The Grand Crossover RP - Pathway to Origin [IC/PG-13/Moved to NCM for Finale]

Love of Ghibli · May 26, 2015

Dorian Path of Death

Dorian simply looked around as this new person came around and decided to actually introduce herself. Dorian didn't really care. If he could make a new friend then that would make this dank dark journey just a little less unbearable.

"I'm Tenshi Hinanai, but please, just call me Tenco. So, do getting to the end together sounds good to you?"

Dorian tilted his head to the side, while inside his head he was cracking the biggest smile. This was going to be much easier in the long depending on how long this person could live. Of course we can go down this nebulous path of darkness together, the more the merrier. I'll even help you in the fights you will have down the line. Dorian looked down on the ground and realized that his opponent from before wasn't there. Well I'll have to deal with that later...le sigh. This better not get in the way of my plan. Dorian decides to forgo his initial train of thought and focus back on this Tenco person.

So this is the way forward I think. Dorian proceeds to walk down the path with his new "friend." Question is this still your first path or have you traveled down one of these before?

Ending location: B6

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Gyokuen Ren: Path of Death

Well this was definitely a somewhat entertaining battle. But it didn't seem like they would be finishing anytime soon. If people were just going to swing keys around at their problems then that should be listed in the brochures. She thought to herself with a slight giggle. Unfortunately no one laughed with her. Nevertheless she chose to fly up around the participants and they heart to heart battles. It was interesting looking at a gathering of youths fighting against insurmountable odds it was almost the same as a flash back to her olden days. Funny how this situation would come up at this moment in time. As she flew over the fights she wondered if she could see anymore Rukh in the distance. While this path made it virtually impossible to fly above a certain height and visibility was horrid the Rukh remained constant. In the distance she did see feint traces of both white and black Rukh intertwining. Hmm maybe someone is on the verge. It would be my duty to actually help facilitate them to the other side.

Ending location A6

Dad · May 26, 2015

Kratos

This was it. The final bridge to cross. The last barrier. There were no other pathways beyond this. But Kratos couldn't help but feel empty. He knew that, once he passed this gateway, he could see Revy again. He would have to kill Protheus, sure. But he had a chance to live the last of his days in peace. He could be happy. But who was he to suddenly forget what he had been through? This was the pathway to Remembrance after all. Who was he to shy away from a fight? He had made a rival that he could only match, and now their grand finale had been left without a conclusion. This was a poorly written story on his part, and despite his urge to walk on, Kratos could not lay his hand upon the pedestal that stood before him.

He turned his back to it, and looked down on high from the tallest view point in this Pathway.

Killua and Kenpachi

Killua scoffed as Rhadamanthys and Butlerok taunted the entirety of the Counter Corps who may have been on the Pathway to Remembrance. He had been glaring angrily as Kratos had walked away from his allies, in pursuit of his own selfish goals. "I knew we couldn't rely on him," Killua said flatly. Kenpachi did not reply. He simply looked on to their opponents. At last, it was truly one on one. There was very little chance for Killua to take on Butlerok. He and Kenpachi both knew it. They switched sides instinctively, as they stared down the enemy. But something bothered Killua. Why would members of the Divine want the Counter Corps to go on? Surely their deed was to stop the Corps here, was it not? To ensure their leader, this Protheus fellow, was to succeed? He felt a strange behavior from the taunts of his enemy. It was as though, even they, for a moment, didn't want the multiverse to be reduced to ashes. But Killua wouldn't be persuaded by this charade. Claws drawn, Killua's aura rippled around him. Kenpachi mimicked Killua, his reiatsu roaring back to life.

Killua made the first move this time, darting straight for Rhadamanthys, who was not at all surprised. He managed to dodge the incoming right hook, and snatch Killua by the arm. "Don't get angry," he said breathing in Killua's face. "You'll lose focus!" he said tossing Killua far backwards. He tumbled some distance before landing with his head into the lap of a girl he recognized.

Kenpachi had gone to assault Butlerok, and they met each other fist to fist. The giants clashed, parrying each other's blows, until Kenpachi landed a sneaky left punch, and sent Butlerok tumbling backwards. Kenpachi kept a tight grip on Nozarashi, as he felt the Mad Blood stew around him. He was barely able to dodge the first strike, as it scarred his left leg, only to be caught off guard and receive a vicious slash across his chest. But Kenpachi kept on his toes, forcing Butlerok back with a slash of equal strength, making them even once more.

Meanwhile, Rhadamanthys had begun to walk over to Killua, who was looking up into the face of "Reimu?" he asked suddenly. "When did you--" but before he could ask his question, Rhadamanthys had flashed over, and picked the boy up by his throat. Killua was about to send a jolt of lightning pulsing through his opponent's veins, when they were both surprised at a powerful shockwave erupting beneath their feet, parting them both. A crash was heard, as flames and snow and rock erupted from the pathway, clouding the area. Then, from the dust, a loud "RHADAMANTHYS!!" could be heard.

"Forgive me," Kratos said walking past the Blade of Promise. It was at the center of the impact. "I couldn't possibly let our last battle go unfinished. It would be a great dishonor to one of my greatest opponents," Kratos said with a smile. Kratos dropped his weapons, and even took off his Golden Fleece. It was clear what his intentions were, as he and Rhadamanthys began running at full speed towards each other. Each warrior cocked back a fist, as the battle erupted once more.

Maeriberii Haan · May 26, 2015

"Question is this still your first path or have you traveled down one of these before?"

Gee, this guy talks without breaks.

"Well, it's my final pathway, actually." Tenco answered. The speed of how the man said his sentences kind of getting her caught off guard, but it's thankfully still legible enough for her to listen to and answer properly. "I've been through the pathway of Truth and Remembrance before. of course, though personally, I think this pathway's the most annoying for me."

Taking a deep breath, Tenco then followed the man's steps as he treaded the bridge over the void. She was still unsure whether following the man was the right thing to do or not, but whatever was the case, it's probably too late for her to back down now. To ease herself, she tried to hum something along the way, but it came off quite terribly in the end, so she decided to stop, and silence followed. At least, until the silence made her even more uneasy, and thus she decided to just try talking more with the man.

"So...who was that person that attacked you earlier? Or rather, if it's made by the pathway, what was it supposed to be?"

The battle before her raged on in a manner that Reimu had honestly never observed before in her life. The actual brute force involved within it, and everything regarding it was definitely way different than what she was used to back in Gensokyo. It's definitely a true battle to the death, and while Reimu was not really that much of a stranger to the concept, the intensity in this one did caught her off guard to some degrees. What was once a battle between eight had now become a battle between 6, as two of the combatants had visibly been eliminated by Killua, if Reimu's sight did not fool herself. She's pretty happy to see him doing so well, but...at that moment, even if it had become 3 versus 2, Reimu felt a bad omen. It's definitely still far from over. And then, just like that...the hulking shirtless bald man that Reimu swore she had seen before somewhere suddenly left the fight, moving past the combatants to reach the end of the pathway on his own. Following that was...

"Why don't you tell your friend in the back there to come out?"

Crap, he noticed me?

Even if she did not try to hide her presence, the fact that suddenly one of the two members of the Divine referred to her, even if indirectly so, surprised Reimu. She immediately prepared herself in response to the statement, but for a split second, she was still unsure whether she should interfere here and help them or not. They seemed to be able to handle this on their own, so maybe she should just finish her own business and- In a flash, things had turned worse than she expected, and Killua was sent flying towards her by one of the enemies. Both of them looked at each other's face in surprise, but just as Killua was trying to talk to her, his opponent had zipped right towards him, and grabbed him on his neck. Everything happened way too fast, and for that moment, Reimu was at loss at what to do. The situation was seemingly surreal for her, and even if she had been prepped about this kind of situation by Yukari...

As if to cut her own confusion and bedazzlement short, a sudden shock happened around the three's area, and then almost instantly, the ground pretty much erupted violently, clouding the area with the scattered snow, rock, and flames. The sudden eruption had seemingly split Killua away from his attacker due to its force, and Reimu herself had to protect herself with her barriers to avoid getting hit by the scattered debris.

"RHADAMANTHYS!!"

And then, a shout. The moment Reimu heard that shout and turned around to see the source, she finally realized about why she felt that the bald warrior was looking familiar to her. He was definitely the one that carried Revy away during the two's drinking session before the pathways. Despite being completely intoxicated back then, Reimu's pretty damn sure he's that person that suddenly appear to take Revy away. And...he must be the person that Revy was being smitten on. Now that she looked at him more, Reimu smiled a bit. The giant did seem to have a sign of gentleness with him, which maaaaaaaayybe was the reason why Revy fell for him. Either way, he had appeared back into the battle once more, and he saved Killua. He's definitely a pretty decent guy, at the very least. Smiling, Reimu stood up and floated towards Killua's position, deciding to look at his condition first before actually deciding whether the old geezer and the bald warrior would need her assistance, or whether her assistance would just dishonor their one-in-one duel. Who knows at this point, but first things first, she had to check up on the white-haired boy.

"Been a while, Killua. You're alright, buddy? Sorry for not helping you all so far...I'm just still pretty unsure whether I'd be helping or not if I join in.

Guess that's just pretty lame of me, huh?"

Reinforce · May 26, 2015

Chandra

Pathway of Truth - C14

Chandra almost stopped in shock at Jace's words. She wasn't expecting him of all people to actually jab back at her for teasing him. A light smile crossed her face as she retorted.

"Too slow, not likely. You're just too uncivilised to walk up stairs properly."

Chandra didn't speed up at all either, and was just nearing the top of the stairs as he asked that question.

"What exactly is this 'Purifying Fire'?"

Stopping for a moment, her smile vanished as she considered the events that lead to her entering it's flames.

"The Purifying Fire was an ancient artifact on Regatha. It's purpose basically is to judge anyone who enters it, supposedly to cleanse their soul of sins and imperfections, while leaving those who enter with a clean soul untouched. It also stripped away the powers of any who it judged to not have a clean soul. Considering what your reflection said, I doubt you'll encounter that exact artifact, but rather some other means of judging your past actions and current mental state will occur while we're on the pathway of remembrance."

Looking away, Chandra crossed the last couple of stairs to stand next to Jace, facing the purple crystal as she noticed the barrier stopping her from moving on.

‘Are you content with your present self’?

Unlike her fellow planeswalker, Chandra knew her answer already and answered the question.

"Yes."

As the barrier fell away from her, she didn't move to the crystal. Instead, she decided to stay and wait with Jace as he mulled over his answer, as well as the information she'd just given him.

Ayame

Pathway of Death: A3

Having crossed the checkpoint as they were walking, Ayame was looking forward into the darkness ahead as her companion spoke. The sheer happiness he seemed to have at just having a human companion was almost staggering, and certainly something she'd have missed if not for the almost therapeutic chat she'd had with Lydia earlier. His comments confirmed her suspicions about the other entity with them as well, she was definitely one of his summons.

"I'll tell you what I can about the context, though even I'm not entirely sure about all the details. Besides, I can understand wanting someone real to talk to."

After stopping for a moment to collect her thoughts, Ayame started to talk about the conflicts that had happened.

"This is actually the fourth 'conflict' of sorts since the first groups fighting as Counter Corps and Divine were recruited. For those of us who were recruited in the first groups, neither side were being led by the people leading us now either. For the Counter Corps, we were being led by a man named Emiya, while the Divine were led by Isamy for the first three conflicts.The first two conflicts were brought about in the search for the location of the Key that was found in the third conflict, while that third conflict was about obtaining the key. Past that, the members of both sides have mostly just been fighting against each other through the first three conflicts, only stopping partially to fight of The Madara so we could get the key in the last conflict, and against a giant hydra called LERNA for possession of an orb that was said to lead to the location of the key."

Stopping to take a break for a moment, Ayame looked across at her companion for the moment, before starting to answer his other question.

"As for me, I'm 17, and was learning to become a demon hunter back in my universe. I was probably recruited to help because I'm a decent fighter and have fought in battles with my life on the line before. I'm not really sure what else to say about myself, so maybe you could tell me a little more about yourself as well."

The Warden · May 26, 2015

|_)Sorceress Supreme, Avalon Lydia(_|

|_)Pathway of Death: A9(_|

With her new power, Lydia had made it effortlessly to the edge of the forest. Without warning she suddenly braked hard, unleashing a deafening boom that scattered the leaves of the trees below her. "Why did you stop?" Avalon questioned in annoyance.

"That" Lydia answered, pointing at the swirling blizzard ahead of her.

"You stopped... for a blizzard?" Avalon demanded, completely unable to understand her reasoning.

"It's dangerous to fly in a blizzard, it'll be safer to land and walk through it instead of fighting with those winds."

Lydia got a sudden mental image of Avalon staring at her with a various serious expression on his face; rather impressive for a giant dragon. It was the eyes, they had a sharp, cutting edge to the way he glared at her. "Girl, I am very close to revoking your thinking privileges. You need to stop thinking like a human, and start thinking like a god. You command the wind and snow you stupid child. Command those winds to cease and they will bow to your command!" the dragon roared.

She wasn't even going to begin to argue with him over his rather insulting attitude. It's best to just yield to that sort of thing. She exhaled loudly, he breath rattling around in her helmet as she held her armoured hands out to the weather. She put all her mental effort into halting the blustering winds, and they obeyed. The fierce storm died down in seconds, leaving the snow to gently drift down. "Huh, amazing" Lydia uttered, actually impressed by the turnaround.

"Indeed. This is the sort of power you now wield. Now continue, the end is most certainly near."

"Right" Lydia muttered as she picked up speed again, her golden aura twinkling like a star in the sky as she raced over the empty snowy plane swiftly.

As she neared on what appeared to be a lake, her body forcefully slowed down to another grinding stop. What bothered her most was that that had not been her own decision. "Wait" Avalon whispered, his body curling and contorting in his mind as his endless eyes narrowed in thought.

"What is it?" Lydia questioned as she folded her arms.

"I sense great power to the east. Yes, a large quantity of power indeed. It appears a battle is occurring between several potent parties. And whoever they are, they will make perfect test subjects for rekindling my great power" Avalon relished, delighted at the prospect of battle.

"Or we could just stay out of whatever's going on over there. That's an idea" Lydia suggested.

"Nonsense, it'll be a minor detour. We have ample time. Now go girl! Show them the might of the Sorceress Supreme!" Avalon commanded.

Lydia sighed, changing her direction to fly towards C9. "Ugh, I gave up those eight goof balls for a bloodthirsty dick waver, just lie that metal head jackass" she thought in disgust.

"I can hear you, girl" Avalon roared in displeasure.

"I know" Lydia muttered in annoyance.

Current Position: A9

Love of Ghibli · May 27, 2015

Dorian: Path of Death

He tilted his head as his new friend asked him that question. That was something he wondered himself. Well, I think it was another member of the Counter Corp, but from the future. To be honest I've had some issues exclusively with one of your members. It makes sense to me that this path thing would somehow choke a fight I will have to have down my throat. He said with a soft smile. Of course he looked away to the side in slight worry. It could be that other nuisance too he thought to himself. But yeah that was definitely one of my personal demons. Dorian then realized that Tenco said that she was on her third pathway. Funny, this is the last one for me as well. What was your order for the other two. I feel like I would've seen you in one of the other paths. Then again, I guess these paths are pretty big. I remember watching Protheus fight this magic wielding woman in the path of truth and I don't think anyone else was around for hundreds of kilometers. But yeah, I could ramble on forever. Sorry about that.

Dorian smirked a pleasant smirk as he was trying to make friends with this new person. He then laughed as he took a second use his cosmos to sense other lifeforms. His eyes widened slightly as he noticed a familiar presence in the distance. Oh this going to get interesting very soon.

Ending Location: B6

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Butlerok & Rhadamanthys: Path of Death

The situation seemed to have gotten back to what it was before. An all out brawl. As Butlerok and Rhadamanthys were both taken aback by their respective opponents. They both instinctively looked at each other and raised an eyebrow. This is happening. Who cares! Glorious combat is about to be had! Get serious now! And here I thought we had a chance to secure our future. Screw the future, I live in the now! Rhadamanthys flared up once again with his Divine Blood now pumping in his veins. Butlerok blinked and the three eyes of the Kishin opened themselves once again. I shant hold back now. Butlerok stated to Kenpachi. You sayin' you were holdin back before? That's mighty insultin' of ya. Self preservation can be logical. Don't ruin the mood with that kinda weak talk.

Rhdamanthys had already flown back at Kratos and the two proceeded to get into a manly fight of not blocking punches to the face. Rhadamanthys was smiling while driving right hooks into the God of War's face. Come on! Fight back! As he said this Kratos gave him a mighty uppercut and followed that up with an elbow drop on the specters chin. Rhadamanthys started to laugh as he felt the joys of pain in an honorable fight. Kratos quick equipped his Neman Cetus to deliver more damage but when he went to attack Rhadamanthys the specter raised his hand and blocked the punch. Kratos looked on as Rhadamanthys' aura didn't nothing but seem to keep growing. This did not make sense, but it was happening. Rhadamanthys swung Kratos' fist downward and watched the crater that was formed on impact. YEESSSSS that is the strength Lord Hades seeks! Kratos turned around and gave him a roundhouse kick to the face and even then Rhadamanthys kept on smiling. This was what he wanted. Roar of the Wyvern! Rhadamanthys turned around and looked at Kratos. The specter roared a more vicious roar than before. Kratos would've been bounced back but he managed to ground himself by using the Spear of Destiny. Kratos plucked his spear out of the ground and he proceeded to unleash a series of blows on the specter. Rhadamanthys kept parrying these attacks and then he jumped at his opponent and then kicked Kratos in the ribcage. But Kratos did not roll over in pain he then jumped back at Rhadamanthys and pinned the specter to the ground...Kratos twirled his spear and moved to drive the weapon through the mans head. The smile did not leave Rhadadamanthys' face though and with that specter roared and his aura started to manifest itself into an outward dome pushing the Spartan into the air...

Butlerok with his eyes of red looked his opponent as Kenpachi went back in for a slash with his Nozarashi. Butlerok smiled and launched a series of black blood bullets at the charging shinigami. Kenpachi knew better than to trust letting himself getting touched by those. He shunpo'd up and above the path of the bullets and prepared to deliver a downward slash straight through the Kishin. Butlerok smirked and Kenpachi new he was in trouble. Butlerok's body went up in a sea of flames. Kenpachi continued to swing his sword down and even as he fell into the trap. Butlerok called forth Ragnarok in his broadsword form and parried the blade. The two pushed themselves back and Kenpachi had to grimace as his hands were severely burned. Captain's bankai again? Correct. Zanka no Tachi Nishi: Zanjitsu Gokui, before I used east now I used west. Soo is there a North and South? I'm glad you asked. Butlerok stuck his sword down into the ground and in seconds Kenpachi witnessed hordes and hordes of pitch black skeletons arise from the ground and caught on fire. Zanka no Tachi Minami: Kaka Jūmanokushi Daisōjin, the ability to revive all of the men this blade has ever killed...as flaming skeletons who will serves as my limbs and rip you to shreds. Tch. Enjoy.

The massive armies of zombies started to march on Kenpachi and as he readied his sword, lightning struck. Once again Kratos landed in between Kenpachi and the army. You dare bring an army against the GOD OF WAR! Kratos waved his hand and summoned the Spartan Army.

~~~~War Cry~~~~

Butlerok looked at the Spartan army and Rhadamanthys had flown down besides him. Really? The specter said sarcastically. I thought it would work at the time. This is perfect! Kratos and Kenpachi stood their ground with their army backing them. ATTAAAACCCKKKK!! The armies both ran at each other with vicious blades and fire initiating war!

Maeriberii Haan · May 27, 2015

Funny, this is the last one for me as well. What was your order for the other two. I feel like I would've seen you in one of the other paths. Then again, I guess these paths are pretty big. I remember watching Protheus fight this magic wielding woman in the path of truth and I don't think anyone else was around for hundreds of kilometers. But yeah, I could ramble on forever. Sorry about that.

"...Protheus, huh? Oh, anyway, I was doing Truth first, and then followed with Remembrance next."

The mention of the man reminded Tenco that...she actually had no idea about what the hell was up with him. Aside from the slight allusions that had been made to him from Tenshi, and what Arturia said to everyone on the briefing before they entered the pathways, she had no idea still on who what why or whatever was going on with him. Meeting him in person might just sate her curiosity, though...that'd be just stupid to go get to the leader of the opposing faction without much thought. Not like she had any ideas about where he was, or even how he looked like. Yeah, probably best to not think about him too much. Although...

And then, it seemed that the man had stopped in his tracks after chuckling a bit, and then he acted as if he was detecting something out of the ordinary, which alerted Tenco. But after a while, nothing happened so she relaxed a bit more, before she then tried to talk with Dorian more.

"Anyway, can I ask about Protheus to you? I...honestly had not much idea about what kind of person he is, and since he's an enemy...uhhh this is going to get awkward isn't it? I mean, can you tell me more about him?" After saying it, she felt an odd tingling inside of her, and that feeling made her continue talking, saying something that she never intended to say in the first place.

"Also, the girl that faced him in Truth...that was me I believe. Tenshi Hinanai."

"As for me, I'm 17, and was learning to become a demon hunter back in my universe. I was probably recruited to help because I'm a decent fighter and have fought in battles with my life on the line before. I'm not really sure what else to say about myself, so maybe you could tell me a little more about yourself as well."

"You're 17 too, huh?

A-anyway..."

Kazuya was still getting on his act together in front of Ayame. Still getting a hang on the interaction thing, Kazuya still felt that his lines were still awkward-sounding. Back in his world, he's usually the quiet type of person, and this change into being someone with a trace of social awkwardness was not really welcome. If only he had met someone since earlier, then maybe he wouldn't be in such an awkward state of mind. The three of them continued their walk through the pathway of Death, and as they walked, Kazuya could see bodies littering the roadside that they passed. While some of them felt like they used to belong to people he knew, Kazuya restrained himself from interacting with them, since he perfectly believed that it's just there to mess with his head further, just like before. Amaterasu, despite not talking at all during his time with him, just shook her head seeing Kazuya acting as awkwardly like this.

"Right. Anyway...I used to be a normal japanese teenager until not some months ago, when a demonic outbreak happened in my universe's Tokyo, and the city's population was trapped in a lockdown for a week. A mixture of conspiracy and sheer luck, though mainly thanks to a certain conspiracy, me and my friends got ahold of the demon summoning COMPs like I have right here," Kazuya pointed to his 3DS-like device that he's carrying on his pocket, "and we're forced to survive on our own strength in the middle of that mess, including a civil war between the demons that i somehow got dragged into. It's a pain, but we ended up survivng intactly, and all was well until the same thing happened again not long before I met Arturia. She didn't say much about what I should expect here, but she said that I will have a better chance returning the mess to normal if I fought here instead of back home with my friends and allies.

Still honestly have no idea whether this is the right decision or not, but I guess it shouldn't matter right now."

After saying that, he went silent for a while, as if trying to think of something else to say. But before Kazuya could continue, Amaterasu's light had shown that the regular pathway's ending, and a bridge would be the next thing they had to pass through.

"...Well, we're moving faster than I expected. It's a good thing, hopefully. So..can you tell me about these people you talked about? Madara, LERNA, Emiya, and Isamy.

There's still a lot of things that I don't know so yeah."

Tesability Black · May 27, 2015

~The Divine - Path of Truth - Jace's POV~

Jace had resisted returning verbal fire a second time after she retorted to his jabbing her about moving too slow, instead finding himself with the picture of Niv-Mizzet turning Chandra into human jerky for a few seconds before asking about the 'Purifying Fire'. However, unlike when Chandra started losing color in her face when he started talking about the Eldrazi, he wasn't losing color in his face. In fact, the more she spoke about this strange flame, the more the wheels in his head began to turn...

...at least until he felt a rather-sharp kick to his shoulder by a tiny foot, prompting him to look and see the little blue fairy that had been riding on his shoulder since he went through the first mirror staring back at him with narrowed eyes and a ticked-off look.

"For a blue mage, you tend to be more reckless than a red one," the fairy shot at him before turning its head towards Chandra for a split second. "No offense." A sweatdrop started forming on the side of his head at the little creature finally flew off his shoulder to float level to his eyes.

"You were just now actually thinking about willingly finding this artifact to strip yourself of both your Spark and your mental abilities, but you failed to think of a viable way to get back to Ravnica afterwards. Not to mention the Fire is powerful enough to actually remove the Guildpact enchantment from your soul, so that even if you did get back to Ravnica, it would be for naught, since there would no longer be anything keeping the guilds from tearing each other and the plane apart," the little creature spewed out, getting close enough to Jace's face that he had to both lean back a little and cross his eyes partially to keep it in view. "Are you really willing to risk forsaking an entire plane's possible future because you decided to be extremely-selfish?!"

Any and all forms of defense Jace may have had died in his throat before the little thing turned around and flew away a few inches before turning its head back towards Jace. "You have an incredible ability to think things out. Actually use it."

And with that did it fly away and out of view, to which Jace finally straightened back up with his arms drooped to either side of him and released a sigh.

"Just about every time I dare to think of only myself, it bites me in the ass somehow," Jace faintly griped before finally turning back towards the crystal, finding himself studying his reflection on the crystal's surface.

After a few tense seconds did he speak again, this time to answer the question that wound up being echoed in his head. "Despite all the headaches I get on a near-constant basis...and finding myself way too deep into Ravnica's political scene for anyone's liking a few too many times...yes, I am content with my present self."

At this point, the crystal began to glow brighter and brighter with a contained light before releasing a bright flash that engulfed the pair.

When the light was gone, so were the Planeswalkers...

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~Unaligned - The White Room - Jace's POV~

Jace allowed himself to collapse upon the floor after landing on his feet within the White Room, taking a moment to recollect himself and rest.

"If one Path is like that, I'd really hate to see the other two..." Sitting up with his legs still flat on the floor, he looked up at the doors within the room, only to notice one thing.

The door he went through first was gone.

"As hard as it is," he heard in his head, to which he stood up quick and spun around in all directions, making himself slightly dizzy in the process. He was alone, but he could have sworn he heard a voice. "One must think of the many before of the one, for we are all one."

"...Ravnica?"

"We...are within...our power is yours to use. Restore us. Restore all."

Suddenly, an over-sweeping feeling began to surge from within him, forcing him onto his knees as he balled up into himself to keep from feeling sick from the flood of power. Though his eyes were only slightly-cracked open, he noticed forming around him...plants? Both dead and zombified and alive and vibrant?

"Our power is yours."

With the words repeated in his head, it clicked as to where the two forms of plant life really came from, even though they seemed sourced from him as he opened his eyes to see the ring of green, white and black around him.

Golgari and Selesnya magic. Green and White magic to form the vibrant, living plants and Green and Black magic to return a second life to the plants that had ended their first ones. How...he only had access to blue magic for all his life, how was he suddenly reaching into other colors?! First with Red, now this?!

Without even thinking, his feet began to move him forward, forward through the door to the Path of Death...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Jace's POV~

Darkness, surrounding and engulfing. That's what greeted him as he entered the Path, almost unable to see anything around him. He could feel it on his skin from the weight it gave off, which prompted a gulp from the mindmage.

In an effort to see at least what was in front of his face, he tried to conjure in front of himself the illusion of a blue flame, knowing that even illusionary flames can cast light in the hands of someone skilled with such magics. However, despite the temperature-less blaze he now held between his hands to his relief, there was next to no light cast from it. "This place absorbs light," he remarked to himself, trying to think of how the pair of Planeswalkers were going to get through.

His false flame only managed to reach just past his palms, so he suspected a real one may not do that much better...

Ending Point: A1 (Or wherever the Counter Corps start off at on a new Path...)

Reinforce · May 28, 2015

Ayame

Pathway of Death: A4

Ayame had to hold back an urge to giggle, this guy was more awkward than Naomi had been when they'd first met. Hearing him talk about his events, she looked across warily at the COMP he'd talked about, before responding.

"I'm not sure what the demons in your world were like, or how similar or different they were to those in my world, but I'd prefer if you could be careful with it around me. I didn't mention it before since I wasn't sure it would be important, but I'm half-demon too, most of the demon hunters from my world are. While I don't know how much of an effect that COMP of yours might have, I'd prefer not to find out."

As they started to walk down the bridge, Ayame started to speak again, ignoring the whispers that she could here as she did.

"Again, I don't know that much about them, but I'll explain what I can. As I said before, Emiya was the original leader of the Counter Corps, and the person who recruited me to fight in this war. Past that, he seemed very driven, entirely focussed on the conflicts ahead. I only encountered Isamy around the third conflict, and I was rather distracted by other problems at the time, but while I can't say much for her methods, her goal actually seemed decent. All she wanted, from what I heard, was to eliminate despair from the multiverse. The Madara was a giant red centaur looking creature, and ended up as the guardian of the key that both sides were looking for. It's more a monster than anything, though it did try to pull off an assimilation plot of sorts. Finally, LERNA was a giant Hydra, 8 heads and all, and seemed to be capable of borrowing the powers of anyone fighting it."

Chandra

Pathway of Truth: C14

Chandra just smirked at the fairy's first comment, not taking any offence since it was rather true about her anyway. As for the next one,

"You'd have trouble locating it anyway, the cavern it was in collapsed following my encounter with it."

Chandra just smiled as Jace answered, before the crystal flashed and took them both away.

She appeared back in the white room, though it had changed slightly. Where there had once been three doors, Truth was now gone, leaving only Remembrance and Death behind. Walking forward, Chandra opened the door to death, hoping that she'd chosen the same one that Jace would have. That worry lasted until she reached the start of the pathway, at which point she recognised Jace ahead of her. She walked up to him quickly enough to notice his efforts and hear his comment.

"I'll just have to provide enough light that it can't absorb it all then."

Lifting up her hand, a flame blossomed into existence in it, lighting up the area ahead a bit better than Jace's illusion of a flame had.

"Well, at least you have access to your illusions again, seems they were probably just blocked through Truth like lying was."

The Warden · May 28, 2015

|_)The Evangelist Hapshiel(_|

|_)The White Room(_|

Hapshiel was contentedly mincing around his White Room, one last door on display for him. Without hesitation he twisted it open, and went for it.

|_)Pathway of Death: A1(_|

Hapshiel pirouetted gaily as he appeared in the Pathway of Death. The darkness did nothing to dampen his spirits as he spun on the tip of his toe down the pathway at lightning speeds, dirt kicking up everywhere as he leapt like a prime ballerina, his grace, his ability, they were magnefique. It was a blessing to see his radiant pink glow in that unholy darkness, and, as he leapt again he noticed, just barely, a light in the distance. Sensing the chance for SOCIAL INTERACTIONS!, he primed himself eagerly, his firm butt tightening in their holster as he leapt like tiger through the air, his four wings carrying him as the light grew brighter and brighter.

Jace didn't even know what hit him as Hapshiel tackled him from behind, face-planting him in the dirt. "My my, seems we have ourselves a little blue riding hood" Hapshiel said eagerly as he flipped Jace over.

Hapshiel's eyes twinkled like a virgin maiden as he stared into Jace's, his bang hanging loosely as the two stood in a very compromising positions, as Chandra could very well see. "You're quite handsome" he complimented the Mind Mage, his lips mere inches away from Jace's.

Kōsuke Ueki · May 28, 2015

The Pathway to Death, Richard Mason

As time went on, Richard eventually made it to the next part of the Pathway: a bridge-like platform with no railings, so the risk of falling off was major. He'd have to focus very hard on his vision to make sure he doesn't end up in the middle of walking of an edge.

During all that time, he was still in deep thought. Why was it that Isamy must win? What is it that changes things from then to now? Arturia is clear on the fact that she wants to return everything to normal by using the Door. But then...she has been keeping a lot from the CC all this time. Who's to say that she's on their side?

It was then that among all the voices he was hearing, he heard another that caught his attention.

The Saber shall be the end of you...

Who is 'The Saber'? he thought to himself, not knowing such a name ever existed...or was a it a title? He wasn't sure. Richard only had that name: The Saber. He only had that, and what "it" could potentially do, to go by. And does it have anything to do with what's been told to him about Isamy? All these questions boggled his mind, as if he could potentially go mad from it just thinking about it for too long.

He was able to walk in a straight path for a while, until there was a point where he had turn left or right. Considering that he had to keep moving forward, he turned right and hoped for a left turn as soon as possible.

About 15 minutes pass when this happens. And after taking a few steps, the voices suddenly grew louder, whispers becoming louder, to the point of screaming, where all kinds of taunts and what not were directed towards him. The risk of falling off was too great for him to focus on what's going on.

YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED!

YOU WILL FAIL!

WE WILL ENSURE YOUR DEATH!

That last sentence stopped him dead in his tracks. He felt multiple presences, all too real to ignore at this point. Whatever they were, they were unlike anything he has seen before. He looked up, preparing to face what could potentially be the only foe that has no direct correlation to the war itself.

"I'll be damned if I let you stand in my way..."

(Location: C6)

Tesability Black · May 28, 2015

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Jace's POV~

The mindmage did not even sense the newcomer and only just caught the sudden...pink? glow before his face connected with the apparently-brown dirt below him, leaving him with at least a noseful of the dust.

"My my, seems we have ourselves a little blue riding hood," he suddenly heard before being flipped onto his back, his own strength next to nothing compared to the large muscular ma---wait. He almost missed them considering the wierd look that looked more fitting in a romance scene, but he caught the sight of the four feathered wings and was immediately reminded of the Boros angels upon Ravnica.

"I have no id...ugh..." As he tried and pitifully failed to get the large being off of his small form, Jace found himself with a sudden, pounding headache...no, chain of headaches, which was causing him to slightly shake as he forced himself to try and focus on his surroundings. "Would you..."

"You're quite handsome," he only faintly heard as his eyes suddenly shut closed, gritting his teeth in overwhelming pain as he began to thrash blindly under the angel's weight, having found himself fighting a sudden battle against the angel on a different front.

A mental front, since he was no longer registering the physical one.

"Get out of my head," he damned near shrieked while only barely in control of himself as his eyes began to glow, the lines visible on his face also glowing with the same shade as he tried to remove the angel from him the only way he could.

With Mind Control, but he lacked the knowledge needed to prevent a certain chain of events from happening...

(Permission granted to about-face the mind-control.)

The Warden · May 28, 2015

|_)The Evangelist Hapshiel(_|

|_)Pathway of Death: A1(_|

The moment the Mind Mage decided to try and get into Hapshiel's head, the moment he realized he had made a GIGANTIC mistake. Jace found himself inside a paradise, a world filled to the brim with pure love and happiness. It was the most wonderful feeling ever, as many Hapshiel's literally erupted out of the woodwork, or, in this case, flower bushes. They all wore a plain white fundoshi that quite thankfully had a breechcloth to cover themselves, and they swarmed the Mind Mage like horny bees. They all cooed loudly as they embraced the mental image of the Mind Mage, their bodies grinding against him as they filled him up to the brim with Hapshiel's special blend of optimism. What came next had to be seen to be believed on the outside.

Tesability Black · May 28, 2015

~Counter Corps - Hapshiel's Mind - Jace's POV~

As soon as he entered, he immediately found himself suffocating from the sheer amount of emotion in the mind he had sought to control in his sudden need to defend himself. And not any emotion, one that he had been extremely-unfamiliar with, pure simple and unbridled happiness.

Grabbing his throat with both hands, Jace would have fallen to his knees had it not been for the sudden swarm of angelic doubles that had swarmed him, rubbing themselves against him in various perverse ways, despite the fact that he most definitely did not swing that way. Lilliana Vess and Emmara Tandris were both proof of that.

However, biology has an interesting way to turn things about on a person, and soon he blacked out within the angel's mind...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Jace's POV~

For a few seconds, Jace's skin started to turn pale, the sudden inability to breath becoming apparent as he tried several times to draw in breath and failed. He opened his now-unfocused eyes as he continued to thrash, though it was for naught, considering how he was held down.

The thrashing did not last, however, as the relatively-little man suddenly fell still, his eyes glazed over yet looking straight up past Hapshiel's head. His breathing, thankfully, had stabilized and returned to normal, allowing the color to return to his skin.

Then both the angel and the pyromancer could feel a sudden bang in their minds, as if something had just been shattered nearby, which proved true as...strange thoughts very dissimilar to Jace's usual ones started leaking out of his head before growing in strength and volume, ranging from the wishes of love, peace and unity...to various perverse positions that Chandra could be pretty damned sure Jace was neither kinky enough to try nor physically able to pull of, at least not without help with whomever his partner were to wind up being.

"So many...resist..." were the first words to come out of his mouth, though they were one or two notes higher than usual. "Why resist...when all can be shared...when all can be one...?" His mind, in an attempt to understand what was happening to it, anchored itself to the one thing similar to what it was overwhelmed with, to the Selesnya Conclave, which shared everything with one another, a form of love and peace in and of itself.

Just like within the White Room, plantlife began to bloom around the mindmage upon the soil of the path, though the flowers that resulted grew into pale-blue blooms that glowed in the darkness with the angel's pink light. Even more plants began to sprout, though these new ones completely covered Jace from the neck down, leaving only the cloak untouched as they began to change in color and shape. Jace's original outfit had become consumed by the plants, instead leaving behind an outfit that mirrored the angel on top of him...though the position of the angel left any of them unable to judge the size of a certain portion of the mindmage's body by looking, thankfully. What is shown is that he did not have much in the form of muscle mass...

The Warden · May 28, 2015

|_)The Evangelist Hapshiel(_|

|_)Pathway of Death: A1(_|

Hapshiel smiled gently, his eyes softening as he rolled off the Mind Mage, helping him up whilst gently rubbing the dust off of his... everything. "My brother" Hapshel uttered softly as he embraced Jace, and no doubt squicking the hell out of Chandra.

"Do you feel it?" Hapshiel whispered into Jace's quivering ear. "Do you feel as I do now? Do you see as I do? Do you see the beauty in the word, and the great love one can have for it? The word and its people are beautiful, truly they are" he said passionately, finally realizing Chandra was there.

He released Jace in an instant as Hapshiel delightedly danced over to Chandra, his pectorals twitching as his body tightened itself like diamond. "Hello there cute young lady" he greeted in the gayest way possible.

Maeriberii Haan · May 28, 2015

"I'm not sure what the demons in your world were like, or how similar or different they were to those in my world, but I'd prefer if you could be careful with it around me. I didn't mention it before since I wasn't sure it would be important, but I'm half-demon too, most of the demon hunters from my world are. While I don't know how much of an effect that COMP of yours might have, I'd prefer not to find out."

"Well...I believe they're not exactly "demons" as the one you're talking about. Ones I can summon and form contracts with using this device are...pretty much a huge swath of things. Divine spirits, gods, mythical beasts, rumors, actual demons, among others. Granted, as far as I'm aware, I can only utilize fragments of stronger being's powers when using this device. For example, this graceful lady right here," Kazuya pointed towards Amaterasu's direction, who seemingly decided to not bother noticing, "is Amaterasu, the highest goddess of the Sun in the Japanese pantheon. Right here she's a fragment of the deity's true power that I utilize and formed a contract with, and I can later use this device to fuse or buy more of these "demons" to help myself more. They're stored here in these devices as datas after my bro-uh, I mean, after my cousin figured out how.

Yes, this is as disturbing as it sounds. Just don't think too much about it. Better for our sanity if we don't delve too much to this." As he narrated the actual nature of how COMPs work, Kazuya couldn't help but to feel the sense of repulsive feelings he got when he first gotten ahold of the device and its true nature back then during the lockdown. Sighing, as he narrated those, Kazuya realized that he's been worrying a lot about whether he could completely put his demons under his control with the device or not. He had seen several instances of COMPs haywiring, and those never ended well for the person. But perhaps...he's more worried about the concept of not having a hold of his own surrounding and himself, to say in a way. It's probably the biggest reason why he kept on struggling to find explanation about everything whenever he's dumped into something without his consent. He just wanted to take control of his own destiny, pretty much. Shaking his head, he returned his focus to the bridge the three of them were treading as Ayame started to talk about the question Kazuya asked earlier.

"Again, I don't know that much about them, but I'll explain what I can. As I said before, Emiya was the original leader of the Counter Corps, and the person who recruited me to fight in this war. Past that, he seemed very driven, entirely focussed on the conflicts ahead. I only encountered Isamy around the third conflict, and I was rather distracted by other problems at the time, but while I can't say much for her methods, her goal actually seemed decent. All she wanted, from what I heard, was to eliminate despair from the multiverse. The Madara was a giant red centaur looking creature, and ended up as the guardian of the key that both sides were looking for. It's more a monster than anything, though it did try to pull off an assimilation plot of sorts. Finally, LERNA was a giant Hydra, 8 heads and all, and seemed to be capable of borrowing the powers of anyone fighting it."

"Well...I guess I really missed a damn lot, huh? That kind of making me wish that I was here from the very beginning. Probably that could've made me more invested in this. Heh, that might've hammered the point of the importance of this entire war, the scope, the impact, everything.

Not saying I'd like more chaos...but right now, the entire thing felt completely wrong. For all intents and purpose, before I met you here, I was thinking Arturia's just using me as a pawn to achieve a goal of her own that she refused to tell me."

Amaterasu coughed as Kazuya finished the sentence. Realizing what he had done, Kazuya became a bit embarrassed about himself, and after giving an apologetic gesture to Amaterasu, he turned around to Ayame.

"Sorry for rambling about aimlessly again, Ayame. There's just too many things at my mind at the moment. Maybe my brain decided to spit it all out right now over all other times.

Anyway...let's talk about you once more. Back in your world, do you have any friends?"

Reinforce · May 28, 2015

Ayame

Pathway of Death: B5

As Kazuya talked, Ayame was slightly relieved to note that the device wasn't actually targeted towards demons. She also gave a slight hint of recognition as the demon Kazuya had summoned was finally named. Hailing from Japan herself, she was familiar with the Kami of the Shinto religion, and Amaterasu was one of them. As they continued to walk down the bridge, the voices around continued to grow louder, and Ayame found herself focusing more on Kazuya's voice, just to block them out.

"Anyway...let's talk about you once more. Back in your world, do you have any friends?"

Ayame sighed sadly, at that question, before starting to talk.

"I did have three people that I considered friends. Jin and Lien were a pair of fraternal twins a few years younger than me, who I met at the start of their first year at the academy and became good friends with quickly. Then there was Naomi, my best friend. She was the same age as me, but didn't attend the same academy. She was short and lithe, almost doll-like in appearance, and worked as an idol when I first met her. She was also a dragon, capable of switching between her true appearance as a dragon and the human form she took most of the time."

At that point, Ayame stopped talking. Thinking over what had happened to her friends was just depressing her, and the darkness around them had taken on an almost sinister edge, as the voices of her lost friends echoed around her, asking why she'd let them die. It was then that the shadows started to lash out too, spirits of darkness taking the forms of her friends, attacking her as the voices continued to echo. As one came close, the lightning she'd let die down around her flared up again, functioning as a very effective defence by sparking out at the shades whenever they came close. She looked across to her travelling companion as they did, worried about how he'd cope with the attacks.

Chandra

Pathway of Death: A1

Chandra couldn't seem to do anything but look on with shock and horror at the scene in front of her. Some hugely muscled man had just come up and tackled Jace from behind, crashing him to the floor before pinning him down to the ground and proceeding to rub his body over the blue mage. It got worse too, after briefly turning pale, like he was having trouble breathing, there was a loud bang that rang through her mind, before Jace's thoughts started to leak again. This lot was much more disturbing than what she'd heard in Truth though, some rubbish about love and peace and unity, along with a long stream of perverted thoughts.

As the thoughts started to gain some measure of coherence, plants grew around the mage and changed his clothes into something almost as horrifying as what the winged man was wearing. An abomination of a set of clothes, it showed off way more of his chest and body than she'd ever wanted to see. What came next was just as bad, one grown man helping another to stand up, before rubbing their bodies together to get all the dust of Jace, and finally pulling him into a deep hug.

As soon as the man released Jace, he pranced over towards her, finally breaking through her shock enough to cause a proper reaction to his approach. Said reaction happened to be a large fireball thrown straight into his chest, followed by four more as she started to back away from the angel. At the same time, horror and shock started to make way for anger and disgust as her heated emotions fuelled her magic and heated the air around her.

Dad · May 28, 2015

Kratos, Kenpachi, & Killua

Kratos beat his chest proudly. He felt a feeling of nostalgia as his Spartans engaged the undead. This. This is what he lived for. "This is what it means to be a god of war!" he roared as he charged in beside his men. Kenpachi grinned as he saw the crazed look in the bald warrior's eyes. "That's the spirit, ain't it!? Ha!"

Killua was preoccupied however, even as the fight went on. He could clearly see that Kenpachi and Kratos were enjoying themselves. But his mind was on Reimu at the time.

"Been a while, Killua. You're alright, buddy?"

Killua blushed, turning his gaze away. "Me? Uh, yeah, sure, I'm great. Just duking it out with these guys," he said with a thumb over his head to Rhadamanthys and Butlerok. What the heck was this? "Why do I feel flustered?" he wondered to himself. Scratching his head, Killua stood to his feet, and turned his attention to the fight unfolding before him. Still, Reimu had his attention.

"Sorry for not helping you all so far...I'm just still pretty unsure whether I'd be helping or not if I join in."

Killua smiled, facing away from her. Truth was, he was unsure of what Reimu was capable of, so he didn't have an honest answer.

"Guess that's just pretty lame of me, huh?"

That was something he couldn't agree with. "Lame? Nah, no way. Sometimes you have to find what you know to be best and take that path. Analyze everything," he said feeling normal again. His confidence was suddenly soaring after talking to Reimu. "Every path isn't the same. But once you figure out which one means the most to you, you can make a lot out of it. Maybe that's why we're here? Who knows? The fights? They're all just . . . a detour or a bump in the road. Some of them you can get past without ever touching them. Some of them, you can't avoid." Killua's nen covered him again, as he watched his comrades fighting. "But if you wanna find out," he said turning back to Reimu. Killua stretched out a hand. "Maybe I can help," he said with a smile.

Kratos whipped his blades upwards, slicing many of the undead into pieces. Rhadamanthys bashed through the bones and shields of the Spartan army, making his way to Kratos. Then, the two war generals met, and the armies surrounded them. They were enclosed in a circle of zombies and skeletons, with just their own wits and weapons about them. The armies cheered and jeered for their own heroes, as Kratos and Rhadamanthys locked arms, grabbing each other's shoulders and trying to force the other into a hold. "Do you feel that, Kratos!?" Rhadamanthys asked excitedly. "The electricity in the air! The blood flowing! The adrenaline! This is what it's all about!!" Kratos smiled. "For once, you don't sound like a fool, old 'friend'!" he said headbutting Rhadamanthys. Rhadamanthys stumbled backwards, but was shoved back in by the Spartan army. Kratos dove at Rhadamanthys, pinning him to the ground, as he cocked back a fist. But Rhadamanthys quickly kicked Kratos off of him, back into the ground. Kratos scrambled to his feet, as Rhadamanthys taunted him with an ushering hand. Kratos darted back in, swinging with his right. Rhadamanthys ducked it, and punched Kratos squarely in the gut. With a smile on his face, Rhadamanthys stared up at Kratos now. To his surprise, the Spartan did not flinch. Instead, Kratos now wrapped his left arm around Rhadamanthys' throat, and began to choke him.

Through strangled breath, Rhadamanthys laughed. "Your combat prowess is astounding! But," he flipped himself forwards and nailed Kratos in the chin with a kick. "You're too complacent!" he said as Kratos fell into the snow again. Rhadamanthys placed a foot in Kratos' chest, reenacting one of their previous bouts. "Remember this!?" he said as a roar now escaped his mouth, pinning Kratos to the ground. Struggling against the sheer force of the roar, Kratos raised his Golden Fleece, and reflected the roar back at Rhadamanthys, forcing him back. "Yes," Kratos said standing up. "I do." Back on their feet now, both Rhadamanthys and Kratos charged each other, each raising a fist and drawing it backwards. Their fists met, and the shockwave blasted the circle of undead into pieces and opened the battlefield once more. They were matched again, but neither would let up. Rhadamanthys followed up quickly with a fierce kick, but Kratos caught his leg and threw Rhadamanthys backwards. As Rhadamanthys reeled, his left arm was caught by a chain, as the Blades of Fury now pinned his left arm to the ground.

"Sneaky," Rhadamanthys said to himself. Rhadamanthys now fired several bolts of dark energy at Kratos from his free hand, forcing the Spartan to move. Kratos avoided the first two, but was struck in the left arm by the third, forcing him to let go of Rhadamanthys. Spreading his wings, Rhadamanthys put all of his power into his legs and blinked away, now miles above Kratos. Looking around, Kratos could not see Rhadamanthys, until he called out.

"Kratos!"

The Spartan looked up, glaring at Rhadamanthys, daring him to move. "What happened to moving on!? Don't you have a lot to do!?" he called from high above. Kratos nodded. "Too much! So let's end this!" Rhadamanthys bared his teeth. "Gladly!" He rocketed towards Kratos. He moved so fast that the air around him erupted in flames. But Kratos did not budge. Rhadamanthys threw his arms back to further increase his speed, as he closed in on Kratos. Now, Kratos spread his legs, and as Rhadamanthys drew near, he leaped. Not away from Rhadamanthys, but at him. With his wings now also spread, Kratos put the force of his Hermes' Boots behind him, and matched Rhadamanthys' speed. Rhadamanthys was now staring at Kratos' back, in what felt like an eternity of a moment. What happened next shocked Rhadamanthys, as Kratos wrapped his right arm around Rhadamanthys' neck, and pulled him out of his dive. They both rocketed towards the ground now, with Kratos back and Rhadamanthys' chest facing the ground respectively. And Kratos proceeded to drag Rhadamanthys' down as they both hit the ground with incredible force. "Ugh, that hurt," Rhadamanthys called from the settling snow. Kratos back was also in agony. "I concur," he said over his shoulder.

They sat up and looked each other in the face. Glaring at each other, neither of them could keep a straight face, as they both erupted in laughter. "Will we ever come to a successful conclusion?" Kratos asked standing to his feet at last. Rhadamanthys stood up as well now, shaking the snow from his wings. "Someday perhaps. But for now," he said drawing back a fist. Kratos mimicked him, and they charged at one another. Each warrior connected their fist to the other's jaw, knocking themselves backwards and sending their opponent's flying. Kratos went soaring towards the mountain side, skidding along the dirt of the now dried lake. Rhadamanthys flew through the forest, taking an acre or two with him.

Flaming swords clashed with magical shield and spears, as Kenpachi barreled through them all. Butlerok's Ruhka began to surround Kenpachi, but he weaved in and out of them, closing the gap quickly. As he drew back Nozarashi, Butlerok stepped to his right, narrowly avoiding the strike as Kenpachi stood next to him. "You really are a reckless old man," Butlerok said staring at Kenpachi. "Well, I had to get in close to show you something I've been working on," he said turning to face Butlerok now. He pointed Nozarashi at Butlerok, and placed both his hands on its hilt. Butlerok did not move, but looked on in horror, as he watched Kenpachi's lips move. "Bankai," he uttered. But nothing happened. Butlerok looked around, waiting for some sort of confirmation that this was actually happening. But then, Kenpachi leaped and headbutt Butlerok squarely in the face.

"Gotcha!" he said laughing to himself. Butlerok was shaken, but stood straight right away. "For a second there, I thought you were serious," he said pointing his own weapon at Kenpachi now. "I wish. It's gonna be sometime before Nozarashi and I get that far. But I'm enjoying myself. So I figured, why the hell not!" The two swordsmen were on par with one another, matching the opponent's blade blow for blow.

Tesability Black · May 28, 2015

~??? - Path of Death - ???'s POV~

"Do you feel it?"

Despite his still-twitching from the sudden overload of emotion, he made no move to respond during the embrace that had him slightly-lifted off his feet due to the size difference between the pair, even after the risque way he had been dusted off earlier by the angel.

"Do you feel as I do now? Do you see as I do? Do you see the beauty in the word, and the great love one can have for it? The word and its people are beautiful, truly they are."

There was no verbal response given to these questions, as his eyes reflected the state his mind was in, unfocused and clouded from the shock of being flooded by thoughts and desires that weren't originally his own. The angel soon let him go, appearing unfazed by his lack of response as he pranced towards...another...?

The flash of red flame only barely broke through the mental mist, just enough for him to raise his head and look towards the source, to see a woman geared up in fire-proof leathers throwing various forms flame towards the muscular being, the heat in the area raising exponentially.

"...why...fight..." To his fragmented mind, the fire-wielding woman was attacking the angel unprovoked, that she had no reason for her apparent hostility. Lifting his left hand, though his movement was somewhat-jerky and mechanical, as if another were in control, the once-gloveless hand began to make ornate symbols tinted with the colors of white and green in the air in semi-rapid succession before slicing the same hand through the same aerial symbols.

The next thing any of them knew, Jace was suddenly in the space between the two, his back towards Hapshiel as something that had now emerged from under Jace's cloak wrapped themselves around him to block off the flames from impact.

Once the flames had dissipated, what had emerged came into full view...and the four floral wings that now emerged, tinted with a shade of light-blue, became stretched out to be allowed to be properly seen.

"...fighting...not needed..." Even his voice sounded somewhat mechanical, even distant.

A faint thought amongst the wilder ones, however, managed to creep into Chandra's head.

"Help me...can't get control..." Though the small voice was faint, as if it took all the projector's effort to get even that, there was several massive notes of fear held within it...

Love of Ghibli · May 29, 2015

Butlerok & Rhadamanthys: Path of Death

Kenpachi and Butlerok went back and forth clashing blades not trying to give an inch. It was clear though that with Nozarashi's "cut anything" ability vs. Butlerok's "incinerate anything" bankai the two couldn't actually afford to let the blades make contact with each other. Meanwhile Kratos and Rhadamanthys had come to after their double bounce back and immediately flew back towards each other. Unfortunately everyone was so focused on their respected opponents that they didn't even notice their proximity towards each other. As the flew back into battle both Rhadamthys and Kratos heard two loud phrases SOKATSUI, SCREECH ALPHA! At that moment all four of the combatants were caught in the concussive blast radius and in a loud blast of smoke. Would this stop two proud warriors like Kratos and Rhadamanthys? Of course not in the sea of smoke Rhadamanthys and Kratos kept charging forward and they both through a mighty punch. As they felt their punches connect they each proceeded to push back trying to gain some distance. However once the smoke cleared they had a different reaction.

WHAT!

As the war of the undead waged on Kenpachi saw Rhadamanthys' fist in his face and Butlerok was face to face with Kratos. Well this is unexpected Butlerok noted. Meh I can dig this for a little while Kenpachi said. Two new fights started to break out. Rhadamanthys unleashed a fury of blows on Kenpachi and the soul reaper was trying to reply in kind with the same punches. It was clear though that Rhadamanthys had the advantage. He stood back for a second and scoffed. So this is the man who dared take my prey from me. Let's just say I'm not impressed! HAHAHAHA Kenpachi said as he picked up Nozarshi off the ground. I get it now. This armor thing you're wearing is pretty tough. No wonder he's got such a hard time with you. Do not blame your defeat on my garbs. HA never that! I just realized I have to tenderize you first. Rhadamanthys took the insult to heart and flew directly at Kenpachi. However this time around he didn't notice that Kenpachi was ready for him. Kenpachi swung Nozarashi and in one fell swoop Rhadamanthys felt thousands upon thousands of slashes on his surplice. He continued to fly through the slashes and make his way to Kenpachi. With one foul thrust of his hand he went to rip Kenpachi's heart out. Luckily the shinigami was able to narrowly dodge the shot to his vital organ and just manage to lose a chunk of flesh instead. Rhadamanthys struggled to pull his hand out of his opponents chest he heard a nightmarish sound. Chunks of his surplice started falling directly off of him and then thousands of slash marks appeared on his body spray huge amounts of blood. What? Oh black boy didn't tell you! My sword can cut through anything HAHAHAHA! Kenpachi said confidently almost ignoring the fact that someone had stuck their arm through him. It looks like you're stuck. Let me help you out. Kenpachi put his hand in Rhadamanthys' face HADO 58 TENRAN!! A tornado shot itself from Kenpachi's hand literally blowing Rhadamanthys away forcefully yanking the arm out of him.

Kratos and Butlerok were busy swinging blades but Butlerok had a very sinister smile across his face. Why do you smile foul demon? Do you think because your mind magic worked on me once you will win now. Not really, it was actually that I forgot...you don't know of all my tricks. Kratos delivered a kick to the Kishin's face forcing the Kishin back. Kratos equipped his spear and the charged directly at his opponent. Black...Dragon. At that moment Ragnarok shot out of Butlerok's back in his dragon form and screeched a might KIIYYYAAAAA! He the bit down on the spear and tried to yank it out of the Spartans hands. Monster! Kffk rphsks (Kick Rocks). Butlerok then closed the distance and dug tentacles into Kratos' appendages causing the man to roar in pain and loose his grip on the spear. With the God of War just where he wanted him Butlerok flicked his wrist and called forth the claws of Hades. Kratos' eyes widened as he the Kishin's words finally made sense. In fact a lot of things made sense with this reveal. Yes, I house a great number of souls inside me. One of the more prominent ones is the Hades from your universe. He knows a lot about you and I made him a promise that if I were to kill you...It would be with these. Do your worst disgusting beast! I assure you I will personally drive a blade through your skull. Such big talk commin' from a dead guy! I'M GONNA EAT YOUR SOUL. Butlerok dug one claw into Kratos' sides and laughed as he slowly pulled out the mans soul. The God of War's resistance was impressive, slowly but surely though he was going to fall now. Unnntiilll, like the manifestation of bad timing, Rhadamanthys came flying out of nowhere and crashed directly into Butlerok and sending them both flying.

Seconds later Kenpachi walked up to Kratos who was dislodged from the Black Blood. So that dude is pretty good...sprained my wrist dealing with him. You have fun fighting that monstrous creature? It's not that hard when you know all of his tricks. Butlerok and Rhadamanthys both got to their feet and tried to recoup. Finally worthy opponents. You've been holding out on me Butler. Well it seems Kratos is far stronger than both you and this Hades lead me to believe. If I didn't know of his weapons before ha...Butlerok couldn't even finish his statement as he met with a blazing arrow to the face. Ragnarok was going to attempt to intervene, but Kratos was definitely too quick on the draw. With his Bow of Artemis he unleashed volleys and volleys of energy arrows on the two combatants. Without his surplice Rhadamanthys had to take all of these arrows head on. They were buried in his chest, his hand and some in his legs. He laughed though as this was becoming entertaining. He then roared and blew the arrows away. Butler quickly I need your help! Butlerok raised an eyebrow but he was down for whatever.

Kenpachi and Kratos walked up to their opponents and what they saw was odd. Butlerok was holding Rhadamanthys in his arms like baptism and had a hand over his heart. Oh this is new. Kratos looked on silently as the war waged on around them. Then they noticed Butlerok's hand began to glow over Rhadamanthys' chest. Everyone then notice something odd. The sky began to grow dark. As if smoke and sulfur were released into the sky and night began to fall. The F...Kenpachi could finish as he witness Butlerok proceed to pull a pitch black blade out of Rhadamanthys' chest. Rhadamanthys stood up and grabbed the blade and then he squared off with Kratos. The darkness was complete. Night had befallen the Path of Remembrance. And illuminating the war were the embers of the zombies and a bright red blood moon in the distance that probably wasn't there before. Kenpachi's eyes widened as he was certainly ecstatic YYEEEEESSSSS!! His power began let out once again. A golden pillar of light piercing through the darkness! COME ON!! WHAT ELSE YA GOT! Butlerok shrugged as he felt he had to reply in kind at this moment. Scream...Reasonance!! Ragnarok let out a mighty KIIIYYYAAAA in his dragon form and popped like a bubble Kratos and Kenpachi looked as there seemed to be three orbs now surrounding the Kishin. The orbs then seemed to forcefully mash themselves together in a most uncomfortable way. However resulting power spike that came out of this fusion was definitely impressive. The ground quaked and lava started to erupt on the battlefield. Butlerok started to grow all kinds appendages from his back as he was trying to maintain his transformation. Fortunately he managed to settle on his original body and manifest his aura into a new claymore of Mad Blood. Kratos wasn't going to be out done he summoned forth the Blade of Promise and the lightning discharge around him crackled destroying some of the skeletons around him. Butlerok waved his hand and fissures were made along side the combatants. Now Hell beast of all shapes and sizes were crawling out of the fissures and they started attacking the soldiers in line with the other zombies. The four men all looked each other as they realized that this was the end.

~~~~Final Battle~~~~

The four men ran at each other with their blades all ready to finish this. The clashes of blades and steel caused shockwaves reverberating through the air. Butlerok swung down on Kenpachi but his blade was intercepted by the Blade of Promise. He then slid his Claymore down the side of Kratos' blade and managed to make a slight scratch into the War God's shoulder blade. This scratch alone though was more than enough to literally eradicate his shoulder. Kratos' kept going through the pain. To be frank he didn't even notice. Kenpachi followed up and drove his Nozarashi clean through the Kishin and watched the arm be completely separated from the base body. Rhadamanthys took this chance to thrust his sword directly into Kenpachi side. The sheer force and energy of the blade made it so that there was almost nothing of Kenpachi's side. Rhadamanthys smiled but he didn't realize that this left him exposed to Kratos' blade. The God of War swung and the lightning discharge literally fried Rhadamanthys' legs from the inside. Rhadamanthys and all the parties got some distance from themselves. They each grabbed their momentary wounds and smiled at each other. While they didn't say any words their pants an facial expression conveyed their thoughts.

Well Rhadamanthys I guess this is the end. I wouldn't have it any other way. Hey...Black dude with my captain inside...Did you know that if you swing a blade with both hands its twice as strong as when you swing it with one. Interesting, I guess I have to show you the final compass point. The four people (if your can call them that) ran at each other one final time.

DDDDDIIIIIIEEEEEEE

ZANKA NO TACHI KITA: TENCHI KAIJIN!!

KENDO!!

At the same time all of the men swung their swords and their combined attacks spiraled upward into the dark and gloomy sky. Soon the mushroom cloud of force spammed concussive waves of force one after the other in every direction skewing the course of the nearby war. As these waves came at the on lookers the army, Killua and Gon braced themselves. But before waves hit a man in golden armor walked out of the slowly recovering forest and stood in front of everyone. His light shined bright and for some reason everyone was unharmed. Oh this is...interesting. As he spoke an old woman also walked up to the scene. I see he has forgotten his training.

The tower blinding multicolored light eventually died out and inside the massive crater that was now slowly filling with lake water floating their bodies to the top. Oddly enough all of the combatants were still alive relatively speaking. Kenpachi was the first to laugh as he was now floating in a pool of nostalgia water and blood. He seemed to have lost his entire right side and had a massive hole in his chest. That...was...amazing! You really are a monster there man in black...I never even got your name! My name is Butler. Butlerok said as he was actually missing his entire lower torso and right arm. Though I am commonly referred to as Butlerok due to my main weapon Ragnarok. Is that the black parasite thing that shot out of your back. Kratos interjected while he was fortunate enough to lose only his leg and the shoulder blade that Butlerok slashed at. He's nice once you get to know him. He's busy right now trying to reconstruct my body seeing as it was obliterated by you two. Kratos and Kenpachi laughed as they were surprised at how much they enjoyed that. What say you Rhadamanthys? Is this what you wanted? Are you satisfied? Rhadamanthys laughed as his legs were both gone and he had mere shards of his surplice still on him. I wielded Lord Hades' blade I could not have been more proud. At least your head was clear in the end though. Towards the beginning I think you were distracted. I had something to do, but like I said I couldn't let this last battle end on such a note. Wait, wait, wait...what about the zombies? Kenpachi inquired. Well the ones made with the bankai should be gone. I no longer have the strength to sustain them. As for the Hell beings I summoned from the Underworld...they shall run rampant. HAHAHAHA you just couldn't take well enough that I beat you so you had a back-up plan! Kenpachi joked. I would say a tie is more accurate. Sure, whateva the loser says. Butlerok snickered. I don't understand how we're not all bleeding out right now? Kratos added. The Rukh again Kenpachi inquired while looking up towards the sky. Correct. As for the enemies those children you brought along should be able to hold out. Betcha those kids wipe out your entire army. Deal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Killua noticed as the Spartans continued to fight against Hades minions. He and Gon both looked at each other and were ready to actually kick into action. It was then that the two extras grabbed the two boys and dragged them to different sides. The woman looked at Killua and poked his head. You can conduct electricity right? Hey, why don't you have some manners OLD...Killua paused as he stared at this imposing woman. What is up with me and old chicks? Uhh yes. Good, I'm going to super charge you with pure lightning. If you survive you should be able to take out all of the enemies on this side. Okay...Uh okay.

Gon was dragged away by the man in gold and he brought him to the side of another hoard. So kids I saw your Jaken trick...kinda nice. I think you need a lot of improvements buuuuttt I got an idea. I'm going to launch you at all of those bad guys over there and you're going to take them out. Deal...Gon just stood there looking clueless. Um okay...who are you again? Don't worry about it. I'm here to help. Now you're ready?

The woman stepped forth and for some odd reason thunderclouds appeared out of nowhere. She clapped her hands and when she separated she called forth the Sword of Olympus that was supposedly destroyed by the Madara. She point to the sky and claimed...BANKAI! The clouds called down massive bolts of lightning and she called on directly on Killua. The boy used his Nen to convert all of the energy to raw power. Naturally he realized that he had to use this seemingly unlimited fuel supply and then he appeared to disappear. The Hell beast were seemingly shredded into nothing as Killua was clearly going to work.

Gon stood still and waited charging up his ultimate technique. Alright! I...I'm at maximum power! Good lets mop this up. FIRST...COMES....ROOOOCCCKKK! Gon launched himself forward past the golden man like he was ordered but he was sure what to do. The golden man smiled and raised his fist. LIGHTNING BOLT! Gon then found himself being propelled like a rocket with his arm out stretched shredding through his own portion of the Hell beast. But thanks to the nature of the attack Gon was buzzing around the battlefield obliterating Hell Beast right alongside his friend. After about 30 seconds of pure aggression they had managed to clear away an entire army. They then walked back to their initial starting point giving each other a high-five. THAT WAS AWESOME!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dorian & Gyokuen: Path of Death

I knew you looked familiar he said as he walked with Tenco. This was excellent, someone that powerful able to do all of that work against Protheus would be of great use in the coming battle. But yeah, what is Protheus like? He's full of himself for sure and secretive at the same times. However the thing I guess all of us members of the Divine know is that he's completely apathetic. I know for sure we are not "needed" for whatever he has planned. We're probably just here to keep you members of the Counter Corp from wasting precious seconds of his time. Granted that lack of trust in us is probably going to be his downfall. Since he has the key to this magical Door of Origin he probably is trying to conserve his energy or whatnot. I would think the theory is that all of the parties continue down their paths and just mug him at the end...Or do like you did and try to take him out before hand. Either way I hope you all succeed with that.

As the two walked further Dorian smirked as it looked like his target was here. Hello ye who is on the line of light and darkness let me be the one to help you...Gyokuen had flown down out of the darkness. Oh its two people...and its you. Gyokuen said as she looked at Dorian and Tenco. It was clear that the Rukh didn't come from one person on the line it was two people who very clear in their factions. Dorian raised his hand and motioned to Tenco. Tenco this is Gyokuen Ren. You this is Tenco. He said making introduction. Gyokuen did a polite bow with a smile and tilted her head. Nice to meet you Ms. Tenco.

The Warden · May 29, 2015

|_)Sorceress Supreme, Avalon Lydia(_|

|_)Pathway of Remembrance: B9(_|

If there was one thing that should have been a tip-off that the direction she was going was a bad idea, it would have been the many enormous explosions. But apparently that wasn't enough to deter Avalon's goading as Lydia finally made it to the site of battle. Currently, a lake had been completely obliterated, the forest on the other side of the silenced blizzard badly damaged, and there also appeared to be four people bleeding to death, what appeared to be the ruined remains of an army, and a bunch of other people who seem relatively unharmed. Lydia landed nimbly on the thin layer of snow that remained, and she just looked from left to right. Her attention was centred mostly on what appeared to be Kratos, the God of War, someone with spiky hair who was probably from anime, Metal Head, and... the Kishin? What the hell was going on? "What the hell happened here?" she declared loudly.

Current Position: C9

|_)The Evangelist Hapshiel(_|

|_)Pathway of Death: A1(_|

Things were getting incredibly steamy now, and Hapshiel's body was glistening with thick beads of perspiration. "Oooooohhhhhhh~ More... more... MOOOHHHHHHHRRRREEEE!!!" he screamed as he wrapped his arms tightly around Chandra, his sweaty body rubbing against her, his thick sweat soaking up into her clothes.

Kingdom Xathers · May 29, 2015

Ratchet was shaking, though not from the shock of almost having his head bitten off. No, he was shaking as he just witnessed the person who he had just tried to kill take the hits meant for him, and was now paying for it. He gripped the horn in his hand tightly as he tried to find any words he could say to express his concern. The loud, blood-filled cough from Red said enough. [color=#008000]“Red!”[/color] Ratchet cried out as he dashed over toward the fallen dragon, filled with a newfound concern for the one whom he held nothing but disdain for only moments before. His run eventually slowed to a crawl as he carefully approached the grievously injured Red, unsure of what to do. [color=#008000]“He… Hey, y-you okay?”[/color]

Red was in pretty bad shape. His wounds were steadily leaking rivulets of blood, and they seemed much wider than before. A strange pasty purple substance lined the wounds, dribbling away with his blood to pool all around him. Red’s head flopped to look at Ratchet; the dragon could barely concentrate, and he had to stifle the question as to where Ratchet’s other identical brothers had come from. He wheezed in pain as he stared into the lombax’s eyes. [color=#b22222]“What… are you… [i]*groans*[/i] waiting for?”[/color] he whispered, his voice straining in pain as blood dribbled out of his mouth. [color=#b22222]“Finish… the… job,”[/color] he implored, his eyes slowly closing as he lay his head down in the pool of his own blood.

[color=#008000]“Finish the… I…,”[/color] Ratchet stammered, taken aback by what basically amounted to a dying man’s last request… a request for an end to their suffering. [color=#008000]“I… I can’t, I….”[/color] Had it been any time before, Ratchet would not have been nearly as hesitant, perhaps only a fair bit before complying with Red’s request. Now? His mind was swimming in a rapid whirlpool of confusion and guilt as he struggled with the implications of what was being asked of him. [color=#008000]“I… I don’t get you,”[/color] Ratchet croaked softly, letting go of the horn so it could fall into the pool of blood around Red. [color=#008000]“What are you… really? You haven’t made a single bit of god damn sense to me, Red. Are you good? Are you bad? Do you care? Don’t you care? I honestly have no fu[b][/b]cking clue here. You went out of your way to get me to fight you, and then… you don’t even have the guts to kill me? You spare my life, and then throw yours away protecting it. And now, you’re still trying to keep with this passive-aggressive bullsh[b][/b]it act, to the point you’re not asking for a mercy kill, you’re referencing when I almost killed you before. Asking me to finish what I started. What is your deal? Can you at least be honest with me about that?”[/color] Ratchet paid no mind to the moisture slowly building in his eyes as he stared down at the dragon. [color=#008000]“Dammit, Red, say something…!”[/color]

Red groaned in pain as he felt his wounds burn fiercely. They were starting to decay more now as the river of blood running from him thickened. He seethed as he could feel whatever was causing it to dig even deeper into his body. But, despite all that, he still opened his bloodshot eyes so he could stare into Ratchet’s. He gave the lombax a sad and pitiful look bereft of tears, as he didn’t have the strength to shed any. [color=#b22222]“Finish… me… off…,”[/color] he repeated weakly, staring at the roof of the hallway.

[color=#008000]“... no,”[/color] Ratchet said firmly, his fists clenched tightly. [color=#008000]“No, I am not going to kill you, Red. You still owe me some answers, and you’re not slipping away until I get ‘em. I still owe you my life, now I’m going to repay that debt,”[/color] he insisted as he pulled out a Nanotech Syringe from his pocket.

As he brought it towards Red, it spontaneously shattered, scattering the nanotech goop all over Ratchet and into the pool of blood. Wheeling around, Ratchet could barely see an individual in the darkness. The barrel of his rifle was gently smoking as the weapon was reloaded with a heavy click. [color=#2f4f4f]“Now now, friend…. Let’s not be so hasty here,”[/color] a synthesised voice uttered as the figure came into view.

The seemingly masculine form was covered in lombax styled armour, much like Alister’s Praetorian Battlesuit, yet it also brought to Ratchet’s mind the style of armor worn by “contestants” of the permanently-cancelled DreadZone combat show, especially the heavily armored gauntlets, boots, chestplate and helmet. The entire armor was colored blood-red and gun-silver, and Ratchet had to question which parts of the red was actually paint. Now fully in view, the masked figure planted the butt of his sniper rifle into the ground. The behemoth was just as tall as he was, and it looked like it packed a punch. [color=#2f4f4f]“Like it?”[/color] the figure asked Ratchet, nodding to his weapon.

[color=#008000]“Uh… hold that thought for a second,”[/color] Ratchet blurted out, not quite sure he should be answering such a question, especially about a weapon that could have hit him instead of the vial that was in his hands (though if he had answered the question right away, he might have said “yes”; it was a rather impressive Fusion Rifle, after all). [color=#008000]“Who are you, exactly?”[/color]

The masked figured laughed pleasantly as he sauntered over to Ratchet’s side. [color=#2f4f4f]“I’m just a friend, friend. And, as a friend, I’m here to dispense some good advice,” [/color]he explained as he placed a firm hand on Ratchet’s shoulder, and slowly he lead the young lombax away from Red.

[color=#008000]“Uhh, suuurrre…?”[/color] Ratchet slowly replied, not entirely comfortable with being sheperded around by this masked stranger.

The stranger laughed affably as he brought Ratcher a comfortable distance away from Red’s body. [color=#2f4f4f]“Ha ha, you don’t need to worry Ratchet. Here, if it would put you at ease, why not give this bad boy a try, huh?”[/color] he offered excitedly, offering his rifle to Ratchet. [color=#2f4f4f]“That way, you can be rest assured that I’m not going to harm you.”[/color]

Ratchet wasn’t exactly sure how being handed a weapon would put him at ease… but then again, the offer was rather tempting. It was a pretty well-built tool, and it did disarm him of at least one powerful weapon. The Firearms Junkie in him had him accept within four seconds of being asked (would’ve been two had it not been for his hesitance), placing a hand on the mammoth-of-a-gun. [color=#008000]“Yeah, why not?”[/color]

The masked stranger handed the rifle to his “friend”, and the lombax was a hundred percent positive that he was grinning under that helmet. Despite the sheer size of the thing, it was incredibly light-weight. [color=#2f4f4f]“Nice build huh? Low-weight Raritanium polymerized blend to ensure any person of any build can wield it. Can be brought out for any situation, with specialized repulsion systems to ensure complete immunity to high winds, and also so liquids and airborne particles cannot invade the system. Recoil from each shot is practically zero,”[/color] the masked stranger explained proudly. [color=#2f4f4f]“It reloads quickly, and can be set to manual or automatic reload. Ammo capacity of about twenty rounds, with plenty more in the bank. And also a sweetheart for customizations. Top of the line Fusion Rifle, can’t even get it anywhere…. Uhh… you need a napkin there, bud?”[/color]

[color=#008000]“... I’msorrywhat?”[/color] Ratchet blabbered as he seemingly snapped out of an apparently vivid daydream, not noticing the long line of saliva hanging off his lower lip.

The masked stranger laughed in that same friendly manner, and he kept going as he pretended to wipe away a tear. [color=#2f4f4f]“Ah yes, it can be a little overwhelming to handle such a work of art. Weapon aficionados like ourselves can’t help but admire the beauty that can be found in such things. But as much fun as it is to have it in your hands, it’s even better to fire it. Now, what to shoot at… what to shoot at… ah, I know”[/color] the stranger muttered, looking around before doffing his fist into his hand.

Wheeling Ratchet around, he pointed the lombax in the direction of the still bleeding dragon. [color=#2f4f4f]“Why don’t we use that pile of meat for target practice? That beaut in your hand also has a laser sight and telescopic vision for long range shooting”[/color] he explained, hitting a switch to active said laser sight. [color=#2f4f4f]“It’ll be an easy shot to go right between those lemon-coloured eyes of his.”[/color]

Ratchet’s heart could not have dropped harder from its euphoria; not even being promised a hundred million bolts and a date with Miss Polaris only to lose them to Doctor Nefarious could even compare… okay, that was probably worse, but it didn’t sound that way at the moment. [color=#008000]“I--uh… what…?!”[/color] the young lombax sputtered out, his stutterings sounding exactly like his thoughts at that moment.

[color=#2f4f4f]“Why the hesitation, Ratchet?”[/color] the stranger inquired, his tone taking a dark shift. [color=#2f4f4f]“He’s scum, you know that deep in your heart, Ratchet. This is the guy who viciously broke Alister’s arm and tried to kill him, then tried to pretend he’s all noble trying to save you. Who is he fooling here? You? Is he fooling you right now, Ratchet? Just like he fooled Alister?”[/color] the stranger questioned seriously.

Ratchet backed away from the masked stranger, the rifle clutched tightly in his hands. [color=#008000]“I--I don’t know who’s fooling who right now,”[/color] he spoke up, [color=#008000]“and right now is really not the best time for it. How do I really know you’re not trying to trick me, huh? Especially since I never told you my name, did I? I don’t exactly need Clank to tell me something is fishy about you.”[/color]

The stranger scoffed dismissively as he folded his arms, leaning back onto himself as he looked at Ratchet. [color=#2f4f4f]“I know your name because we’ve met before, Ratchet. As for tricking you… no, I don’t even need to go so far as to do that. You hesitate, but… isn’t this what you wanted Ratchet? Don’t you want to see him pay for what he did to Alister? And not just for hurting him physically, but also for stringing him along like that? Alister was a proper mess, Ratchet, and it’s all because of him!”[/color] the stranger announced, pointing at Red. [color=#2f4f4f]“He played with Alister like a toy, and then he got mad because you found his plaything a better home, with you. He’s worse than a Drophyd turd, Ratchet. He’s scum of the absolute lowest class. Don’t you think he deserves it? At this point it’s a mercy kill on your part. Al wouldn’t even blame you for that. It’s guilt-free Ratchet. So why not pull that trigger, and end it now?”[/color]

[color=#008000]“I… no,”[/color] Ratchet contended adamantly. [color=#008000]“No, he-he doesn’t deserve to die like this. Not now. I-I mean, killing him would just be letting him off easy. Yes, I want him to answer for what he did, but he won’t be able to if he dies here. Alister deserves to know the truth, and Red’s going to give it to him, whether he or you like it or not!”[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f]“He already gave a confession, unless you weren’t listening. He’s wanted his world, still does, it seems. If he wants to save his world, why is he a Divine? What could you possibly do besides rule over your world with the power the Door offers? Ruling it is just the same as conquering it,”[/color] the stranger pointed out.

Ratchet wracked his brains for a comeback to that, though it didn’t take him long to find one; [color=#008000]“You seem to be forgetting something,”[/color] Ratchet came in with his counter. [color=#008000]“Alister was once a Divine, too--”[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f]“--He had a reason, misguided sure, but it had something selfless about it. Do you even know why the dragon is even here? If the evidence is any indication, he wants to do something with his world, and filling it with chocolate isn’t the very likely reason,”[/color] the stranger interjected snidely. [color=#2f4f4f]“If anything he’s shown himself as an amoral, unrepentant jackass.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“Then tell me this,”[/color] Ratchet maintained; [color=#008000]“He could’ve let me take any of the attacks from that Spyro Guy, but he didn’t. Not only did he protect me every chance he got, he did so with his own body, and the one time he used a protective spell, he used it on me, not himself. He used his body as a shield to keep me safe, in spite of everything I did and said to him, and knowing full-well that he could die at any moment; an “amoral, unrepentant jackass” would never have done any of that!”[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f]“Yeah, seems you aren’t getting it,”[/color] the stranger said dryly, pointing the Fusion Rifle right at Ratchet.

The young lombax stared into his hands and his eyes widened as he realized, somehow, the rifle made its way back to its owner. [color=#008000]“Wha--When did you--?!”[/color] Ratchet stammered, raising his hands as the stranger advanced on him with the rifle's laser sight pointed square on his chest.

[color=#2f4f4f]“Fun fact Ratch: This rifle can blow you to pieces at point-blank range. Oh, it also has a personal transporter coded to its user’s DNA. Little thing I added so it'll never leave my hands for longer than what I’ll allow,”[/color] the stranger explained as the two slowly walked backwards.

Far behind the two, Red managed another blurry eyed fit of movement. As hazy as his vision was, he could see the young lombax at gunpoint. [color=#b22222]“Damn… it…”[/color] he groaned as he gripped his staff tightly.

He only had one shot with this, and he made it count as he sent the ruined stick sliding towards the two. Unfortunately, it was a little too head on as Ratchet’s foot caught on it. He cried out in surprise as he fell onto his tail, the small staff by his feet. The stranger laughed loudly at that pratfall. [color=#2f4f4f] “Ha! What did I tell ya? Well, no matter Ratchet,”[/color] the stranger said as he aimed at the young lombax. [color=#2f4f4f]“I’ll be sure to tell Al I was right,”[/color] he gloated as the rifle primed itself.

Ratchet shielded himself with his arms as the rifle round went off. [color=#2f4f4f]“MOTHERFUC[b][/b]KER!”[/color]

To Ratchet’s surprise, his guts weren’t scattered all around; he wasn’t even hurting at all. Lowering his arms slowly, he found the stranger cursing loudly at the prismatic barrier surrounding him. The Light Gem was glowing like a star at his feet. Ratchet wheeled himself around as the barrier faded, to see Red holding his hand out. It was bleeding even more fiercely, but it looked like he had managed a save. [color=#2f4f4f]“I don’t fu[b][/b]cking believe this. He’s practically dead and STILL he’s got the energy for his fancy magic tricks? This dragon is pis[b][/b]sing me the fu[b][/b]ck off,”[/color] the stranger grumbled loudly as he primed a shot for Red.

With the stranger’s attention off Ratchet, the lombax looked down at the ruined staff by his feet. If that gem was sharp enough to be shoved right through a dragon’s chest, maybe it was sharp enough too…. Ratchet narrowed his eyes as he reacted quickly, gripping the wood in his fingers as with a deft strike, he slashed at the rifle as the stranger pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened, to the stranger’s frustration. [color=#2f4f4f]“What the…?”[/color] he mumbled as the rifle split in two, the front half clattering to the floor as junk as the inside fizzed and sparked from the damage. [color=#2f4f4f]“Oh COME ON! It’ll take me years to find another one of these things and then customize it. How the hell did you even cut it anyways? A megaton press could be used on this rifle and it’d still be pristine,”[/color] the stranger complained as he hurled the rest of his rifle away with disgust.

[color=#008000]“Magic, I guess,”[/color] Ratchet answered as he assumed a defensive stance, the light gem twinkling behind him. [color=#008000][i]“Holy sh[b][/b]it this gem is awesome. I know it’s wrong to say, but if Red [/i]does[i] die, I’m keeping it. Though, that set-up was a little too perfect, when you think about it. Did… did he plan to trip me up like that? What the hell?”[/i][/color]

[color=#2f4f4f]“Oh, of [i]course [/i]it was magic,”[/color] the stranger remarked sarcastically as a wrench formed in his hands. It was a pretty fancy model, and it seemed kinda familiar. Ratchet couldn’t quite put his finger on it though, as he knew it wasn’t a market brand wrench; he would’ve seen it before. But it seemed very familiar to him somehow. Somehow.

[color=#008000]“Fancy looking tool there,”[/color] Ratchet commented as the two slowly circled each other.

[color=#2f4f4f]“Oh, this old thing? Just something I had built during my spare time,”[/color] the stranger replied conversationally as he twirled the wrench a bit in his hand. [color=#2f4f4f]“I’ve been meaning to upgrade it, but it’s always nice to keep a classic on you.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“Hm. What materials did you use to make it, anyways?”[/color] Ratchet asked, his curiosity stemming not so much from admiration, but rather from suspicion.

[i](♫♪ [url=http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=ACK-76ZxKT8&p=n]"Collision of Time"[/url]♪♫)[/i][color=#2f4f4f] “Tell you what. If you beat me, I’ll tell you!”[/color] the stranger cried as he ducked low, performing a Comet-strike with his wrench. Ratchet himself jumped over the hurled wrench and fired off a few rounds at the stranger from his Omniblaster before landing back on his feet. The stranger, however, deftly dodge rolled past the blaster rounds, putting himself within range to uppercut Ratchet in the jaw.

Ratchet shifted away, but the stranger still hit him hard on the side of his jaw, knocking him backwards with a firm hand to his jaw. Of course, he didn’t forget about the wrench, which was now on its return trip; Ratchet made a quick backflip, dodging the wrench as it flew past him, missing by a few inches at best as it returned to the stranger’s hand. Ratchet was already panting from the minor exertion, and he wished he still had Clank with him for some rocket jumping. Damning his own stubbornness, he holstered the staff to his waist as he started taking quick potshots at the stranger, who was easily dodging each shot.

[color=#2f4f4f]“C’mon, Ratch,”[/color] the stranger taunted as he continued to effortlessly dodge Ratchet’s blaster rounds, [color=#2f4f4f]“you know better than to waste ammo like that; there are no vendors or crates around to help replenish your ammuniti-OW!”[/color] In the midst of his dodging, the stranger seemed to not have noticed that Ratchet had gradually moved himself closer until he was positioned close enough to swing his Omniblasters against the stranger’s back, followed by a hoverboot-assisted jumping roundhouse kick to his midsection.

[color=#008000]“Heheh, sorry. Guess I was thinking a bit more like Bayonetta,”[/color] Ratchet claimed as he spun the Omniblasters in his hands before striking a gun-kata-style pose.

[color=#2f4f4f]“Pity you ain’t half as pretty as she is,”[/color] the stranger teased as he rubbed his mid-section. [color=#2f4f4f]“But, I’m still man enough to dance with ugly girls, so let’s dance!”[/color] he declared as he pulled out a pair of his own heavily-modified Constructo Pistols.

The two raced down the hall, guns blazing as they tried to take each other out. Many of their shots hit each other dead on as the stranger got ahead of Ratchet, his own hover boots blazing as he stood in the lombax’s way. Ratchet dodged the aerial shots by a slick slide as his own boots ignited, sliding him along the floor beneath the stranger’s shots and through his open legs. The stranger spun around with his pistols out, facing Ratchet’s own Omniblasters. The two stood in a stand-off, waiting for the other to make the next move. [color=#2f4f4f]“We don’t need to do this,”[/color] the stranger remarked, his pistols still pointed at Ratchet. [color=#2f4f4f]“We don’t really need to fight one another if you’d just listen to reason.”[/color]

[color=#008000]"Just so long as what you've got to say isn't bulls[b][/b]hit,”[/color] Ratchet hissed under his breath, his own weapons not moving an inch.

[color=#2f4f4f]“Fine then, lower your weapons, and I’ll lower mine. Then, we can talk,”[/color] the stranger promised.

[color=#008000]"Same time,"[/color] Ratchet demanded.

[color=#2f4f4f]“Fine. Count of three then. One.... Two.... Three!”[/color] he announced, the two lowering their weapons at the same time. [color=#2f4f4f]“At least you’re honest.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“One of us has to be, at least,”[/color] Ratchet replied.

[color=#2f4f4f]“Hey!”[/color] the stranger snapped, [color=#2f4f4f]“I’m as straight as they come, okay? Which is why I’m being direct with you enough to say you’re making a bad move to side with him,”[/color] the stranger remarked, giving a back nod to Red.

[color=#008000]“Who said anything about taking his side?”[/color] Ratchet retorted defensively. [color=#008000]“I’m just trying not to make a hasty decision that I’ll end up regretting later.”[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f]“I think that moment was lost when you R.Y.N.O.’ed him at point-blank range,”[/color] the stranger sniped pointedly. [color=#2f4f4f]“Or even before that, really, when you decided that you were right and Al was wrong. Being a bleeding heart is Alister’s job, and his payment included getting mangled. You’ll get nothing out of giving someone the benefit of the doubt when he’s already proven to be a lying snake. He protested repeatedly against his oh so tragic past being dragged up from the mud. Do you think he’d actually be honest with you? You save his life, and he’ll just tell you what you want to hear, just like what he did with Al. And when the moment is right, he’ll probably just stab you in the back just so Alister could watch you die in person, assuming he doesn’t kill Al first. Killing him is a kindness to Al at this point. At least he’d still have you, someone who actually gave two sh[b][/b]its about him.”[/color]

A mental image of Alister flashed through Ratchet’s head. In his mind, Alister was furiously shouting at Ratchet, tears in his eyes as he seemed to be pleading to Ratchet for an explanation of what he did to the brutalized corpse of Red lying in the background. [color=#008000]“But, if I did that,”[/color] Ratchet protested, [color=#008000]“Alister would… he’d never forgive me. It’s like you said; I do give two sh[b][/b]its about Alister, and I'd never do anything to hurt his feelings. Killing Red would be a betrayal to Al--”[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f]“--Hey hey, what happened to him wasn’t your doing,”[/color] the stranger countered smoothly, sweeping his arm at Red. [color=#2f4f4f]“His own nightmare did that too him. His own failings are the reason he got hurt. Putting a bullet in his head is just putting him out of all that pain he’s in as his body slowly decays. Al would understand, after all. “I couldn’t save him Al. He protected me in that fight, but he died from his injuries. He died before I could do anything for him.” It’s not even a lie, is it? It’s not as if you could make him a better person after all, and Al would understand that you tried. And, if not, you could always embellish a little. What happened here was only between you and him. If he dies, his side of the story dies with him. You could make him out to be a hero to put Alister’s mind at ease. Then a quick apology and all's right with the world. It’s practically [i]criminal[/i] for how easy it would be.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“... it [i]is[/i] criminal, and you’re an idiot if you think I would ever take the easy way,”[/color] Ratchet seethed through clenched teeth. [color=#008000]“I’m not about to bend the truth just to make people happy, especially Al! I told you before that Alister deserves the truth, and the last thing I'm going to do is lie right to his face!”[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f]“What truths are there to find Ratchet? You can’t make him answer your questions, after all. He can just tell you what you want to hear, and go on his merry way. You can’t get the truth from someone who can’t be trusted,”[/color] the stranger countered. [color=#2f4f4f] “Plus, it’s not like if he has any reason to trust you, Mr “Attack First, Ask Questions Later”.”[/color]

Ratchet scoffed as he shook his head. [color=#008000]“Like you’ve given me any actual reason to trust you, either--”[/color]

[color=#2f4f4f]“--Deflect much?”[/color] the stranger laughed. [color=#2f4f4f]“If you forget I’m not the one who needs convincing that you’re worth talking too. What honestly makes you believe he should have to be honest with a person who slugged him in the face first chance he got? Why should he trust someone who broke his leg and then tried to execute him overkill style? You’re fooling yourself if you think he’d even WANT to trust you--”[/color]

[color=#008000]“--see, you’re actually proving my point here,”[/color] Ratchet interrupted. [color=#008000]“You say we’ve met before, but I don’t recall ever seeing another lombax outside of Alister and Alex… and Angela Cross, but that’s another story. Are you even a lombax? Or is that just some Holo-Guise I’m seeing? And another thing: You seem to know an awful lot about me and what I’ve gone through in these Pathways. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were one of Sayer’s constructs, but apparently Gabriel made sure that Sayer wouldn’t see any Counter Corps except with his own eyes, so that’s out of the question. And during this whole conversation, you never gave me a straight answer to my first question. Now, I’m going to give you a chance to answer it properly: Who. The hell. ARE YOU?!”[/color]

The stranger tilted his head as he gave Ratchet a very long, very questioning look. In the end, he just sighed loudly as he holstered his pistols, so he could just clap. A long, slow, condescending clap. [color=#2f4f4f]“Wow. Just, just wow,”[/color] he uttered, pressing two fingers to where his temple would be. [color=#2f4f4f]“I knew I was a little naive, but I can’t believe I was this dense so long ago. No wonder Clank was a necessity considering I was incapable of seeing the writing on the wall. You… you just saw something like this happen, like, ten minutes ago. Fifteen tops. Are you so dense you can’t even perceive the obvious? Or were you too shell-shocked over being eaten to even pay attention to what was going on?”[/color] the stranger questioned with his hands on his hips.

He… he was lying now. He’d been messing with Ratchet’s head this whole time, and now he pulls this stunt. What other conclusion was there? [color=#008000]“I’ve [b]had [i]ENOUGH![/i][/b]”[/color] Grabbing hold of the staff holstered to his waist, Ratchet charged at the stranger. Dodging around the other “lombax” before he could draw his Pistols again, Ratchet slipped to the stranger’s right before putting all his fury into one wild swing of the staff, striking the Light Gem end against his foe’s helmet. The gem’s strike hit the helmet hard, leaving a deep crack along the right temple.

The stranger stumbled backwards, feeling the damage done to his helmet. His altered voice droned loudly as he sighed, and removed the helmet. He dumped it on the ground as Ratchet got a good look at his face. It… it couldn’t be. It looked somewhat older and had an old scar running along the right eye, not to mention the chin looked like it had been sculpted from marble. But, the only thing that took Ratchet’s eye was that the stranger’s face looked… … just like his own. [color=#006400]“You happy now?”[/color] the stranger demanded with his arms crossed, his voice sounding like a gravelly version of Ratchet’s own. [color=#006400]“You’ve thrown yet another fit and hit somebody in the face again. You’re getting rather good at it, if I may say so.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“But, y… you can’t be…,”[/color] Ratchet uttered quietly with a stunned, slack-jawed expression, his arms falling limply at his sides. [color=#008000]“You… can’t be… … you’re me…?”[/color]

[color=#006400]“And the last horse crosses the finish line,”[/color] the other Ratchet declared in a gravelly grandiose manner. [color=#006400]“I mean, it’s not as if it’s impossible right? Not like muggins back there didn’t just face the super-powered evil side of one of his friends or anything. Right? [i]Right?[/i]”[/color]

[color=#008000]“But why…?”[/color] Ratchet asked, his whole body now feeling as though it had gone numb.

The Older Ratchet shook his head, looking as if he actually felt sorry for the poor kid. [color=#006400]“For cryin’ out loud, kid, did the shock of seeing this good-lookin’ face of mine kill off whatever brain cells you have in that noggin of yours? Look, I’ll be nice here, save you the trouble and just say it straight up; I’m a trial formed by this corridor you’re standing in. Your “nightmare”, just like “that Spyro Guy” was to the dragon. I’m designed to be based around what you’re afraid of. Can you at least figure that part out? I mean, it’s like I almost finished the puzzle for with one piece left here. So, unless you’ve been sleeping through the whole class, I’d like you to kindly fill in that blank, so we can get on with this,”[/color] Older Ratchet requested as he proceeded to sit down on a chair that had just materialized itself. [color=#006400]“Of course, if you’d like a hint, I could give it to you, free-of-charge. Y’know, if you want the [i]easy[/i] option,”[/color] he added as he leaned back on the chair, balancing on the chair’s hind legs.

Fighting back the urge to walk up and knock his “future self” in the face again (especially after that last comment), Ratchet wracked his brains a bit, trying to figure out just what else hasn’t been brought… up… ….

… it was beginning to dawn on him. The Ratchet before him was an interpretation of his worst fears, right? What was it that he had just got done talking about back on the Remembrance Path? It all seemed obvious now, since his “future self” had no Clank with him….

[color=#008000]“... you’re,”[/color] Ratchet slowly uttered, [color=#008000]“... you’re… my fear of loneliness. No, that’s not right,”[/color] he corrected himself quickly, [color=#008000]“no, it’s more than that. You’re the fear of what I would become, had I decided to forsake everyone else.”[/color]

The older Ratchet appeared to have been genuinely shocked by how quickly Ratchet had come up with the answer. Either that, or he was flailing because he was losing his balance from leaning a little too far back on the chair. Maybe both. Yeah, let’s go with both. [color=#006400]“Well, I’ll be damned,”[/color] the older Ratchet huffed bemusedly as he safely landed the chair back on all fours with a loud thud. [color=#006400]“You actually got it that fast, huh? Good for you, kid. Guess you don’t need Clank, well, as often as people would assume. You deserve a cookie.[/color]

[color=#006400]“You’re absolutely right,”[/color] the older Ratchet continued as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees as he continued to stare down Ratchet. [color=#006400]“And y’know what? I’m better off for it. Al is too much of a bleeding heart, same as Alex. Umbris was cool and all, but he was too busy being a suck-ass for Alex. As for Clank, we decided to go our separate ways after Talwyn decided we should “see other people”,”[/color] the older Ratchet sneered with sarcastic finger quotes. [color=#006400]“I got so fed up with everything. What’s the point in saving the universe if some other moron in a ridiculous costume threatens it just by existing? All you get is five seconds of fame, and that’s it. Which is why I decided to screw that, and just became a renegade. It’s a great life really. Do what you want. Take what you want. Be with whoever you want for however long you want. There’s no cloying leeches to weigh you down anymore. Hell, that Fusion Rifle was taken from a testing facility I decided to visit. The scientists were quite gracious to give it to me after I had a little chat with them through the muzzle of a rocket launcher. They’re very useful negotiators, rocket launchers.”[/color]

Ratchet was borderline horrified at how casually his “future self” was acting. [color=#008000]“Y-you abandoned… I….”[/color] Ratchet couldn’t even complete his thought, a hand covering his mouth as he fought back horrified tears. [color=#008000]“... I can’t….”[/color]

[color=#006400]“Trust me, you can, and you should, Ratchet. The universe is a disgustingly cynical place, it’s only a matter of time until you join it,”[/color] the older Ratchet interjected. [color=#006400]“You’d only be fooling yourself if you think you can just avoid all that crap forever. Saving the universe got old, hasn’t it? Seems every week some new Saturday Morning Cartoon reject comes in thinking he should be the sovereign ruler of everything. Fu[b][/b]ck, even your life is practically turning into a Saturday Morning Cartoon. You even have a snarky sidekick to boot with a bumbling idiot hero-type friend in that moron Captain Qwark. Speaking of whom, I’m glad that I finally did what you’ve always said you wanted to do, like, at least once a year, if not every other week.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“You didn’t--!”[/color]

[color=#006400]“Yeah, I did,”[/color] the older Ratchet replied in a bored tone. [color=#006400]“Hardly felt anything, really. Like, you always want something to happen, and once it finally does, it’s… a total letdown, actually,”[/color] he concluded with a drawn-out sigh. He then shrugged as he quickly added, [color=#006400]“but, hey, nobody would have missed that dumbass, anyways, so no harm, no foul, amirite?”[/color]

Ratchet took several horrified steps back, utterly aghast at how his future self was behaving. [color=#008000]“I… I know he’s an idiot, but he’s not so annoying I’d go and put a bullet in his head. Sure, I’ve thought about it, but those are just little fantasies to work out my frustrations with him. Killing him just because he’s annoying is sick,”[/color] he said, pointing an accusing finger at his future self.

Renegade!Ratchet scoffed at this. [color=#006400]“Really? Wow, you are a real piece of work, you know that? You say one thing, act like you mean it, and then back out of it just when you decide to have a change of heart about having ever thought that way. I mean, you’re guilty of doing the same thing had it not quite literally blown up in your face. Why get all high and mighty about it now? Qwark’s done some pretty messed up and amoral things, and let’s not get into his unhealthy and practically deviant relationship with his B20 Crotchitizer… which I think we can both agree shall never be spoken of beyond this point. [/color][color=#006400]Qwark has brought a lot more harm to our universe than good. So, what’s the difference here? What makes you and I so different that I’m sick in the head and you aren’t? I at least had the good graces to use a pistol and not a weapon of mass destruction on my enemy. I mean, SH[b][/b]IT!, I know Red messed Alister up pretty bad, but you gotta admit that what you did to him was pretty much that with compound interest. You smashed his face open… [i]twice[/i], broke his leg, and then shot at him at point blank range. Now THAT is sick.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“I was [b]MAD[/b], alright?!”[/color] Ratchet hollered at his older self. [color=#008000]“I was mad that Red had hurt Alister the way he did, physically and emotionally! I just… *sob* … I just got Alister back, and I thought I was THIS close to losing him again! You still know what it’s like to want to protect someone, right? You can’t fault me for that….”[/color]

[color=#006400]“Oh yes, because you were mad. I got mad too, once, and when I did I killed Qwark to save the universe from his ignorance and idiocy. An entire universe for one dolt, pretty sweet deal. But, nice to see that kind of justification. Someone says don’t kill him, and you think kill him. Heaven help anyone who accidentally bumps into you, ‘cuz they’d get a face full of rocket just because they made you “mad”,”[/color] Renegade!Ratchet smirked. [color=#006400]“See where I’m going with this? No matter what point you make, I can easily bust it. We’re on the same side of the coin Ratchet, except in my case, I realize I’m on a coin. I’m no one’s plaything, my friend, and until you wise up, you’ll still be a puppet for all those tender feelings you have for your friends who will just leave you eventually anyways. It’s better to get the jump on them instead, at least then there’s less distractions so you can get some proper inventing in. That wrench you saw earlier? That was your design, I’m sure you realized. I just got to see it to completion.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“... the [b]OmegaWRench 1215132124[/b]?!”[/color] Ratchet gasped out. [color=#008000]“I--I’ve been trying to work on that for months!”[/color]

[color=#006400]“And without people to bug me and some supplies developers were kind enough to give me free of charge, I got to finish it. This is what happens when you go out to enjoy life without people tying you down, Ratchet,”[/color] Renegade!Ratchet boasted with a smug grin.

[color=#008000]“So you have a little extra time on your hands,”[/color] Ratchet spat scathingly, [color=#008000]“what exactly does it all amount to, if not just holing yourself up in your home, shutting out the rest of the universe--?”[/color]

[color=#006400]“--Who says I am? I’m going out there, dealing with problems as I feel like doing so. Saving the universe is for the idealistic kids who want to prove they matter? I get to use my time for my interests, and not have to worry about anyone else. If I’m hungry, I’ll make--”[/color]

[color=#008000]“--actually, let me reiterate,”[/color] Ratchet interrupted. [color=#008000]“You may think that going solo is the best thing in the universe, but all you’re doing is turning your heart cold and unfeeling. Just some selfish ass who can’t even be arsed to go out and make some friends. You and I may have started the same way, but I can see that the Ratchet you were has long since died in you. You’re no better than an empty vessel like Dr. Nefarious, or someone filled with nothing but a cold empty void like Tachyon. You may call yourself a Ratchet, but you’re no Ratchet!”[/color] Ratchet declared definitively, sweeping his hand while he gave his future self a cold unfeeling glare.

[color=#006400]“I’m more of a Ratchet than you,”[/color] Renegade!Ratchet remarked childishly. [color=#006400]“At least I’m Ratchet enough to own up to my own actions. Really, what you call a favour for Alister is nothing more than trying to alleviate the guilt of your own actions. You’re doing it just to make yourself feel better,”[/color] he snapped angrily.

[color=#008000]“...You know what? Fine, I am,”[/color] Ratchet admitted, kicking a small pile of dirt away with his boot. [color=#008000]“I’m trying to make myself feel better because I screwed up majorly. I feel bad because I willingly hurt Alister, and my friends. Right now, they’re probably worried sick. They could be panicking about where I am, what happened to me, or, even worse, they might think I’m dead. I’m trying to fix my own mistakes and clear my conscience because it’s the right thing to do. I’m owning up to my mistakes, even if it means helping someone I don’t like. That’s how Ratchet I am!”[/color] Ratchet declared proudly, thumping at his own chest.

[color=#006400]“So, what, you’re going to let a murderer go free to make everything right with the universe?”[/color] Renegade!Ratchet demanded sarcastically.

[color=#008000]“Stop demonizing him, would you?!”[/color] Ratchet spat in frustration. [color=#008000]“I honestly have no idea what he’s like. I have no idea what’s going on in his head. And every second you waste here talking to me he’s… he’s….”[/color] Ratchet said slowly, his train of thought derailing as he finally realized something, his arm falling to his side like an empty sock. Ratchet’s jaw hung open in horrific understanding, his eyes as wide as discs as he stared at his apparent future self in disbelief, and absolute rage. [color=#008000] “YOU FUC[b][/b]KING [b]BASTARD![/b]”[/color] Ratchet screamed loudly, firing a round from his Omniblaster that struck and shattered one of the chair's hind legs, causing his future self to fall to the ground. [color=#008000]“You don’t give two shi[b][/b]ts about this stupid conversation! You’re just wasting time so Red can bleed to death!”[/color] he revealed indignantly. [color=#008000]“You’re wasting my fuc[b][/b]king time so I [i]can’t[/i] help him!”[/color]

Renegade!Ratchet clicked his tongue in annoyance as he disentangled himself from his chair. [color=#006400]“Busted,”[/color] he said in a deadpan tone as he dusted himself. [color=#006400]“My plan worked, at least. Those wounds of his are pretty decayed by now, and he probably has a few minutes left, and that’s just me being fu[b][/b]cking GENEROUS! Sure you figured me out, (took you long enough by the way,) but now you’re at a crossroads kiddo. Either you beat me and let Red die, or die trying to save Alister’s scaly boyfriend as I’m going to shoot you, and him, in the back. Tick tock little lombax, what’s your decision?”[/color] he taunted, waggling his finger like a metronome.

He received no response from his younger self, taking note that Ratchet hadn't moved an inch since being given the ultimatum. It took Renegade!Ratchet five seconds, tops, to realize that he was now staring at a Decoy Ratchet; the real Ratchet must have deployed it while the Renegade was busy gloating. [color=#006400]"... ... ... motherfu--how did I know you'd try that...?"[/color] Renegade!Ratchet grumbled under his breath as he mentally facepalmed himself for falling for such an old trick. [color=#006400]"Tch. Fine, target practice it is,"[/color] the Renegade scoffed as he drew out a Plasma Strike ([color=#006400]"Why yes, I do carry extra sniper rifles around with me,"[/color] Renegade!Ratchet explained to the producers. [color=#006400]"Although, technically, a Plasma Striker is actually a crossbow...."[/color]) and was prepared to aim for the direction where he knew Ratchet would have ran towards....

... only to find a small, demented-looking robot with tiny rocket barrels for arms had clamped its jaw onto his right wrist, flailing its tiny legs as it made a squeaky cackling noise. This, Renegade!Ratchet recognized, was an Agent of Doom, and... ... oh. Oh, that wasn't good at all. [color=#006400]"Sh[b][/b]it--!"[/color] The renegade tried to yank the little beast off his wrist, cringing as the tiny teeth that had pierced their way through the gauntlet were now scraping against the furred flesh underneath, but that was preferable to the alternative. With one last pull, the Renegade tore the Agent off his wrist and tossed it away, just before it blew up in a tiny, yet powerful, explosion. A second or so sooner, and that sucker would've destroyed his entire lower arm. [color=#006400]"Grrr... I swear, if this kid keeps pissing off, so HELP me--!"[/color] Renegade!Ratchet began to say before something close by caught him off-guard: numerous eye-like lights glaring at him from the dark. The Renegade suddenly remembered something important; an Agent of Doom never rides alone. [color=#006400]"... [i]this[/i] could be bad."[/color] On cue, the pack of seven Agents of Doom ganged up on the Renegade. He managed to get out his Pistol to blast a few of the Agents to pieces, but the remaining two had still managed to reach their target. One Agent latched on to his boot, and immediately proceeded to explode, breaking away the leg armor. The other Agent took the opportunity to take out the right half of the Renegade's chest armor and the right spaulder, as well as getting his right ear singed a bit. Reeling from the pain caused by Ratchet's diversion, the Renegade's fury was steadily reaching its boiling point. At this rate, he may decide to forgo the "humane" route and just fire off his own R.Y.N.O at the little--

The Renegade's train of thought was interrupted once more by the foreign sensation of something slimy and wriggling touching the now exposed areas of his arm and upper torso. Slowly turning his head to his right, the Renegade saw what looked like a green tentacle coiling around his bicep. He then looked down to see a similar tentacle wrapping itself around his waist. Finally, his eyes followed the tentacles to find that they had come out of a rift that had opened above him. A beastial growling came from the other side of said rift. Oh, no... Renegade Ratchet was definitely NOT ready for this. [color=#006400]"Aw, [i][b]FFFFFFFRRREEEED--!!![/b][/i]"[/color]

The monstrous tentacle beast named "Fred" ensnared the Renegade in more tentacles, coiling its tendrils all around the Renegade's body as it prepared to--

[divider1]

(♫♪ [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoRWm04nlWA]"Idle Musings of Bayonetta"[/url] ♪♫)

[color=#000080]“Say, Gabby,”[/color] Bayonetta remarked suddenly with a slight giggle as they walked down the hallway.

[color=#b22222]“What’s up, “Giggle-netta”?”[/color] Gabriel asked.

[color=#000080]“You know, I’ve been thinking,”[/color] Bayonetta idled in thought, [color=#000080]“it’s rather fortunate of us that we’ve yet to come across a tentacle-related obstacle of any kind.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“What makes you say that?”[/color]

[color=#000080]“Oh, well, it’s just that, err… I’m not quite so fond of tentacles.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“You mean the kind that try to ravage you, right? Trust me, I’ve seen plenty of Japanese animation to know exactly what you mean.”[/color]

[color=#000080]“Yes, well, I’m just glad we’ve had no sight of the blasted things… … well, that and crying baby cockroaches.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“... … … … what?”[/color]

[divider1]

(♫♪ [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAVusmT1IaI]"The "What" in the "Who",Now?!"[/url] ♪♫)

[color=#ff0000]“--He did [b]WHAT[/b] to you?”[/color] Aexander gagged in disgust.

[b][font=courier new,courier,monospace][color=#008080]“Indeed, in my access port. I didn’t even realize that sort of thing could occur to a robot,”[/color][/font][/b] Clank mused, a slight shudder rattling on his shoulders.

[color=#4b0082]“That’s disgusting,”[/color] Umbris muttered, shaking his head.

[color=#800000]“Well, you live and learn, I guess. I still kinda wish I didn’t know it was my past self doing it to you. Would’ve saved a lot of time and brain bleach really,”[/color] Alister shuddered uncomfortably.

[color=#4b0082]“Well, you should be glad it wasn’t you on the receiving end of that, Al,”[/color] Umbris added. [color=#4b0082]“I mean, even if Clank did feel something from that, it wouldn’t be the same as if an organic being were, uhh… “handled” in the same way.”[/color]

[color=#800000]“... y’mean--”[/color]

[color=#4b0082]“--yep. There’s a reason they have a subgenre of Hentai dedicated to that.”[/color]

[color=#800000]“... dafuq is “hentai”?”[/color]

[color=#4b0082]“It’s what Japanese people make when real porn is too mundane for them,”[/color] Umbris explained with a grimace. [color=#4b0082]“And their porn includes doing things to each other whilst they snowball an egg yolk in their mouths.”[/color]

[color=#800000]“... … … … what?”[/color]

[color=#ff0000]“Guh, d-don’t concern yourself about it too much, Al,”[/color] Alexander stammered, clearly uncomfortable with the comversation as his face had somehow gone bright pink and sickly pale simultaneously. [color=#ff0000]“Just, sufficed to say we should be glad it only happened to an inorganic.”[/color]

[b]“Agreed,”[/b] the group consented, though Clank was silently wishing he wasn’t the inorganic in question.

[divider1]

Ratchet forced his hoverboots into overdrive as he sped his way over to the almost comatose Red, hoping against hope that the traps he had left for his older self would keep the Renegade busy long enough for him to keep Red outside of Death’s clutches. Disengaging his thrusters as soon as he was close enough, Ratchet ran the rest of the five-yard distance to Red’s side.

His wounds had widened even more than before, strange purple growths suckered to the inside of the cuts, pumping out more of the disgusting purple gunk. Red’s breathing was incredibly shallow by now, his eyes closed as he seemed very close to finally ceasing. The purple gunk was even dribbling out of his hung-open jaw, running down the side of his mouth into the pool of clotted blood.

[color=#008000]“Red…?”[/color] Ratchet uttered quietly, a cold feeling clutching at his heart as he placed a hand on Red’s left temple. [color=#008000]“Red, w… wake up, please….”[/color]

Red responded by one of his growths swelling up like a balloon and popping, scattering the disgusting purple bile all over Ratchet’s body suit. The lombax grunted in disgust as he wiped it away. [color=#008000]“What is this stuff?”[/color] he muttered as he observed the bile that had scattered were now forming new growths in the wound. [color=#008000]“What the fu[b][/b]ck did that Spyro guy’s stick do to him?”[/color] he gasped as more of the growths started to swell up, almost ready to burst. He shielded himself this time as a chain of pops crackled loudly, scattering more purple bile. [color=#008000]“Guh, fu[b][/b]ck this…!”[/color] Reaching into his pocket, Ratchet pulled out a new Nanotech vial and, making sure that none of the bile splattered into his eyes or mouth, jabbed the syringe-like end of the vial against the base of Red’s neck, injecting the Nanotech into the dragon’s blood stream.

Whatever growths had been growing again seemed to stop pulsating, but his wounds weren’t recovering, if anything they had only stabilized. Whatever had infected him clearly wouldn’t be cured by just one shot of the nanotech. But, at least, the shot had been sufficient enough that Ratchet could see Red breathing again, however abnormal his breaths were. [color=#008000]“Red, c’mon, wake up,”[/color] Ratchet persisted, pulling out another vial from his pocket. [color=#008000]“Hey, look, the shot of Nanotech you got isn’t working as well as I thought. I’m gonna give you another shot, okay?”[/color] Without waiting for a response (not that he had honestly expected one given Red’s state), Ratchet prepared the shot, and as he was about to administer it, it was literally sucked out of his hands.

His head spun around to see his future self holding a golden Suck-o-Matic, which obviously had been the culprit for abducting the shot. Renegade!Ratchet’s armour wasn’t looking in terrific shape, especially with parts of it now completely missing, such as the gauntlets, and parts of his underlying body suit had also been torn off. He appeared absolutely livid, especially because of the slimy kiss mark on the side of his face. [color=#006400]“Hey buddy, forget about me?”[/color] he declared horsley, firing the device and launching the syringe into a wall, shattering the fragile casing and scattering the nanotech goo, again.

[color=#008000]“Would you stop breaking those?”[/color] Ratchet demanded in annoyance, [color=#008000]“I only have so many left, y’know!”[/color]

[color=#006400]“Yes,”[/color] Renegade!Ratchet replied flatly as he pulled out his Plasma Striker, aiming it toward’s Ratchet. [color=#006400]“Yes, I am fully aware of that. Thing is, in a few moments, nobody is going to be using any of the Nanotech Vials you have left. Well, I might, to get over the mental trauma of… Fred…,”[/color] he added with a mortified shudder. [color=#006400] “Point is, I’m going to kill you now. No muss, no fuss. Prepare to die.”[/color] However, instead of keeping his aim fixed on Ratchet, the Renegade quickly moved the barrel of the rifle/crossbow hybrid to point at Red’s head. Ratchet’s eyes widened as he knew what was coming next… but he wasn’t about to let that happen. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Ratchet as he desperately jumped between Red and the Plasma Striker, just as the Renegade pulled the trigger.

A second later, the force of the round striking Ratchet pushed the lombax backwards, bumping against Red’s head before he slumped limply onto the floor. Renegade!Ratchet grunted in satisfaction as he reloaded for a second short. [color=#006400]“Two birds, two stones,”[/color] he said as he primed his shot, intent on putting it through Red’s head this time.

The sound of a round going off rang through the corridor… but it was not the Renegade who had fired. He didn’t get to fire the rifle, seeing as he had found himself preoccupied with something else. Raising his left hand to his head, Renegade!Ratchet felt along where his ear would be. Or rather, should be, seeing as the ear was now lying on the floor by his foot. His breathing became shaky and shallow as he looked down at his now bloodied palm. The Renegade quickly turned his attention to the now standing Ratchet, the Omniblaster in his hand still smoking from the shot it had made as it was aimed at Ratchet’s future self. [color=#006400]“But… how…? [b]I SHOT YOU!!![/b]”[/color] Renegade Ratchet shrieked.

[color=#008000]“Next time, confirm your kill,”[/color] Ratchet answered as he fired his blaster again, the round flying right through the center of the Renegade’s chest.

His future self staggered on the spot, dropping his Plasma Striker as he held a hand to the gaping hole in his torso. [color=#006400]“But… how… …?”[/color] the Renegade asked again, weakly this time as his life was beginning to fade away fast.

Without a single word, Ratchet pointed at the pocket watch hanging over his own chest. [color=#008000]“... you sorta put a dent in it, y’know,”[/color] Ratchet mentioned, bringing attention to the slight indentation in the center of the watch, where the Renegade’s round had struck it.

Renegade!Ratchet’s face was stone blank for a few brief seconds as the realization sank in, but once it did, Ratchet’s future self gave a soft, almost sad-sounding chuckle. [color=#006400]“Hah… well… looks like… Cereza’s advice… helped you after all…,”[/color] he slowly wheezed out with a small smile. [color=#006400]“I guess… Dad has been… looking out for you….”[/color] The Renegade went silent for the last time as he dropped to the floor backwards, a somewhat happy smile on his lifeless face as he faded away into nothingness, the trial finally over.

Ratchet sighed loudly as he holstered his OmniBlaster, staring forlornly at the spot where his future self had been. The most chilling thing about the entire experience was the fact that that future could have happened, if not for the single luckiest shot ever. And, that it could have been over just as quickly. He sighed loudly again, silently regretting that he forgot to ask his future self what he made the OmegaWRench out of. That would’ve saved him a lot of time trying to figure out the best materials for it. Oh well, he supposed he could always figure it out himself. Could be more fun that way.

His train of thought suddenly switched tracks as Red coughed loudly, apparently coming too. [color=#008000]“Red!”[/color] Ratchet knelt down by the dragon’s side, gently placing a hand along his cheekbone. [color=#008000]“Hey, you made it….”[/color]

Red’s eyes were wide open, staring up at the ceiling. His pupils were vibrating gently as the thin veins and arteries in his eyes had turned purple. The poison clearly having made it into his blood by now, and the nanotech only seemed to have kept him barely alive. [color=#008000]“Oh, that’s… not good, is it?”[/color] Ratchet blurted out as he pulled out yet another Nanotech Vial. [color=#008000]“Hang on, Red, this second shot should do the trick--”[/color]

Red’s hand had lashed out of nowhere, gripping Ratchet’s hand unbearably tight, preventing him from administering it. His dry lips gently creaked open. [color=#b22222]“Staff….”[/color] he said in a hoarse whisper.

[color=#008000]“Huh?! Ah… oh…!”[/color] Almost having forgotten about his makeshift weapon, Ratchet reached to his side and grabbed hold of the broken staff before handing it off to the Dragon. [color=#008000]“I, uh… I guess I should thank you, by the way. It was a great help,”[/color] Ratchet admitted.

Red’s hand was shaking violently as he gripped the weapon, but it was clearly too much for him, falling to his side. [color=#b22222]“Help… me….”[/color]

With a wordless nod, Ratchet brought the staff back into Red’s shaky hand, holding it against the palm. Following Red’s direction, the Light Gem was pressed against the syringe his iron grip was still preventing Ratchet from using. Red’s mouth moved slowly, his words inaudible whispers as the gem lit up, transferring its glow to the syringe which lit up briefly. He released Ratchet’s wrist and hand, flopping them to his side as he his head flopped to the side, staring at Ratchet. [color=#b22222] “Okay….”[/color] he whispered.

Staring briefly at the syringe in his hands, Ratchet merely made a slight shrug as he pressed it against the dragon’s neck, administering the dose of Nanotech into Red’s bloodstream. The effect was instantaneous, as the growths all over him swelled up violently and exploded; however, unlike before, a thin silvery substance erupted from the boils. It looked much like the nanotech serum Ratchet had just administered, because it was, actually. Whatever Red had done it was clearly working against the infection as the silvery glow neutralized the purple gunk, washing it out of his body as his wounds slowly healed, working their way back to closing up. Red gasped loudly, as if his heart had just started up again. He was panting like a dog that had just gone for a long run, and his body was gently spasming as all feeling returned. Moving his fingers and toes gently, Red very quickly came back from the light into the darkness of the hallway. Glaring at Ratchet, he just had to ask one thing: [color=#b22222]“Why?”[/color]

[color=#008000]“... because you did the same for me,”[/color] Ratchet merely answered with a half-smile. [color=#008000]“... and… because I’m sorry for what I did to you,”[/color] he added, his gaze dropping to the side as his ears drooped.

[color=#b22222]“I see,”[/color] Red said absently as he picked himself up to a sitting position, wincing in pain from his steadily closing wounds as his own blood dripped from his body. [color=#b22222]“So, now what?”[/color] he questioned.

[color=#008000]“Well, I…,”[/color] Ratchet shrugged, trailing off as he looked around at their surroundings. [color=#008000]“... honestly, I don’t know if you want me around even after all of this, and quite frankly, I’m not sure if I should stick around, either, but… … well, if you’re up for a little company while you rest up, I guess I wouldn’t mind,”[/color] Ratchet stated meekly as he scratched the back of his head. [color=#008000]“I mean, it wouldn’t be right for me to just leave you here, in the dark… alone….”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“I’m fine,”[/color] Red said dismissively, picking himself up with some effort. He seethed in pain loudly as he felt his right leg out, clearly still broken. It seems nanotech wasn’t a miracle worker after all. Leaning against the wall for support, he didn’t even look at Ratchet as he slowly hopped away, taking brief pauses each time to recuperate. It didn’t help him that Ratchet could still clearly see the large gash in his back that had been festering away as he laid on it. [color=#b22222]“Don’t you have some friends you need to catch up to?”[/color] Red questioned after hopping five steps.

Ratchet shook his head, rather peeved that Red hadn’t even given him so much as a “thank you” for basically saving his life. [color=#008000]“You’re welcome!”[/color] Ratchet snapped as he turned to leave, only to stop in his tracks after about three steps. [color=#008000]“... wait a sec--HEY!”[/color] Ratchet hollered suddenly at the dragon as he spun around. [color=#008000]“I think you still owe me an explanation, or several,”[/color] the lombax declared.

[color=#b22222]“After all this, we are even. I don’t owe you anything,”[/color] Red answered as he began hopping again. After two more pathetic hops, he paused again. His back hunched over as he sighed loudly, his wings drooping with it, the tattered frame of his wing flapping gently. Without even looking around, he asked: [color=#b22222]“What do you want to know?”[/color]

Well, it was a better result than the worst thing Ratchet had expected, at least. [color=#008000]“For starters, Red,”[/color] he began as he took a few more steps closer to the dragon, [color=#008000]“why did you really bother to spare me in the first place? Like that Spyro Guy said, you [i]did[/i] want to kill me, but couldn’t go through with it. Okay, that’s fine, but even then, you could’ve just left me to die out there. Why didn’t you?”[/color] he asked with genuine curiosity in his voice.

Red sighed loudly again, craning his neck around to give Ratchet his best serious. [color=#b22222]“Because I couldn’t do that to Alister. It was bad enough that I had to go and cripple him, it would have been worse had I gone and killed you before you could have apologized to him for being a stubborn, idiotic brat. Also, because it would have been a senseless waste of life, that would be the second reason,”[/color] he answered flatly. [color=#b22222]“Believe you me, in my rage I [i]wanted[/i] to kill you for what you did to my wing and my leg. But it appears even I can’t manage that level of anger anymore.”[/color]

Well, that’s one way of putting it, Ratchet thought. [color=#008000]“... but you really do care about Alister, don’t you? Even if it’s just a little?”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“Of course I do,”[/color] Red groaned in exasperation. [color=#b22222]“You must be pretty naive to have believed that load of dragon droppings I fed you earlier. Maybe that’s why you keep that little robot around, to be your common sense.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“... well, to be honest with you,”[/color] Ratchet defended, [color=#008000]“I kinda-sorta felt in the back of my head that you were lying about how you really felt. I was just too upset with you then to actually consider it more than I had wanted. Still,”[/color] Ratchet added, his heart a bit heavy as he remembered back to that event, [color=#008000]“... why did you decide to break Alister’s arm back on the Remembrance Path? Were you trying to send a message, keep up appearances, or what?”[/color]

Red sighed as he gently slid down the wall, landing on his scaly behind as he couldn’t keep his weight up anymore. It didn’t help that a long slick of blood joined him on the way down. [color=#b22222]“It’s complicated kid. Very, very complicated. What I want, and what my world wants are two very different things. And, at this point, I have to give up what I want for the greater good. The moment I saw Alister in Remembrance I knew he would pursue me in each pathway. He’s got that unfortunate blend of good intentions and blind faith, y’know?”[/color] Red mused, staring at the wall. [color=#b22222]“So, I had to do what needed to be done to ensure he’d stay away from me. I had tried playing dead, but Alister was being too good again, and he electrocuted my tail while I was lying in a puddle of melted snow. This was to see if I was still alive. Up to that point I hadn’t been trying hard to kill him; just more to, try and scare him off. But, my temper flared up and I lost it. So, I crushed him underfoot, and in my enraged delusion I figured I might as well do what I had to do to drive him off. I’m amazed to think that even after I broke his arm, he still wants to think the best of me…. Why does he do that? I mean, you generally don’t think well of people who maim you, so why does he exclude me from that?”[/color]

[color=#008000]“... because, he knows what it’s like to have hurt someone he cares about,”[/color] Ratchet replied, thinking back on what seemed to be a scattered dream… or was it a far-off memory…?

[color=#b22222]“Oh yes, he did mention that in another timeline he had successfully killed that universe’s version of you… time seems rather complicated for your universe actually. Not that I can comment on the concepts of time these days,”[/color] Red remarked bitterly, a sour feeling in his jaw at that thought. [color=#b22222]“Where did my horn go, by the way?”[/color]

[color=#008000]“Right there,”[/color] Ratchet replied as he was snapped out of his thoughts, pointing back over to the pool of blood that Red had been lying in just moments before.

[color=#b22222]“Ah, I see,”[/color] Red muttered, fighting the urge to feel at the stump on his head. [color=#b22222]“I can’t help but feel like I deserved that.”[/color]

Ratchet held back from affirming that statement as he wordlessly walked over to the blood puddle, carefully picking up the severed horn from the crimson and purple concoction. [color=#b22222]“I’d be careful playing around in that stuff,”[/color] Red warned suddenly. [color=#b22222]“It might have been mostly neutralized, but it doesn’t take much for those splinters to reactivate should they get into a wound.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“Oh….”[/color] With that brought to his attention, Ratchet started to study himself, checking for any scrapes or lacerations he may have suffered from the fight with his nightmare. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any completely obvious injuries. The lombax made his way back over to Red’s side, carefully placing the horn by the dragon’s feet. [color=#008000]“Think you may wanna wash that off, then,”[/color] Ratchet suggested half-jokingly.

Red chuckled dryly, small hints of genuine laughter in there. [color=#b22222]“It’s useless to me now, it’s not as if I could glue it back on. You might as well keep it, as I hear that if you ground a dragon’s horn to dust and consume it under a full moon, you will gain that dragon’s power,”[/color] Red explained mystically.

Ratchet couldn’t help but to chuckle. [color=#008000]“Well, even if that does work, I think I’d rather stay the way I am,”[/color] he replied with a small smile.

[color=#b22222]“It doesn’t, but it didn’t stop the foolish from raiding the boneyards anyways. That horn is useless to me now, and I don’t really want to touch it. Far from it being an unfortunate reminder and cost, the Dark Gem Splinters would have already taken root on it anyways. It’d be better to just destroy it outright,”[/color] Red explained, keeping a watchful eye on his horn.

[color=#008000]“I guess trying to blow it up is out of the question, then,”[/color] Ratchet mused as he, too, stared at the horn warily.

[color=#b22222]“That sounds like a good idea, actually,”[/color] Red declared as he pointed his staff at his horn. A thin beam of light was blasted into it, superheating the horn with light and exploding it into charred remains that scattered violently. [color=#b22222]“The power of a Light Gem can naturally counteract the influence of a Dark Gem. It’s why whatever you injected me with the first time only kept the infection at bay,”[/color] he explained informatively.

[color=#008000]“Huh… interesting. You know, I’ve always kinda wondered about magic and how it works,”[/color] Ratchet confessed. [color=#008000]“I mean, especially since Alexander is the only lombax I’ve seen so far who uses magic on a semi-regular basis. I wonder if it’s just because of his travels, or if any other lombax could actually learn it.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“I don’t know who this Alexander is, but he sounds very forgettable.[/color] ([color=#ff0000]“... why do I have the sudden urge to choke a bit[b][/b]ch…?”[/color] Alexander uttered quietly in the other corridor.) [color=#b22222]Ratchet… you don’t learn magic, per say. I think many beings actually possess the capacity for it, it’s just that some being’s magical affinity is too low for them to truly harness it. In my world, dragons are the source of all magic. Well, that’s what many people believe. In truth we’re the conduits for the universal system of magic. Wherever a dragon is, there will be magic there. Just the presence of one alone allows the more magically inclined to harness their own abilities. I know that’s egotistical to say, but it’s the truth of my world. As far as learning magic, you only need learn how to control it. The ability to do so was always in you. As for your world, I can’t honestly say. It appears technology rules there, but that’s not to say magic users can’t be a thing. There just probably isn’t any magic for them to harness, I’d wager. If you spent more time out of your world and in a more magic-rich environment, you’d probably be able to see if you can use it, or you can’t. My presence alone wouldn’t be enough to confirm your own abilities, if they exist,”[/color] Red explained.

[color=#008000]“Guess it’s something to consider,”[/color] Ratchet replied with a shrug, [color=#008000]“but~ I think I’ll be happy enough sticking with my technology… … speaking of your world,”[/color] Ratchet added slowly as his ears drooped once again, [color=#008000]“what exactly is happening to it that you would risk being in this war to try and save it?”[/color]

Red tilted his head up to the ceiling, it hung unevenly as his horn stump couldn’t keep his head balanced as a tear ran down his face. [color=#b22222]“What do you understand about the concepts of entropy?”[/color] he questioned, his voice quavering emotionally.

[color=#008000]“Not a thing, I’ll be honest,”[/color] Ratchet answered humbly.

[color=#b22222]“Entropy is the negative result of tampering with the foundations of the universe, such as manipulating space and time. In my world… my world…,”[/color] Red quivered, going silent as his good eye teared up. He swallowed a bitter load as he even tried to explain it. [color=#b22222]“In my world, time has literally run out. It is frozen eternally at midday. The sun will not move, the clouds will not move, nothing will grow and the breeze will not blow. When time ended, many of the inhabitants of the Dragon Realms, Avalar, and the Forgotten Realms froze in place, completely locked in time. Those that physically interacted with them were frozen as well. And anyone who fell asleep also became victims of the timelock. My fellow Elders and the brightest minds we could manage to find worked their hardest to find out the reason for it. I knew precisely what was happening, but I didn’t even have the heart to tell them the truth. How could I? How could I even begin to explain that the world was ending in a way that didn’t cause a panic? We had all gone without sleep for four days trying to figure out a solution. And the entire time, I knew that, at that moment, a wave of negative entropy was coming for our world. Without time, the laws of existence were shattered. As a result, everything in my entire universe will be obliterated by the negative entropy built up. We only had a week, and… this is the last day I have to save my world before it’s gone forever, taking away everything, and everyone I care about. My needs for friendship come second to preventing that from happening. I’m willing to give up my happiness, and my life if need be to ensure my universe can keep on living,”[/color] Red said with finality, choking on his own bitter tears.

As heartbreaking as Red’s story was--even Ratchet was beginning to tear up--something about it just didn’t seem right to him. Arthuria had told the Counter Corps--announced, rather--that because of the influences of Isamy and the Counter Guardians, everyone’s universes were all doomed to be erased anyway, if they hadn’t already. Red’s universe wouldn’t have been immune from that, right? If Ratchet didn’t know any better, he would say that Red was… Red was… … oh gods, he was in the dark about his world. Red had no idea that his world may very well be already gone… and who was to say he was the only Divine who didn’t know. Protheus was a complete jackass, and he probably wouldn’t care enough about the Divine to tell them anything.

Still, if Ratchet told him this now, Red would either think him a fool, or… or worse…. All he knew was that Red was fighting for a world that no longer existed, and, for him to know that everything he had been fighting for, even going so far as to sacrifice everything for that fight; it would destroy him….

Red was almost taken aback by the uncontrolled sobbing coming from Ratchet, he forcefully raised his right brow as his left wasn’t currently functioning. [color=#b22222]“I know it’s quite tragic, but there’s no need to be emotional about it. It’s not your problem after all,”[/color] he said hesitantly. This seemed to do little to stop the lombax’s tears, however, as Ratchet proceeded to wrap his arms around the end of Red’s tail, the dragon recoiling as he tried to shake the lombax off. [color=#b22222]“What are you [i]doing[/i]?”[/color] he questioned pointedly.

[color=#008000]“I-It’s just a-a hug,”[/color] Ratchet sputtered out between sobs. [color=#008000]“Your tail, it-it’s the only--*hic*--the only thing thing I could get my arms around properly. I just… I-I thought you needed one….”[/color]

This was kinda out of his range of understanding. I mean, some young dragons wanted some and he would oblige, but hysterical ones, that wasn’t in his list of skills. [color=#b22222]“Well… uhh, I guess…,”[/color] he faltered, just holding out his arms, showing off his now healed chest with long scarring on it. [color=#b22222]“Umm, come and get it?”[/color] he said hesitantly, not really sure what to say.

Ratchet did his best to calm himself down as he wiped his tear-stained face. [color=#008000]“That… that’s kinda ruining the moment,”[/color] Ratchet pointed out between sniffles. Still, he obliged as he grabbed on to one of Red’s hands, that being the dragon’s cue to pull the lombax up.

[color=#b22222]“I... suppose. But then, I don’t even know what the moment is,”[/color] Red admitted, visibly uncomfortable now. [color=#b22222]“I didn’t think my story would affect you so much.”[/color]

Ratchet stayed silent for a bit as he pressed himself against Red’s scarred torso, being supported by the dragon’s reluctantly cradling arm. Red’s heart was thumping pretty hard right now, and he seemed very quiet as he felt Ratchet against his chest. [i][color=#b22222]“Lombaxes really [/color][/i][color=#b22222]are[/color][i][color=#b22222] quite soft,”[/color][/i] he thought to himself as he brushed Ratchet’s head. [color=#b22222]“Well, you’ve been through a rough patch yourself. Thank you for defending me while you faced your own fears. It took an incredible amount of courage to jump in front of the bullet like that,”[/color] he said as kind praise.

Ratchet nodded quietly. [color=#008000]“You took a figurative bullet for me, too. Well, a few actually, but same idea. Still, thank you, Red….”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“It’s fine, you did the same for me as well,”[/color] Red sighed as he placed a friendly hand on Ratchet’s back. [color=#b22222]“Umm, Ratchet?”[/color] he questioned.

[color=#008000]“Hmm?”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“Tell me when this starts being awkward for you,”[/color] Red grimaced.

[color=#008000]“... yeah, the mushy moment’s passed,”[/color] Ratchet admitted as he quickly hopped off of Red and landed on the floor.

[color=#b22222]“Thank the ancestors, I thought it was just me,”[/color] Red sighed in relief.

Ratchet chuckled, sharing in Red’s embarrassment. [color=#008000]“Well, uh… yeah… … so, how are you feeling now? Physically, I mean.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“Much better now that the poison’s out of my system, and I’m not bleeding to death. I don’t think I’m strong enough for the trip yet, but I have a way to deal with that later, once we get going. Although, I don’t think I’ll be flying ever again,"[/color] he admitted sadly, gazing at his ruined wing.

[color=#008000]“Again, really sorry about that,”[/color] Ratchet sighed apologetically as he scratched the back of his head.

[color=#b22222]“It’s fine,”[/color] Red sighed bitterly. [color=#b22222]“Though it is the greatest tragedy for a dragon to lose the power of flight. It happened to an old friend of mine, Atlas. He loved flying more than anything else in the world, and would fly to the highest peaks of the Magic Crafters realm, only to launch off them, wings spread wide as he soared on the icy winds. Sadly, one day, he was out on rescue detail during a storm, and a bolt of lightning tore through his wing mid-flight,”[/color] Red recalled sadly, a fresh tear shed for his friend.

Great, now Ratchet was feeling even more like an a[b][/b]ss. [color=#008000]“Uuuhhh, did he… take it, umm, well?”[/color] he questioned awkwardly.

[color=#b22222]“I wouldn’t know,”[/color] Red remarked dryly. [color=#b22222]“I assume he probably didn’t, but that feeling was fleeting considering he snapped his neck when he crashed. So at least he didn’t get to live long enough to regret losing his wing,”[/color] Red added morbidly.

Real fuc[b][/b]king smooth, Ratchet. Like razor blades embedded in sandpaper wrapped in barbed wire. [color=#008000]“Okay, I get what you’re trying to do, and I am really sorry about tha--”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“--Be sorry for nothing,”[/color] Red interjected abruptly. [color=#b22222]“I was in the wrong for goading you like that. It’s the price I had to pay I’m afraid. You were avenging your friend, there’s nothing wrong with that,”[/color] he said charitably.

Ratchet sighed heavily. [color=#008000]“... well, what about your leg? Are you alright to stand on it again?”[/color]

Red looked at his semi-ruined appendage, and he grimaced as he tried to move it, being greeted with only a few stabbing pains. [color=#b22222]“I don’t think so, and, thanks to my own nightmare, I don’t have much else to stand on,”[/color] he remarked, referring to his shattered staff. [color=#b22222]“But, as I said, I have a way to deal with that for when we finally move. However, we have cleanup to do,”[/color] Red explained, nodding to his blood pool.

He heaved with effort as he forced himself up the wall, using it as a crutch to do so. [color=#b22222]“It has to be purified by fire, just so no one else gets poisoned by the Dark Splinters if they come into contact with it. If you thought it was bad seeing someone die from it, you haven’t seen anything from people still conscious while being poisoned by the splinters,”[/color] Red huffed as he kept to the wall for balance. [color=#b22222]“It’s nasty business, Dark Gem Poisoning. The corrupting nature of the gem combined with the fact that the splinters grow within the wound leaves a victim in critical condition. The splinters cause the wound to fester, forcing them wider as the flesh decays to feed them. And as they do, the bile you saw earlier seeps into the bloodstream, poisoning every other part of the body. The worst is when it gets to the brain, as that’s when the madness takes over. It starts off with simple denial, but soon the victim gets increasingly violent until they’re completely mad. It’s an ugly disease Ratchet, and you spared me from it,”[/color] Red informed the young lombax as he neared his own blood.

The pool had turned a disgusting mix of black and purple, the two colours twisting around each other like a downwards spiral. [color=#b22222]“Do you have anything capable of producing flame?”[/color] Red inquired.

[color=#008000]“Take your pick,”[/color] Ratchet simply replied as he produced a number of weapons from his hyperspace inventory, a number of them being flamethrowers.

[color=#b22222]“Pick one, and then present the fuel tank so I can bless it,”[/color] Red sighed apathetically.

[color=#008000]“Err… here, the Incinerator should do,”[/color] Ratchet decided as he presented the weapon in question.

Red placed his staff by the fuel tank, and muttered a few words. Like before the gem glowed, and the contents of the tank did as well. [color=#b22222]“It is done, now, let’s get to work,”[/color] Red commanded, inhaling deeply so he could unleash a thick cone of flame at the blood pool. Ratchet followed suit by aiming the barrel of the Incinerator at the puddle and squeezing the trigger, unleashing a jet of pale white fire at the corrupted blood.

It hissed violently as it was burnt away, leaving absolutely nothing behind. Red coughed loudly as his flame ended, several clouds of smoke escaping his mouth in heavy bursts. [color=#008000]“Guess that does it,”[/color] Ratchet chimed as he ceased his own pyrotechnics, stowing the Incinerator away.

[color=#b22222]“Almost,”[/color] Red pointed out, noting the blood on the two of them. Idly swishing his staff around, a jet of water squirted into the air, forming into a thin aquatic disk about Ratchet. [color=#b22222]“Take a deep breath and close your eyes,”[/color] Red ordered. Ratchet did as he was asked, inhaling deeply as his eyelids clamped shut.

Red gently raised his hand, and lowered it slowly, the disk following it as he pushed down on Ratchet, cleaning him up and leaving no traces of blood on him as it pooled around his feet, and was released. The water splattered into a wet patch on the floor, and Ratchet was still left completely dry. [color=#b22222]“You can open your eyes now,”[/color] Red informed Ratchet as he summoned another, much larger disk.

He moved it over himself, and did the same as before, cleaning away the blood from his body. However, as he did so, he realized something was amiss on his left arm. Holding it up so he could see it better, Red could still see a small wound still open on his arm. [color=#b22222]“Strange,”[/color] he muttered, but figured that whatever Ratchet had used must’ve run out. Binding a layer or water around it, Red froze over the wound, creating a makeshift ice-caste. [color=#b22222]“Feel better now?”[/color] Red questioned the lombax.

Ratchet took a brief moment to marvel at how clean he looked and felt. [color=#008000]“Yeah, thanks,”[/color] he answered happily.

[color=#b22222]“Good, as, there’s one last thing before we can leave,”[/color] Red informed him as more water leaked out of the gem, forming a large ball of water, and a smaller sized one.

Red held the larger sphere to his lips, sucking on the fluid as he floated the smaller one over to Ratchet. He didn’t need to explain what he hoped Ratchet would do with it, as he figured his example would be enough as he finally dealt with his horribly parched feeling, considering, y’know, all the blood loss.

Ratchet got the hint, taking the smaller orb of water to his lips and began drinking from it, taking note of how clean it tasted, the freshest water he had in ages. Up until that point, he hadn’t realized just how thirsty he was. Must’ve been from all his running around while fighting the older Ratchet.

Red downed his bubble to the last drop, sighing contentedly as something worked its way back up. He belched loudly, a small jet of fire following it out. He flushed crimson as he slapped a claw to his mouth, utterly embarrassed at his poor show of manners. Ratchet, meanwhile, suddenly spat out his own water, having had the misfortune to laugh at Red’s “ladylike behaviour” while he was drinking his water. Water dribbled down his chin as he continued to laugh loudly, and the dragon couldn't help but join in. [color=#b22222]“How embarrassing,”[/color] he chortled once he finally released his jaw.

[color=#008000]“Hey, better out the attic than the basement,”[/color] Ratchet pointed out jokingly.

Red immediately stopped laughing at that very notion. [color=#b22222]“I would agree, based on the concepts of my biology,”[/color] he said seriously, thinking back to the large number of scorch marks left by young dragons. [color=#b22222]“Very, very embarrassing,”[/color] he said, blushing again.

Realizing what Red had meant, Ratchet’s laughing fit started anew. The lombax was practically on his hands and knees, he was laughing so hard. He could almost see it happening to Red, shooting off like a rocket into the great unknown. [color=#b22222]“Perhaps we should be leaving now,”[/color] Red said in a strained voice, not appreciating his biological functions getting mocked.

[color=#008000]“Ha-ha-ha-okay-okay, ha… ha… okay… … ahem… phew… … okay, I’m good now,”[/color] Ratchet said after having finally calmed himself down as much as he could.

[color=#b22222]“Wonderful,”[/color] Red said as he placed his staff into one of Ratchet’s hands. Now free of his burden, he gave Ratchet a very serious look. [color=#b22222]“Don’t, take this the wrong way, alright?”[/color] he said as he placed a claw on Ratchet’s shoulder.

Concentrating intently, a green column overtook Red, shrinking him down swiftly as he still clung onto Ratchet’s shoulder, keeping himself there even once his feet could not keep him up anymore. Now the size of a small doll, he grunted with effort as he clawed his way up to sit on Ratchet’s shoulder. His adorable little helium voice was panting from the exertion of climbing up Ratchet’s shoulder.

[color=#008000]“Oh, yeah, I remember this,”[/color] Ratchet spoke up as soon as Red was comfortable. [color=#008000]“You were that size when we first saw you with Alister. Heh, I actually remember Alexander having pat you on the head--”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“--I warn you, I [i]do[/i] bite if you try that with me,”[/color] Red warned in a low growl, the intended tone being lost by his helium induced voice.

[color=#008000]“Duly noted,”[/color] Ratchet quickly replied, fighting back the urge to laugh again, or worse, pet the dragon. Or maybe not, that act actually sounded kinda dirty, in retrospect. [color=#008000]“So, can all dragons shrink? Or is this another magic thing?”[/color] he questioned.

[color=#b22222]“Lab accident, actually. During my, err, darker, days. I had actually been turned into a robot before that, and also grown several times my size during that period before I got shrunk down to the size of a dragonfly. I only recently learned I could do this, purely by accident. It appears the device messed with me either genetically, or through my magical ability. I don’t know, I just can now,”[/color] Red answered.

[color=#008000]“... huh, cool,”[/color] Ratchet replied, reminded of the time he had to use a device that shrunk him down to the size of a small mouse. And when he used a device to disguise himself as a robot to sneak into Clank’s birthplace. [color=#008000]“What was it like being a robot?”[/color] he questioned curiously.

[color=#b22222]“Unusual,”[/color] Red answered, thinking back on it. [color=#b22222]“It’s a lot different from being organic, as, you tend to think and react faster than you normally do, and everything appears incredibly logical. It was a while ago, and very brief, so I can’t give a full recollection,”[/color] he admitted. [color=#b22222]“Though, I do wonder if maybe I could access that form again,”[/color] he squeaked under his breath.

[color=#008000]“Well, I guess if you can revert to being doll-sized,”[/color] Ratchet hypothesized, [color=#008000]“you could go back to being a mecha, too. It [i]could[/i] happen.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“Indeed,”[/color] Red squeaked absently, nursing that same thought.

[color=#008000]"Well, it's about time we got out of this place,"[/color] Ratchet declared as he began to walk his way toward the exit, the tiny Red perched on his shoulder like an ugly, featherless parrot. [color=#008000]"At least you get to enjoy this more than I did,"[/color] he added, referencing the "baby-pack" that Red had put him in previously.

[color=#b22222]“The alternative being I leave you to die,”[/color] Red countered with a hardy sigh. At least he got to skip out on walking this time. [color=#b22222]“I won’t lie, I find your universe’s technology quite fascinating. The ability for rapid packing and unpacking of the devices is quite clever, and very practical.”[/color]

[color=#008000]"Definitely makes carrying an entire armory a lot easier, that's for sure,"[/color] said Ratchet. [color=#008000]"So, your world doesn't have an equivalent of that in a spell?"[/color]

[color=#b22222]“Oh no, not at all. Only a special few even possess the ability to take advantage of magic, but ours is rather primitive, though we have marvelous innovations provided by the brighter minds of my world, including myself, of course. I had an entire lab deep within a mine I used for mining Dark Ge- Umm, for mining. But there are also marvellous innovations, including a floating city held aloft entirely by a combination of Light Gem engines and wind propulsion. I just never got far enough into my research for compacting technology, as I was more interested in creating, err, more austere utilities, including the machinery that converted living beings into robots. Our technology tends to be all over the place, though at least the core power source remains the same in the form of Light Gems. And, as for magic, only a select few get to use it, but at least the world gets to enjoy it via the Portal Systems we utilize,”[/color] Red explained, getting rather excited about talking shop.

[color=#008000]“So, like, teleportation from one corner of the world to another, huh? Neat,”[/color] Ratchet chimed his fascination. [color=#008000]“We sorta have that, too, but it’s more for teleporting between floors or buildings.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“Between floors, huh? We never managed that, considering ours don’t work well at close range. Ours are programmed for enormous distances, but those are the magic powered ones. They’re also to connect with out of the way areas for the inhabitants. It’s a lot easier to take a portal to the Beast Makers’ Tree Tops than it is to climb those titanic trees. The portals powered by Light Gems or Orbs can cross entire worlds. It’s how the Dragon Realms were reconnected with the Forgotten Realms on the other side of our planet, and also how we maintain a connection with the realm of Avalar based on coordinates alone. In truth the portal technology pioneered by the Professor could very well go anywhere in the universe, potentially even beyond it,”[/color] Red theorized.

[color=#008000]“Sounds kinda like the Dimensionator,”[/color] Ratchet mused aloud. [color=#008000]“It’s a device that was made by the lombaxes that could open portals to other dimensions. It’s partly the reason why the rest of my race no longer resides in my dimension of our universe. It used to work, but… *sighs* … I think it’s pretty much all but busted at this point. One too many strong uses of it, I guess.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“More’s the pity I suppose. Sounds like the device was probably unstable, if I could guess. Our portal technology is incredibly stable so long as they have a power source, which are Light Gems for the Dragon Realms, or Orbs for Avalar. Indeed, if you had the portal technology, a power source, and the coordinates you could probably find them,”[/color] Red exclaimed thoughtfully.

[color=#008000]“That may be true,”[/color] Ratchet said reflectively, [color=#008000]“I mean, the Dimensionator is powered by something called a Surinox Comet shard, and those things tend to go haywire if you were to apply negative energy to them, but from what I saw, the Dimensionators were capable of locating the exact dimension you ask for. But, huh, like I said, “busted”. It could take years just to make a new one.”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“Just a thought,”[/color] Red sighed, his face screwing up as he sighed again. [color=#b22222]“You know Ratchet, you were right… about me being jealous, I mean. But, not in the way you think,”[/color] he admitted.

[color=#008000]“... then, how so?”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“You got to have a life,”[/color] Red answered grimly. [color=#b22222]“You got to go out and really live, given you’re the apparent saviour of your universe. The same with Alister and your friends. You got to be yourselves, doing what you can. Me? I have nothing to show for, well, anything, really. The only time I ever got to live was in my youth. As once I was an adolescent, I willingly accepted to take the call of the Elder. I spent fifty years of my life studying, and even after that I wasn’t one. I worked under Elder Titan as his assistant, and then, after that… I was Adrastos’ pawn, spending decades plotting my dark schemes. Once I was free of his control, it was back to being an Elder, living my life for the younger generation. It’s… sobering to think about, really.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“... well, I’m sure you know Alister had it rough, too,”[/color] Ratchet brought up. [color=#008000]“After being tricked by Tachyon and being exiled, he was alone for a little over twenty years. He was ecstatic when I entered (or “re-entered”?) his life… well, after first accusing me of being a Holo-Guised assailant. He was glad to have had another lombax around--his best friend’s son, at that--but also felt responsible for me not having a family… he was willing to alter time so that I could have my family back, to have the rest of the lombaxes back… … but I didn’t want that if it meant throwing our universe into chaos, almost like what’s happening to your world. I wanted instead to find a way to get the lombaxes back without resorting to the Great Clock. I mean, the lombaxes had to have been safe in the dimension they’d got to, right? They weren’t in any immediate danger… when I told Alister this, he just… … snapped… I… I just wish he had just decided to be a part of my life instead of… what he did….”[/color]

[color=#b22222]“Guilt does terrible things to people, Ratchet. It also makes you do incredibly foolhardy or downright stupid things. I should know, it’s why I’m here,” [/color]Red pointed out, silently wishing Ratchet hadn’t made the connection to his own world in the prior part of his talk. [color=#b22222]“... I didn’t intend to get attached to him,”[/color] he whispered a little too loudly. [color=#b22222]“It’s made things, a little bit more complicated than what I intended.”[/color]

[color=#008000]“... … because now you feel like you’d be leaving something behind… right?”[/color] Ratchet asked bleakly.

[color=#b22222]“I would’ve done anyways, Ratchet. After all, haven’t you stopped the think about what happens after this war, and, what it’ll mean?”[/color] Red questioned.

Ratchet sighed ruefully. [color=#008000]“... I’ve considered it,”[/color] he uttered, his heart heavy as he thought about it. [color=#008000]“I fear that I may lose Al again, even after all we’ve gone through here. He could… … die, again…. The worst part is, I’m still struggling to come to terms with when it happened the first time….”[/color]

Red scooched along Ratchet’s shoulder so he could place a comforting claw on Ratchet’s cheek. [color=#b22222]“It’s something I’ve been trying to come to terms with as well, and it’s why it’s making my position on the Divine a difficult one to maintain. I have to remind myself many times that I can’t be selfish here, and think of my world and its people. But the dichotomy of wants and needs both pulling at me is maddening,”[/color] Red admitted miserably.

[color=#008000]“... which is why you still remain with them, even with the likes of Sayer amongst them,”[/color] Ratchet surmised sympathetically. [color=#008000]“Because, you figure that the reward would be worth the… “company”....”[/color] Ratchet’s hand was subconsciously reaching over to Red, though stopping itself just an inch away from the dragon’s head as Ratchet realized what it was doing.

[color=#b22222]“In the end, yes. It kills me inside. But, I’ve been the villain before. If I have to wear that title, I will wear it proudly if it’s for my world… even if it kills me,”[/color] Red vowed.

[color=#008000]“... … I just wish it didn’t have to be this way,”[/color] Ratchet uttered in almost a whisper. He carefully laid his hand across Red’s lap, hoping to at least be comforting to the dragon without offending his pride.

Red didn’t really mind Ratchet’s comforting hand, as his own mind was a million miles away from his body. [color=#b22222]“It’s the cruelty of things, Ratchet. It’s why I was so desperate to distance myself from Alister. At least then, if… if he hated me, it would have hurt less to say goodbye,”[/color] he sniffed, trying not to tear up.

[color=#008000]“... I get what you mean…,”[/color] Ratchet said simply, holding back his own tears as he trekked onward down the corridor, the end just barely in sight through the darkness….

Maeriberii Haan · May 30, 2015

As Ayame started to speak up about her friends back in her world, Kazuya couldn’t help but to have his mind drift away, far away from himself, towards the thoughts regarding his friends that he left behind, the ones he left to die when he agreed to Arturia’s request to be whisked here. His mind’s focus was divided into three that time, one was trying it best to listen to Ayame’s story, one was busy thinking about his own friends after Ayame’s story prompted it, and the third was the one part that couldn’t help but to notice the voices lurking in the darkness of the pathway. Kazuya still listened to his companion’s story, of course, and he noticed that she talked about her friends in a distant tone…and without her willing to say anything regarding what happened to them, it’s pretty clear that they didn’t get a good ending, even not including this conflict and its repercussions probably. He’s not a rude enough person to push Ayame to elaborate more on what happened to her friends at least, so when she was done with her story, Kazuya just decided to let her have a moment of silence rather than replying immediately.

Though, it appeared that the brief moment of silence itself was disturbed really quickly as shadows formed around them and started to lash out and attack. Voices were coming from the shadows, all talking towards Ayame in an accusing tone, before they properly attacked her. Ayame was able to strike one of the upcoming shadows with some sort of lightning field around her to spark out the shadows when they try coming towards her. Kazuya was a bit slow to react to this however, but him seeing Ayame managing to handle herself well, it returned Kazuya’s focus immediately to the battlefield. The voices that he had just noticed not really long ago were becoming stronger and stronger in the meantime, but right now he shouldn’t focus at those things. Flaring up his COMP, he activated its Harmonizer effect, which should allow both Ayame and himself to gain an advantage if their opponents right now were demonic in nature.

“Well…let’s see how well they can take this. Amaterasu, cast Maragidyne on them.” Kazuya stated his orders to the summoned goddess fragment, which the deity only responded with a nod before turning around to face the shadows. The next thing that happened was a literal rain of fire coming down from the pitch-black sky above, as the sun goddess attempted to bathe the shadows in heavenly fire. Meanwhile, Kazuya then approached Ayame.

“Ayame…sorry if I’m asking, but what are the things they actually whispered to you?”

Though that question was the first thing that appeared in his mind, Kazuya’s concern right now was simply a certain gut feeling that maybe, things would really get worse for both of them from this point onwards.

“I knew you looked familiar.”

As Dorian came to approach her and greet her however, Tenco’s mind was completely in a state of chaos; she was trying to figure out what pushed her to claim that she was the one that fought Protheus, or in another word, claiming that she’s Tenshi. There’s no way that the Celestial was the one that pushed her to say it somehow, since as far as she knew it, she had completely been obliterated, body and soul, after their fight in Remembrance. She was definitely getting worried about whoever, or whatever managing to take reins of her for that short moment to claim the thing. And then…she realized that Dorian’s still there, and Tenco flustered a bit as she realized she’s probably acting way too suspicious right now. The blue-hair then smiled a bit towards the man as they continued their walk through the bridge.

“Sorry for that. My mind’s just getting too distracted by the unwelcome thoughts given by the pathway. So…what about Protheus that you wanted to say earlier?”

“But yeah, what is Protheus like? He's full of himself for sure and secretive at the same times. However the thing I guess all of us members of the Divine know is that he's completely apathetic. I know for sure we are not "needed" for whatever he has planned.

We're probably just here to keep you members of the Counter Corp from wasting precious seconds of his time. Granted that lack of trust in us is probably going to be his downfall. Since he has the key to this magical Door of Origin he probably is trying to conserve his energy or whatnot. I would think the theory is that all of the parties continue down their paths and just mug him at the end.

…Or do like you did and try to take him out beforehand. Either way I hope you all succeed with that.”

The man’s rapid speech was still a bit problematic to handle for Tenco, but she tried her best to listen closely to what he said. Well, it was definitely not surprising to learn that Protheus was a completely unpleasant, selfish person to the point of not even caring about his supposed allies. The fact that he’s implying most of the Divines were only biding their time before trying to claim the key to themselves however, was kind of amusing to hear. In the end, it seemed that this conflict was simply about many individuals fully intent on using the key themselves, against the Counter Corps as a whole. Lack of unity on the other side made this a bit lopsided, probably. But she really didn’t have that much idea or knowledge to assume things right now anyway.

“And I guess you’ll try mugging him when the opportunity’s open for you?”

Though, before Dorian was able to answer Tenco’s question, Dorian noticed the presence of someone right in front of them. It was a suspicious looking woman, and it seemed that both of them already knew about each other from before.

“Hello ye who is on the line of light and darkness let me be the one to help you...

Oh its two people...and its you.”

Yeah, the woman was definitely looking very suspicious. Tenco had no idea what she’s up to but whatever it was, she really needed to prepare herself for it, as subtly as possible.

“Tenco this is Gyokuen Ren. You this is Tenco.”

“Nice to meet you Ms. Tenco. “

“Nice to meet you too, Ms. Ren.”

After Dorian introduced the woman to her, she, who was apparently named Gyokuen Ren, bowed at her and smiled a bit. To be polite, the bluehead bowed at the woman too, even if she was still really suspicious regarding her. Though, the air around them felt casual enough right now, so Tenco thought that maybe this would be a nice time to try seeing what’s up with the woman. Maybe.

“It’s kinda funny to see us here three being together in peace like this, since after all we seem to be from different factions and with wildly different interests too.

Anyway, Ms. Ren, may I ask why are you looking like you’ve been expecting us to arrive here?”

“Finding the meaning of this of my own…yeah, I guess you’re right about that, Killua."

Hearing those words coming from Killua gave Reimu a small smile as she finally realized the actual point of the pathways all this time. It’s not really just the fights that were important, and neither was the conflicts. The pathways are trying to tell her things, and as Killua said, it’s really just up to her to find her own take of the meaning behind the things said by the pathway. And…seeing Killua here with brightness on his eyes, and seeing how hard the others were struggling before them, Reimu felt that she might have finally found that meaning. The Yorihime specter, her doppelganger, and Marisa earlier…she finally realized what they’re trying to tell her by existing.

The two of them then continued on to watch their comrade’s battles as it escalated further and further, what’s with the armies being summoned and all, at least until Killua and his friend decided to join in on the battle itself. It…was honestly a breathtaking sight when the two of them managed to overcome the opposing armies by themselves with the help of…some certainly suspicious looking people, but at that point Reimu didn’t really concern herself much with it. But still, she was quite astonished by the show of speed of the two boys as they blitzed around the battlefield, and cleared off a huge swath of enemies in under a minute before returning to their previous position.

And then…just as the two were done, someone else entered the scene. A…young woman, as far as she could tell, but she was definitely emanating an imposing, powerful aura from herself. Something otherworldly. She didn’t seem to be an enemy, though she’s seemingly a bit confused on what’s currently happening on the scene, something that was made really clear with her loud declaration. At that point with the woman’s arrival on the scene, Reimu, who was originally intent on helping with the battle, decided not to. The battle didn’t really look like it’ll last that much longer, after all.

Though probably she’s just a bit miffed that the situation developed way faster than she could properly react to.

Tesability Black · May 31, 2015

"But before we begin, allow me to set some music." Feeling the gauze he was getting from his lighter-colored double that most-certainly heard his words, a simple rectangular device no larger than his hand appeared, equipped with a pair of...small speakers?

A split-second later, a shimmering circular disk appeared around one of the outstretched fingers he had before sliding it into a thin gap on the side of the machine, though it looked like it wouldn’t have fit. It wasn’t long before an upbeat and madness inducing song started playing...if one could call it such.

BGM: Poets of the Fall - Psychosis (on repeat)

“There, that should work.” With a snap, he made the device disappear, though the music still continued to play, and quite-loudly. “Shall we dance?”

Stretching out a hand as if offering to partner with Koishi in a dance of sheer madness, Gemini had a slight bow in his posture, eyes focused on the girl in front of her. The girl, still with the unmoving smile etched on her face, took a hold in the shapeshifter’s hand, and simply proceeded to try pulling the hand apart from the body in a sudden push. She was interested in a dance, of course. But the dance she was apparently craving was something else entirely than what should ever be expected. Getting a move on with her tentacles summoned from her back, she immediately used them to form a sphere covering herself and Gemini, while the ones from her hands attempted to bind Gemini from moving away as she shook his hand.

“Mister, Mister, don’t you think it’s a bit too bright around here? Let’s turn off the light and have this intimate night together, just between the two of us~!” As soon as the exclamation mark left her mouth, the tentacle-cage rapidly shrunk around them, as Koishi attempted to compact the two of them into a bloody cube. “Welcome to the inescapable cage of my love, mister!” She said enthusiastically, though it was really clear she had no feeling towards her enemy at all as she said that.

It was admittedly a feat that the wrist still held together both hand and forearm, though even the shapeshifter couldn’t hold back a brief flinch of pain by the sudden jolt of the action. “Would you like to make a bet on my inability to escape, young soul?” The slight grin remained on his face, though one of his fangs dared to peek through such.

“You can’t escape forever~! Now stay still as I’ll set you free from your fleeting heart~”

“Naive as ever, it would seem.” With a flash of purple covering his eyes, his form suddenly dissipated into the air around them, invisible and intangible. A sudden thud becomes heard on top of the sphere of tentacles, to signify a new intruder...or was it?

“An advanced skill it is to turn into the very air one breaths, but it can be done,” was suddenly heard from above, a confident tone in the familiar voice. “The question becomes ‘How can one capture the winds’?”

“Turning into a fleeting dream is more fun however~” Koishi spoke from behind Gemini, the sphere of tentacles below her slowly disappeared as if they’re just a hallucination. Koishi grinned seeing Gemini, before she decided to go for a more straightforward approach and started to wail wildly on him with both her arms and tentacles, not really bothering to explain first why she was suddenly behind Gemini.

A few of the tentacles did make impact, leaving a few pretty and visible bruises as they blossomed into various shades of yellow at some of the places where the clothes never sealed up from when he was first punctured by the damnable things. However, soon he managed to wiggle around the flailing tentacles, bringing himself close to Koishi with her hands in his own.

Without warning, he brought his mouth to her own, forcing her mouth open while using his fangs to keep her from biting down on his tongue as he dared to kiss her such an intrusive way. In response to this, rather than being surprised (something that she couldn’t even feel), she embraced Gemini’s sudden approach while giggling a bit, as she wrapped him in a warm, tight embrace…

With her tentacles of course. Meanwhile, as Koishi’s tightened the intimate hug with Gemini in an attempt to crush his bones (if those even exist in the first place), Koishi’s tongue started to play around with Gemini’s. The tongues danced with each other as Koishi tried to find an opening towards Gemini’s insides, and as soon as she found it, a tentacle burst forth from her throat’s insides, aiming to pierce through Gemini’s insides in one go, preferably spearing his brains off. Or his heart, both were the same to Koishi anyway.

He damned near lost all the air in his lungs, but he didn’t dare to attempt complaining. It was his own fault that he put himself in such a position, however, the grip strength was admittedly impressive.

“M’dear,” he managed to say with difficulty as he felt the tentacle only miss his heart by a sliver. “It’s not gonna be that easy to erase me. Origin won’t allow so just yet.”

“Well, I’m not easy to please too, mister~!” She probably had no idea the two sentences didn’t even connect with each other in meaning.

While on the ground, Neos couldn’t help but shake his head at the scene that was playing out in the air, covering his increasingly-yellow-in-the-cheeks face with a long-fingered hand. “What is this, a battle or a breeding scene…?”

“I don’t really know what can help us if the two breed...though I think it’ll be amusing to see, just in case." At that point, Yukari was watching the scene in bile fascination - the thought of doing something to stop it didn't cross on her mind as she was too baffled by what happend. She definitely agreed that it’s a disgusting scene, but she couldn’t help but to feel really amused by it. Not everyday one could see something as ridiculous as this, after all. What actually happened here was simple. Closing off her ego and superego, what was left of Koishi was the primal urges and the unconscious thoughts that she and Gemini possessed - banal, feral, and unrestrained. Without conscience and consciousness to rein these urges and thoughts, she projected it towards Gemini in this way. Though, perhaps it's also since she's reflecting some of Gemini's own urges, since as far as Yukari was aware, she wouldn't go this far normally. What were those concepts...ah, eros and thanatos, if she's not wrong.

“Neos, strengthen your mind. Koishi can play around your unconscious urges, as far as I know. Last thing I want to see is you joining them right now.” Realizing what could happen, Yukari gave the shapeshifter beside her a warning. Half jokingly, but with a slight serious tone on the sentence to indicate it had a sliver of truth to it.

“Yeah, but I can tell both of them are still just playing around, especially that Rattata-bastard up there.” Letting loose a sigh, he finally uncovered his face and looked back up to see Gemini getting a rather-tight squeeze, to which he couldn’t help but experience the phantom pain of. “Sheesh, and I thought Titan had a grip.”

Without Gemini seemingly trying, or was able to escape right now, whichever was the case, Koishi started to explore his entire body to find an opening while still keeping him entangled and completely squeezed with her tentacles. The body of the shapeshifter was more durable than what she thought at first, but it shouldn’t be able to hold forever. She was still intent on making the process faster, definitely, hence why she kept on finding any orifice on Gemini’s body for her to penetrate with her tentacles, since apparently her tentacle was unable to pierce his skin as of now. Not long after…

“Yay, I found an opening~!

I’ll jam it in now!” She said, as her tentacles started to enter Gemini’s body from below, from a place where things shouldn’t enter in the first place. Like spears, they rushed inside with a great speed.

“Isn’t this supposed to be PG-13? We’ve got a pair of naughty writers he---argh!” The interruption was punctured further by the way he pulled his lips back in the outburst, fully-revealing the length of the four fangs and making him look just a little bit more like a beast wearing a human skin.

Alright, now the line was crossed. If anyone was to do the puncturing in that way, it was him, never the other way around!

“What’s the matter, mister~? Cat got your butthole?” Koishi said sheepishly as her tentacles continued to wreak havoc on Gemini’s innards, if he even had a digestive system in the first place. Meanwhile in the distance, Yukari considered to cover Neos’ eyes as the scene unfolded before them, though probably the shapeshifter’s going to enjoy this if he could keep his eyes on it for long enough.

Neos, however, immediately recognized the jolt Gemini did when he interrupted his own words, the way the darker double arched his back in shock. Hell, he’s done it himself a few times for the same reason he suspected, though to his own credit, at least it was usually willing. Blowing air out of his nose, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the sudden bellow as a sideways-grin crept onto his face. “About damned time you were on the receiving end,” he muttered to himself.

“Hm..? Why are you getting a bit aroused from this? I’ve said that you need to keep your head clear, Neos. Just shift away your attention if you can’t take it." Yukari said sternly as she saw Neos reacted to the scene in a way that kind of made her curious, and surprised due to how much he’s taking delight to the scene. It’s probably a matter of preference, but for this topic of all things to cross his and her mind during a supposedly dire situation...it must be the work of Koishi’s ability. Yukari shook her head at the thought, and she returned to watch the scene again. How much Neos was getting excited about the scene worried her, and...she wondered whether she should just gap him away before the situation with Neos got worse.

“Nah, I’m just glad to see him getting some of what he deserves. Bastard has a tendency to take what he wants without giving any in return.”

“So he did you in the ass and this is payback. Okay.”

The reaction that followed was almost-priceless. Neos leaned forward, arms drooping in front of him with a look mixed with stunned-shock, confusion and disbelief of what he heard. “What? NO! And I thought HE was sick! Even if he wanted to, that’s hard to do when, before all this, we shared the same body.”

“Alright then, if that’s the case.” Yukari then decided to mumble about something before grinning slightly to herself, but it was too unclear for anyone to hear...which is admittedly a feat when next to someone with animalian senses.

"GET THE FLYING F*CK OUT OF THERE NOW!"

Neos straightened back up to look back up towards the pair in the air to see that...a decent amount of tentacle was gone as well as seeing a still-bound Gemini trying to wiggle free. It was unclear why he hadn’t managed to get out yet, considering his earlier stunt of turning into air literally.

The dark Ditto couldn’t really move, he was lucky to be able to breath, honestly, considering how much of his lungs were still filled up with the tentacle that came from inside Koishi’s mouth. Thanks to his human shell, he was feeling the effects of lightheadedness and an increasingly-difficult time in maintaining a complete thought. And that’s combined with the mix of pain and pleasure sourced from...elsewhere…

“But we’re flying already? I don’t know what do you mean by ‘f*cking’ mister, but I assume it’s also happening now, no~?” Koishi innocently replied to Gemini’s angry outburst, not even caring with the fact that some of her tentacles had been obliterated by him.

At one point, he managed to keep hold of a single, coherent thought. And that thought manifested in a physical form as the black aura interwoven with red began to spread from him in the hopes that these around him would start to melt away like the last bunch did…though the ones in him would unfortunately remain unaffected, protected from the toxic aura by his body.

Lacking any knowledge about human anatomy, Koishi had no idea where Gemini’s heart or brain was, and with the tentacles outside of him that kept him bound being obliterated, Koishi decided that the best course of action next was to just stop searching in a polite manner, and go ravish Gemini’s insides with her remaining tentacles, no matter how many internal organs she would puncture. She physically couldn’t care about this after all. There’s no reason for her to feel remorse now. Self control is a myth. She could break this toy apart and she would just find another one. It's what he wished inside, after all. The bulges on Gemini’s stomach started to move wildly, and not long after, some of them were already seemingly trying to get out by breaking through his stomach, while some others were still content in just hunting down his heart.

Oh, there was no doubt that this hurt, even he couldn’t say that it didn’t with a straight face at this point, the magic of Truth notwithstanding. In a bid of desperation, Gemini leaned his head back and looked up towards the sky, his eyes clouding up as they began to glow white instead of other colors.

At this point, the tentacles within started to find themselves becoming purged by disintegration before the internal wounds he was dealing with were allowed to begin to Recover from the massive amounts of damage. Combined with the still-remaining dark aura around him trying to melt away what still had him held up, Gemini finally fell forward onto his hands and knees, coughing up many bits of the foul-tasting tentacles from his lungs.

“That...was partially-unpleasant.”

“Nyeh, finding your heart is hard….” Koishi complained to Gemini, as gigantic roses started to bloom around her while she’s floating mid air. The loss of her tentacles didn’t really disturb her that much it seemed, and Gemini hadn’t even attacked her. Yukari, who was still seeing the combat between the two, felt that Koishi’s merely acting according to what she saw on Gemini’s head, simply being a mirror. With the destructive impulses coming from her being over now, Yukari could see that Koishi’s probably going for a more...Gensokyo-like combat soon, but this will depend on how Gemini would act next.

“You are one messed-up soul,” he managed to say before standing up onto his feet, shaking his head as he dusted himself off, brandishing a few new holes in his clothes. “You and your counterpart. Both of you come on the now-false pretenses of asking him questions and it has devolved into this when I had no intentions yet of open hostility.”

Neos quickly blew air through his nose as he shook his head, acting like an animal that just caught wiff of something unpleasant. “We need to get out of here...now…”

Any appearance of insanity was gone. The music set upon repeat had fallen silent. The winds dared not to move. And Gemini himself had appeared to have entered a zen-like state, though he was giving off a clear odor of absolute rage to those with the senses needed to pick up on such. “Play time now ends.”

“You’re no fun, mister~! Just show me your heart pleaaaaaase~?” Koishi replied, having no ideas on what would happen to her, while the roses around her kept on blooming and blooming, as if they’re forming a barrier of rose, or something similar.

“Do you really think a shield of petals would save you? What I’m about to do is nice compared what I can do in this place!” Raising his hands out to either side of himself, a large wave of power surging from Gemini as a singular point before waves of blue, red and black energy quickly wrapped themselves up around Koishi, beginning to disintegrate her current form at a cruelly-slow pace, starting from her toes that began to melt away from the appearance of being dipped ‘nd held in acid and choosing to stop at the neck, leaving the core part of Koishi still bound to the head she was in, the third eye. "Enjoy your stay here, since I think you’ll be stuck for a while.”

Ending Location: A4/A5

Love of Ghibli · May 31, 2015

Dorian and Gyokuen: Path of Death

Gyokuen figured that there was something up with this new companion of Dorian's. The Rukh that were surrounding her were very pure. She must be one of those people who thinks in black and white. Nevertheless, it didn't look like these two were actually fighting so there was no reason for her start drama when there wasn't any.

Anyway, Ms. Ren, may I ask why are you looking like you’ve been expecting us to arrive here?”

Gyokuen tilted her head as she looked at the two. You can't see them? The Rukh? Oh right I forgot Solomon has ruined you and you don't even know it. Its not your fault. Dorian stood still and rolled his eyes. Here went the psycho chick on another one of her Rukh based rants. Let me show you then. Gyokuen then snapped her fingers and within seconds Dorian and Tenco were completely surrounded by the beautiful black and white representations of life. These little beauties flow from all living things and if you are trained to see them you can follow them to their host. So because of his black Rukh and your white ones I thought maybe it was one person who was about to make a lifestyle change. For example, a little ways away you see a large collection of white Rukh belonging too children with weird key like weaponry. Dorian's eyes shot up and he looked shocked. Wait...what? Key like weaponry you say? Dorain said with his eye twitching. Yes their Rukh was very pure. Gyokuen started to exam Tenco up and down. But...not as pure as you. Nope, nowhere near as pure at all.

Ending Location: B6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Butlerok & Rhadamanthys: Path of Remembrance

As the new Lydia landed on the scene Regulus turned around just to gaze at the person. He had no idea who she was. In fact other than Rhadamanthys he couldn't understand who of these people were. It was almost like he wanted an explanation himself. It was then that the other woman who came out of the forest started to speak. She simply took out a cigarette and let up a smoke. Clearly it was a war taking place. There were armies and weapons of mass destruction. That is all. This other woman would simply be referred to as Madame. Madame looked at her Blade of Olympus and scoffed. Ugh such a gaudy and inefficient weapon, why did I agree to this? The woman clearly started rambling to herself. Is that all you require? Madame said as she looked at Lydia. Regulus snickered in the distance as war was the last thing he remembered before he died. Seems like old habits die hard for Rhadamanthys.

Seconds later a little movement could be heard in the distance. It was clear that someone was coming out of the massive crater, but who would it be, the heroes or the villains. Coming out of the gaping hole in the ground arose all four of the participants with their bodies restored to the way they were before the this massive battle started happening. As all four of the men (once again if your can call them that) climbed out of the whole as they looked at the on lookers. The wide array of corpses that littered the battlefield amused Butlerok and Rhadamanthys. Did we just lose a bet? The specter inquired. Interesting. The four men crossed the battlefield to reunite with the other except Butlerok slowly oozed out Black Blood behind them. Hmm the Spartans are fresh. Chibi Ragnarok grew himself from Butlerok's back. PLLLLEEEEAAASSSSEEE can we eat them! I deserve this! I literally healed all of you. False. I healed everyone with the Rukh. You used one of the Index's books of magic to keep me together while I do so. SEMANTICS. Well we'll ask Kratos out of respect. UGGGHHH, can't wait to be done with this.

As Rhadamanthys made it back to this seemingly interesting base camp he saw that the same magical girl that he had met on the Path of Truth. Had now returned with a serious upgrade. He snickered at her new power. Maybe that was how they survived an onslaught. Well would you look at that, your surplice is gone. Rhadamanthys immediately tensed up as he heard that voice. His malevolent aura immediately started to leak out as he turned his head and stared at Regulus. The golden lion cub was also tense and his aura replied in the same manner. Come on old man...I dare you. Oh little lion cub the pathway has clearly made a mistake. Regress and go get your daddy! Both men grinned from ear as their murderous intent started to taint the air.

Butlerok was going to intervene but a chill went down his spine. He new there was only one person who could make him feel this way. As he surveyed the area he would see a brown haired woman smoking off in the corner. Madame? He said with a hint of nervousness. Madame responded simply by looking at him and Butlerok immediately knelt before the woman. Madame approached the Kishin and stood before him. Debrief. You are a construct of this meant to make me come to terms with my past. Does this have anything to do about that Dorian boy and these foolish card games? No, not this particular instance. Who are these...people? Everyone other than the blond man glowing purple is an enemy. You "healed" two of your enemies? Yes. I see. Madame looked around at everyone else. We need to redo your training then, your constant failures are an embarrassment to the program. Yes Madame.

Ending Location C9

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The Grand Crossover RP - Pathway to Origin [IC/PG-13/Moved to NCM for Finale]

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