2004-04-11 Enter Seraph

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Enter Seraph

Summary: Johnny tags along as Samantha enters the Badlands and the two face off against a small army of lizard people, but that's not the least of their problems...



Who: Johnny_C, Samantha, Seraph
When: April 11th, 2004
Where: Unabara Avenue


The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC).
This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved.

Questions should be directed to staff.


UNABARA AVENUE


Samantha is striding down the road from the south, tying back her hair with one hand as with the other she lifts her tanto up to the moonlight to examine its edge. In addition to her usual getup, a rough green rucksack is slung over her right shoulder, hanging empty alongside her shortsword.

Johnny sits alone against a building with a journal between his legs and a pen in his hand - sketching and writing simultaneously with a grin on his face.

Samantha smiles to herself as she continues to make her way along the street, spinning the shorter of her blades around her fingers before she slams it home into her backsheath. (I'll be fine alone.. not like I can't outrun most anything we come up against, maybe I'll be better off without anyone to look out for anyway....) Lost in thought she fails to notice Johnny as she passes by within a foot of him, most likely catching him with a graceful sweep of her tail as she strides past.

Johnny glances up annoyed as, deep into his artistic activity, a tail smacks him across the face out of nowhere. His train of thought derailed he instinctively jumps to his feet, dropping the pen and reaching for his dagger. "Who the HELL do you think you are? Can't you see I'm just minding my own-" He stops short as he recognises the body attached to the tail. "Sammy?"

Samantha blinks and stops hearing the yelling, glancing back over her shoulder with a sheepish grin and an apology at the ready. Of course even with enhanced racial hearing it would be far too much to ask that she -recognise- the voice, so she blinks twice more, before her eyes widen and she recognises Johnny at about the same moment he does her the same honour. "Oh! Heya..." she smiles and turns around fully to face him, waving with her right hand, "Sorry, didn't mean to bother ya.."

Meanwhile her tail curls around her left ankle.. poor tail :(

Johnny smirks as he realises the irony that the one time he doesn't look for Samantha, she finds him. "Nah, it's alright. I don't normally sit in the middle of a sidewalk when I draw, but the moment just kinda came to me and I had to take advantage of it... Where you off to?"

Samantha gives a faint shrug and moves to lean against the wall, "Just goin' to check out somethin' in the Badlands.. kinda desperate for cash right now, plus I figured it'd be fun... gotta keep testin' myself, right?" She shrugs again then looks at Johnny seriously, tipping her head to one side, "Have you been okay since last night?"

Johnny does something genuinely rare for him, he smiles happily. "Yeah... it's been quiet all day. Nothing to complain about yet..."

Samantha giggles softly and nods, "That's great! Stay that way, huh?" She pushes off from the wall and starts to turn away, looking back over her shoulder as she lifts a hand to wave again, "Anyway, I'll letcha get back to yer work.. sorry again!"

Johnny gives a half wave as he looks down at his notebook, and then back at his friend as she walks away. With a shrug of his shoulders, he snatches the book and pen up and jogs to catch up with her, "Hey! Wait up! You want some company?"

Samantha has only just begun to stride away again when Johnny calls out, and she catches herself a little too quickly.. tail flying out to adjust her balance as she spins about. Pausing to steady herself, she then hesitates again, blinking at Johnny a couple of times.. before shrugging and turning away again as he catches up, "Sure thing! The closer areas've been pretty quiet recently so it's not -that- dangerous... long as yer ready to move quietly for a while."

Johnny shrugs again, "Ain't nothing new to me..." Shoving his journal back into his backpack he twirls his dagger - still in his other hand - before putting it away.

"Great!" The girl shrugs quite happily as she strides off, trusting NNY to follow. She reaches up with her right hand, hitching the thumb under the strap of her pack.. not for weight compensation but just because. "I was gonna go check out the wall o' skyscrapers in the middle so it's a few miles... I got some food an' stuff, so we'll be cool but it's best to move quick 'till we get there. The outer fringes're kinda full of stuff I'd rather not bother with."

Johnny follows beside her and runs a hand over his not-quite bald head. (Patches of hair have begun to grow back, yay!) "Um.... I haven't wondered around there much, so I really don't know what you're talking about, but whatever... lead the way!"

Samantha nods and picks up the pace a fair bit, though doing it slowly enough for Johnny to adjust. "Cool.. it's not too bad out there. I mean... I've only had'ta be carried home -once- an' that was fine coz we had a car." She shrugs and continues on, "But let's just get out there, ne?"


BADLANDS - SECTOR S6


Samantha has thus far led the way through a variety of ruined streets and alleyways, occasionally tensing up at a sound and insisting they keep to the shadows for a time.. all in all it's a good couple of hours hard urban trekking before they reach the point that the 'wall' of skyscrapers looms nearby... the fallen spires looming suddenly out of the mist. "There..." the girl murmurs softly, glancing back at NNY, "That's what I wanted to check out..."

Johnny would seem to be almost casually strolling behind Sammy with a can of soda in one hand and a pair of goggles around his eyes. Looking up at the buildings he takes a sip of his soda and "Ooooooh"s. Raising an eyebrow he points and comments, "That kinda looks like part of Neo Tokyo over there..."

Samantha shrugs, looking horribly unimpressed, "Yeah.. well, cities kinda all look the same after a while..." her ears twitch and she glances off to one side, into the shell of a nearby building, the inside mostly lying in shadow. Tilting her head she drops slowly to a crouch and reaches around to grasp the hilt of her shortsword, glancing back at NNY after a moment's pause, "Down.."

Johnny walks at an exaggerated mockery of stealth as he creeps over to where she looks. "Down it is..."

Samantha can't help but smile a bit as she frees up her sword and suddenly springs forward, "Back before ya know..." as this quick whisper dies on the wind she flips up onto a low stack of rubble and then in through a still-standing window frame on the ground floor. Silence.

Right behind Johnny comes a sharp whistle followed by a short scatter of dirt as something skitters across the rubble-strewn floor directly behind him.

Johnny glances calmly around him and grins at the darkness. Under his breath he mumbles, "I feel like I just walked into my basement..."

From inside the building comes the sound of steel clashing with mithril, the latter's bright tone giving it away, and then, just shortly after, the perhaps -too- familiar sound of metal slicing flesh. Something heavy slams against one of the building's cracked and broken walls, and two seconds later Samantha appears vaulting back through the window with her blade streaked with blood. "Done an' done!" She exclaims brightly, though at that very moment comes another sharp hiss of air and a crossbow bolt lands quivering in the edge of the wooden frame at her shoulder. She hits the floor in a crouch, tucking immediately into a roll that carries her behind the long-dead skeleton of a van, left hand inside her body-warmer she moment she comes up into a tense half-crouch. "Johnny.. get outta there! I've fought these before, they're pretty stupid..."

Johnny glances around just as calmly as before. With a grin he steps backwards into the shadow of the neighbouring building and... vanishes. Between his seldom used skills of stealth, his choice of black clothing, and his newfound ability of manipulating shadows he literally disappears from sight.

Samantha closes her eyes for a moment before she dares to stand, shifting to her feet and looking out across the top of the blackened ex-van, her left hand drawn back with four shuriken held between its fingers and the right still grasping tightly to her sword. (Funny though.. they didn't use bows the last two times. Weird...)

Across the ravaged street is another building, four storeys high though the top two are little more than gutted walls with narrow walkways running along their edge. Two creatures are visible within, one on the third level, only half visible as it stands at the edge of a window, frantically toying with something out of sight and the other moving about in the gloom of the lowest level, only given away by the glint of the blade in its right hand until it moves into the light, framed in the doorway and suddenly completely visible. In fact the 'creatures' barely qualify for such a title.. they look disarmingly human, though primitive - sharing some Neanderthal traits. It's the skin that really distinguishes them, being a shade of deep green and appearing much tougher, more calloused than that of most ordinary humans. Both are clad in suits of hardened leather and chainmail tabards whose links are clogged with the dirt of the Badlands. The one in the doorway now opens its mouth, revealing unusually sharp but otherwise totally human looking teeth and speaks.... though the language is unrecognisable, any literati would spot a relationship to Latin among other well-known languages. Clearly they are not as primitive as they appear, something also described by their well-crafted and maintained weapons, the one on the top floor holding up the now once more cocked and ready light crossbow that has launched both bolts thus far and the one who has just spoken shifting his horny grip on the hilt of a sharp longsword.

Johnny stands silently watching the goings on. Although he doesn't have a clue what is going on, he waits for an excuse to draw his weapons. But, as he was asked, he stands still and stays quiet until he might be needed...

Samantha remains totally tense, unmoving as the ground-level creature speaks again.. the tone is gruff but not threatening and she begins to lower her handful of sharp pointed stars when suddenly the next crossbow bolt buries itself in her shoulder and her eyes slam -wide- open. Glancing off to the side briefly to check for Johnny (Where is he..?), she promptly vaults the skeletal vehicle and clears the space dividing her and the swordsman in a second, flickering into full visibility just in front of him and spinning on her heel, whipping her left hand around as she turns and sending four ki-charged shuriken slamming into his green-skinned face. "HYAH!" Flying around through three hundred and sixty degrees, she follows up by impaling the muscular humanoid in the stomach, blade tearing through chainmail ringlets and piercing halfway through his body before she jerks it free again, red-black blood spattering out onto the dusty floor.

Johnny decides that if Sammy is gonna kill, he can too and creeps around until he gets a view of the archer. Still cloaked in shadows he contemplates doing something dramatic and flashy, but instead rolls out into the street - his eyes still black from the rush of any form of kill and does an overly dramatic job of hopping to his feet, raising his arm, and launching a small metal spike at the archer's head. Had this been anyone else, in any other situation, or at any other time of day it might have been impressive. But with the grin of his face NNY simply looks like a drunken fool...

That spins the hastily reloading crossbowman right off his feet and he is sent flying from the narrow wooden 'ledge' on his level, slamming into the floor twelve feet below and sending a wave of dust and brick dirt hammering down into the ground floor below. Samantha, drawing back from her kill, wipes her sword on one of the dead brute's leather pauldrons before reaching down to relieve him of his longsword... giving it a few absent-minded practice strokes, she glances back at NNY with a grin, "See.. told ya it wasn't too dangerous... keep a look out though, last things I fought with green skin had a whole army waitin' in the sidelines." She spins and heads back out of the doorway, a sword in either hand now, and glances towards the wall of buildings that was her original goal. "I say we-" *thwip* Her words are cut off as another bolt buries itself in the ground by her foot... coming from within a group of three other green skinned brutes, dressed much the same way, who emerge from a nearby alleyway. An archer, a swordsman and one armed with a hefty two-handed flail. "Ready to rock?" The girl quips as she drops into a dash towards them, twirling both blades around as she moves in at - for her - a casual pace, knowing she's sure to get there before the crossbow can be primed again.

Johnny twists his head around towards the source of the bolt long before Samantha can ask her question. However the moment she does, he grabs his hooksickle and pulls it off, twirling it around once in his hand before charging at the group himself. Probably as a result of watching too much anime he quickly drops to his knees - letting his momentum carry him the necessary foot in the dirt remaining before being in close enough to swing the weapon with the momentum he had built up. His goal: Detaching the feet from the nearest creature before they can think of swinging at the foolish maniac...

The creature is swept from his feet just as he swings the longsword in a vicious hacking slash towards where Johnny's neck -would- have been a moment before... apparently they don't have anime in whatever dimension these humanoids have come from. The sound accompanying this loss of footing is less than pleasant as flesh rips and tears, blood spattering towards the maniac as the simple leather trousers worn by the brute not enough to save it from this attack, and its muscular form comes slamming down backwards into a puddle of slick oil on the street, the longsword skittering away to come to a stop a few feet away. Meanwhile the archer is falling back, hurriedly cranking on the crossbow and seconds from having it reloaded when the hilt of the nekogirl's captured sword, thrown towards him as a hurried last minute thought, catches the stock of the weapon and snaps the string, rendering it useless. This act accomplished, Samantha closes with the flail bearer, swerving to avoid a downward swipe with the heavy spiked ball and shifting into the creature's side as he is over-stretched, her fist closing in his mailed stomach with a flash of blue-white ki. As he remains doubled over she twists away and brings her short blade down in a violent slash to the back of his neck, the head halfway severed from the body as he falls in a spurt of blood.

Johnny chuckles at Samantha as he uses his weapon to support him as he climbs to his feet. He seems to be trying rather hard to keep himself from going over the edge in bloodlust... Standing he watches the nekogirl disable the other two as he stands over his own target. Instead of his usual sickening display of torture, he swings the hooksickle over his head with both hands and brings it down directly into the thing's head, the blade going deep into the ground beneath it sending a spray of blood high into the air. Grinning he places his foot on the corpse's stomach and yanks the blade back out nearly snapping the neck of the dead monster and causing a blood chilling crack to come from it in the process...

Samantha glances at Johnny and flashes a grin, moving on before she can see his final display of violence.. sprinting a short distance to come in front of the archer who now wields two broad-bladed daggers. He opens his mouth wide, revealing that one of the small fangs to either side of his maw seems to be painted black - the same on all of the creatures, if one were to look closely - and roars a challenge in that same strange language. Smirking, the nekogirl slips back a pace and turns herself side-on, lifting her left gloved hand to beckon him on as she shifts grip on her shortsword to bring it up at her right side, feet set firmly and whole body tense and ready to spring the moment the brute takes the bait.

*thwip* Another crossbow bolt.. zipping past Johnny's left side and hammering into the upper arm of his fallen opponent.

Johnny blinks, and glances around for the source of the incoming bolt. Raising an eyebrow he pulls his goggles up to give himself a better view. Stepping back a second he vanishes into another shadow and waits to see if the attacker reveals himself.

Samantha's opponent hesitates before charging in, moving with a fair amount of speed and natural grace despite his armour and general appearance. With a martial cry one dagger is released mid-slash and sent spiralling down towards the girl's thigh, which suddenly shifts just enough for the projectile to miss as she turns at the hip, bringing her sword around to almost casually meet the other dagger halfway towards her neck. "Nice try..." she murmurs quietly as her left hand flies up to fire off a spear of pale blue ki into the creature's chest, hurling him backwards into a rusted fire hydrant, the other dagger falling to the floor halfway there. The nekogirl glances away to take in Johnny... not seeing him once again she blinks softly before turning and striding over to her opponent, now struggling to his feet determinedly. And the bolt? That came from a good way up the road, a taller, lither and more capable looking greenskin standing there, letting the released crossbow tumble to the floor as he reaches over his shoulder, past his long sweep of chestnut brown hair, to unhitch the greatsword that hangs from his back. As the blade comes clear, brought to the traditional two-handed grip in front of him, he cries out a challenge similar to the one voiced earlier by the archer currently facing Sammy.

Johnny laughs and charges at the sight of his attacker's weapon. Borrowing an idea from Sammy, he runs up over some vehicle wreckage and tries to shorten the gap between it and the two fighters it seems to be on the way to join. As he jumps from the last hulk of machinery he launches his remaining hook-chain at the beast as he pulls the hooksickle back ready to swing should the chain miss...

Samantha's ears twitch and she glances away hearing Johnny's charge commence, tilting her head curiously. This sudden distraction gives her victim time to scramble up and reach back to pull free a third dagger as he lunges forward, ramming his shoulder into the nekojin's tight stomach and bringing her down to the floor. Landing on top of her he draws his hand back and brings the dagger pick-wise down towards the gem in her collarbone, the girl pinned by his bulk and momentarily unable to react... At Johnny's end of things, the lithe greenskin simply smirks and drops to a dashing half-crouch, veering off to one side past the chain and meeting Johnny's charge by dropping to one knee and quickly bringing the two-handed sword around in an upwards slash for the boy's chest. This will leave him totally open should it fail, but he seems to be an experienced swordsman and the timing is well judged.

Johnny watches the greenskin run to the side and gets a brief moment of inspiration. As the end of the chain hits the ground and locks into place, he yanks on his end of the chain, using his own momentum to pull himself just out of the reach of his attacker's blade. Kicking up dirt as he comes to a stop, he pulls his readied arm around sending his weapon's blade directly towards the exposed chest area of the greenskin.

The lithe creature just follows Johnny with its deep green gaze, smirking as the hooksickle's blade throws up sparks against its dull iron breastplate. Letting one gloved hand slip from the hilt of the greatsword, he reaches up to grab the far end of the sickle's haft and yank hard upon it, lifting the heavy sword up with one hand to catch Johnny on the point should he stagger... not pushing with enough force to kill, but enough to cut. Seems like he's not out to end the maniac's life just yet.

Samantha closes her eyes as the purple gem in her collarbone explodes with a violent ray of light, hurling the dagger's point aside and saving her life not for the first time. As the creature's eyes widen in shocked surprise, she rolls upward, planting a knee in his back and bringing her arms around to toss him neatly overhead. He falls in a heap at the centre of the road, starting to rise already when the nekogirl springs up and strides across, planting a foot on his back and lifting her right arm, the other hand coming to rest at the bracer guarding the pale flesh.

As the blade pierces NNY's skin he not only screams, he growls. Deeply and darkly, the voice of his anger erupts from inside him. From the wound flows a dark fluid, not quite unlike blood. The darkness quickly pours out of him spreading across his skin as opposed to spilling out onto the ground. His eyes turn white as his body becomes a solid black mass. Cackling, he drops his hooksickle and goes for the one weapon this beast could not have anticipated - the recently charged tazor! Holding the tip against the beast's blade as it impales him. The resulting shock to his own body would be dulled by his dark skin but he'd most definitely feel it when he calmed down later...

Samantha glances off to the side as she adjusts her grip, sharp rush of air sounding through the area as a hundred sharp needles suddenly pepper her opponent's prone back, throwing up gouts of flesh along with a veritable rainstorm of blood. Ignoring this the girl drops her arm and takes her foot down, turning away and heading back to retrieve her shortsword before she finally glances back to the other end of the street, watching as the tazer 'blast' shoots up along the cold length of steel and into the gloved hand of the maniac's green skinned assailant. Which would be fine were they not fingerless gloves, as it is the creature gives a very human scream and falls back, dropping the greatsword hurriedly - leaving the tip to makes its own painful way out - and scrambling away with one arm now rendered useless, the other reaching behind to draw a long knife from its backsheath.

Johnny continues to cackle despite the falling blade's large amount of damage to his chest. Pocketing the tazor with one hand again he turns his attention towards his chain. With a quick snap of his wrist, the chain from his other arm pulls free from the ground and retracts. As soon as it vanishes beneath his sleeve again, he witnesses the creature's knife being drawn. This sends NNY into an even more hysterical fit of laughter as he pulls out his own two daggers and twirls them a moment before lunging towards the beast in a tackle, both weapons' blades aimed at the greenskin's throat as he brings the knives downwards with his charge.

Samantha flinches at the state of NNY's chest.. or is that all she's flinching about? After all... these bouts of hysterical laughter are becoming rather familiar to the nekogirl. With a soft curse she goes into a blurred dash, flickering into full visibility beside the pair of combatants as NNY's twin daggers meet soft flesh and come out through the other side with the sickening crunch of snapping bone. The creature's eyes go wide as blood pulses from either side of his mouth, bringing his knife up in a final desperate gesture, aimed straight into Johnny's right thigh and with the last of his breath the green skinned humanoid gives the blade a violent jerk, attempting hamstring his killer. Watching this Sammy goes wide-eyed and almost moves forward, but hesitating and simply sliding back, tensing up again in case.. -that- should happen again. (Please say it's just bloodlust.. nothing more.... please..)

As the searing pain courses through his body his smile actually widens. In retaliation he pulls his daggers apart ripping out the rest of the monster's throat in the process. Staggering a step backwards the darkness begins to fade and the wounded, bloodied, exhausted NNY drops to his knees and groans in pain. "FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!!" His hands merely release his daggers onto the ground and go immediately to his wounded leg. "CHRIST THAT HURTS!!!!"

Samantha steps forward as the greenskin falls in a choking gout of blood, the red-black ichor pooling out around its wide-eyed face and dishevelled mass of hair. "Johnny.. I... I'm sorry, this is my fault.." she slips to her knees, setting down her sword and moves to look at his wounds, "Here.. lemme try something..." breathing heavily, and voice coming in tight gasps as a result, she closes her eyes and the gem in her collarbone starts to glow brightly again, basking the immediate area in soft purple light.

As the light from the gem begins to grow brighter, NNY screams as that dark part of him is suddenly set aflame by the healing energies. Regardless of what the end result might be to his physical form, his mental state is currently engulfed with pain....

Samantha staggers back up to her feet with a frightened gasp, throwing a hand up to cover the light from the gem.. though this physical reflex is meaningless as she's already begun mentally to stop the flow of energy. "Johnny.. don't.... are you okay?" She swallows and hugs herself loosely as she just stands staring at the young man, with concern rather than fear although.. out here in the Badlands, she feels a little less safe meeting the inner demon.

Over towards the wall of buildings at the end of the street, maybe a hundred metres away, a dark shape shifts down from a window ledge, humanoid form landing in a tense crouch and turning its gaze towards the two... this gaze the only thing visible barring a vague shadow, as the eyes glow with a dull yellow light.

Johnny gasps for breath as the pain begins to subside. The darkness inside him going insane causes the shadow like blood to knot over his wounds like a strange form of clot. Ironically, the gem made a difference and helped him, but at what price? As the pain subsides NNY sits up and blinks. "Fuck... I... I dunno what the hell that was all about..." He stands and looks at himself, his wounds now just a dark black mass but otherwise, seemingly normal. "What the hell did you do to me?"

Samantha heaves a relieved sigh, closing her eyes briefly. As they flutter open again she spreads her hands to either side with a shrug, "Just.. healing... I dunno, I think it's the energy of Felixia or somethin'." Sighing again she moves to scoop up her sword, "I'm just glad yer okay.. listen, I wanna go check something out. C'n I find you a place to lie low fer a while... I just need to go into one of these buildings, I'm.." she frowns, looking off towards the line of fallen buildings.. missing the pair of glowing eyes as they somehow spontaneously fade from view, the owner lowering their eyelids, "Not sure why..."

And any dark forces are going to begin to feel right at home as a thing of indescribable evil... but detectable only to its own kind... pulses into life nearby, the dark figure slipping silently to its feet and revealing itself - if one were looking closely - to be swathed in a lightweight cloak. Those eyes remain closed, though the humanoid begins to wander closer, remaining nothing but a shadow in the darkness.

Johnny kneels down to pick up his daggers as he thinks this over. Standing again, he resheathes them and shrugs. "Yeah... if you gotta, you gotta. Um... just don't forget about me..."

Samantha frowns at that, "Of course not... I wouldn't do that. Can ya move or d'ya need me to carry ya?" She shifts a little closer, fully prepared to haul Johnny up if needs be. "I figure the building that first group of things came from.. seems like a good enough place to hide out." She continues to miss the figure, that aura only sensed by anything on the same wavelength..

Johnny shakes his head. "Nah, I think I'll be alright..." Limping towards his dropped hooksickle he bends to pick it up with a slight groan. Throwing it over his shoulder he turns and grins to Samantha, "You go do whatever it is ya gotta do. I'll be fine..."

Samantha gives a faint nod and manages a reassuring smile before she heads off towards the buildings at the end of the street, her tail flicking happily behind her, until.. *thwip* Another crossbow bolt, barely missing the sleekly furred appendage and hammering into a pile of rubble just in front of the girl. Eyes widening she looks around, taking in the veritable army of green skinned warriors emerging from alleys to either side, and then glances at Johnny.. "Seconds thoughts.. follow me..." she hops back to let him go in front, turning her body side-on to make a less agreeable target to the six or seven archers, some armed with heavier crossbows, and again failing to miss the dark figure, which now presses itself up against the side of a nearby wall, melting into the shadows as if one with their dark natures.

Johnny sweatdrops as he notices the advancing mob. Leaving just began to sound like a really good idea to him. Gesturing in the opposite direction as the archers, he jokes, "Yeah.... good plan.. ladies first...?"

Samantha shakes her head quickly, "No, just go! I c'n heal quickly, you can't.. c'mon..." she leans back to avoid another bolt which whistles past and pings off the roof of a relatively intact car nearby. "GO!" Raising her left hand, it's suddenly furnished with another four shuriken, which she sends zipping off towards the mob - which must be numbering around four or five dozen right now - trailing blue-white ki. Nearby the figure gently detaches itself and drifts across into the middle of the street about six feet away from Johnny, slowly spreading its arms and revealing those blazing yellow optics again.

Johnny nods in agreement and starts to run, but his own sense of pride gets the better of him and he stops short in his tracks. Stalling, he glances back at the archers and notices the dark figure standing there in the center of the street being ignored by everyone. Taken back he stares at it dumbfounded, more for the familiarity of the thing than for the strangeness of it's appearance...

Samantha blinks at the figure, shifting grip on her blade.. and starts to retreat backwards, promptly slamming into Johnny as he stares dumbfounded. Staggering forward a pace from the rebound she all but snarls, "Get outta here! I told you.. I've got it covered just... run!" She doesn't pause to make sure he does this though, instead lunging forward with the shortsword thrown out behind her, left hand forward and palm-out, gathering a flickering ball of energy.

The aura of evil seems to dwindle briefly as the figure awaits attack, then its eyes flare up, bathing the area in bright yellow light and the aura hammers out with new strength... anything on the dark side of things is going to feel more than a kindred spirit, something with quite frightening potential for destruction. Something verging on the godlike...

Johnny isn't sure quite what to do. His mind is torn between the decision to run, the desire to stand his ground and help out, and the growing curiosity about the strange figure. As he stands there watching his mind goes blank. Deep in the back of his head yells out at him and, thanks to his newfound chaotic state, takes over. The black patches of skin that mark the scars from the earlier encounter, suddenly explode outward wrapping around him again and engulfing him in darkness. His again white eyes narrow as a hideous grin forms on his face. Reaching behind him and pulling out two butcher knives he cackles and charges forwards. His mind almost completely gone, he shoves Sam out of the way and charges towards this dark figure with all the eagerness of a kid and a piece of candy. "FRRRREEEEDDOOOM!!!!!!!"

Samantha feels herself tossed aside and quickly deforms the ki-ball as she tucks into a roll, hands splaying out to balance her. She comes up a few feet away and almost immediately runs in after Johnny, though the pause was too long... even in the time it takes her to do this, it seems the figure is at least three times faster than the nekojin and it has already leapt back and - from somewhere - drawn a blade, a scimitar, forged from shimmering white energy. Without a sound and still moving at a level of speed almost impossible to follow, it brings the sword around in a two-handed slash straight across the heart of the oncoming boy... but nothing happens, the shimmering blade passes through NNY's body. The wound is not upon his physical form but upon his spirit, the essence of life itself slashed with a force beyond magic, beyond this world... and keyed to strike out at only the -good- parts of the ex-maniac, the side that screams out not to kill, not to murder senselessly, the side that protects people, the side capable of love.... the side he fights so hard to preserve. The evil aura in the air can now be sensed by all, burning with a fierce rage crushing hope, crushing everything good in the world, the atmosphere so oppressing now, like a tomb.

Johnny stops dead in his tracks. His eyes wide with hundreds of emotions playing out inside them. Suddenly the darkness that surrounds him ripples and swirls, taking his physical presence with it. His form changes briefly into a swirling tornado-like vortex as the energies realign themselves. Returning to what can only be described as his normal form. NNY stands unscathed from the attack - cleavers still in each of his hands. He takes a step back as his new thoughts come to be. The damages done to his burned mind now far beyond his own control, he stares at the monster that had caused this and simply blinks.

A low chuckle comes from the cloaked figure as it steps back, the scimitar fading from existence, and reaches to toss back its hair. Standing there is a creature just like the others... but different, in subtle ways barely noticeable but others that stand out vividly - the skin is a stark ashen white and the eyes blazing yellow rather than coloured as a normal human's, muscles are less pronounced, and the teeth are far more human still, no fangs or incisors. Tossing back his mane of hair, white like his skin, the thing grins a sickly grin and slurs out something in the same language as the greenskins, stretching its arms out once again to either side. On the floor nearby, Samantha stares between Johnny and the white-skinned man, breath coming in short desperate gasps.. totally uncertain as to how she should act now, what can she possibly do with such darkness consuming her from the outside. Though this will be nothing to the darkness of Johnny's soul, and perhaps somewhere she can feel that too. Far off down the street, the horde hesitates too, all standing wordless, silent, and unmoving, every eye fixed on the cloaked man as he now reaches for the hilt of an elegant longsword at his side, not there before but now.. it couldn't be any more there, the blade itself having an aura.

The hiss of metal, a sound far harsher than that familiar from the staring nekogirl's mithril blade, and spinning away from Johnny the white-skinned atrocity pulls his sword free, moonlight swallowed up into nothing by a length of metal darker than the night, and in the same single lithe movement the longsword's point is extended towards the waiting horde. With a smirk on his lips, the cloaked swordsman intones what sounds like a spell of some kind, in that same beautiful-yet-harsh language, and a shroud of shadowy ripples work from his ashen hand up the length of the blade and then out into the air, fed by the aura pervading the atmosphere as they spread out and surge forward, the ripples becoming harsher, more solid, and striking continually like living bolts of lightning as they cross the space between the single creature and the many in what seems like an instant.. frozen as everyone is by the doom crushing down upon their souls. Five or six dozen arcs of dark crimson are hurled into the air, to rain down upon the rubble-strewn floor, the last traces of a small army torn to nothing but bloody smears as dark power consumes them... the lightning ripples disappearing as soon as the deed is done, the vicious electric crackling dissipating and plunging the area into silence. With a bold cry, Samantha throws herself to her feet.. moved by some sudden burst of energy - but the cry is cut off when the creature spins and aims the point of the blade towards her heart, a short burst of black lightning slamming her back across the road, into a bent and battered lamppost.... she sinks back, eyes rolling upwards and bloodshot as her lungs heave within her chest, fighting for breath and for life.

Johnny smirks as he feels the darkness engulfing the air like a thick cloth. His own wastelock in overdrive as the very essence he is meant to contain is suddenly suffocating him with it's abundance. Every move the man seems to make seems to fill Johnny with another new spark of energy. Beginning to almost overdose on the abundant negative energies his body grows black once more. This time the beast inside him has complete control with no concern for using too much of it's energy. NNY's shadows begin so spread outward - choking the very light from the air itself. The shadows flicker, like a bad parody of Sam's own ki. Even as the nekogirl is slammed into the light post, the beast inside Johnny grows ever stronger. More and more it becomes thirsty and greedy for the sickening waste that cokes it.

Indeed every move the 'man' makes is adding to the darkness, feeding the aura of pure evil, and feeding the beast within Johnny. With a baleful chuckle the creature in question turns away and throws an arm upward dramatically, palm turned upward and blazing with shadowy bolts of energy. For several seconds he stands frozen, white hair and dark robe shifting in an unseen breeze but then the black 'glow' dissipates, his gruesome yellow eyes widen, as suddenly a hand closes over his, five delicate pale fingers interlocking with his own ashen monstrosities. "Seratil." The single word parts Samantha's lips as she stares sidelong up at him, suddenly appearing on tiptoes at his side so she can reach the extended hand, with her twin sapphire orbs blazing with a cold fire.. containing confidence, determination, hatred and something else... something totally unplaceable, the same thing distorting her voice, making it seem not her own. Slowly both hands shift away, returning to rest at their owner's sides as the two meet each other's baleful gaze. "Johnny.." the girl murmurs dully, "Fight what he did.. fight the wound on your soul an' just... hold on. Not for long I promise." She takes a step back, then another, and falls into a slow pace back across the street. The pale creature follows her, matching her movements exactly, one side of his mouth turned up in a smug lopsided grin. This hypnotic ballet progresses until the two come to a halt some way off, simultaneously both leaping into action and bringing their blades forward.. shimmering mithril meeting his own choking black metal, and sparks fly in every direction, not coloured but painted a thousand shades of black. The ashen man's mouth contorts in a rageful snarl and he screams at Samantha across the locked swords, red-streaked spittle flying out towards her and flecking his unhealthy lips.

Stepping out of the shadows generated by Johnny appear the forms of Mr Eff and Psycho Doughboy. The two stare at Samantha and the pale man in confusion and amazement. Suddenly D-Boy turns to stare at Eff and cocks his head to the side as he asks, "She's not trying what I think she's planning is she?" Mr Eff looks around and thinks for a moment. His eyes grow large and he glares up at Johnny. "That bitch is going after our meal ticket, and your just gonna stand there and watch???" NNY's eyes narrow into slits as the shadows erupt from around him. With a demonic scream he charges at Samantha - his shadows cast out before him threatening to draw from the air around her and choke her to death as his hands, now resembling claws, reach out for her... Oddly enough, at the last second he stops. Not from compassion, not from love, not for respect. But from greed. Ignoring the chants from the Doughboys the Dark NNY turns leaps onto the back of the pale man trying to drain him of his power and perhaps giving Samantha the opening she needs in this stalemate...

However... as quickly as they have come together, the combatants have thrown themselves apart.. the abomination now introduced as Seratil switching to a two-handed grip and bringing the elegant hilt of the longsword up to his right shoulder; the somehow changed Samantha dropping to a crouch, her left hand held palm out towards him and once more gathering a ball of blue-white energy as the tip of the shortsword rests gently in the dirt to her right side. Her gaze does not shift as Johnny charges, remaining fixed on the ashen force of evil before her. Similarly his does not move, though when the dark boy makes his leap one hand is suddenly no longer at the hilt of the dread blade but instead grasping for the boy's oncoming throat. Eyes widening the nekogirl flows upright and hurls herself aside, "HISHOUKEN!" Before spinning away the ki blast blazes away from her palm and hammers into the side of the creature, the girl continuing her spin and ending up beside him as he staggers.. grasp failing even if it managed to reach NNY's throat. The girl hesitates then, as if two minds were fighting for dominance, the sword slipping from her grasp and dropping to the dirt below.

Johnny cackles as he's choked by Seratil, the energy obtained from physical contact being much more than what he had gotten just from the air itself. As the man's grip weakens Johnny grabs a hold of his arm. Refusing to let go, he even tries to bite the man to keep in contact with him. His shadows wrapping around Seratil in much the same way they originally where going to go after Samantha. A childish chuckle escapes from his lips as the beast inside him begins to push out from the weak human form Johnny wears...

Samantha staggers back as Johnny latches onto Seratil, her eyes no longer blazing with confident hatred as they search desperately for a purpose. Then suddenly she straightens up only a few feet away, her hair unravelling from its ponytail and flying out around her.. and it seems to change colour, no longer are the strands ebon.. they are platinum blonde, so bright as to be almost blinding... As this happens the demonic humanoid screams with incoherent rage and, ignoring the boy biting down upon his arm, leaving it out-stretched and holding NNY up with beyond human strength, he throws the dread longsword out towards the girl, more of those dark lightning bolts streaming down its length and out towards her. Upon nearing her though, the ripples quiver and die, smattering hopelessly against a shield of pure light that suddenly erupts from the slender form. Instead of fading afterward the light rages out and fills the area with its beauty, the dark oppression gone as - to all intents and purposes - a new dawn rises, the area plunged into sudden daylight. "Seratil, come back to me!" The desperate cry parts her lips, tears shimmering in her beautiful eyes and she steps forward, no longer threatening but extending a hand to grasp at the still-outstretched blade, "I should never have lost you! COME BACK!"

As the brightness engulfs the area the Doughboys both growl and retreat. Being creatures of shadow, they can't exist in so much light. Meanwhile NNY, latched onto the arm of Seratil glances up at Samantha's new form and instantly freezes. Despite the severing of his emotions, the blinding light sparks a memory of a time nearly forgotten. A genuine smile crosses his lips as his disjointed mind associates this light with the woman who'd helped him once before. The memory is enough to drive back the darkness inside him and allow NNY, the real NNY to once again gain control... Reaching a free hand towards his belt, he grabs a hold of his tazor again and, straining to reach, attempts to jab it into Seratil's skull...

Samantha's fingers wrap tenderly about the sword's blade, blood flowing down around the underside of the black metal before spattering to the floor below. Ignoring the pain she smiles a soft smile and stares deep into the blazing yellow eyes that meet her gaze... when the tazer - meeting no defence - makes contact with the side of the abomination's skull. With another enraged scream he rounds on Johnny and spits a gout of red-specked saliva into the boy's face, the stuff burning like acid though without the corrosive effects. Seemingly unbothered by the burst of electricity he violently tries to hurl his burden away, a burst of dark energy rippling down his arm to try and assist this effort, even as he does this turning back to Samantha. "Cassandra.." he snarls out, followed by a garbled slur of his own language.. then another name, the annunciation suggesting it as such, "SERAPH!" And it is screamed, with a horrible rage to match the worst the devil himself could offer and with a final hateful roar blackness... total, utter blackness encompasses the area, making a mockery of the girl's efforts. "SERAPH!!"

Samantha's throat catches as the darkness surrounds her, all-encompassing, choking.. the physical manifestation of the aura only recently dispelled. Taking a step back, she finds the weapon whose blade was previously gripped in her hand reversed... the smooth, elegant hilt now captured between her curled fingers, which still leak blood though now it is not crimson.. it's golden, burning with an intense light of its own. Bearing no heed she takes another step back and brings the sword up in front of her, only the hilt visible shining with the light from the seeping fluid - the blade itself at one with the thick black ichor coating the atmosphere. "Seratil, Seraph - they're the same. They're all you. When will you realise and step down? He's using you and.. he'll win unless you come back to me." She brings her free hand up in front of her, fingers closing around the shadows and then waving through them, moving easily despite what the grudging weight bearing down upon her slender body suggests. The voice is still not her own, more mature and more serene while at the same time being forceful, undeniable. From somewhere a laugh echoes, the voice cracked and broken but the sound no less filled with venom. The abomination's voice echoes again but now it can be understood, despite still being in that mysterious foreign tongue it is somehow now comprehensible. "Sweet, little Cassandra, so misguided.. so little understanding. Does the boy think it's all the same? Do the masters he serves see both sides and judge them identical... you speak as if you understand but it's so very obvious you do not." Suddenly Johnny is lit up, from wherever he landed upon being hurled away, in the same position but lost in the land of shadows. The platinum haired nekogirl throws her hand out towards him, voice suddenly her own again, "Johnny!"

Johnny waves his arms in the darkness around him. At first his mind panics telling him that he is still lost within his own wastelock as he was moments before, but the dull pain in his leg reminds him that this is the real world. Everything is somehow dark. Climbing to his feet he knows he has to do something, but without being able to control his own powers he's at a loss. As he hears Samantha call his name he knows he has to do something. Out of desperation he closes his eyes and focuses on her voice. Despite the fact that logically it would never work he decides to do what he knows has worked before... He screams in his mind . o O (SAMMY?? WHERE ARE YOU???)

Laughter again.. it starts at a low, wry chuckle and builds to a crazed cackle, and suddenly the white-skinned creature is once more visible, his head thrown back and arms outflung. No longer wearing the dark robe but clad instead in fine white silks he is a beacon in his own shroud of blackness. But then.. there is no blackness, the area warps and changes as the laughter builds to a crescendo and within a few seconds the group is at the top of a craggy tor, the natural monument well over a hundred feet tall, all jagged boulders and sheer overhangs. Samantha and Johnny are frozen in place one end, their senses functioning perfectly but their movements totally inhibited, she with her hand outflung and mouth wide open as she calls out for him, he stuck in place, concentrating and reaching out for her with his mind. "How amusing..." Seraph slurs in his own language, running a heavily veined hand back through his wiry hair. He stands at the far end of the rocky ledge, thirty feet away. "And to think my master insisted I stay away from your world. You.." he turns to look at NNY, his eyes narrowed to yellow slits. "Interest me. Very much. And you.." throwing his arms up with a flourish he suddenly stands in front of Samantha, reaching out to cup her frozen chin between two fingers of one hand, leaning forward as if to kiss her, his bleached lips cracked and horrible. Pausing just before contact with the unmoving nekojin he smirks and instead whispers something, inaudible to her friend. Then without further warning he stands back in place at the far edge of the tor's summit, arms once more spread and ashen face flung heavenward. "Do your worst, child of woe!" Movement returns to Johnny.

Johnny stares at the events around him in confusion. Darkness and now this... place? His fragile mind is almost too far gone to process such things but he holds on telling himself, as always, that this is all just in his head. As his own ability to move is restored he first turns to Samantha to see if she was ok, but realising she is in the same situation he just was makes his blood boil. Turning his head mechanically towards Seratil he glares coldly. "Do my worst? DO MY WORST??" After everything he'd seen, everything he'd been through, this was the one thing that pushes him too far. Half kneeling on one leg, he leans forwards as the dark powers absorbed in his soul suddenly awaken. Instantly he goes pure black save for his eyes, which instead of turning white, suddenly change to a deep red. "ALRIGHT FUCKER! YOU WANT TO SEE MY WORST?" Pulling out his hooksickle, it too grows black and changes to reflect the dark energy he now casts off becoming a massive scythe - the kind you'd expect to be wielded by Death himself. With a guttural scream he charges forwards swinging his weapon at an unheard of speed for him, as if the weapon was completely weightless despite it's exaggerated size...

Seraph's eyes slide shut, the ashen creature smirking before suddenly appearing crouched in front of the charging Johnny, meeting his swinging scythe of darkness with a blade of his own... gripped in both hands and similar to a daikatana or no-dachi, but more primitive and somehow organic, its shining black surface gleaming with an inner evil that is pure, distilled, nothing like the hateful energies unleashed earlier or those that the young maniac could tame. This is Evil. Eyes blazing, the pale culmination of a thousand years' immortal sin comes blade to blade with another creature forged from the shadows, but only one has a true reason to fight. "How interesting.." Seraph spits, red-flecked foam smearing once more across his lips, "The whelp's realised his potential!" With an enraged cry he shoves backwards with his greatsword, springing away with the momentum to land back at the edge of the tor, the Seraph Blade - the weapon named for him and gifted to him by a true abomination - drawn back and ready over his shoulder. "Then come! Come and we shall duel, until I decide it is time for the one here with -true- potential!"

Johnny holds his ground as he is swatted back by the force of Seraph's block. As his opponent pushes back and beckons him to come, he spits in disgust. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, BITCH!!!!" Charging forwards again he turns the blade downwards, bringing it up in a reaping motion - aiming for the spot between Seraph's arms and for the soft tissue of his chest. Should the attack be blocked he turns to the opposite side and tries to use the situation to sweep Seraph off his feet...

Seraph catches the first blow not on his sword, but on one of his skinny forearms.. the silken tunic tearing but the flesh below going totally unharmed by the vicious strike, stopping it dead. "Lovely..." with a sickly grin he promptly leaps the sweep and brings the organic black blade around in a blurred strike at the top of Johnny's head, perfectly aimed to sever the remaining hairs should the boy not move. As the ashen creature of darkness lands in a half-crouch he keeps the blade extended to one side, just past Johnny's shoulder, frozen in place from delivering the slash. (What fools.. not even daring to consider how to beat me before they attack. I shall enjoy the prey on this world...)

Johnny is moving on pure instinct, moving without thinking. As his sweep is dodged he drops down to the ground, but as a part of the nature of the shadows he has cloaked himself with he literally moves into the floor itself. Travelling within Seraph's own shadow he jumps up from behind him - spinning his weapon with one hand as he thrusts one of his daggers out with the other. The dagger has taken on similar traits as the scythe in that the blade has turned black and increased in size and shape, becoming a long curved blade. It's blood grooves burning with the same deep red as his eyes...

Seraph remains crouched, the Blade still extended, as he speaks quite calmly. "Interesting.. more than I expected. Aren't you little mortals just full of surprises. But if this truly is your worst, then I have to confess I'm disappointed. Strike now, as often and as hard as you like. I won't dodge, little one... fear not for that." Over on the other side of the summit, Samantha seems to shift, just fractionally.. something wavering in the air around her, a breeze of sorts that continues on through the otherwise unnaturally still air to lick past the crouching abomination and onto Johnny behind. (You cannot win, but don't be afraid.. in this place, neither can he...)

Johnny drifts back, away from the edge and Seraph as if pushed on a block of ice. As he comes to a stop he blinks. "...neither can he?" Thinking of this for a brief moment he resheathes his dagger and charges again. Swinging the blade down in a diagonal slash he thinks of those words again as he waits for the counter attack...

Once more the blade stops, the feeling quite unnatural.. not like hitting a barrier, but almost as if being prevented from entering somewhere it cannot go - even somewhere that doesn't exist. It's unnerving to say the least. Seraph fakes a yawn and stands up, lifting the scythe's blade with him unless it's pulled away. The strange no-dachi in his hands vanishes as he lets both arms fall to his side, "No, little one.. I can't win. But unlike me, you can feel pain... now tell me." He turns around slowly, his movements an undeniable force, the scythe if not moved will not simply slip from its place and fall downward to his side, quite harmless despite any tearing of the silk garment. "Do you like pain? Or shall we finish this easily.. and quickly..." a sneer contorts the abomination's lip as he stares at Johnny, those foul yellow eyes glimmering.

From the other end of the rocky expanse comes another breeze, slightly colder and harsher than the last.. and the frozen nekojin is suddenly mobile again.... or at least, no longer frozen, as she slumps to her knees with a barely audible groan.

Johnny lets the scythe drop and pays no notice as it returns to it's natural form in the process. Cocking his head to the side as he stares up at the odd man he thinks of how odd the man really is. The feelings he'd experienced... the things he'd sensed... the things he'd done. Suddenly, NNY smiles. "Pain? Oh yes... I just love pain... Here, let me show you!" Again moving completely on instinct he uses his energies to raise into the air just above Seraph's head as he tries to use his thumbs to drive into the man's eyes. Not to hurt him in any way, but to show him. (should this work) He taps deep into himself, channelling his own waste lock and sending every bit of emotion he'd ever received straight into Seraph's brain. All the hatred, anger, fear, humiliation, everything he'd stored. If Seraph really feeds on such things, the attack should be an easy one but with one draw back... Being a waste lock, NNY would feed off of the exact feelings he was casting off sending a horrible feed back of energy into Seraph. (However, should the attack fail...) Johnny then uses the momentary opportunity to launch the barbed hook-chain from his sleeve directly into the flesh of the man's face...

Seraph folds his arms quite calmly over his chest, allowing Johnny to do whatever he should please... smirk only broadening, the abomination practically glowing with amusement as he imagines the pain being caused to his unholy master at this very moment. "Again you fascinate me, little one.. thinking so hard and yet achieving so little. All you do is bring me a step closer to total dominance... to defeating the gods you cattle hold so dear. Carry on... do your worst, I can feel no pain. Beside my master himself there's only one who can hurt me and you are not they." In truth it's a bluff, he feels as a human feels.. but in this place of illusions, why not wrap himself in the same?

Samantha slowly pushes herself to her feet, struggling to keep her eyes open and her gaze focused... her appearance is now restored, hair dishevelled about her shoulders but back to its true colour. Wavering back and forth, she turns and watches the scene unfolding thirty feet away from her. "No..." she shakes her head slowly, head lolling drunkenly. "NO!" This time it's forceful, a cry that causes her to double over before she sinks to her knees again, cradling her head in her hands. (Get out.. stop doing whatever you're trying to do! I don't know who you are... I don't even know your name!)

Johnny continues to dump all those horrors into Seraph, but steps it up a notch. His own duty as a flusher stepping in, he dumps EVERYTHING into the self-confident fool. The absorbed negative emotions of everyone he'd ever come in contact with. The pain of everyone he'd ever tortured and killed. The final thoughts of hundreds of people whose end he had witnessed. The horrors of his own mind. The death of the last world before it was restored. All of it... lies, betrayal, good, bad, wicked, and pure. An entire world's collective trauma along with everything he'd experienced in Neo Tokyo as it was destroyed. Like a never ending well of fears he continues to force all of it into him in hopes of destroying his mind and potentially his very soul with the over abundance of pain...

Samantha draws in several quick, heavy breaths.. her eyes searching the ground as she seems to listen to something. Seraph continues to stand motionless, arms crossed and a smirk across his cracked lips as Johnny continues his 'assault'... until suddenly the slender nekojin shoves herself to her feet and staggers forward, shaking her head frantically, "Johnny, no! Stop.. he's... he's not gonna be hurt.. not by that, not by.... ugh." She slips to her knees again, leggings tearing and the flesh below flayed on the harsh rock, "No..." the last comes out in a helpless whimper and she cradles her head once more, tears leaking out from behind her fingers after a few seconds.

Johnny runs out of steam as he drains his waste lock completely. His power now diminished, he blacks out and drops to the ground like a useless sac of meat. His skin, clothes, and weapons all return to normal....

Seraph gives a sickly grin as Johnny falls away, looking down on him his blazing yellow eyes no longer so blazing... dull brown-yellow pupils squatting in a mass of bloodshot pulp. "Charming to the last..." suddenly he gives a feral snarl and spins around, right hand coming around in a clawlike slash through the air before he clenches it at his chest, gaze now locked onto the sobbing Samantha. "Escaped? Cassandra..." the last a hiss as he strides forward and yanks back the girl's head, tearing her hands away from her face with his other hand. "Foul human bitch! So you're the next one... the next lamb to be slaughtered!" She glares up at him with a desperately assumed expression of bold confidence, unconvincing to say the least, before he releases her and turns away, staring up into the cloudy skies. "We should go home! Home where I can kill you both..." he looks down again, closing his eyes and concentrating hard, and the surrounding area begins to warp and shift.. becoming.... the Badlands, in the same area where they were before coming to the craglike tor but positioned as they had been upon leaving. They... being just NNY and Samantha, the abomination seemingly gone... not a trace remaining where he should by rights be standing.

Noodle Boy stands watching from the shadows as Johnny and Samantha reappear. Seeing NNY completely blacked out and helpless, Noodle Boy sighs. The younger version risks stepping out into the light to go over to his side. Glancing at Samantha he sighs, "You really care about her don't you? All those times you fought to bring me back to being your bunny. Well, I may have been your first friend, but you don't need me anymore..." Kneeling down beside NNY he grins, "I always was just a version of you. I wanted to be free as well... I guess in my way, this is how I'll manage. But if you ever draw another fucking stick figure I'm gonna come back to kick your ass..." Seeming to strangle him, Noodle Boy places his hands on NNY's throat and begins to focus his energies until finally fading away as shadows always do in the light. Johnny begins to cough and opens his eyes. Sitting up he glances around, "Nail bunny?" Seeing Samantha the bunny is forgotten and he rushes to her side to check on her...

Samantha has by now curled up on her side, back actually resting up against the lamppost where she was earlier flung by Seraph. She appears unharmed, and is just.. letting the tears run as she stares off into space, looking frightened almost beyond belief. "J-Johnny..." she reaches up with a hand, searching for him as if blind though her searching gaze would say otherwise. "We can't.. stop here... I have to go back...."

Johnny grabs Sammy's hand and is momentarily lost as to what to do. "Hey, wait... go back? What the hell is going on anyways? Who the hell was that??"

Samantha blinks and suddenly seems to see again, looking up towards Johnny. "Oh? Him.. he was..." she blinks again, pausing for a few moments before suddenly frowning, "I.. don't know but we have'ta stop him.... I mean.. he could kill us all." Her voice is distant, and tinged with a strange madness, "He's.. Benedict's... brother.... I.." she shakes her head and falls silent, lifting her other hand to her temple, "I dunno. Can't we just.. go home an'... I c'n kill you there.. at home. At... home....?" Her breathing has increased in the course of her babbling so that now she's heaving in several quick gasps each second, her brow flushed with the signs of a slight fever.

Johnny glances around for a moment, realising that all his equipment is back on him again. oO(That all did happen, right?) Deciding it best to get Samantha out of here before anything else shows up, he tries to help her up, "Hey... come on... let's get you home, you can kill me later, alright? Sammy?"

Samantha sits up by herself, frowning and shaking her head hurriedly, "No! Not you.. u-us... both of us!" She sighs and then looks around as if alarmed by something, taking in a sharp breath, her ears twitching. "Where..? No, wait... we're..." she looks back to Johnny and blinks twice before glancing just off to one side, past his shoulder, "We're in the Badlands.. right?"

Johnny nods, mostly trying to humour what appears to be a very delirious cat-girl... "Yeah.. we're in the Badlands. Which is exactly where we shouldn't be right now... Come on, I might be able to give you a piggy back... come on... we need to get outta here before that sun gets any higher. Remember how long it took just to get here?"

Samantha quickly stands, patting herself down, "No! See.. 'm fine. So.. yeah, I need'ta check out this place... over here...." she frowns for a moment, then holds up a finger, nods and spins away, striding off away from Johnny. (I had to check this place out.. I remember... she asked me to...)

Johnny groans and chases after her, "Look, you already tried that. We can't go getting attacked again... not after all that. It's a miracle we're not dead yet..."

Samantha stops and turns around, "Dead!" She exclaims, with utter sincerity as though this alone should mean something of undeniable hugeness. "That's it!" Holding up her finger again, she brushes past Johnny and strides over towards the fifty-something crimson puddles over at the other end of the road.. which luckily enough happens to be the way back to Metropolis. She stops at the edge of the ocean of blood, spreading her arms with a look of utter disbelief, which is soon sent back to Johnny, "All of them! Every one!"

Johnny sweatdrops, missing her train of thought completely, "Yeah... dead. Like we're gonna be if we don't make it back before that sun climbs the rest of the way up..."

Samantha sighs and slips to her knees, "Yeah.. but... all of them dead..." she looks up at Johnny, even more disbelief scrawled into her features, "Y'don't care? Not a bit?"

Johnny groans again, "I care about us. I care about not dying. Last night everyone of those bastards wanted to gut us and now they're all dead. Serves 'em right. Now come on... we need to get going..."

Samantha shakes her head again, then shivers and hugs herself tight, turning her gaze away from Johnny out across the stark red 'ocean'. "No.. it's not... not just us." She lets her eyes slip shut with another shudder, "She told me..."

Johnny rolls his eyes, "She who?" His mind already covering up the memories, he briefly has a thought about a woman bathed in light, but that could just be an old memory. "Look. It's just us, the weird creepy guy and a bunch of dead things. I don't think the dead things are gonna care much about anything. The creepy guy obviously took off. That leaves us and the big bright warm sun trying to fry us alive..." As he says this he has already begun to sweat from the warmth being absorbed into his black clothes...

Samantha stays totally silent for a while... then slowly nods her head and opens her eyes again, slipping up to her feet. "Okay.. we c'n go. Just... um. I just need to do something..." she heads off across the rubble-strewn floor, gaze fixed on the floor as she walks along the street past Johnny.

Johnny lets out a sigh as he silently follows close behind her ready to run to her side should she look like she might fall...

Samantha isn't in any danger of falling... her mind is clouded and her body a little weak, but she's generally just fine. The 'something' in question is revealed when she suddenly grinds to a halt and bends down, grabbing up her bloodstained sword. "There!" She turns around to face Johnny, probably coming nose-to-nose with him depending on just how close behind and just how quickly he stopped. She slides the blade into her scabbard either way. "Let's go then.. but... we have'ta go back okay?"

Johnny takes a step back just in time to avoid being run into as she turns around. Hearing her words he blinkblinks. "Um... if we go back, we'll definitely be going back, don't worry..."

Samantha nods slowly, "'K.. sounds good... um. Can you drive?"

Johnny glances around very confused. "Um... yeah...? Where you gonna get a car from?"

Samantha blinks at Johnny and then glances very pointedly at a skeletal wreck a few metres away, "That.. kinda looks like a car right? I mean... well." She looks back to him and tilts her head, frowning concernedly. "You feelin' okay?"

Johnny glances at the car and shakes his head. "No, I'm not. Let's just walk, alright?"

Samantha fails to point out the car a short way further up the road that seems to be reasonably good condition, and would probably still run with only a small amount of teasing. Instead she just nods, still looking concerned though. "Alright.. though... we should probably hurry." She glances up at the sun, and blinks, "I'm pretty hungry."

Johnny nods, "Yeah.. me too... Are you sure you don't want me to try to carry you?"

Samantha shakes her head, "No.. I'll be fine, it's only two blocks away." She brushes past Johnny and starts quietly singing to herself as reaches inside her body-warmer and pulls out a small packet of oatcakes, ripping the pack open with her teeth and then extending it back towards Johnny, pausing in her singing, "Want one? I'd order a pizza but I'm outta credit..."

Johnny sweatdrops, "Over an hour to get here and you clam it's only two blocks... are you sure YOUR ok?"

Samantha blinks, looking rather taken aback, "Um.. yeah. An hour?" She crouches down suddenly and peers closely at Johnny's legs, one after the other.

Johnny stares blankly, "What? What now?"

Samantha keeps looking closely for a few more moments before she shrugs and stands up, offering Johnny a happy smile, "S'okay! Just seein' you had 'em both! So come on, let's go..." she turns away again, reaching into her pack of oatcakes and digging one out, which she stuffs into her mouth whole.

Johnny groans again and puts his goggles back on. "Yeah... let's just go..."


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