77 replies to this topic

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow's eyes narrowed at Grande at the sudden mission request; he'd just barely gotten out of the Fortress in one piece, and whether Grande knew it or not -- he assumed not since he had labelled Steel as a terrorist rather than a pirate -- and now he was being ordered to go right back there?

"Are you kidding me? I just got out of the Forsaken Fortress, and now you're sending me right back?" he said venomously.

Although, a thought hit him then; before long, Grande and his lieutenants were going to be dead. Shadow himself would have more use for the information he'd dig up about Steel than they would... which meant he could go about it a little more leisurely and carefully. He could actually accept the mission and Grande would think he was out of town, giving him the element of surprise. The mission Steel had blackmailed him into would effectively cut his ties with the Alliance anyway, so all he needed were the answers from Grande before he could go trigger-happy.

But he kept a poker face, waiting for Grande's response.

[JRPomazon]

Grande opened his desk drawer and looked through the files. He found a folder and pulled it from the sea of papers. He opened the slim folder and read it over.

"Hmm, that's strange. You said you just came back from the fortress? There is no record of an order involving the Fortress here in your file. Acting without orders is a serious offense."

Grande closed the folder and placed it on the desk.

"However, you've already completed the mission before I ever thought to assign it. And to think that your superiors think you are expendable."

Shadow kept his face straight, but Grande was able to see through the masks of men.

"Because of your relation to the so called "Dreadlord", you have been labeled as an unknown factor. People like that find themselves dead or without a job in this line of work. However, from what I've read in your files you seem like a true patriot for your country. So, your superiors wanted to use you as bait to draw out the Dreadlord before he became too much of a nuisance. They were also hoping you lose your life in the process, mentioned something about it being two birds with one stone. The Uradiel division of the Alliance is so cruel to its own men, I wonder what they think they will accomplish if they keep on killing their own help?"

Two guards walked through the door.

"Now Shadow, report. What was Steel doing in his den of thieves? What was he hiding?"

Edited by JRPomazon, 18 January 2009 - 01:23 AM.

[Ken the Wandering Soul]

Ken stood tall on the deck of the Deserted. Well, As tall as his could with the weight of his sword upon him. He did not stand tall so much as slouched a little bit.

Being left with guard duty was something Ken could live with. It was a little boring, but after the pressure of the past several days, guard duty was a wonderfully mundane thing to do. In fact, Ken was a little worried when he saw Steel come back on board with what looked like some sort of book, but relaxed when he heard the ?as you were? and went back to his duties. It was kind of boring, doing all this, and the time of action would come.

Well, I suppose things could be worse, Ken thought to himself. A lot of things went through his thoughts actually.

I wonder what Jordan went off to do?

I wonder what was in that book...

That cloud sure looks pretty, it reminds me of a feather.

Weird, that cloud looks like a yeti.

I wonder what I will eat tonight.

There sure is a bunch of seagulls sitting on that rock.

Maybe I will go out and eat some bird

Hopefully it will not be expensive.

I guess I have the money for it.

What does she think of me?

Ken blinked a few times and shook his head.

?Where did that come from?? he wondered aloud.

?Where did what come from sir?? a nearby crewman asked.

?Er, nothing, continue your work,? Ken responded.

Tired of maintaining a standing position, Ken walked and leaned against one of the railings of the ship.

[SL the Pyro]

Did he hear that right? He hadn't been given the order to infiltrate the Fortress? And what was this about him being expendable!? Grande had captured his interest... but to the question at hand. He needed to come up with something believeable, taking note of the two people who had entered the room.

"Odd... I remember a Uradiel grunt giving me the mission folder. But since it seems it wasn't official, I guess you won't know that Steel has the Vanadiel princess detained as the Fortress either. That's why I was there, to try and rescue her... but let's just say Steel was crafty. He doesn't seem to have any intent to harm her though, he's keeping her away from the other pirates under his wing."

Shadow let out a disgruntled sigh at having failed that mission... but was it really a mission now?

"Other than that and having to chase down their own ship from a mutinous captain, he was supposed to be coming here. That's why I'm back, I was hoping to catch him before he went back to the Fortress, but I haven't seen him yet..."

Hopefully that'd be believeable enough. Not to mention it was the truth, Shadow hadn't seen Steel at all since he'd left the ship.

"But now I'm concerned. If the higher-ups didn't assign me the mission to rescue a damsel in distress, then who did...?"

Edited by Shadow_Link, 18 January 2009 - 03:00 AM.

[JRPomazon]

Grande placed his hand over his forehead, he appeared to be developing a headache. He pressed his injured hand against the wall, increasing the pain in his hand intentionally. He got to his feet and walked by the large windows in the back of his office. He took a look at the sky and took in the moon and stars.

"The princess' whereabouts were not common knowledge to us. We assumed the princess died during the invasion of Van'Duras. To hear that she is alive after all this time and within the Forsaken Fortress."

A disturbing turn of events. The prince of Van'Duras and brother to the princess had reported that she was not found in the city after the attack and the people withholding the vital information as to where she was. He turned back to Shadow.

"Listen carefully, because I will only say this once: you can no longer trust your superiors. By issuing this order under secrecy and keeping vital information to themselves will be punished as an act of treason."

He motioned to one of the guards.

"Notify the intelligence network about this finding at once. Send warrants for the arrest of the Uradiel lieutenants post haste, I want those bastards in a cell at the by this time tomorrow."

The guard nodded and left the room. Although a mere guard, every soldier in the Alliance is trained for various tasks. One soldier is all it took to complete Grande's request. Grande took Shadow's file and placed it back into the drawer.

"The Alliance thanks you for your information. You are free to leave." He said to Shadow, no longer needing his services.

Lieutenant Knightly, one of the men in charge of Shadow's and other agent's missions in Uradiel was in Hatena visiting his mistress on the expense of the Alliance. He was found first and arrested after leaving the home of his mistress. Response time was quick and results were abundant, this was the work of Weizel Grande. He was placed in a cell a half hour later and would be prepared for questioning.

Edited by JRPomazon, 18 January 2009 - 03:37 AM.

[SL the Pyro]

As if Shadow ever trusted his superiors to begin with, he was practically blackmailed into working for the Alliance. But in any case, this was convenient; now they were all going to be locked up. Even if they weren't killed, they wouldn't be working for the Alliance anymore, so their threat was more or less neutralized. In some weird way, Shadow's mission from Steel was done. A shame that it didn't work out the way he'd hoped -- cutting loose from the Alliance in the end -- but perhaps he'd be able to negotiate that later.

Shadow grunted and said, "Thanks. See you around, I suppose," before exiting Grande's office himself.

The remaining guard in the room, however, did nothing but look at Grande with interest...

[JRPomazon]

It had almost been a full day since the Deserted arrived in Hatena. It was past midnight and the morning hours had yet to let the sun rise again. Jordan had taken care of his legal obligations, Steel successfully attacked and insulted a high ranking officer in the Alliance, Shadow got his answers and Ken was able to sort out his thoughts. But the day wasn't over, not by a long shot.

Jordan, traveling on the empty streets of Hatena under the early morning sky was headed towards the city limits. His destination was an old house sitting on a cliff that hung over the city. It was about one mile away, but the view of the city one could see at this place was wonderful. Tired of walking, Jordan decided to take to the skies. He leaped into the air and traveled far above the city below. He took his glaive from it's sling and slashed downard, creating a gust of wind to propel him higher in the air. He repeated this action over and over, traveling farther and farther away from Hatena. The moon's light provided the necessary light needed to find the location.

"Where was it? It was somewhere around here, I remember it was close to the city."

A small black speck appeared below Jordan. Was this the place? Might as well check it out.

Back at Hatena, Grande sat in his office, feeling the unnecessary gaze from one of the guards.

"Mind telling me why you are looking at me like some sort of idiot?" He asked bluntly.

[SL the Pyro]

The guard simply continued to look at Grande for another moment, before his face contorted in pain. His body began to writhe violently, but he was biting back the screams of agony. His body began to swell in random areas and then turn back to normal... as if something were trying to claw its way out of his body. And then, several disgusting rip sounds were hurt as two large arms tore out of the guard's stomach and through his shirt. Something was emerging, coloured pitch black and an inhuman roar.

The room was then shrouded in complete darkness, except for a pair of red gleams that flew towards Grande with astonishing speed.

The next things Grande saw were things that should not be. He was surrounded by what he could only describe as a whip-stitched sphere of blood and organs, crafted meticulously to look like a myriad of faces all screaming with agony. Each one's gaze seemed to drill into him like a hell-bred hornet. In several instances, he would very quickly enter the mouths of these faces, seeing nothing but images of destruction; destroyed towns, the burnt and ravaged bodies of people, skeletons... everything was going by so quickly, but he found himself unable to close his eyes as every scene and detail was present with staggering clarity.

Then, as quickly as the horrifying visions had started, they ceased. Grande was in darkness still, only it was very slightly lighter. Light enough that he could make out the form of someone taller than him, finding himself staring into his gleaming red eyes. They bored into his soul, shining with nothing but contempt and hatred. Then the eyes closed, and the figure was sheathed in the darkness.

The room then regained its normal lighting, but the one with the red eyes was nowhere to be found. All that was in the room with Grande was a dead guard with a large hole in his chest, and a cold, foreboding weight in his heart...

Edited by Shadow_Link, 18 January 2009 - 11:38 PM.

[JRPomazon]

Grande collapsed, the phenomenon was far too much for him to handle. However, his nightmares would continue within his sleep.

Jordan fell towards the black dot he discovered among the moonlit landscape. He was falling pretty fast, his hair blown back as he descended at full speed. It would seem like he was going to die really soon. Well, it turns out Jordan had control after all as he stopped his descent with a sudden halt before he landed on the ground resulting in a gust of wind to blow throughout the area. For a few moments, it was like he was hovering a few feet over the ground. He slowly landed with both feet on the ground and took a good look around him. This was the place, the house was mission a third of itself and the ground appeared to be scarred from all the soldiers that were here before.

Jordan began to remember what happened here only a couple of weeks ago:

"Shots were fired from the mages maintaining the barrier, men in gray robes and masks to hide their faces. Lighting shot forth and attempted to strike Goose, who skillfully dodged each blast. Jordan watched helplessly as Goose fended off the attacks, but it was uncertain if he could keep this up forever. But what could he do? In his current state he couldn't hope to fend off this many troops and defeat the mages, his body wouldn't be able to manage the stress. He looked at the barrier realized that he had one option left. He couldn't let Goose be defeated here, not like this. Jordan grabbed his weapons. Grande was annoyed by Jordan's retaliation, but he was expecting it.

"Archery Unit: Shoot Jordan of the Whirlwind Spear!"

Jordan swung both of his spears in a downward motion towards Goose, the blades striking the earth.

"Earth Dragon's Fang." He quietly said.

A sudden blast of Wind and Earth, like two sideways tornadoes converging at one point, rushed at Goose who was too busy dodging lightning to notice. As the hit made contact, Goose's boney body began to fall to pieces, one bone at a time. But dismembering Goose was only part of the plan. The razor wind twister ravaged the earth it passed, up heaving a large amount of the ground. So much earth was displaced that it caused part of the cliff and the house that sat on said cliff to become loosened and break off, falling several hundred feet. Goose in several smaller pieces meshed in with the protective debris and fell over the side of the cliff outside of the barrier, since the barrier's influence didn't go underground. Goose vanished, his bones scattered and concealed in the dirt and rock. Jordan however, would have to face the hundred arrows that were hurtling towards him.

As his memories faded back into his mind, Jordan looked over to the newly made edge of the cliff. Goose's body lay somewhere below among the rubble.

Edited by JRPomazon, 19 January 2009 - 12:57 AM.

[Goose]

Laughter turns to Pain
Pain morphs to revenge
Revenge becomes reality
From Death into life

[Selena]

In one instant, Steel was alone in the ship's cabin. In another, a trim figure had materialized out of the dark contours of the room, already seated on the chair across from Steel. The main effective ruler of the pirates. That was the last one. Everyone else had been informed and transported. Now it was just the Fortress. One had been present amongst pirate ranks once before, though he had named himself "Keel" for the duration of his stay there. As Keel, he had been one of Admiral DarkJuno's informants, originally tipping the Fortress off about Selena's less than innocent activities just after the first Dorm War ended.

Now he was there to play messenger, just as he had agreed to do. Not a glamorous job, but, well, it had to be done.

"Excuse me!" Keel said loudly, interrupting Steel's thoughts, disturbing the silence of the cabin. "I'm here to deliver a message on behalf of Her Royal Majesty, Queen Selena of the Labyrinth, Lead Counselor of Ikana, and ruler of all things dark, evil, and slightly seductive! You don't mind the intrusion, do you?"

[Steel Samurai]

Steel ignored Keel until he had finished the notebook. Fortunately he was on the last page. He closed the leatherbound volume silently, and placed it on the oak desk in front of him, bare save for some blotting paper, ink, and a fountain pen in a stand. He looked at the messenger.

"Keel. It's been awhile. I'd heard you were running with the Labyrinth lately, but somehow I thought it would be as more than a mere messenger" Truth be told, his sole spy in the Labyrinth had seen One during the invasion, and Steel had logicked his way from that. Normally he was right, and whoever was on the receiving end thought the Fortress had much greater intelligence than it's already substantial spy network. ". . . Slightly seductive, ey? Hadn't heard that one before. Regardless, please elucidate me."

Edited by Steel Samurai, 19 January 2009 - 01:52 AM.

[Selena]

"Elucidate? The Fortress spent good money on a dictionary?" Keel laughed. "Well, I wouldn't say that I'm running the Labyrinth. Not exactly, anyway. I wouldn't say it in her presence. You should know how angry she gets. One errant twitch and it's 'off with their head!' In any case, I'm the messenger because I'm simply the fastest way for news to travel. The message from Selena is as follows."

He waved his arms. "To all the leaders of the three great dorms: Your presence is requested on Hurian Island for an important meeting regarding a joint operation in order to destroy the Legends Alliance and execute Khuffie. All the lands the Alliance once controlled were previously in the possession of the older domains. It is our right to reclaim them. Now is the time for such an endeavor. If we combine our forces long enough to take Olimandias, the rest of the Alliance will crumble. I humbly ask that you attend the meeting on Hurian Island in order to coordinate our troops."

Keel leaned back in the chair. "And that is that. I can take you to the island myself, immediately, along with whomever else you would care to bring. Providing they aren't Alliance, naturally. Are you interested? Pillage and plunder - every pirate's dream!"

[Steel Samurai]

Steel nodded as he listened to the message.

"Of course, I shan't say a thing about it. And, I will attend this meeting." Devinson's daughter would have to wait. " . . . Provided, of course, that all involved realize that I cannot make any final decisions on the Fortress' behalf. Lord Juno is supreme ruler, I merely execute his will. And all those who oppose him. Regardless, I believe Jordan and Ken should suffice as escorts."

[Selena]

"Very good. She'll be happy to see you there. Assuming that the girl is capable of happiness. It is a mystery." Keel boyishly hopped up from the chair and gestured toward the door. "I would go out first, but, well, I doubt many of your new pirates are familiar with me. I'd hate to end the day with a cutlass going through my forehead. I'll let you lead the way to your escorts. I'm sure you understand."

[JRPomazon]

Jordan leaped off the side of the cliff and began yet another free fall. However, he decided it would be more fun to slide down the steep cliff instead of just recklessly falling to his death. It was about 15 seconds before he reached the bottom of the cliff. Jordan leaped off the side of the cliff and landed on the ground, although the impact from the landing shook his bearings. He sat down for a bit to rest up from what he just did. Why did he do that? Oh well, it was pretty fun while it lasted.

A couple minutes later, Jordan was back on his feet. He dusted his pants off and found himself among a pile of dirt, wood and glass, the debris that protected Goose's body from the Alliance. Jordan took out both of his glaives and threw them into the air. Using his abilities, he began to control them in midair by manipulating the air around them. He began to spin both his hands which in turn began to spin the weapons around like windmills. The speed of rotation began to quickly increase and the winds created by the glaive began to grow stonger. Jordan began to position them to circle around him, picking up all the dirt and debris and capturing it all in a small cyclone. In the eye of the storm, Jordan looked above and kept his eyes focused on the inner walls of the cyclone. He kept moving his hands to maintain the storm. Soon as it began noticed something within the wind and had the air currents remove it from the wind's circulation. It was a large piece of Goose's rib cage. This was good, perhaps getting Goose together wouldn't be as hard as he thought.

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow had rushed back to Steel's ship to give him the news that his task was accomplished when he heard the conversation outside of his door. He had heard enough; rather than be discovered by the quick-witted pirate, he left as quickly as he came. Sitting on the beach at a spot where the ship was but a speck from his viewpoint, he began to think.

"Damn, this is big. This is really big. Selena's actually planning an attack on the heartland of the Alliance?"

He looked to the sky.

"And with all three dorms united... that's something I thought I'd never see. This might work out way better than keeping the Alliance intact; if it goes down this way, the Dorms will be deciding over the land they gain instead of fighting over it. The Dreadlord's plan will be a flop, and the civilians will be kept safe."

He got to his feet.

"With Keel delivering the messages, the Woodies will probably be making their way to Hurian soon. There's no way I'm missing out on a chance to give the Alliance the boot."

He set off to get a ship, the destination being Hurian, at least to catch a sneak peak at the plan of attack if anything. Being out of the loop had gotten him into all sorts of trouble recently, and it was a habit he had to get out of. Who knows, maybe he'd beat the Woodies there.

Edited by Shadow_Link, 19 January 2009 - 03:02 AM.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel rose and nodded. He opened the door.

"Ken. We're going on a little trip. Have you seen Jordan?" He motioned towards the first mate. "Red Soul Strip. You're in charge until I get back, probably in a couple days. Don't do anything to disrupt the order of the town. You should know how I like things to be kept." The pirate was youngish, completely hairless save for a ginger tuft of hair beneath his lower lip, from whence he got his name. He saluted and nodded. Jordan was nowhere to be seen. Steel closed his eyes. Knowing Jordan's aura as he did, it shouldn't be too difficult to locate him. He focused, expanding his senses. Nothing. The warrior was not in the city. Steel turned to Keel.

"Just how far does that teleportation ability extend? How did you know where I was?"

[Goose]

A croak.

"I feel..."

A Shout

"I FEEL AGAIN!"

A Skeleton, coming back to life.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan continued to maintain the windstorm, extracting more and more of Goose's body. It was a good thing some of his bones remained in tact with each other, it would make this job much more manageable. He noticed another odd piece and had the wind remove it from the storm. It was a jaw bone and with all it's teeth no less. along with the jaw, he had his complete left hand, some of his rib cage, his pelvis, part of his right leg and the pinky on his right hand. So far so good. Another piece caught Jordan's eyes, which was quickly removed from the wind. It was another large piece of his rib cage. Jordan placed the bone mass with the other pieces. Another piece came into view, which was shot out from the wind and hit Jordan in the face. It was a shoulder blade and it hurt like hell. Pain aside, Jordan continued to locate the bones and maintained the cyclone.

Edited by JRPomazon, 19 January 2009 - 03:10 PM.

[Goose]

Goose was in the process of being born again. Now that he had the use of his mouth once more he started chatting to the person putting him back together.

"No, not there, thats not going to work, that one goes over there. Yeah, thats it, thats better."

Goose didn't know how to feel. He'd been brought back from the grave once more. Sure, the desire to kill the khuff was there, and the need to destroy the alliance was always around, but he didn't know why he was smiling.

[JRPomazon]

The search continued. More and more of Goose's body was being placed in the eye of the storm with Jordan. It was this point, almost an hour since he started that Goose's arms and torso were completed, several parts of his legs and feet were found and his hands were missing fingers here and there. But his skull was still to be found. However, problems were being to show themselves. Jordan had been keeping this storm up for some time, creating a strain on his body. Bloody cuts, a side effect of using wind manipulation for extended periods of time had begun to appear all over his body. They weren't life threatening to him yet, but it was only a matter of time before his body would give out.

"Not yet, I'm not through yet." He murmured to himself.

Another bone was extracted, a piece of Goose's leg. A cut appeared above Jordan's brow, causing blood to seep down from the wound and into his eye. Damn it, of all the times to lose one's eye. Suddenly, the blood stopped flowing and Jordan's eye was usable again. It was. . . a finger? Goose's finger was diverting the blood away from Jordan's eye so he could maintain his sight. Creepy as all hell, but very much effective.

Edited by JRPomazon, 19 January 2009 - 05:37 PM.

[Goose]

Since his body was coming back into play, Goose was able to use some of his energy to aide his resurector.

He thought these words.


Hands to Hands
Legs to Legs
Heal all he needs

He wondered if he was strong enough for that to work.

[JRPomazon]

The cuts of Jordan's body felt like they were on fire. However, this wasn't a painful experience. It was a warm, biting sensation that appeared to be mending his body. However, the old cuts were healing slower than the new cut being made. At least it was giving Jordan a little more time to reconstruct Goose's body. Another piece was located, the last of Gooses fingers were found. The bone ligament fell from the sky and bonked Jordan on the head. A little bit of comic humor for one who resurrects the dead. All together, Goose's arms, hands, torso and feet were now recollected. All that was to be found now was some of the neck and spine, a couple of leg bones and the skull.

However, there was more than just wounds that would get in Jordan's way. Weizel Grande awoke in his office after suffering from another one of Goose's nightmares a couple of minutes after he was attacked. He appeared to be suffering the laughter just like Jordan was and knew that Goose was in fact a part of this world. Knowing that he had unfinished business left to attend to, he left a spy watching Jordan since he arrived in Hatena. The spy reported Jordan's departure from the city, which made Grande suspicious. Regardless of where he was going and what he was doing, Grande decided that it would be best to return to the scene of the old house where Goose and Jordan were found last time. He sent out the order to sortie a small army of soldiers and mages, the reserves in Hatena's defense force that weren't sent out to Van'Duras.

But Grande did something he didn't quite expect. He remembered his order to arrest the Uradiel lieutenants and have them secured in holding cells for further questioning. But what was the point? They would probably lie about what they were doing, lie to the courts they were tried at and perhaps get off with a slap on the wrist. That wasn't enough. These people were criminals. They deserved to die. So he changed his order from capture to kill the lieutenants, after all, they were traitors. Those men were as good as dead.

After his quick change in plans, he got his force ready and marching within a half-hour's time. They all left the city in that early morning, with only the moon to light the way. Scouts reported to Grande that a small cyclone in the area near the house, proving his suspicions right about Jordan. Infuriated, Grande ordered his troops to increase their pace, increasing their speed by half. They would descend upon the cliff side in no less than 20 minutes. Grande wasn't going to be diplomatic with either of them this time. It didn't matter who it was at that scene. He wanted them dead, he wanted to show that justice does strike fast at those who trend on it.

[SL the Pyro]

Shadow was on his way to the harbour when the small army caught his eye. "Whoa, what the?" Having been in Grande's office when he issued the order, he knew that the leiutenants were going to be arrested around this time. But the sheer numbers left him puzzled. "That many soldiers? How many do you need to arrest someone? Something's going down..." he muttered to himself.

It was then that he started to sense Jordan's energy in the distance, and... someone else's. And the army was heading right towards it. Something was happening, and his gut told him that it wasn't good. He made haste for Jordan's location, putting as much power in his boots as possible. He needed to make it there before the soldiers did.

[Goose]

Goose's skull was located somewhere. His body didn't know where. Goose attempted to let Jordan know that any skull would do, even that of an animal. Though he couldn't yet speak, so that was kind of difficult.

Not yet fully formed, Goose was able to sense that there was going to be another battle, but being in the state that he was in, he was able to prepare a little surprise for the men who would arrive.

Nothing with eyebrows, but something else, equally as gruesome.

[JRPomazon]

The soldiers continued their march and with every passing second came the threat of a terrible reckoning. Grande's mind was set on the total defeat of whoever was at the destination, Goose of Ikana was alive and still an active threat. They would arrive in at least 10 minutes.

Jordan managed to collect the very last piece of vertebra and now needed a skull. It was getting hard to find anything within the windstorm, the skull was being quite the elusive find. Jordan slowed the rotation of his glaives, the winds began to die down. At this rate, he would be dead if he continued using full strength. His cuts were still popping up, but Goose's healing incantation was helping the pain go down as well. Where was it? Where was the skull? Damn it, it was nowhere to be found. There wasn't much time left before Jordan would have to stop. He stained his eyes, looking every possible place.

Something shot out of the cyclone. It appeared to be a small piece of wood. The wooden debris fell towards Jordan as his continued to conjure the cyclone. As it came closer to the ground, the larger it became. This wasn't good, if he didn't stop the cyclone now, he and whatever was left of Goose would be crushed. But stopping the wind might leave Goose' skull lost for who knows how long. The wood continued the plummet.

"DAMN IT ALL!" He shouted into the heavens.

Jordan stopped his glaives from spinning, and threw his hands down towards the ground. The glaives shot through the cyclone and pierced completely through the wooden debris, shattering it into two smaller pieces. The wooden pieces fell back into the cyclone, which was dying down quickly. Jordan recalled his weapons, both of them returning into his hands. Jordan was tired after keeping the cyclone going for as long as he did, damn near an hour. He tilted his head down to find a large off white object coming from the dirt. He dropped to his knees and began to dig, discovering the final piece of Goose's body. The skull looked just as horrific as ever, this was probably a good thing. Jordan began to laugh.

"It was here the whole time!" He shouted, a smile on his face.

He threw the skull over to Goose's body, which apparently had rebuilt itself. The skeleton caught his head and firmly placed it on his neck, shortly after placing the jaw back it it's proper place. Jordan kept on smiling, relieved that it was finally done and over with. Well, that was until he discover the small army was charging towards Goose and himself.

"You've got to be kidding me." Jordan said as he readied his glaives.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel slipped once again through the quiet streets of Hatena, virtually invisible in the shadows. Where the hell was that damn Jordan? He closed his eyes for a moment. Hold on. That aura far in the distance hadn't been large enough to feel before. And Grande's was almost there? Damn. He motioned to Ken and Keel behind him and set off.

[Goose]

"Tee hee"

Was all that Goose said. It was kind of an evil cackle, but it did the job. He looked at the approaching Army of men. This didn't look good. Or did it. Goose had been incanting his spell inside his non existant skull for a fair while now, and now he was able to release it.

He drew a line in the sand around them, a circle of sorts.

Once he was done, he said the following.

"Inside out. Outside in. Upside down, downside up."

As the first of the soldiers started to reach the inside of the circle near the two men their bodies were lifted up and their skin seemed to peel off their bodies as they reversed themselves. What was inside their bodies became exposed to the air, and while their heads used to be at the top of their bodies, they now seemed to be at the bottom. Their bodies were floating around in mid air like this, and you could hear their screams of agony.

The other soldiers stopped in their tracks and started to vomit as they saw their comrades slowly die.

Goose cast another quick incantation and his voice sounded like thunder.

"Stay back, and you will not be harmed. Make one move into this circle and you will suffer the same fate. The circle will slowly grow, so I suggest you run back to your homes and tell your commander to stuff his job, your life is worth more. I should know, this is my umpteenth time alive.

and with that Goose smiled.

[JRPomazon]

Jordan had to look away. He had successfully forgot about all the memories of Goose's expertise. Now, he could remember them very well. But this time, Jordan wasn't going to try to explain things. He was more apart of this conflict than he ever wanted to be. This time, Jordan ready to fight.

"Very impressive Goose, your skills are just as sharp as the last time. However, you will fall this time. And Jordan, I will not offer you any more chances of saving yourself, this time you will pay for your crimes."

It was Grande's voice, being amplified as well. Damn it, he had mages with him.

"Now, by the order of the Alliance forfeit your lives in the name of justice!"

"Wait? What did he say? That sounded awfully dark." Jordan commented as some of his earlier cuts finished healing.

"Archery unit, fire!" Grande said, his voice no longer amplified. Arrows were shot from archers who had positioned themselves on higher ground, the projectiles flying over the other troops and heading towards Jordan and Goose.

"These are mine." Jordan said as he leaped into the air. He swung his glaives at the oncoming arrows, creating a burst of wind that sent them all in different directions. Some of them hit Alliance troops, others missed completely. Jordan landed outside of the circle Goose had made, a small blunder on his part.

"Goose, let's get to work." he said, a devious smile peeking on his face. In the distance, the sun was beginning to rise as Jordan began his charge.