivest, not yet...), she pulled out not two more spheres, but two strings of spheres. Five to a chain, one in either hand, and she stood and waited.

Kry'tull eyed her cautiously for a moment.

Blood slowly pooled behind her.

A flash of motion- Kry'tull snapped out its tail, intending to cleave the girl in two at the waist with one of the four opposed blades. Yume fell backwards, and then reached up and flung the spheres at the passing tail.

There was an explosion.

Yume was flung clear, a trail of blood from her tail, and smoke from her scorched clothing- but she had come out by far the better.

For the flesh and blades of Kry'tull's tail were melting, smoking, steaming from the power of the acid that had been summoned by most of the spheres.

Again, the worm howled in pain, as Yume landed on her back, unable to get up- for the howl was shaking the cavern. Bits of obsidian skittered across the floor, thrown by the sheer volume of the worm's voice- and then it paused.

The rear two eyes closed, slowly, gradually.

W-WHAT IS...

That titanic voice slowed, the boulders not trying so hard to make each other into gravel. The head drooped, even as the end of the worm's tail finished burning clean through, massive, but mutilated spikes crashing to the obsidian.

WHAT IS HAP...P.. HAPPENING....

The middle two eyes were half-closed, and Yume knew. Narcolepsis was striking.

***********************************

Collapse . The mages with their sleep spells had burnt out, the spirits with their induction had used themselves up, all that was left was the psychics. Or rather, not the psychics.

The entire contents of the station were dead, now and forever.

But hundreds of minds, no longer bound in their bodies- were nowhere near.

***********************************

For a brief, stuttering moment, Yume saw - saw the shapes of tens of thousands of essences, of minds, swirling about Kry'tull's head like some fluorescent miasma- but those who came too close, who touched the thing's spirit, were sucked in, and did not come out .

Nothing ever came out.

The vision faded, and Yume waited. She wanted to hurt, wanted to hurt that which had taken her world, which had taken her friends... which had taken her mother... and would take everything it could. But she knew. She could help to stop it. She would. It would be done. It Would Be Done.

The middle eyes closed, and the front eyes started to- and they looked at Yume.

Y-YOU... YOU WILL... BE......... CON.......... SU..... ME....D.......................

With a crash like ten tons of lead coming back to earth, the worm lay prone.

Quickly, Yume darted up, and placed her hands on its head.

It was time. She removed one hand to withdraw the radio from her shorts pocket, and dropped it. Replacing her hand on the leathery hide, hide that had turned aside even nuclear weapons, she stomped on the radio, crushing its battered casing.

*************************************

That was the signal. Onyx gave the command, and abruptly, the entire reality was a much smaller place. Actual EXISTENCE was consumed, removed from ever , made to have never been, to power this last spell.

Yume was not able to see or feel it, but she knew that just now, the only things that remained of her reality were this planet, the worm, and herself- and a spell.

**************************************

She closed her eyes, as if to enter the worm's dream- and then the pain hit.

She clenched her jaw.

It felt like someone was crumpling up her entire body, and trying to shove it all out of her skin through her forehead. Every last bit of her screamed in protest- colors flashed before her eyes like a cross between a discotheque and a techno artist's dream music video. She had to hold. She had to.

But they were CRUSHING her, they were STABBING her, they were BURNING her, they were FREEZING her, it felt like every nerve in her entire body was firing at once-

And then there was a silent explosion of light.

In the cavern with the cooling stone walls, there was suddenly only the worm. Slowly, six lights formed, orbiting the creature. One red, one gray, one electric-blue, one so purple (or was it so blue?) that it could only be the color of chaos, one ice-white, and one in a soft, dull brown.

Then, reality *ceased*.

***************************************

Sounds like the end, does it not? But this story has more.

One man- or should I say, one god, found someone who he thought was something special. Something different. And he knew her, and she him, and they were friends of a sort- and adversaries of a sort.

And then she asked to die. As he was the god of death, he made it so, but she would be reborn, for in the time before she had known him, she had achieved deityhood, and that was not extinguishable for him. Or so he claimed.

And she returned, and there was an electric-blue light.

And she met a demon- and there was red.

And red and blue combined, forming into a sphere of glowing light- a solid object, that this god of death took with him, puzzled over- and sought the parts of.

From over the river Lethe, a mysterious figure was discovered- and gray light returned.

An encounter with a demon of chaos and his mysterious twin yielded the utterly sky-blue (royal purple?) light.

A planet of ice and snow was found to hold the ice-white light.

And then, returning, much to his disgust, to his home planet of Terra, the god found the light of dull brown.

The lights became one light, and that was a soul- and Yume re-emerged into the Is.

And wandered.

But what she did not know...

What she could not have known...

Was what had resulted from the reuniting of her self.

***********************************************

Yume was dead-on-her-feet tired. Her encounter with the one known as Aidan had worn her out completely, had injured her pretty badly- but she had managed to win the fight.

It seemed rather silly in retrospect, but that was all that had mattered while it was happening.

It had been a few weeks, and she had mostly healed. But she had not quite recovered yet. Her ribs still ached, and there were still some cricks in her spine.

Not that it would matter, she mused. For the land that the six-foot-three scaled woman was wandering across appeared totally barren.

She would never understand the mysterious portals that kept appearing and taking her to seemingly random places. More often than not, more than a few feet off of the ground in random places. She was getting oh-so-tired of falling.

She was immensely grateful to the latest portal for bringing her in- into where she didn't know- not more than four feet off the ground.

It was a nice change of pace not to get an injury with a shift in location.

Perhaps she ought to have been paying more attention to her surroundings.

But we will let that go to watch her plod along relentlessly.

She is, after all, very good at it.

Yume muttered something about how she could really go for a ham and cheese sandwich. Still, she kept going, walking along. It wasn't like there was much else she could do until she encountered something (other than these broken and rolling hills of rock) or fell through another portal.

((Alright, folks, this is how it's gonna go. First off, this is gonna be a big huge long-ass thing, so unless you're in it for the long haul, please don't join. It's pretty much open for anyone to join- BUT there are a few restrictions. Only a certain number of people maximum can join at each time that I say, and I'll say when and how many. Also, I'd like you to PM me if you intend to do anything major and are not ABSOLUTELY sure what the results of doing that would be. I don't want someone making easy hash out of a major villain because they mispercieve the villain's toughness or something like that.

Outside of that, and keeping that all in mind, just have fun, huh?

Right now, it's open for people to join- I'd like only two or three people tops before my next post.

To everyone who's a little slow- just have a bit of patience. You'll get to hop on this ride soon enough.

Thankee! ^_^

-Reiko Kameno

Further information:

The Mysterious Portals: These are more or less unique to Yume. She does not know why they happen, but they have been happening to her since her reawakening, and only to her.

Appearances of Characters: This is going to be played as something happening in the middle of everything. People aren't getting pulled out of everywhere to participate in this, it's running across them as it spans worlds and dimensions.

Writing: Please, please, please, don't put out at anything less than your best for this topic. Part of having a good time is making sure everyone knows what you're doing and, when it has any bearing, how you're doing it.

Thanks!
-Reiko))

[ December 18, 2005, 11:00 PM: Message edited by: The Willful Wanderer- Reiko Kameno ]

[Zado Zudamee]

OOC:Is this better?

Zado Zudamee inspected the area around him,to see he was in the middle of a bleak,rocky plain.His ship had been obliterated by a brute Destroyer,and he was barely able to make it to an escape pod.The steaming pod lay on the ground behind him,its hull still steaming from its recent excursion through the atmosphere.His situation looked hopeless,but The Elite Would not give up so easily...

Zudamee set of in one direction,hearing only the sound of his own footsteps.As far as he knew,this planet was devoid of sentinet creatures and was unexplored.Far above him,some strange,bird like creature squawked,then relieved itself in midair.Zado felt something plop upon his head,reached up,and found out what it was.``CURSED CREATURE!``Zado roared,shaking his fist at the creature above him.The Bird simply sqwuaked again,and flew off into the wasteland.Zado shook the stuff from his head,mumbling under his breath...

After a few hours of tenuous walking,Zudamee thought he spotted something far off in the distance,a glint of Gold distinguishiable from the bleak Colors of his surroundings.Zado began to walk towards the distant point of light,then realized it also was moving towards him.``Who are you?``Zado called out,his voice echoing through the Wasteland...

[ February 13, 2005, 10:47 PM: Message edited by: Zado Zudamee ]

[X-3]

OoC: I'm re-writing this.

X-3 opened his eyes, startled to see he was..... somewhere else.

"Okay, thats just weird....." he thought.

"Growl....."

X-3 gulped, and turned around to see a, a...... weird tiger-thingy.

"Um, hi?"

X-3 was chased by the..... thing. X-3 was quick, but was he fast enough?

"The hunter is hunted......never thought that would happen to me...." he commented to himself.

X-3 studied where he was. He seemed to be in a place covered in crystals that shined Purple green and blue. Observing the creature, he saw it was like a tiger, but very shiny and its teeth were like sharp, dangerous and hard diamonds.

"You must be a Sucktarnafa tigris." X-3 told the beast.

However, X-3 was so busy he didnt notice the path ended.

It was too late. X-3 fell in the dark, mysterious ditch. What was at the bottom?

X-3 only saw Black. Nothing else. No red, blue or Orange. X-3 still wondered where exacly he was.

X-3 noticed a white light.

"This must be the end of this......." X-3 thought, still curous.

He was covered by robots. Tons of them.

"I'm guessing you're Zamas?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"GET HIM!!!" The Zamas screamed.

The wind blew mysteriosly.

"Huh? Whats going-" A Zama was cut short. Litteraly.

One by one, the Zamas were cut in half. X-3 stood there, his jaw wide open.

"Woah...." Is all he could say.

The wind stopped blowing.

"Anyone there?" He asked, a bit frightened.

"You're next."

X-3 dissapeared in a flash.

" I better get away!" X-3 thought, while sweating like a pig.

The myserious area was getting torn apart, X-3 noticed this when he looked back. He was still runing, and should've been paying attencion, because he was about to fall into a portal. Which he did.

" I have to pay more attencion....." He thought, while drifting into space...... or somewhere at least....

[ February 14, 2005, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: Anime X-3 ]

[Sarai and Samiel]

This place was damnably dull. Yume had been walking for hours and hours, and had seen nothing. Nothing but an insanely huge expanse of rock, worn into a very mild rolling plains. There were no plants, no dirt, no sand, no mountains, no hills, no caves, no nothing. Not even chips of rock. The air was utterly still. This place was utterly barren .

The woman with scales of tarnished-gold was bored completely out of her freaking MIND.

Still, she kept going. There wasn't really another option, unless she changed her mind and suddenly felt like sitting absolutely still.

Then, out of nowhere, a song occurred in her mind, seeming extremely appropriate to what was going on.

"An' I would walk faive hondred miles
An' I would walk faive hondred more..."

Step. Step. Step. Yume was very glad she was used to constant physical activity, or she'd be tired as well as bored stiff.

"...Walking, walking, walking, walking
walking, walking, walking, walking..."

It had become kind of a mantra now, sung under her breath and rather tunelessly, if perfectly in pitch.

Abruptly, she came to a stop. This was absolutely ludicrous. What in the hell was going on here, anyways? At least the portals had brought her to interesting places before. What could possibly be the purpose of her being here?

"Who are you?" Came the shout, quiet as if from some distance.

Yume blinked. She'd not said that. Someone else had.

Someone else was HERE? What were they, insane? She'd have never come here willingly! Maybe they were also here because of something outside of their control?

Turning, Yume faced the source of the voice. For a moment, she looked at the Elite Warrior.

What in the frack? She thought. Did I jus' get plunked down in th' middle a' Starcraft or sommat? Somebody around here's been playing WAAAAAY too many video games, I'll tell ya that.

With a sigh, she raised her foot to walk a step towards the (in her eyes) Protoss Zealot, and then stopped.

It is extremely difficult to come to a complete halt mid-step. Mostly because for the majority of humanoids, the middle of a step is a time when the walker is utterly out of balance. They literally cannot stop, because leverage and gravity work against them. Yume had one major difference that made it so much more possible for her- she had a tail, which kept her in balance even mid-step.

Confused, the Elite warrior walked towards the strange woman with scales that were not quite gold. It had been sheer luck that he'd caught sight of her in the first place. She was still quite some distance off, and only the glint of reflected light upon the metal banding of her war-gloves had brought her location to some attention. Zado did not know it, but Yume's scales had, indeed, once shone with the brilliance of polished gold- however that had been lost long ago, color of scale dulled with the dulling of hope and joy.

He grew still more confused as he approached, and the odd humanoid (not of any type that he had ever before beheld) remained utterly motionless. Was this a statue, placed here so long ago, that had garnered his attention? Some sort of relic of whatever had been wiped from this planet, or whatever had done the wiping? It was a stunning contrast that the scaled lady made with the dull gray background, a splash of orange-yellow and green and red and sky-blue.

No, she was alive. She was not moving much, but she breathed still. Zado approached within a few feet, but she was not looking at him. Her eyes were locked over his shoulder. He raised one thick hand to wave before her face.

No response.

Stepping aside, the not-quite-Protoss turned, bringing glowing-bluewhite eyes about to look at the focus of her gaze.

She appeared to be staring at a valley. A bland, pointless somewhat lower area of dull-gray rock carved out of the surface of the planet. The Elite began to wonder just what it could be that was so interesting about that valley.

"Can't be..." Yume breathed, and he frowned, turning to gaze at her face again. Though the color had not changed much, he could tell that she was slightly pale- an extremely minor change that he only picked out because he was looking for it.

Yume, on the other hand, was staring at what she almost couldn't believe.

The stone where she looked was carved out in a long trench, a half-circle at its deepest point. Unlike the areas she had been moving across, worn smooth by some unknown agent, the trench was ridged. Nearly sixty feet wide at the widest, but ridged , as though it had been carved out by some giant worm, something rapidly chewing and then pulling its way through a hole left behind by so many stone-carving teeth....

As if in the dream that was here namesake, Yume put her foot down. Slowly, cautiously, she approached the valley, as if expecting something to burst out of it at any moment. Zado followed, out of curiosity.

Interestingly, the Elite did not find himself perturbed by the way that Yume seemed to be ignoring him. Perhaps it was the way the valley seemed to bother the female (or so he assumed. Slim shoulders, wider- if still slim- hips, fatty deposits on the ribcage- odd how one apparently reptilian matched the profile for a mammalian female's build.), or perhaps it was that she did not seem to have really chosen not to notice him. Though her reaction to the valley he had just walked through was most interesting. Perhaps she had not noticed the multitude of other, similar ones dotting the landscape? It was easy to lose these features, subtle as they were, both in an expanse of toneless gray stone as well as at a time when one was more used to recognisable, distinct geography.

Yume did not really notice Zado watching her as she crouched to rub one hand against the rock. Hard. Not that she had expected otherwise. She had not seen what had carved out this trench- but the lack of anything on the planet's surface spoke more than enough to her. She knew of only one thing that could cause this sort of obliteration, and that left this sort of mark.

Kry'tull.

But there was something wrong with this. Kry'tull normally consumed ALL. The atmosphere, even the whole of the planet, and the space that it had occupied. The way this was... it was almost as if the worm had decided that it did not have time to remain here, had left in a hurry, leaving the less-significant portions of the planet behind. Some sort of cosmic leftover- a concept that did nothing to dull Yume's own hunger from lack of food despite the lurch in her stomach it caused.

Though, she supposed, it could be that Kry'dull had not been here. She had not seen all that there was in Reality- this Reality or any other- and did not presume to be sure.

She would have to find someone to ask.

Hey. Some little portion of her mind said to the rest of her. Speaking of someone, isn't there someone right here?

As if breaking out of a daydream, Yume suddenly shifted slightly, and seemed to flow more naturally. Her breathing remained even, but she resumed the minor organic movements- slight shifting in balance, blinking, tensing and relaxing of minor muscles- associated with life. She turned, smoothly, to face the Elite, and tilted her head.

Zado blinked, the twin glows of his eyes dimming, then resuming their usual brightness.

"Yo." Yume said. "Never 'spected I'd see somethin' like you livin' an' breathin'. Whatcha doin' here on this hunk of rock?"

"Well-" Zado started, only to be interrupted.

With an abrupt 'Whoa!', Yume fell. It wasn't until she had latched onto Zado's foot and dragged him with her that he realized that she had just fallen straight through solid rock. And so had he, as a matter of fact. Shouldn't he be dead now? He couldn't coexist in the same space as rock, it would prevent his biological processes.

Which was when he realized that he was in air again. Again? When had he not? His mind refused to remember the transition period, not that it had been of any recognisable length.

And also, falling.

****************************

"Aw, man, not again." Yume commented, then reached out and grabbed a ledge on the side of the building, gripping the stone facing of the skyscraper. Her other hand lashed out and splayed its fingertips on Zado's left arm-armor piece. The friction should have been nowhere near enough to stop him, but the grip, strangely, held, and she hauled with her shoulder.

"UnnnnghhhA!" She grunted, forcing his momentum to swivel about her shoulder, turning his fall down into a swing up, and then hurling him through a closed (but fortunately large) window.

As the toes of her boots got their purchase on the wall as well, she shook her right arm, attempting to relax the strain- she'd nearly pulled something, having not been properly warmed up. Still, she clambered up and through the window, landing both boots on the floor.

Warily, Yume looked about, and saw that the room was apparently some sort of a boardroom- Zado and most of the window (in many many pieces) had landed on a long wooden table, and there were those stereotypical wheeled executive seats all around the table. Fortunately, the room appeared to be empty other than Yume and Zado.

"Ah... I'm Kouryou Yume. You c'n call me Yume. Sorry about this. Whatta way ta meet, huh?" Her tone was amused, but carried a hint of resignation and irritation. She was starting to hate those stupid portals.

((Okay, a good start so far. Zado, I'm going to be very interested in finding out what your character was going to do, if someone else will take care of it, what will happen since his carrier's crashed. It may even wind up getting to be a place the story visits. Or not. I'm whimsical like that.

X-3, I have no clue at all where you are, so I can't even hook you into the story. However, you look like you've got something going on, that may make an interesting side-plot eventually- we'll see.

Alright, I'm now opening this up for up to three more to join, since only two joined last time. If someone has a character that they'd like to put as having been present in the boardroom when Zado and Yume made their unexpected entrance, I think that would be pretty cool. However, it's not neccessary.

Keep it coming, folks. Give each other your best, huh?

-Reiko))

[Repster™]

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The hammer rose and fell upon the glowing steel. The sweat drenched arm that wielded it had a gold dragon spiraling around it. It glittered gold in the light and seemed alive. The arm, like the rest of the body, was of apropriate muscle mass for weaponsmith of his calibure.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The anvil beneath it was cracked and broken. Aidan would need to remember to give the blacksmith some extra gold. Having worked for the fellow free of charge, and Aidan's work being second to none he met, had more then paid for the anvil and what he had needed for his own work. But Aidan Dreiks relaxed when working his hammer, so he paid for what he took, and what he broke. An honest smith with a golden wolf eye in his right socket.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The one that looked on him was far from relaxed. A strange glow was in every nail pinning him to the wall. One nail in every finger and every five inches there after. An average looking man except for his eyes. A pupil of fire surrounded by a blue iris. The flames flicked as wildly as the flames that escaped his sockets. His mouth worked, but no words would come out.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Every stroke of his hammer deepened the glow of heat from the forming blade. He chuckled remembering the owner of this forge telling Aidan he would not accept him making something to burn his flesh like the dragon. He had not seem Aidan's body without it's illusions. Not many did, most only saw the gold dragon. He never hid the dragon. There was nowhere els to burn on his body. Well, truth be told, nowhere he would burn. Every part of him was covered in either a beast of some importance and relevance to him, runes, and a few other things.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Sound started coming from the one of the wall's mouth. Almost enough to talk soon. Aidan turned his head to look at him with one eye, the left. That cut him off nicely. Aidan's left eye made the other's seem normal. The flame within it made the other look fake, the other being real enough to burn if touched. It flowed gently, calmly in it's circle of blood red iris. At times it seemed the flame would surpass it, while the other's seemed fully trapped. The flames consuming his eye extend a good three or four inches to the side of his head, yet they did not quite reach his brow. A long scar started from above said eye brow and dropped down making a nice line on his skin reaching to his chest. Right between the spread winged red dragon brands wing and head. His hammer never stopped it's steady strokes. No such small distraction could affect a master smith.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

His buckle glinted in the forge light. A simple dragon, made of silver. A simple dragon with unbelievable details. A pair of strange red stones made the eyes. Upon rings of silver on the leather strip where tied simple pouches. Every one being able to hold much more then it's depth would allow.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Beside the silk trousers the belt did not need to hold up, no clothing adorned the man. Nor was there much more at any time. A braided piece of leather to tie his mulletish dark brown hair. That hair that looked to be stained with blood in sunlight. At most times a simple sleeveless silk shirt. The silk always a simple color or pattern, he like things simple. He also like things overcomplicated in details. It was hard to be overcomplicated in detail for his clothing, when he could never measure himself properly. If he could not measure himself properly he could not have perfect mobility. That was not something he would take into his usual atire.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

He tossed the blade in progress into a barrel of liquid. A loud hiss spewed forth with a rush of steam. Salted water. Mild water would never quench his weapon before vanishing completely, and this place had nothing els he would use. Strange to even find a working forge, but then again he was not the only one that felt working steel with your hand was calming and an art.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The ringing of hammer on steel was music to his ears. The alloy began heating again. It would need to be quenched soon. Then it would be ready. Not as good as one prepared before time, but good enough.
"How are yo-" The nailed one began, but did not get far before Aidan cut him off. The voice like a dying fire simply stopped as the calm strong campfire of Aidan's began.
"That's my little secret, brother." Brother was a curse on the hammer wielder's tougne. "Not that it will matter for long."
"You can't do this. It's impossible." He regretted his words as soon as they spewed from his mouth.
"Yes, you did try and do it to me. So who are you to say what is impossible? Would it be so impossible for only me to succeed where all of you failed? What would turn out differently now? Why should it be any harder on you then the others? I've done the impossible many times before, fool. Few things are impossible. They're can only be merely difficult, or un probable." His voice was never interupted by the fall of his hammer, nor vice versa.

The hiss of quenching metal drowned out what Aidan's brother was about to say. Then he tried to scream. An unfinished sword ripping threw your flesh was quite painful. Yet it still manage to slice threw him fast enough to shred his vocals before he began. Aidan stopped short of the nose. He pulled back the weapon, and crouched. A simple rising motion and spin sliced his imobile sibling into pieces, again stopping at the head. A sadistic smile crept on his lips as he looked at the fear in his brother's eyes. He then stabbed them, twisting his blade and rendering them into unrecognizable mush, before slicing his head with an upside down pentagram. A perfect star shape. He bent and emptied the contents in the contained beneath the nailed remains of his brother into a cup and drank the blood slowly in one long drought. He chuckled dropping the cup on the floor, the nails loosing they're glow. He half tucked a rolled piece of paper into a pouch of gold and dropped it on the anvil with the unfinished weapon, not a drop of blood was on it. A sword that would never cool. A sword that would get hotter as it was used in battle. A sword that no longer could be used for the purpose he had made it. Strange that a weapon made to kill those of fire would pick up they're traits.

He mentally checked off another on the list as he washed up and changed before leaving. White silk, the same brownish leather as always. An eyepatch to cover the left. Never a pair of shoes. Not a trace of him was left besides what was put there intentionally. It would be some time before the owner would return, plenty of time for the demonic ritual that would be preformed there. They're would be none of course, but the people around here would think so seing the remains. He simply walked away, none truly noticing him. He left no trace, no tracks, no mark, unless intentional. It came in handy. Now, on to other matters.

Aidan walked along aimlessly following his feet and relaxing in the sunshine. Even with the need to kill his brother sooner then planned, it had been a good day. Some good honest work, and now a nice walk taking in the sun's embrace, even the largest city could only disturb it. Everything going perfectly. Wich was why he knew he was about to step into deep ****. He had a knack for it when everything went well. Trouble seemed to find him, or he it. He was used to it, and would not really have it any other way. He only hoped he had some time to relax in the sun first, and that he would face the danger with people he liked. There was nothing worse then fighting a war, or some sort of massive creature of death, or a god, of some insane magic user, etc with people you don't like. He knew about the latter very well, he was one himself. Not something he felt like facing just yet. He still felt strangely weak inside from his encounter with Yume, and then there was the tiredness of his body that came from being worked hard in the forge. Booth left him feeling great once they passed. One would go away during the day, if this wonderful sunlight continued, the other with a good night's rest or a nap. He doubted either would happen, but he could still hope.

He wandered letting his thoughts go. That was never to much of a good thing, but his insanity snapped and seeped out to much if he did not from time to time. The latest events ran threw his mind. His fight with Yume the first. He had learned much they're even if most he could not puzzle out. Thoughts of this Leona woman, demon, angel, or whatever that plagued his mind flashed sporadically as they always did. It was impossible to repress those. Thoughts of blood, death, destruction, chaos, and such popped in form time to time. Ideas for new weapons, things he must try out net time he found a forge as well. He calculated his funds. thought of events that could plunge him in death. Whom he may encounter. What might happen. Not that any of it mattered, it was just his thinking process. He even thought of the reasons why it did not matter how he prepared for the unknown.

"What in the name of..." He could not find the words to finish. Having Yume sundenly pop out of nowhere peaked his interest. That weird thing he had met breefly before being close to her made it unresistable to his curiosity. The smirk apeared on his lips as he headed the way the had appeared. As best he could tell the had come from midair as well. Not a good place to start. That was not the reason for his smirk thought. Yume's company was enjoyable at most times he remembered, that included when she was trying, and succeded in bashing his head in. So one worry was gone.

He hated blending in sometimes. Now he needed to walk around to many things to get there. The old days where simpler. If there was not a main road there was an alley to get you to your destination as quickly as posible. In retrospect being himself it took him no noticible time to get there and sneak his way into the room unoticed. A Shinobi in pitch darkness, at any time. He was stealth personified. Unlike the Shinobi and Ninjas and such thought, he did not use his stealth as a purely offensive weapon. Where was the fun in killing your opponnent before they saw you.

"I've seen worse. Then again, with my sneakiness, I've done worse" He chuckled out having caught that last tid bit while setling himself leaning next to the window. Yume did not bother turning around, she knew his voice. Any who fought him and survive did. She was not surprised by his sunden apearance, there was not much left to surprise her about him. He could find a way to prove he was her son and it would not surprise her. She knew that was not true, but it would not really surprise her, much. He was just that perculiar. Zado himself was quite surprised to say the least at not noticing the sneaky one before he spoke.
"The names Aidan Dreiks, a.k.a Sneak Master sideways eight."

[ February 14, 2005, 10:34 PM: Message edited by: Repster:The Flame of Destruction ]

[X-3]

OoC: Okay..... again.....

X-3 re-appeared in a foggy, misty, grey zone. He wondered curiosly, what was with the wind, and where EXACLY where he was. Sencing aloneness, X-3 closed his eyes, and wandered to his past, which was NOT alot, considering he didnt even know half of it. He remembered the chaotic days, of people's blood being spilled, with vengence in the air, drifting around the world. And finnaly.... his friends. Whould he see them ever again? What happens if this "Wind" defeated him? Would his friends live though the evil that haunts the world?

Finnaly, bright light. He wondred IF the wind had secretly got him, and if he was drifting to another place.......

But he landed on a building. He was tired after this day's mysterys, and decided to rest. "Besides," He told himself, his eyes shutting off the light. " I think I deserve it...." The light dissapeared, and X-3 could only see darkness. He hoped to see light soon, so he could get off this planet, of mystery.....

Meanwhile, the wind was still hunting, but not for just X-3.....

[ February 15, 2005, 07:59 PM: Message edited by: Anime X-3 ]

[Zado Zudamee]

OOC: I may have limited computer access this week,so dont worry If I dont post daily...

Zudamee Observed the strange man now standing at the head of the table.The Elite Felt something strange about him,the kind of aura that he had once felt around the holy prophets.``I have no problem with this human accompying us.``He said gruffly.He walked over to gaze out the window,trying to process all that had happened in this brief span of time.As he looked down upon the human esque metropolis,he noticed something very strange.It seemed as if a gaping hole was opening in the sky,with what looked like a shadowy figure struggling to get out.Zudamee wiped his eyes with his fists,then looked again.The hole was gone,along with whatever was in it.`` Strange... Zado thought as he turned from the window...

[Sarai and Samiel]

"I've seen worse. Then again, with my sneakiness, I've done worse."

Yume blinked, and looked from the Elite (who was engaged in picking himself up off the table and out of the pile of glass shards) to Aidan.

No, she was not all that surprised to see him. A bit, yes. Usually she didn't see someone she'd been force-jumped away from again for quite some time, so in that she was meeting with him again, so soon, was a bit odd. It gave her a bit of an itchy feeling somewhere in her spine, about a foot down the length of her tail. Something was Up.

"The name's Aidan Dreiks, A.K.A. Sneak Master sideways-eight."

Yume smiled slightly. Aidan may be as painful as hell to have a bit of a row with, but she could definitely admire his sense of humor. Mild, just a little bit wierd, in a gentle sort of way, and not mocking at all. Yume was utterly unashamed to admit to herself that she liked Aidan. Good person, that. Make a great friend, as long as one didn't particularly mind the drinking-blood part of the whole deal. Of course, having been acquainted with more than a couple of vampires, Yume didn't, so it was all kosher on that part.

Then the (old?) man stood up. His face was trustworthy, his smile made you want to like him. Instinctively.

Yume had never instinctively liked someone in her life.

Ancolyte set off all SORTS of warning alarms in her head.

Then he knew her name. And that set off the last remaining sort of warning bell.

Now, Yume was not a naturally suspicious person. She was not paranoid, she didn't think anyone was out to get her. Actually, she couldn't really care less if someone was out to get her, because as near as she could tell, nobody could follow her erratic movements. One of the few real blessings in the bizarre portals. So, she remained skeptical of Ancolyte. Internally. In a logical sense.

Emotionally speaking, she just shrugged, said 'hell with it', and liked the guy. She'd had to put the foot down with people she liked before, it wasn't really that tough- as long as you were aware of what you were doing.

Then Aidan asked Ancolyte his reason for wanting to come along.

He looked at all of them, in turn. "You, Elite," he said, "are a man of great faith by your nature, and he is drawn to men of faith. And you," he said to Aidan, "are a man of flame, and he is drawn to such warmth like a moth. And you, most importantly," he said, looking up at Yume with wide eyes, "hae something that you want to see dead and gone. Where such a thing exists, my brother will seek it out, in hopes of killing it."

He stepped back, and looked embarrassed and sheepish, knowing he had overstepped his boundaries. "I know it is a bit much to ask, but might I not at least walk with you? I am old, but I can care for myself."

Her eyes narrowed. Ancolyte had not said 'if such a thing exists', nor 'you had'. He had said 'You have', and 'Where such a thing exists,' and that was very, very bad.

The Elite declared his not having a problem with the man joining 'them', and turned to go watch out the window.

Yume, however, had more than a little going on in the way of questions.

"Hang up a minnit here. Did we jus' get turned into a travelin' party an' nobody told me?"

Aidan chuckled at her expression. "Seems so." He answered. This was most definitely amusing to the man. "I wouldn't object to it. I did tell you I found you to be a likeable person, and besides, this promises to be interesting."

One sky-blue eyebrow quirked up in response to that. " What promises to be interesting? I don' remember goin' about sayin' 'Hey, come join me on th' quest for such-'n-such' or anything like that."

"The quest for that whish you wish destroyed." Ancolyte put in, somewhat timidly.

It wasn't that that had bothered Yume, though. She was fairly short on tact, and for the most part long on patience. She was quite blunt, and though she could understand it and figure things out when other people were *not* straightforwards, a surprisingly common occurrence, she generally prefered things to be fairly up-front. The man's putting out that he did want to come along on the journey was not bothering Yume in the least.

The idea that there was a specific journey here, however.....

"Awright, just a few things. Number One: I still don' see as I'm on a quest er nothin'. You all are welcome to come along or not as ya see fit, I ain't gonna stop ya. I will warn ya that th' dang portals which drag me 'round all over the wherever don' usually let me bring other people with me. So I'm fine with you comin' along, Father er Brother er whatever yer title is.

"Number Two: I really think we oughta get outta here before someone comes lookin' ta see what busted their window. I dunno 'bout you, but I don' like th' idea of either a fight with th' local law, nor gettin' our butts sat in jail."

That said, she turned and walked for the door, trailed by a gently smiling Ancolyte, an amusedly grinning Repster *** Aidan Dreiks, and an Elite who kept turning his head to stare out the window, muttering something about falling.

The door opened easily enough, not being locked, and Yume found herself in a fairly small, if long, hallway. The lights were out, but there was a window at either end, so it did not take more than a couple of seconds for the slender young woman to locate the elevator doors.

"Number Three," She continued as she walked down the hall, "An' maybe most important..." Hitting the button, she was pleasantly surprised at the ding and welcoming elevator doors. Well, if nobody was here, it was no surprise that the elevators were free. Still, that one would randomly happen to be on the seventh floor right then.... Ah, well. Worry about that later, worry about being sued for broken windows without a penny to your name now.

She leaned on the back wall of the elevator, facing the others as they piled in- Aidan to her left on the back wall as well, Ancolyte at the left wall, facing Yume, and the Elite in front of Yume at the buttons, curiously examining the semi-opaque plastic as if for flaws of some sort.

"How the hell much do you know, Ancolyte? I mean, ain't nobody anywhere but that looney dark guy with the horns and red eyes and way too many teeth as knows about my..." She paused significantly, canting her head to the right, "..problem. An' he wen't an' vaped himself not long after. I sure as hell ain't told nobody, an' unless th' Zergtoss here," She jerked a thumb at the glow-eyed alien, who was pondering over the lack of a '13' button, "no offense, is way better a detective than anythin' what only has seven or less senses, nobody coulda figgered out. I mean, it ain't exactly th' kinda thing as leaves witnesses, ya know?"

"What is?" Aidan asked. "Just out of curiosity, you understand."

Yume gave him a careful look, and glanced at Ancolyte and Zado. "...I'll 'splain later. It's kinda a long story, an' I wanna wait 'till we got somewhere ta siddown for a bit ta tell it."

"Right, right." He nodded, amiably.

"So," Yume segued, as the elevator chimed to signify their being almost at the bottom of the ride, "How th' hey didja find out about it, anywho?"

((Don't worry about posting daily, Zado. I'm not going to be posting daily, and not just because I want to wait for everyone else to post first, either. Just as long as you post within a reasonable time after I do, it'll all be just fine. Side note- doing fine so far, I'd appreciate it if you'd be a little more descriptive of your character's appearance and his perceptions of what's around him. Doesn't have to be pages and pages, just enough to help me get a better picture.

Wy- don't worry either. That entrance was just fine, IME.

For now, I'm not going to be taking any more joiners. Perhaps in a little bit, but probably only one or two more, tops, for a bit of a while.

If anyone wants to give more depiction of the area the main group is in right now, go right ahead- I'm figuring they're in modern Earth or some analogue ATM, in a moderately large city.

Keep it running, and post as best you can!

-Reiko))

[X-3]

X-3 woke up, slightly screaming. He had just had a very bad dream that he planned NEVER to tell.... ever.

X-3's vison was a blur. He decided to find a elevator. Of coarse, this was going to be tough.

"Maybe I should wait....." X-3 thought. But then he remembered about the "wind". Wait, his vison was getting better. Wait, he noticed different red lines- all over his body.

"Cuts....." X-3 thought, "The wind must have attacked me, I guess."

*Pause in post: What was just wrong with what X-3 just thought?*

X-3 heard a tick.

"A Zero-Bomb.... Those things do not destroy buildings or stuff, but humens arnt safe near them!" X-3 noted, "Including me, even if I'm a hedgehog..... "

X-3 quickly looked around.

" I dont have any time for elevators, so I better.... Jump of!" X-3 thought, but then said the last part out-loud quickly.

X-3 rushed over to do sides, cuts slowly turning reder. X-3 WAS going to jump off, but he didnt look carefully and accidently tripped on a convienently placed rock, making him FALL off the edge. Yeah, I agree thats preety dumb.....

X-3 was upside down, falling down the building. All he could hear right now was a big "Boom!!!". X-3 suddenly thought he could hear something. With the explosen's sound getting minimal at the second, X-3 relised that 2 Zamas were aiming at him.

X-3 quickly turned his attencion to where the sun/moon should be.

"Damn! Still daytime... Or as I like to call it, Red Sun period.... Whatever....."

X-3 looked around VERY quickly, trying to find the Zamas that were shooting at him....

"Omega......" X-3 was cut off by something hard. AKA: The ground.

"That..... was painfull" X-3 comented to the 2 Zamas.

"Yeah, it pretty much....." Zama 1 WAS going to say, but...

"You idiot!" The other Zama screamed harshly at the other one. "You'll give him a chance to...."

The Zama was cut off, and so was the other Zama.

X-3, obvisly, wounded from his fall, saw the world ago blurry, while his cuts released blood.... even more, plus he had a wound from his fall..... not a good combination at all.

X-3 fell to the floor, not dead (How is that even possible?) but K.Oed..... for now.....

[Repster™]

Aidan chuckled as he began juggling half a dozen colored balls. He spoke softly to himself.
"You know, I'm going to enjoy some of the reactions we're going to get. A lizardy lady. An Elite, whatever that is. Myself, the crazy man with the yellow eye and habit of drinking. And a priestly looking dude." He had a mischievous smile for the thoughts of said reactions. "Such a simple thing to instill such chaos." His words were quite and soft and barely audible, yet that voice with the fire undertone was perfectly clear as always. Strange, but Aidan was a weird one himself. He noticed they were listening to him.
"Don't mind me. I go on like that from time to time, often actually. A simple result of insanity. Pure chaos magic flowing threw your veins will do that."He shook his head with a soft laughter more then laced with madness. Worse was that that laughter was of one who knew he was mad and liked it that way.

His eyes settle on Ancolyte. Yes, eyes. Ancolyte could feel the hidden one threw the eye patch gazing at him.
"By the way, don't go mentioning my real name if you happen to know it. Doubt you do, but I am not one to risk the life of people I like on a slip of the tougne. Spoken a loud it has the habit of attracting my siblings attention, I finished killing a brother before coming here, and I'm not ready for another. Let alone a pair or more likely all of them. I really need to count how many are left. Not much by my killing spree lately, and here I used to think I could make the weapons faster then I would ever need them..."

He looked over at the panel. He hated elevators. It felt to much like a cage for the wolf in him to be comfortable. Not to mention the rest of his bestial sides. He easilly fought back the urge to rip threw it into an area more open. It was not that bad. Besides, that would draw attention and probably bother the other three. Ancolyte got under his skin, nobody should get on his good side that fast. Just that made him wary. As for Zado, well Zado would have to urn more then indifference like everybody els.
"Stupid elevator, I should have just jumped down." He grumbled. Not counting his hatred of small boxes, he just did not like elevator in anyway.
"We were seventeen stories high. You would have turned into goo at the time you landed." Zado commented.
"What's your point?" Aidan chuckled at Zado's surprise.
"Ya woulda cracked da street landin'." Yume said absently, one had only to follow Aidan's strange logic to explain something to him. Actually, she knew he figured thing out as any other person, an understand better then most. He just did not care and acted differently.
"Good point. Stupid elevators..." He massaged his right shoulder. It had been to long since he worked a hammer. That same massaged arm continued to juggle the seven balls. Where had that last one come from?

[Zado Zudamee]

``These human ``elevators`` are pathetic.Our Gravity Lifts are much more effective...``Zudamee Growled as the lift began its decent.The Elite had to crouch,as the human contraption wasnt meant to transport 9 foot tall aliens.To make matters even worse,music started playing from the speaker on the elevator.The Elite looked puzzedly around,only to see none of the others seemed to mind.Zudamee ignored it at first,deciding it would soon stop,but to no avail.Zado grinded his mandibles together as the noise incessantly filled his ears,the cheery beat almost driving him insane.Finally,he ripped the speaker off of the wall,ripping the machinery apart.

His companions gave him strange looks as he ripped the speaker apart.``What kind of evil demon would place such a thing here?``Zado says as he drop the mangled speaker to the ground...