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[SL the Pyro]

(OOC: This needs bumpage.)

[JRPomazon]

(OOC: This needs bumpage.)

OoC: Thank you Shadow Link for the bump. I suppose I'm just gonna have to post.
IC:

Jordan sat on the dirt covered cobblestone street next to the blacksmith shop. XI's dagger was getting an upgrade of sorts, giving the weapon a metal coat to protect it and make it more lethal. His arms where crossed and his back was pressed against the shop. He looked up into the sky and thought about how bored he was. XI was nearby, looking somewhat confused since Jordan had just taken the dagger, ran inside the shop for a minute and came out with his arms crossed. It really didn't make too much sense, even for Jordan. He closed his eyes and lowered his head, resting a little while he had a moment.

A odd breeze crossed Jordan, causing him to raise his head and open his eyes. Something around him was out of place. He shifted his eyes around him, but saw nothing different from before. Where was this uneasiness coming from then? The ground? No, that was unlikely. The ground was paved and it didn't appear as though anything could come crawling out of it. Above? Jordan looked up and saw nothing, nor did he feel any pressure from the wind above him. Was it just his imagination? He lowered his head back down. Maybe it was nothing after all.

"Are you 'Jordan of the Whirlwind Spear'?" asked a female voice from the left.

Jordan's eyes widened. There was someone here after all. He felt stupid for not realizing where she was. He turned to where the voice came from and saw a young woman standing next to him at a close distance. She wore reddish dancing clothes, thin and somewhat revealing. Jordan however was still too shocked that he didn't notice her before to notice her "clothing". She also wore a transparent veil over her mouth and nose. She looked just like a professional dancer.

"Yeah, that's me." He said frankly.

"Since you know my name, then I'm pretty sure I know why you want to talk with me."

"Oh?" she said, in a sarcastically surprised voice. "Do you now?"

She laughed softly, which effectively raised Jordan's temper.

"You mind telling me what is so freakin' funny?" he asked.

She stopped laughing and turned to Jordan.

"Why you of course. You're different than I imagined."

Jordan raised his eyebrow. This woman was clearly an odd one.

"I've been told that you have never lost a single match against anyone you've fought. Quite the legacy if you ask me."

"Thanks, but it's because of this 'legacy' that I occasionally have to deal with people like you who want to beat me. Or in your case, kill me."

With those words said, the woman took out some steel thread and tried to tie it around Jordan's neck. Jordan ducked out of the way and leaped backward, gaining some distance from his assassin acquaintance. Jordan quickly drew his spears and faced his opponent. The woman stood there with her thread smiling innocently, as though she had done nothing wrong.

"My name is Ezra. Please, let me show you my dance."

She put away her thread and revealed spool of string with a long needle at the end. Jordan stood with his spears ready for anything. Ezra tugged at the needle and the stool began to release string at a alarming rate. Before he realized it, the string was wrapped around his right arm.

"Shit!" he screamed.

Ezra pulled the string towards her, flinging Jordan by his arm towards her. As Jordan was being thrown to her, he noticed that she had a dagger in her free hand. She was reeling him in like a fish. Jordan released his second spear and suspended it in midair with wind manipulation. By moving his fingers, Jordan turned the spear to snap the extended thread. Once released, Jordan jumped back again and grabbed the flying spear. He was farther away this time and the thread on his right arm loosened and fell of, like there was no life left in it. Jordan released both of his spears and began controlling them via wind manipulation, the weapons hovering by his sides and pointing at Ezra. Jordan smiled at his new found acquaintance, this match was going to be fun.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken looked through more of the notes, trying to figure out more from the slips of paper. Unfortunately, the one's which were mostly intact were short journal entries with passages like "Issued delivery of package 206 today," or "Still analyzing theoretical structure."

Eventually however, something did catch Ken's attention. One of the papers had a facial portrait, and that interested Ken extremely. The person in the picture was a young man with tattoos on his face, exactly like Ken's. Even though the portrait wasmade with black ink, here were notes on the side which helped confirm that the colors would be the same. The comet-like tattoo under the man's right eye was red, and the two bars perpendicular with the left cheek were blue. Past that, some differences began to develop. The notes said the man had yellow eyes, and hair which was red & black. What made Ken really shocked was that the notes said the young man in the portriat was named Ken Miyamasa.

"No way..."

Ken looked even further, seeing another note that said the original picture was over 150 years old. Once again, there was the signiture of "Professor Hector", whomever that may be.

"Well, this is certainly getting more--"

Ken perked up when he heard a major commotion start up. He looked over the wall to where to smithy shop where he saw Jordan in battle.

"They're in trouble!"

Ken quickly scrambled, gathering up the papers and hastily putting them away, hurrying off to aid the others.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

In a moment the scene had shifted from relaxation and mild confusion to a brawl. As Jordan and Ezra fought, XI frantically searched himself and the ground for his dagger. Not being the brightest bolt, he belatedly remembered it was in the smithing shop. Considering his options, XI noticed that Jordan both seemed to be enjoying himself and had the upper hand. With a shrug, XI hopped up and sat on a lone barrel conveniently left behind by someone on the side of the road.

May as well just sit back and cheer. Who is this chick anyway? An exotic stripper? XI pondered.

Unexpectedly, the blacksmith emerged from his shop, a pair of fine swords in his two hands. He looked very much annoyed, as if dealing with an ongoing problem. "Okay, you lot," he commanded, "Go fight on some other street. I'm not having my building being destroyed by any brawl."

XI felt somewhat safe out of arm's length. In a mood to smartmouth, he hollered out, "Aren't you used to fights like this? This is the Forsaken Fortress!"

The smith's scarred face formed a scowl as he glanced over at XI. He turned his attentions back to Jordan and Ezra, particularly and unconsciously Ezra's partially exposed breasts.

[JRPomazon]

The spears were in midair by each side of Jordan. He crossed his arms and looked over to the smith.

"Don't worry about a thing sir." He shouted over to the blacksmith. "Your shop is safer than you think."

Ezra took the moment to release more of her string, which shot out of the spool and began to wrap around Jordan and his spears. In a matter of seconds, Jordan was tied up with his spears to his neck.

"What the hell is this!?" he exclaimed as he noticed the current situation. He tried to struggle, but to no avail. This woman was more skilled than Jordan had originally thought.

"Well, look what I have here." she said with a devious smile on her face. "It looks like you let your guard down. It's a shame though, I thought you would be tougher."

Jordan continued to struggle, even though it was a fruitless effort. The assassin began to walk towards Jordan, with her spool of string in one hand and a very sharp knife in the other. If things were left as they were, Jordan would be dead in a matter of steps. Was this checkmate? Ezra was one step away from perfect throat cutting distance. The smile on her face was making Jordan sick to his stomach.

"Now, the whirlwind spear will be put to rest. Any final words before I show you the finale?" she asked as the knife was placed near Jordan's throat.

"Now that you mention it. . ." Jordan said as he looked at his opponent. "I guess I'd like to say that you should really put some clothes on."

As Ezra stood dumbfounded, Jordan's right spear came ripping through the string that had bound it and successfully sliced the connection between the string that held Jordan and the spool that Ezra had. Ezra went to give the final cut to Jordan's throat, only to have her knife blocked by Jordan's spear. The string became limb around Jordan and fell to the ground, freeing him and his second spear. Before Ezra could retreat back, Jordan used the wind to send both of his spears at the dancer. She managed to avoid them both in a display of her flexibility and evasiveness. The spears were stuck in the ground. She leaped back and was a safe distance from Jordan once again.

"Hmm. . . now you have no weapons to command. What will you do now?" she asked as she smiled deviously.

"Same goes for you miss." Jordan said as he pointed to one of his spears.

She looked down at the spear and gasped. Her spool was pierced through by the spear and pinned to the ground. She looked up quickly, her face no longer showing a seductive cool expression. She rushed towards Jordan with her knife in hand. Killing him was probably the only thing she was thinking about. She dived at him. Jordan sidestepped, span around and grabbed he arm. Ezra dropped her weapon as her arm was grabbed. Jordan twisted her arm back and recalled one of his spears to his free hand. It was checkmate, only this time it was in Jordan's favor.

"The match is over Miss." Jordan said coldly. "Care to explain why you tried to kill me?"

She began to struggle, stopping her vain efforts shortly after.

"Nothing really, someone wanted you dead and I took the job. Nothing really too complicated."

Just then, her body went limp. She began to fall towards the street head first. However, Jordan dropped his spear and managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Her skin was pale, the warmth was leaving rabidly. Her eyes became dull and colorless. Ezra was dead. Jordan looked at her for a moment and laid her on the ground. Jordan raised his arms and reclaimed his spears from the ground. Once they were in his grasp, he put them in their slings. Once they were secured, he took Ezra's body and picked it up. Once she was in his arms, she began to slowly vanish. Before long, their wasn't a single trace of her left.

Ken and Shadow arrived shortly after the fight was over. XI got off his barrel and came up to the rest of the group. Jordan turned over to the blacksmith.

"You mind finishing that dagger now? We need that done as fast as possible." With that said, the man slowly returned to his work. There wasn't a need for words. Jordan turned back to his companions.

"Well, where should I start?" he asked them.

Edited by JRPomazon, 12 August 2007 - 01:04 AM.

[SL the Pyro]

"Whoa, that's just weird..." Shadow said as he looked on at the piece of paper that Ken had, with his own name and similar facial markings on it. Professor Hector's name was also on it. "Sheesh. Even if you weren't an amnesiac, I think this Hector guy knows you better than you know yourself."

Then he heard the commotion resonating from down below.

"What in the name of Diel?" he thought, heading towards it with Ken.

----------

Shadow had arrived just in time to see the assassin known as Ezra die in Jordan's arms, then vanish into nothingness. Very strange.

"Well, where should I start?" Jordan asked.

Shadow put his hand to his chin. "Well, you can start with who that was..." he said to answer Jordan's question.

----------

(OOC: I found some time at College. I might not be Internet-deprived after all.)

Edited by Shadow_Link, 13 August 2007 - 12:51 PM.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan looked around and decided to walk into the blacksmith's shop. Everyone else followed him into the establishment. The familiar smells of iron and burning coal returned to Jordan's nose, as though it were a wake-up slap to the face. He took a small box and sat down on it, preparing himself to give an explanation. They all had a right to know what it means to travel with Jordan of the Whirlwind Spear. He raised his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat.

"Well, my name as you know is Jordan. My complete title is Jordan of the Whirlwind Spear and no, 'of the Whirlwind Spear' isn't my surname. I received this title of mind from my teacher after I learned wind manipulation from him. After that, people have been coming out of every corner picking fights with me for various reasons, mainly to obtain fame or to some grudge they have against me or my teacher. You see, I've never lost a match against anyone as Jordan of the Whirlwind Spear. I have quite the record if I do say so myself. However, that doesn't mean I'm not familiar with defeat.

As for the young woman I was fighting earlier, see seemed to have heard of my 'legacy' if you will and wanted to kill me for some sum of money. Someone obviously promised her this sum if she could kill me or not, but it seems that she couldn't. However, that is the first time I've seen someone die like that when fighting me, especially the magic act with her corpse vanishing like that."

Jordan paused, gathering his thoughts thinking of the right words to say.

"It is possible that our friend Ezra came into contact with the cloaked man we all know and 'love'. That's the only explanation for her dieing like that after I won the fight, although I'm not 100% sure. However, he does have the ability to control one's mind anyway he wishes, the idea that he can kill someone like that isn't completely impossible."

Jordan got off his box and straightened out his back.

"Here is the real meat of the story. I think I understand just why he wants to kill me so bad. Just make sure you don't go repeating what you are about to hear. You see, many years ago my ancestor was a member of the 'Hall of Heroes'. They were once known for keeping the peace in the Alliance and just as old as the Labyrinth. So you can say that I'm from the linage of heroes. This cloaked person has knowledge of the Hall of Heroes, which means he isn't just some sociopath with a gray cloak. I believe he wants to wipe out the entire bloodline for the Hall of Heroes, for what reason I don't know. I'm still trying to place the pieces together. In order to get my answers, I've got to go to the place where they once lived. The Hall of Heroes once existed where the Lost Woods are today, in the country of Sornaiid. That's why I'm heading there."

Jordan sighed quietly and sat back down on his box.

"Well, how goes the memory hunting Ken? Any luck"

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow took to mind what Jordan had just said. "So he's that Jordan? I guess I should've suspected it after that Vanadiel boat raid... at least now we have a lead on this cloaked guy." he thought. He crossed his arms and looked to the sky. "Let's just hope we don't get any more surprises before we reach Sornaiid, although I guess I shouldn't hold my breath..."

----------

A pirate ship returning to the Forsaken Fortress slowly made its way back into the port. As pirates began to haul gold and other mostly-stolen valuables into the Fortress, black mist seeped out into the shadows and travelled along the wall opposite the gradually-setting sun. As it reached a remote spot on the other side of the fortress, it stopped. "Any new business, Koran?" it said.

A lump of water flowed out and met the darkest part of the shadows where he waited. The water took the shape of a man, but did nothing else. "There appears to be. One of Shadow's new friends who was thought to be dead has returned... the others are Ken and XI, although the former seems to have lost his memory. I'm afraid I don't know much about the other one, Jordan, but from what I can tell he fights on Shadow's side."

"...I see. Very well, return to the Sanctuary." the shadows said.

The water-man nodded. "Good hunting, Z," it said as it sank back into the depths.

Z let out a malevolent chuckle as shadows spewed out of the wall like a liquid, and took their place on top of the wall. It took the shape of a human like the water did, except his body completely formed. His tall, cloak-covered body looked up at the fortress wall. "The sun will be setting soon, the perfect chance for me to strike..." he said to himself as he walked along the wall, eventually finding the despised Shadow. Ken and XI were with him, along with someone else with two spears... this had to be Jordan. "Since this 'Jordan' is a unknown variable in my plan, he will be the first to feel my wrath. Pray that whatever sleep you get is beaceful, boy... because it will be your final rest before eternal slumber... heheheh..."

With that, Z melted into the shadows again, taking refuge until nightfall. They were sure to be spending the night since the day was almost over, and when that happened, he would be ready.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken proceeded to tell Jordan about what he found.

“Well, most of the papers had their ink washed away, but the rest were fairly interesting. There was a large scroll written in some weird language, with a picture of a sword similar to my own. After that, there were some notes signed by a ‘Professor Hector of Roslen University’, that talked about either a sword or some sort of great power.”

Ken then took in a breath.

“What was really interesting was that their was a portrait of someone who had the same tattoos as myself, and according to the notes on it, the person had yellow eyes and red & black hair… And.... and... not only did it say the portrait was over 150 years old, but it said his name was the same as mine...”

This investigation of his past was started to become more deep, and Ken was beginning to feel this would cover more than he thought.

Edited by Ken the Wandering Soul, 13 August 2007 - 09:41 PM.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan rocked back and forth on his box, taking in all of what Ken had said. Jordan thought everything over in his head and once he got an answer, he stopped rocking. He tilted his head up to the ceiling and sighed.

"Well, if what you say is true then that sword of yours has to be something rather important. As for that portrait, it either means you are over a hundred years old or your ancestor had the same name. I'm kinda pointing towards the latter. At any rate, we should see this 'Professor Hector' to see if we can get more answers." Jordan got off his box and kicked it back towards the wall. He dusted his lap and legs off and walked towards the clerk desk. He looked over to the open door and saw the old blacksmith sleeping sitting up.

"Hey old man!" he screamed. "We'll come by tomorrow for the dagger!"

The blacksmith woke up and almost fell over on his face. In a rage, he got up on his feet and came towards the clerk desk.

"You still here?! Get out already, I can't work while you people are breathing down my neck!"

The old man paused for a second.

"Wait a minute, you say dagger? The bone one? I finished that a while ago. You can take it back."

The blacksmith ran back to his forge and picked up the dagger. He hurried back to the front of the store in a hurry.

"Here you go. Now. . . GET OUT OF MY SHOP!"

With that booming voice, Jordan was practically thrown backwards and almost fell over. After regaining his balance, he and the others headed out. Jordan looked around and noticed that the sun was setting. He noticed the spool of thread that Ezra had left on the ground. Jordan walked over and picked it up, keeping it as a memento from their short battle. He noticed that the spool had a hole on the side from where his spear pierced it, but the string seemed to be in one piece. He walked back over to the others.

"Here you go XI, here is your dagger."

He handed the dagger back to XI, letting a grin show on his face.

"Now, didn't you mention before that you live here? Mind if we crash there for the night?"

Edited by JRPomazon, 17 August 2007 - 02:54 PM.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

"Mind? I thought that was the plan?" XI half-asked, half-said pointlessly as his stomach growled, "Oh, huh, yeah, sure. Listen, guys, I'm starved. Haven't eaten since breakfast... Anyone want something to eat?"

The setting sun's rays left an orange imprint on the plaza. As if affected by the stone and wood's golden highlights, the fortress's bizzare population was now more erratic than ever now that night was approaching. Every place that served food would probably be full of any number of people. So by the time the group had found a place to eat, managed to get food, scarf it down, and manage to escape from the crowded one-story building, stars had already coated the night's black sky. The Fortress's blueness was a big contrast to its earlier orange.

XI led the way through winding passages both narrow and wide. The passageway was filled with all sorts of weirdos, but least there weren't any pig monsters that forced people to hide in barrels. There were, however, vicious rats. One particularly ferocious and blue mammal zoomed around stealing people's rings and jewelry, but went by unnoticed due to its ability to move faster than Mach 1. Unknowing of his former partner's mischeif, XI found his way to his room.

"Okay..." XI began as he illuminated the dorm-sized room. A small number of belongings were neatly scattered across a tiny dresser on one wall. Opposite of it was a bunk bed, unused and unclean. Lights from all around the castle came in through the solitary window; if one looked outside it, they would get a great view of a popular stone path and the ocean.

"It's not the biggest in the world. But if two people here don't mind sleeping on the floor it should be allright," XI told his companions as he looked around the tiny room as if trying to find something that had been disrupted in his absence.

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow chuckled at XI's notion of sleeping on the floor. "Hey, if I can sleep in a dingy old dungeon cell, a floor like this shouldn't be a problem." he said, yawning. "Speaking of, I think I'm gonna take a siesta right now... 'night."

And with that, Shadow leaned against the wall and slumped down against it, falling asleep almost immediately.

----------

Unbeknownst to everyone, Z was spying on them from the opposite side of the fortress, out of the light that was shining in the window. He was using a stolen telescope to look. "Perfect, they're almost all asleep... time to set the trap." he thought. As he blended into the shadows, he formulated a plan. He needed a way to separate Jordan from the others without drawing their attention.

As he weaved through the shadows of the fortress, making sure to stay out of the light, he came across a pub. A wonderful, enchanting voice caught his attention. The trouble was that the whole pub was illuminated; as a shadow, he'd stick out like a sore thumb. He needed a disguise... and he found one. An unknowing pirate was wandering into the pub, which was perfect. Z became human, then abruptly grabbed the pirate by the collar and slammed him against the wall. His body became dark smoke again, which seeped into the pirate's body, the color of the Dreadlord's red eyes spreading to the pirate's for a brief moment. It wasn't long before Z possessed him.

"Ugh, this one's body is in terrible shape! I can hardly move him... he must've been drunk." Z thought distastefully. He'd have to find a new body fast before this one passed out. He went into the pub to investigate the heavenly voice coming from it; it appeared that a very beautiful, blonde-haired woman in rather skimpy red clothing was singing on stage. Men were cheering her on from all over the pub. Z did have to admit that she was good. Inside, he smiled. "Hmm... she must be able to throw her voice pretty well, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to hear it over all this cheering. This might be what I need..."

It was arduous to wait because the drunken pirate Z was possessing could black out at any moment, but he managed to stay up until the woman finished her song, giving thank yous as she left the stage. Z left the pub to pursue her, but as he exited the pirate finally collapsed, forcing him to come out in his Shadow Form. He mentally cursed and blended back into the shadows, spotting the woman casually walking away from the pub. Z became solid and lunged at her, tackling her to the ground. She tried to scream, but Z covered her mouth with his hand.

"Make your body my own..." Z said sinisterly. The woman probably thought he was trying to rape her, but that didn't matter to him. He possessed her just like the pirate and got to his feet in his new body. "Much better! This body has great athletic ability. Time to lure Jordan to his doom..." he thought as he ran off in the stolen shell.

----------

It took Z quite a while to navigate through the winding passageways of the fortress, but he'd finally located XI's room. No doubt through all that time he spent that everyone was asleep, which was just how he wanted it. Hiding well enough down the hall, he decided to use the woman's ability to throw her voice, making it so only Jordan could hear. "Jordan... Jordan... come here Jordan..." he said using the woman's seductive voice to try and lure him out.

Edited by Shadow_Link, 18 August 2007 - 09:27 AM.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan sat in a corner close to the window. He took off the sling that held his spears and placed them at his side. Unlike Shadow, he couldn't quite get to sleep as easily. He leaned against the wall, his head facing the ceiling. His thoughts were still on Ezra, the dancing girl from earlier. Was she really employed by someone to kill him? She seemed like the kind of person who would do something like that at first glance. The question was, who was the employer? All clues pointed at the cloaked man, mainly because he loves to make others fight in his stead. This form of indirect fighting annoyed Jordan, especially now that he was using people and disposing them without a second thought.

Before Jordan let his rage boil over, he switched his train of thought to something a little less stressful. About an hour later, everyone was asleep but Jordan. The cool blue tones of the fortress leaked into the room, giving the room the right amount of light to sleep and stay awake A creek from the door resounded in Jordan's ears. His eyes shifted from the ceiling to the entrance of the room. Someone was calling his name from the other side. If this someone knew his name, then clearly they had some business with him. Jordan got up and walked towards the door, placing the sling and spears back on. Chances were that he was going to regret doing this, but he couldn't sleep and he needed to blow off some steam. One of his spears accidentally hit Shadow, who was sleeping closer to the door. The blunt end hit his knee, but didn't seem to wake him. Jordan didn't notice at all and walked outside.

[SL the Pyro]

Z smiled inwardly. "That's it, Jordan... keep going, well away from your friends so they can't interfere..." he thought as he backed down to the end of the hallway, seeing Jordan exit the room.

He went down various hallways, only allowing Jordan brief glances of his possessee as he continued to his destination, which was outside at the rocky beach. He was leading Jordan down this maze of a fortress to stall for time until night almost completely fell, which would give him the advantage.

It a few moments, Z had reached the rocky shore of the fortress, out of sight of others. He gave one last glance in his possessed body to see if Jordan was still following, then stopped in his tracks and turned to face him. "You, Jordan, could prove to be a problem for me..." Z said through the woman's mouth. "Shadow, XI, Miyamasa... I have seen them before and know their skills, but I know nothing about you... that makes you a bit of a wild card, and with my goals drawing ever closer, I can't afford to have wild cards in play... so you will die here!"

With that, a large cloud of black gas issued forth from the woman's body, which let out a sickening gag. Z's body completely formed and he landed on the ground in front of the woman, who fell to the ground unconscious. He let out a sinister smile, is murderous intent clear is his glowing eyes.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan stood, astonished and somewhat horrified from what he saw. The woman fell on the sandy ground like a rag doll. The black mass that was spewed from her mouth took form and landed on the sand. Judging by how he knew Shadow and not him, it canceled out any involvement from the cloaked person. That left only one person Jordan could think of.

"So, you must be Z. I never thought that you would be the size a child." He said, insulting the Dreadlord.

Jordan took only one of his spears from the sling, his eyes focused on Z.

"Listen, you're not my opponent. Shadow is the one you should be fighting, not me. After all, he is the one who is going to kill you. Why would you bother to waste your time on someone who you can't confirm is a threat?"

Jordan took the spear and grabbed it with both hands, waiting for Z's reply.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

As Z and Jordan got aquatinted with each other, so to speak, XI stirred out slumber. A scratching noise and squeaks were flowing into the room from the door. Curious as to whether the noises woke him or not, XI went to investigate. He was still half-asleep as he tried to climb off the top bunk. In his zombie-like state, the boxer-clad kid stumbled and fell ot the ground. Falling face-up onto a cement floor was not the most pleasurable experience.

Cursing loudly, XI got to his feet. He quickly glanced over the room; even in the darkness, it was noticable that Jordan wasn't around. Noting Ken and Shadow were still asleep, XI decided they wouldn't be the greatest sources of information of Jordan's location. Remembering the continued scratches coming from the hallway, XI changed his view from the two sleeping figures in search for his clothes. Spotting the pair of shorts he had been wearing, XI took the newly metal-coated dagger. It could be time to test it out.

"Anyone there?" XI asked loudly, attempting to be deep-voiced and intimidating.

"Sonic!" responded a voice from the other side.

Curious but still dead tired, XI fumbled around with the door's locks. After a moment, he managed to unlock and open the door. The tiny blue headgehog sped through the doorway and leapt to the top of the dresser. XI absent-mindedly closed the relocked the door before gazing at Sonic on the dresser. Only the light of the stars and moon illuminated the room.

"Where'd you go the friends?" Sonic asked, looking over the slumbering Shadow and Ken.

"I just did," XI grunted. He was never in the best of moods after waking up. "Where have you been?" he asked.

"Oh, just making a living for my own around here,", Sonic explained, "But I didn't come here to check on you, stupid boy. I just wanted to tell you what happened to that spear guy. I don't think he told anyone."

"Jordan?" XI mumbled.

"How would I know his name? Anyway, some scantily-clad woman came for him-" Sonic began to tell.

"That's been happening to him a lot lately," XI thought aloud.

"-she came here and led him away to be with her. I was watching from down the hallway," Sonic continued, annoyed.

"So Jordan's having a much better time tonight than any of us are and you're a stalker," XI snapped, "I don't care about any of y'alls private business."

"Be quiet! I'm in a hurry."

"Aren't you always?"

"Hush! So this woman led him away from here and then collapsed and some kind of black gas glorwing-eyed person came out of her and threatened to kill this spear guy," Sonic finished.

"That always happens to us," XI sighed, trying to be funny. He was a bit alarmed in truth, but his tiredness was preventing it from becoming too much so.

"So later then!" Sonic said hurridedly. In an instant, the door had been unlocked, opened, and closed, and Sonic was gone.

XI stared after the door and shook his head. Waking into action, XI turned on the lights, posed thrusting his bare chest out, and shouted out the situation like a war commander.

"Okay guys" XI screamed, "Jordan's off fighting some kind of black cloud guy, who was in disguise as a girl dressed like she wanted some fun time! My tiny hedgehog friend told me so! So let's go help him, or at least go to identify the body! He's.... I don't know where!"

XI stood stupidly for a second before groaning, "This place can't be too many quarter miles, right?"

Edited by 15-Year-Old, 18 August 2007 - 07:52 PM.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

In his dreams... Ken felt he had some connection to his former memory. In that night, curled up in a corner, his closed eyelids saw that red & black haired man from the portrait. He staired at Ken, speaking.

"Tell me, do you know who you are? Do you know what you want? Do you know where you must go?"

The man seemed to dissolve shift, as if to another time and place.

"Promise me this: Realize it all. Realize the answers to all of those questions and live your purpose. Promise me you will die happy, knowing and doing what your very spirit was born into this world to do."

It was in that moment of the dream that Ken heard XI raise a ruckus. As his mind reeled, he managed to catch that Jordan was in some kind of trouble. Just as the last vestiges of the dream left his mind, Ken heard the voice of the black & red haired man.

"... Picture yourself in the form of the wolf. Concentrate on changing what makes you human to what makes you wolf...”

As XI continued on, Ken's mind found a balance as he started to realize that he remembered the words from before.

"Picture yourself in the form of the wolf. Concentrate on changing what makes you human to what makes you wolf..." Ken repeated, as he closed his eyes.

He did just that. He saw his human self, and made it change. He opened his eyes to an eerily familiar sensation. He could not see it entirely at the time, but his body was now that of a wolf. His fur was like his human hair, a white with a hint of greyness to it. The only exception were spots of fur on his face which match the shape and color of the tattoos that were on his face. His sword now hovered a few inches over his back.

I remember that now... the now wolf Ken thought to himself.

It was then the wolf's nose helped with the current crisis. Instinct took over, and Ken took off.

[SL the Pyro]

Z shook his head at Jordan's ignorance. "It's true that you're not my main target, but you are still involved with him, and that could mean trouble for me later. That, and I thought it would be best to deal with you now, considering I don't know if you might be able to do something catastrophic." Z explained, not really caring if Jordan got the gist of what he said. He only wanted him to know one thing for sure, and that was that he was going to die by his own two hands.

Or rather, his sword. Z reached into his cloak and puled out the hilt of his claymore. Darkness gathered around the blade should be and formed the entire, massive sword that had to be at least twice as big as he was, but he could still lift it with one hand. Without any other warning, he dashed at Jordan with his sword swinging in a wide horizontal movement, ready to cleave the enemy in half.

[JRPomazon]

Z made the first move. He was fast at a frightening level, and able to wield a large weapon to boot. Jordan froze, trying to think of what he could do. His eyes widened as an idea revealed itself in his mind. Before he swung his massive weapon, Jordan leaped backward. Using the wind to accelerate his speed, he gained considerable distance from Z. Jordan thought Z wouldn't have been so absolute in his thinking. Merely being involved and with Shadow was reason enough to attack. Shadow must of had it tough for a while trying to deal with Z.

Jordan released his spear and began to control it in midair. With the rotating of his wrist, he began to spin the spear in a circular motion. It picked up speed quickly and the weapon began to look like circular blur. Jordan slammed in on the sandy earth with his manipulation of air and wind. The was a brief pause of silence. "Sandstorm" he said, breaking the silence.

Shortly after, a large amount of sand came rushing from the ground. It was a large wave of sand, large enough to swallow a large pub or house. The wall of sand came rushing at Z, with equally frightening speed. Jordan called his spear to his hand and watched what would happen next.

[SL the Pyro]

Z glared at Jordan; he had some decent speed, and the ability to control wind like Sora. On this beach, this could prove troublesome. And that it did; a wall of sand was rushing at him. Calling up that much sand would take some decent magic power. But therein laid the problem; not enough magic power to blow him away. Z wouldn't even needed his magic to stop this. He just planted his gigantic sword into the ground, then grabbed hold and hid behind it to protect him from the sand and wind respectively, not preventing him from being buried but giving him minimal damage. He waited until the Sandstorm passed, then erupted out of the sand and made a jump attack for Jordan.

"Wind magic... against most people that'd work, but I've seen better." Z said in an unamused tone as he brought down his sword.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan watched Z grab his sword from the ground. The attack managed to keep in on his guard, but that was all. It seemed that Jordan was going to have to think of a new strategy here. This man, this "Z" was far more dangerous than he originally thought. Z lunged at him again. Jordan swiftly dodged his broadsword attacks one after the other, using the wind to increase his evasiveness. Jordan could only smile, seeing as Z didn't quite understand Jordan's abilities. He viewed his power as "magic", when in reality, magic had nothing to do with it. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. The sky started to become darker with clouds moving overhead. A storm was on it's way towards the fortress. So far, Jordan was only being defensive. It was time that he took the chance to strike. Jordan leaped back once more and grabbed his second spear. Jordan launched himself into the air. Jordan threw one of his spears at Z while grabbing the other with both hands. Jordan was high above the ground when he began his descent towards his opponent, his speed increasing at a abnormal rate. Getting too close wasn't a good idea for this kind of opponent, but dodging forever would do any good either.

Edited by JRPomazon, 20 August 2007 - 03:37 PM.

[SL the Pyro]

Z grinned sadistically as he saw Jordan's other spear coming at him. He sidestepped it quickly and, expecting an aerial attack, raised the flat of his Halberd in defense. As Jordan slammed into it, Z grabbed his other spear that was stuck in the ground and swung stabbed it at Jordan's exposed legs.

Edited by Shadow_Link, 20 August 2007 - 04:29 PM.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken charged about, the beastial instinct within him guiding him. A part of him felt surprised and shocked, but was slowly becoming used to the feeling he had of this form. It felt natural -- something in the back of his mind told that this was alright, that this is part of what he is.

As he went along, the wolf eventually picked up the smell of something was familiar, but resounded in his mind as dangerous. Whatever lured Jordan away was an opponent he faced before. It was not terribly long before he saw the source of the malicious scent.

Another spark of intsinct ignited. Snarling, Ken jolted forward to Z, tackling him as the dreadlord aimed for Jordan's legs.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan was caught. His spears were being held. He was wide open. The Dreadlord took Jordan's spear and tried to slice his legs with it. Being attacked with your own weapon was rather humiliating, to say the least. Jordan knew it was a bad idea from the start, but it really didn't seem to matter. Just when the spear made contact with Jordan's upper leg, and silver blur hit Z, pushing him back and causing him to release Jordan's spear. There was a minor cut on Jordan's leg, nothing to worry about. Jordan called back his spears and looked over to the thing that just saved him from a great deal of pain. It was. . . a wolf?

A white wolf had pounced Z to the sandy earth. He had a sword hovering over his back. . . wait . . . a sword. It was a rather large weapon for a animal to carry, but it looked familiar. The clues connected in Jordan's head. A light had just sparked in Jordan's head. His eyes opened up from amazement.

"Ken?" Jordan thought out loud.

Edited by JRPomazon, 20 August 2007 - 06:14 PM.

[31-Year-Old-From-Georgia]

XI stared out the door blankly. He tried to say something, but nothing would come out. The sheer randomness of the last few moments was enough to make his vocal chords unusable. After wrestling a quiet rasping noise out of his throat, XI managed to stutter, "Did... did... did Ken just turn into a white wolf and charge out of here?"

Shadow didn't seem much more vibrant than XI did at the moment. He may have also been taken aback by Ken's unexpected transformation. Or he could have been sensing some kind of powerful mystical force. Or he could have been trying to hold in a midnight shat. XI didn't really care about it all that much, and couldn't bring himself to pretend to. Acting as if a robot, he simply rediscovered the previous day's clothing- still on the ground- and put them on. Zipping up his shorts, XI finally clicked into the present situation.

"Holy shit! Ken just changed into a wolf and ran out of here and Jordan was horny or something I don't know and now is fighting some kind of darkness person! Where's Ken going!? Is he going to eat someone?! Agh, this is so freakin-" XI screeched into the heavens of his tiny room.

Stopping mid-sentence, XI bolted out of the room. As he ran aimlessly, stones and a few mysterious sharp objects scraped into his feet. Cursing loudly, XI stopped, nearly tripping in the process. It seemed he had forgotten to put on sandals. Panting deeply and in full panic mode, XI looked around for anyone. Only one person was in sight: a rather ugly brunette girl only a few years older than him. With a shrug, the barefoot and disoriented kid charged through the stone hallway to her.

"Hey! Have.. you... seen... a... wolf... or... bikini girl... or... guy with.. spears... or... shadow... monster... or... hedgehog... or..." XI panted.

"There you are!" the girl roared. Losse, dirty skinned rattled all over her body. "You leave me in the middle of a climax just to randomly show up now, sweating and panting?!"

XI stared strangely at this bag of bones as he heaved, managing to say, "What the hell?"

"Well, you know how I like my men! Get over here, you-!" the horny freak screeched.

XI flew in the oppposite direction. She wouldn't be any help, whoever she was. Dim overhead lamps lit the filthy hallways, but weren't strong enough to reveal the slivers of unknown substances scattered all over the ground. After only a few minutes of mindless running, XI's feet were torn up so badly he was beginning to leave bloody footprints. This is hopeless, XI concluded in his mind. Without the strength to carry on, XI simply fell in his place. It felt like a giant snake was squeezing at his lungs, a feeling XI was nearly a bit too familiar with a short time ago. As he lay huffing like a dog, XI began to think of a way to get organized. He needed to return to his room to find his sandals, for one thing. His room where the only remaining occupant was an oddly-clad stranger XI couldn't help but be suspicious of, mainly because he knew nothing about him.

Hollering an explicative, XI clumsily returned to his injured feet. He was on the move again. He knew there were two places he should be, he didn't know what one of them was, and he had no idea how to get to either. This was definetly not the best night that a person could have.

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow was a bit startled at first, then he began to think. "Wait, I think Kitsune told me about this... it's one of Ken's abilities. I guess some of his memories came back while he was snoozing. This could only mean that something bad is going down!" He activated his magic boots and dashed out into the hallways, grabbing XI by his shirt collar on the way as he came across him. "What are you doing just standing around!?" he yelled at XI, although he didn't mean to; he was just in a hurry.

----------

Z looked in surprise at the new foe. "WHAT!?" he shouted as he recognized Ken's wolf form as it dashed him away from Jordan. Now he was pinned to the ground by the white wolf. "I thought you lost your memory! A terrible time for a trip down memory lane!" he retorted before kicking Ken off of him before he got mauled to death.

He quickly got to his feet and readied his sword as he took in the new situation; two on one, the first person able to control wind and wield two spears, the other a wolf with a large sword. This was a problem; they could both move fast, so if he only targeted one, the other would be on him immediately. He had to attack them both.

"But no matter. A main rule of battle is to choose where and when to fight... this nighttime is perfect for me, because it means I can do THIS!" Z said with both confidence and venom as he raised his sword up straight. It glowed with his dark purple aura for a moment, then he lowered it down and spun around with it. The sword released a wide wave of dark energy at both Ken and Jordan.

It was unfortunate that Shadow XI came along at this moment, standing out a bit in front of the others. "Oh, shi--" he was about to say when Z's attack collided with him and XI.

Edited by Shadow_Link, 20 August 2007 - 06:47 PM.

[JRPomazon]

The blast came right at Jordan and Ken. Jordan couldn't move at all. The pressure was becoming to great for him to handle. It was like the time on the battle ship all over again. No, it wasn't like that time. Jordan didn't think fast enough and got hit by the blast. The armor on his body began to burn away, parts of his clothing took a hit as well. It was all happening too fast for Jordan to take a mental note of everything. It was like he was on fire. When it was all over, Jordan was a foot or two back, his spears were dug into the ground, keeping him from flying from the blast. His body was still in one piece, his armor was smoldering. Rain had begun to fall, becoming steam when it hit his armor. Jordan knew time was in short supply, so his took his chance.

He dashed at Z with full speed, parts of his armor falling off his body in the process. By using a magic blast like that, he left himself open a brief moment. By the time anyone could realize it, Jordan had thrust his spear straight through Z's foot. Jordan was still holding to both his spears and was inches away from the Dreadlord with one free spear. "Listen to me when I say this, because I will only tell you once." He said quietly. "My name is Jordan of the Whirlwind Spear and I never lose at battle. Ever." Jordan raised his free spear towards the sky.

A bolt of lighting came crashing from the heavens. Using the spear as a lighting rod, the two were both struck by the lightning bolt.

Edited by JRPomazon, 20 August 2007 - 07:16 PM.

[SL the Pyro]

Z was nothing less than surprised when Jordan used himself as a lightning rod to try and take him down. It was a battle of endurance now; whoever could take the lightning would be victorious. Needless to say it wasn't pleasant to be struck by lightning like this, but compared to the Kaze no Kizu blasts of light that Kitsune used to pelt him with, this wasn't so bad. "Well... there's a first time for everything, Jordan..." he strained to say, trying to get his free arm to move. It was hard with the lightning electrocuting him, but he'd been through much worse. Using what strength he could, he thrust his fist into Jordan's face; being paralyzed as he was, there was no way he could avoid it. His plan had backfired.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan took the hit dead on. Z's fist connected to the front of his face. Jordan stood there, appearing unaffected. He was still even able to hold his spear up in the air. However, it only appeared that way because Jordan's nerves were all stunned by the lightning.

"You hit like a girl Z." Jordan said with a smile on his face.

Jordan shoved his spear deeper into Z's foot. Satisfied with how far Z's foot was impaled, Jordan let go of the spear holding Z down and gave him uppercut the Dreadlord square in the jaw.After connecting, he lethargically placed his grip back on the spear. It was Jordan's way of telling the him that he was still able to fight. Jordan's body was still smoldering, his clothes and armor were on the brink of catching on fire. Oh well, if they did the rain would put them out.

OoC:
Ok, this has been pretty awesome to write. Since I know neither of us what to kill off our characters, let's just have them beat the crap out of each other.

Edited by JRPomazon, 21 August 2007 - 01:57 AM.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ooc: If I may gentlemen?

The wave of darkness had thrown Ken against a wall, adding to the inherent pain of the attack. Bruises formed under his fur. He whined as the pain crawled throughout his body, and for awhile it seemed as though it would never end. Ken wanted the pain to go away, but it kept hanging on, tormenting him. He felt as though he was on the brink of passing out... But the beastial instinct started to take hold, forcing him to take it.

Ken's vision blurred, distorted. His eyes were no longer interpretting as they normally would. Everything seemed to break down into one of two simple components: Threat or No Threat. Against the obscurity of Jordan, and the newly entered XI and Shadow, Z's body lit up as a Threat.

A low, gutteral growl emitted from his throat, and Ken charged forward, and jumped up to the Threat, with the intent of biting into him and thrashing him into submission.

Edited by Ken the Wandering Soul, 20 August 2007 - 10:54 PM.