2004-04-17 Echoes of the Darkness

From TwistedMUCK
Revision as of 11:33, 22 October 2014 by Marr0w (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search


Echoes of the Darkness

Summary: Samantha finds herself attacked by the voices that control Johnny - now re-awakened after the recent trip to the Badlands.



Who: Johnny_C, Samantha, Xue, Alex
When: April 17th, 2004
Where: Clearing


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.


CLEARING


The sun is setting over the luscious foliage of the treetops, molten rays spattering out across the boughs and also glancing off the shoulders of a familiar slender nekojin as she picks her way through the forest and into the wide expanse of the clearing. She is wearing only her leggings and tank top, the body-warmer slung casually from one hand over her shoulder, hanging beside her ninjato rather than the more usual shortsword. Her hair hangs down around her also, damp ebon strands clinging to her flesh and shifting only slightly as they dry. Setting her bandaged feet onto the freshly grown grass, Samantha takes a long breath, closing her eyes for a moment before once more opening them and allowing her gaze to fall upon a single tree near the centre of the area. A soft smile crosses her lips, and she begins to stroll across to this sudden point of interest...

Johnny steps out from behind the tree just as Sam reaches it. His skin is completly black and his eyes are glowing with a deep red. Twirling the hooksickle in his hands he chuckles, "Hello, bitch..."

And if something could ever truly shatter the peace that was it... the sound of a soft, alarmed gasp from the girl is almost like the piercing tinkle of breaking glass. She stops, placing her free hand to her breast and looking off to one side.. suddenly she laughs, a more mature sound than her usual giggle. "Gods, ya scared me..." she pauses before turning back, smiling, "What's up? Though, er.. try not'ta call me 'bitch' okay? Hardly a nickname I wanna tote around..." she makes a face and scritches idly behind one ear, but something seems to flicker in her eyes as she regards Johnny. (Something's wrong... more-so than usual....)

Johnny smiles widely. His now black skin makes his smile seem even more sinister. "It's time to end this. I've had enough of your interference... Always going around and making a fool of me. Well, bitch... tonight... tonight the master dines on your blood." Not even pausing as he finishes his sentence, he twirls the hooksickle above his head - swiriling the dark mist that seems to drift off of him - and brings it down with full force towards Sammy's skull...

Samantha's widen during Johnny's speech, realisation dawning slowly. (It's that thing.. that clone they make... it's not him!) And she's not been training all day for nothing. The very instant the boy moves she's ready to counter, her right hand shifting from beside her ear and her feet setting more firmly to the ground. The fingers uncurl as they reach across then promptly lock around the shaft of the weapon. "Think again..." the words come out in a hard gasp as she shifts in under Johnny's guard, wrenching back over her left shoulder as she slams it forward into his left side, arm now extended over her shoulder. The left hand tucks around behind, reaching for the hilt of her ninjato and ready to draw and slash once he has fallen back from the initial impact.

Johnny releases the weapon as Samantha grabs ahold of it. Jumping away he feels the shaft of his weapon hit in him in side and uses that to give himself a little bit of extra momentum. Sliding to the side, as if on ice, he turns to glare at the girl as she draws her tanto. Chuckling, he reaches both hands back into the front of his backpack and pulls out a butcher knife in one hand and... something unrecognisable in the other. As his eyes begin to narrow he waits for her attack...

Samantha's hand relaxes on the short blade's handle as she feels Johnny move away. Despite the faint wince that crosses her expression as the hooksickle jars off her shoulder with relative lack of harm, she turns into her shoulder's momentum and spins around through two hundred and seventy degrees, coming up facing Johnny from a good two metres away. "Nice try, Eff.. y'almost had me as well..." she murmurs softly, locking her would-be assassin with a cold glare. Her left hand shifts to a more comfortable grip before at last pulling the tanto free, letting the blade spin once around her fingers before the hilt falls into her palm with a soft slap. Her right hand comes up to draw the ninjato with a ringing metallic *shing*, and lets its tip fall to the ground by her right side. "So let's get this show on the road.. Johnny himself couldn't kill me right out, so I know you can't. But feel free to try..." despite the action she has taken, her stance remains fairly casual, though to a trained eye it would be obvious she's ready to move at the slightest flicker of a second's notice.

Johnny growls, "STUPID BITCH! How dare you treat me like a puppet!" Charging forwards he tosses the device in his hands onto the ground infront of Samantha and skids to a stop. Suddenly chuckling he mockingly guestures for her to come. As he does a light on the object begins to blink. "We'll just see who's intent on killing who..."

Samantha's sapphire gaze follows the movement and she raises an eyebrow at the suddenly blinking device before turning her full attention back to Johnny. "I'm not stupid, y'know.. if I was I'd've died a good half dozen times already!" The last is another fierce gasp as she throws herself back and brings the two blades together, tanto crossing the larger sword a third of the way down its length. "KATANAKATA! POWERRRRR.." this last syllable hangs for a moment, blue-white ki charging from each hand down its respective blade, glancing like lightning off each length - metal shining with a golden glow in the setting sun, then her lips part wide for the final cry, "WAVE!" And twin blasts of energy course down from the weapons, coalescing into one which falls to the floor of the clearing and rips off with a loud roar, ripping up turf to either side as it makes to travel -through- the device and in towards NNY.

Johnny leaps off to the side as his homemade explosive dentenates with the force to level a small building. As the combined shock waves hit him he is thrown a few feet away and lands in a roll finaly coming to a stop partialy in a small bush. Standing quickly and brushing off some leaves and twigs he glares at his opponent. The waves of energy coming off of him begin to darken as they gain power from the distruction. Suddenly inspired, he decides to waste his ace-in-the-hole eairly and pulls out a small detenator. With a loud beep the larger explosive on the back of the lone tree begins to count down from 00:30...

Unbeknownst to the two combatants, another being watches the events with sadistic, ravenous anger and rage, waiting for the right time to step in and kill them BOTH

Already spinning back from unleashing her blast, blades crossed in front of her, Samantha is likewise caught by the shockwave and is sent off by a force directly opposite to that of her own movements. The two combine to bring her crashing to the floor in a tangle of limbs and sharp bladed weapons. Struggling for a few moments to gain control again, disorientated from the continuing heat of the blast - which has created a rather nice crater in the middle of the clearing, and probably smells terrible, she comes up at last having taken a few minor cuts and slashes, and with a burn at the top of her left arm where the explosion's impact caught her. Falling back into a variation on her usual stance, tanto out to the left at thigh height and ninjato angled away at shoulder height to the right, she sweeps her gaze across the clearing until it alights on Johnny - missing his actions with the second explosive. "...Nice. Wanna try again, or are ya tired already?"

Johnny laughs as he watches her. "Twenty four..." Charging towards her and leaping over the crator he pulls the butcher knife in his left hand back accross his right sholder - ready to slash, "Twenty one!"

Slowly, ice begins to form on the tree, just a small amount of frost thus far, but is not affecting the explosive.

Samantha smirks and flips her tanto neatly up into the air, the moment it flies her hand shooting into her body-warmer and withdrawing a handful of small clay balls. With the shorter of her blades still curling a graceful arc several feet in the air, she shifts her footing and whips her left hand around at the wrist, hurling the balls - about eight or nine of them - directly towards the charging maniac. Just as the tanto comes back down to thigh level, her hand moves in a blur and catches it. "Zero..." she murmurs, watching the effects of her attack. The clay balls will burst on impact with the force of tiny explosives charges, which is what they are...

Johnny screams as the tiny bombs knock him out of the air and sends him falling back into the depths of the creator. Momentairaly dazed he climbs to his feet slowly and pulls back the glove on his right hand. "...shit! Tweleve..." Climbing up the far side of the hole he glances back at Samantha over his sholder and laughs. "Nice try... If only you used something a bit stronger..." Seven... six...

The tree is slowly covered by more and more ice, icicles hanging from most of its branches, and the trunk is coated in a thick coat of it all the way around

Samantha lets a grin flicker onto her lips as she watches Johnny begin his climb, and with another shift of her footing she suddenly sheathes both dagger and sword before turning herself so she is almost side-on to her opponent as he says the last. Her left arm extends out with the angle of her shoulder, palm out and fingers curled around an imaginary ball. "Funny... just what I was thinkin'...." the energy ball seems to come from nowhere, what looks like an 'imploding star' effect, but in that familiar blue-white ki, blazing into existence. When it ends the constantly spinning sphere lies between her fingers, and as her right fist clenches at her side the attack is released - a sound like thunder hammering through the clearing as the orb of energy leaves her hand and flies in half a second to cover the space between her and Johnny... the explosion should tear another nice crater in the soil, likely of similar size but.. it couldn't be timed much worse.

Johnny's explosive detonates sending chuncks of ice, bits of wood, and a coffe-can full of ball bearings into the air along with enough force to take out a two story building. Combining with the momentum of Samantha's explosion the resulting damage rips the area apart. A MASSIVE crator is formed between the two fighters sending them both flying. Johnny hits the ground hard now several meters away as small shards of ice rip accross him, slicing through his clothes and sending a spray of blood into the air. As he weakly tries to climb to his feet his skin seems normal again. Turning onto his back and coughing up a small amount of blood he glares accross towards where he thinks Samantha might be. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? They're right!! You are just trying to make a fool of me!!!" With renewed anger his skin grows black again and strengthened by the pointless distruction he seems to almost levitate an inch above the ground. Holding his right palm out his hooksickle suddenly flies into his grasp. Pulling it back to grip it with both hands he charges forwards, screaming inchoerantly as he moves to where he thinks his opponent lies...

Samantha is still standing there, grinning, when the explosion comes... at least, the one she -hadn't- prepared for. With a startled cry her arms fly up to cross in front of her face as the first wave hits, her tail adjusting for her balance and keeping her upright for just long enough to be thrown back by the second shockwave, as the smoking crater is torn into the landscape. Eyes tightly shut, she is hurled back into the base of a majestic tree nearby, with an impact that would prove back-breaking to any mere human.. then the crater's path comes to a halt, underneath her feet, and she is sent sliding down into its depths, landing curled in a foetal ball. Up above the branches begin to sway as the tree slowly lurches forward in towards the crater...

Sadistic laughter can be heard, the owner of the voice appearently female. The flames left over where the explosion occured twist and swirl into large spirals, turning blue, and generating small patches of ice underneath, dropping the temperature around the area a good dozen or so dagrees. A lone figure steps through these blue chilling flames, her glowing eyes the first thing likely to be seen, until finalyl, her entire form is visable. Xue's grin is likely twisted enough to give NNY goosebumps of evicerating excitement, as she takes in the sight of the two fighters, who are down for the moment. She slowly draws SilverFrost, the blade of the sword also wreathed in blue, cold flame, and stabs it into the ground. As she does this, a pair of long, sharp spikes of ice shoot from the ground, one in front of NNY, at an angle, in an attempt to make him run into the spike, and one from behind and under Samantha, around her chest and back.

Johnny flies through the air headed towards the crator as suddenly several large ice spikes shoot up in his path, swinging his hooksickle around to smash them he halts and glances around. As he does so, he begins to levitate a slight bit more to get a better view. Noticing the wild haired girl he blinks a moment trying to proccess this new threat. "Just who the fuck are you supposed to be?"

Samantha is still curled into her ball, braced against any further impact that should come her way. But there's one thing that's rather hard to brace against and that's what's just about to happen... the spear of ice hammers through her soft flesh and bursts out the other side just above her right breast, drenched in blood, as the girl unfolds at the sudden wrenching pain. With a shocked gasp, her eyes widen and she stares heavenward.. not daring to look at the wound since she's all too aware of the effects. Her gem pulses brightly now, purple glow basking the area in a soft light. (When did he get this powerful? Even with.. the doughboys and their master... I didn't think he could do this!) As she keeps her eyes turned up to the sun-kissed skies, the tree completes its lurching movement and gains momentum, upper-most boughs crashing down hard towards the middle of the crater.

Xue Qian snaps her fingers, the ice spikes, or their respective remains, melting into harmless icewater. She slowly turns her head to look at NNY, grinning crazily at him, her voice momentarily having an echo effect, as if someone else is speaking in the same instant "I am your destruction". She pulls the sword out of the ground, performing an upward swing which sends a sharp crescent of ice at NNY, and sheathes the blade, all in the same motion. Afterwards, she stays where she is, waiting for the moment

Johnny raises his weapon to block the incoming crescent of ice but reguardless, gets knocked back down to the ground and his sliced open again by the fragmenting chunks of ice. Screaming in rage he begins to turn to attack this new adversary - but, is halted as he sees the tree falling down upon Samantha. Instincivly he dives into the crator and tries to shove the girl out of the way putting himself in the path of the falling tree...

A longer, even more deeply shocked gasp from the nekogirl as the spike she is impaled upon turns to ice-cold water that rushes through her pierced body, chilling her insides. "Gods...." is all she can manage to gasp out as she curls up again before pushing herself upright, watered down blood leaking from her chest to the floor, spattering the soil with dark pink liquid quickly absorbed by the dried ground. Turning to face the source of that echoing voice she is suddenly hurled from her feet by a flying Johnny.. too disorientated to throw up anything in defence. Landing hard on her side twin gouts of that pinkish liquid are sent splashing down to the floor of the crater. All the girl can do is groan and slowly push herself up again, having not even caught a glimpse of this new threat. The tree meanwhile completes its fall and crashes down headfirst to the middle of the crater, leaves and loose branches flying off in a wide radius all around.. the trunk missing NNY by a mile as the fallen tree remains with its split base propped at the edge of the rent in the earth.

Xue Qian leans back, grinning like the joker, before leaning forwards, laughing in madness, looking much like an eerie combo of Orochi Iori doing regular Iori's 'laughing' win pose. For the moment, however, she doesn't attack either of them.

Johnny blinks up at the tree trunk stupidly as it fails to hit him. Screaming at him from a location that sounds to be coming from him, Mr Eff yells, "YOU STUPID FUCKER! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING? KILL THE BITCH!!!!" His eyes fill with renued hatred as he glances at Samantha. But instead of going after her he leaps up into the air avoiding the fallen tree and advances down towards the insane Xue, his hatred making waves of darkness pour off of him.

Samantha slowly blinks, her bloodshot gaze focusing on the laughing ice maiden. (That's... Xue?) The nekogirl's head tilts, and she regards her changed comrade quietly, as a hand goes to the pulsing gem on her chest.. working to restitch her wound enough that she can at least stay upright, as right now her legs are shaking with the effort.

Xue Qian smiles viciously from Sam, to Johnny. Without a word, she points an open palm at Johnny, the appearently-greater threat "Die!". A burst of magic comes from the extended hand, sending several dozen razor-sharp toothpick-sized ice shards at the insane master of massacre

Johnny screams as the ice shards knock him out of the air and send him realing backwards into the crator again. However... being a wastelock, the magical force behind the attack is absorbed into him and the shadows that flow throughout him in this state quickly knot themseleves around the wounds. Cackling he rises up to his feet again and spits out a mouth-full of black fluid. "Your gonna have to do better than that, bitch..."

Sammy might get the impression that someone is watching her. And indeed if she turned to look, she'd fina familiar 13 year old kid sitting in one of the trees above her, dangling his legs off. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a red jacket. Noeting made him stand out really.

Samantha's bleary gaze takes this in and a smirk cuts its way onto her lips. In a sudden rush of speed she blurs and flickers back into visibility right beside Xue, the entire movement taking about half a second as she 'appears' with her left arm thrown out to the side and her right palm thrust forward, feet set firmly as she aims a vicious palm thrust into the over-extended side of the half-elf girl, her slender fingers blazing with pale blue energy. This sudden burst of movement does nothing for her slowly repairing injury, and another rush of blood erupts from each side of her tense body.

Xue Qian giggles madly at NNY, only getting time to look sideways as Sam palm-strikes her in the side. The half-elf's body jerks with the blow, obviously doing damage by the *CRACK* of a few ribs breaking audibly. However, she just looks at Sam menacingly, smiling that insane smile, before drawing SilverFrost in an Iaijutsu strike, aimed at the neko's leg(s), and and all sense of pain appearently null and void.

Johnny stares watching Xue and Sam for a moment, feeling the negative energies of their attacks flowing into him. As the chaos and distruction gradulaly increases he looses himself more and more into Mr Eff's dominating mind. Desiring more violence he charges up out of the crator again and throws up both his arms releasing a spray of metal spikes from beneath his sleaves (three a piece) towards his two opponents.

Samantha remains extended after the blow, she's on the verge of crumpling as it is and has no energy to continue the assault... not without seriously endangering herself. She meets Xue's insane smile with a breathless stare, right before those bloodshot sapphire optics widen as the slash comes in for her legs, spray of blood exiting the wounds to her lower legs as the girl falls back and to the side, landing on her side. A shiver runs up her spine at the delayed sensation of cold, and with a whimper she starts to pull herself away, unable to make too much movement until the gem - which is now basking the entire crater in that warm purple glow - has done its work.

Xue Qian isn't as fortunate (?) as Sam. As she's in an Iai stance *swordsman will know the stance easily*, one spike sails over her. The other two, however, are more fortunate. One grazes her arm, between the kevlar plates under her suit, making her pause as she changes targets. This allows the last to imbed itself in her shoulder, also between the plates, closer to the ball-socket joint than the neck. Growling, again ignoring the pain, she turns, and stabs forwards with her sword at the airborn NNY, a light wind spell boosting her speed somewhat as she jumps towards him to meet him in the air. *notes the sword causes ice to form over wounds caused, to an extent. the deeper the wound, the more forms, although it does no real damage otherwise than a normal sword would do*

Xue Qian wouldn't show it, but she is bleeding freely, as well as internally to a dagree, and it will start to take a toll, even if pain isn't shown

And if all this wasn't enough, it looked like someone else may get dragged into the fray. A certain meddlesome pilot had been on his way here to see if he could find anything from a previous encounter when he heard the sounds of the commotion going on nearby. Gun already in hand he jogs into the area, in a low stance to make him (hopefully) a little harder to see, but he realyl wasn't trying all that hard to be stealthy, just not blatantly obvious..

Johnny screams in pain as the wound in his chest is again reopened by Xue's blade. However, due to the magic being cast, his dark skin reacts and the shadows around his body begin wrap around the blade and presumably around Xue's arm threatening to absorb them as the two begin to fall. However, if that wasn't enough, as the pain drifts from his eyes he glances at his assailent and uses his right hand to pull out his tazor and thrust it into Xue's chest as he presses the trigger.

Samantha finds herself in a confusing and apparently hopeless situation... if she knew Alex was there it would do wonders for her morale, but as it is she can just train her gaze upon the continuing battle as her gem continues to pulse, slowly closing her wounds over.. the ice on the cuts to her lower legs is melting and the wound healing rather quickly, which is less than can be said for the chest and back wounds - the vital organs inside have been prevented from any further, permanent damage, but pinkish blood oozes freely from either side of the girl's slender body. (I have to do something.. Johnny isn't Johnny, I can kill him but... Xue? Is that really her? It -feels- like her...)

Xue Qian only slashes as she goes by, so is likely out of absorbtion range. However, ZAPPING range is another story. He hits her quite well with it as she goes by, and she lands in a kneel, body convulsing violently as she tries to control the electricity arcing through her body, also obviously startign to tire from sheer injury and bloodloss

Johnny lands flat on his back cackling. Climbing to his feet again, the shadows around him begin to engulf the area absorbing the light as they spread. Clearly his wastelock is getting an good charge from all this chaos. Out of the shadows shoot four hooked chains that threaten to impale Xue should she not move in time. ((OOC, it's been alooooong time since I've tried this attack...))

Alex gets a glimpse of the wounded Sammy, ducking down behind a tree he observes the fighte going on between Xue and Johnny. Seeing no need to interfere just yet, Alex tries to reach Sammy for information. (Hey Sammy, what's going on?) he then pauses and facepalms with his left hand, muttering, "Stupid idiot...something cut the link..." letting out a soft sigh he returns his attention to the fight, taking his finger off the trigger guard and resting it lightly on the trigger, ready to act should he need to.

Samantha watches this dispassionately, too tired.. too confused and too uncertain.. to work out how she feels about the unfolding scene. But slowly pushing herself up, she knows one thing: she can kill whatever creature Eff has created in the shape of her friend. She slips back into that stance, legs firmly set, one arm by her side and the other extended once more with fingers curled about an imaginary ball. "Eff!" She calls out, voice cracked but clear, "This has gone far enough.. I'm finishing it... here an' now." Her body jerks as the sphere of energy implodes into life, this time little 'lightning bolts' crackling off its slowly rotating surface, her fingers shifting ceaselessly as they mold the energy into something more coherent than before - not a loose, explosive force but concentrated in on a single point, centralising the impact and creating something potentially far more deadly. (Against Violet I had it right but I couldn't hit her.. even if I'd wanted to I couldn't.... I have to do it this time.... if that is Xue I can't let Eff kill her, whatever's happened I have to help her.)

Xue Qian's reaction is almost like something Kenshin would do in appearence, deflecting one with sword, one with sheath, one bouncing off her armor, but that 4th one strikes gold. It hits her in the side between the plates, going in one side of her lower abdoman, under the ribcage, but above the waist, and out the other side. With a pained wince, and a sharp intake of breath, she drops back to one knee, DEFINATELY feeling pain this time. Luckily, the hook didn't pierce anything vital, but it STILL hurts like hell, and is bleeding badly. She remains stunned for the moment, obviously

Mr Eff appears as a transparent figment beside Samantha. Crossing his arms and growling he mutters, "I'm right here bitch... all I did was set him off. Stupid fuck is acting on his own. I got kicked out when the dumb fuck tried to save your stupid ass..."

Johnny pulls the energies he'd unleashed back ripping the chains back into the darkness as he tries to pull Xue into the air and THROW her into Samantha as she builds up her attack all as a rather morbid form of blocking. As he tries all this he begins to cackle insanely as he's driven purely by the negative energies that course throught his body.

Alex got all the okay he needed to interfere when Sammy tried to call the fight. Without another ounce of hesitation, the pilot takes aim, first on Johnny. Trying to keep his aim to someplace non-vital (leg or arm or to the outer portions of the torso) he fires off a shot from thr .50 cal deasert eagle. Oooh! He's using black talons too! But he's not done there. Not thrown off by the recoil like msot would be, Alex quickly takes aim at Xue, firing a second, similarily 'non lethal' shot at her. (Well...if nothign else maybe I'll piss them off...)

Samantha gives a cold smirk, looking down at the transparent doughboy. "Hmph. Shame yer lyin', huh? Trying to stop me throwing this attack? Coz I c'n tell ya it ain't gonna work..." she stretches her right hand towards Eff and releases just a little flicker of energy, a semi-transparent thread whipping through the air from her palm.. the usual effect would be something like being whipped by an electrified cattle fence - but the shock would be -very- localised. It's more to test whether the doughboy is actually real, as she continues to gather energies between her fingers, which have parted a little to allow more room for the ball's lashing tendrils of ki.

Xue Qian is sent sailing through the air, the barbed hook ripping itself free in the process, making the wound that much more painful, and that much messier, although it still isn't anything lethal overall. Right towards Sam she flies, boardering on unconsciousness, the shot from Alex missing her as she goes

Mr Eff's image pulses as the charge rips through him. Releasing a scream that borders more on anger than on pain the Doughboy reveals that he is very much real. Although weak to the point of transparency from being forced out of the crazed maniac he still has enough in him to grab ahold of the girl's leg to try to send the current right back into her... ...assuming that Xue doesn't knock her out of the way first...

The darkness around Johnny is drawing out most of the light from the area surrounding him save for his piecing white eyes which grow very wide as the bullet passes through the dark shadows that currently make up his body. Momentairaly the darkness surrounding him vanishes and we see the boy standing as a black silohette as his left hand explodes in a spray of mist. This however, is enough to push his blind rage over the edge as the shadows quickly return and out of the blackness Johnny rushes out at an unheard of speed towards his new assailent. Screaming from the depths of his soul tenticle like vines shoot out of the stump that was once his hand reaching to latch onto Alex and subdue him as the raged maniac makes it to his location.

Samantha's leg is grabbed a moment before Xue hits, and the charge flies back into her leg.. causing her to stagger, she wasn't ready for a retaliation assuming the doughboy to be a figment of some demonic imagination having taken a visible form. With a cry her hand jerks out to balance her, the forgotten sphere of energy flung away towards edge of the crater as she instinctively releases it. It never reaches the crater's edge, impacting as it does with the fallen tree halfway there.. and with a loud explosion a two-foot section of the wood is gone, only a few wispy pieces of bark marking its passing. The rest.. simply ceases to be, disintegrated by the girl's attack. Meanwhile she is flung back with Xue, landing hard on her back with the half-elf atop her, Sammy herself just about to pass out and this isn't helped by the double impact.

Xue Qian is more or less spent by this point, bleeding from several wounds, some worse than others, and bashed around. Her last thought before the darkness of unconsciousness overtakes her is (Where the... hell... AM i...) -.-

Alex blinks in surprise as he sees the end result of his shot on Nny. He lets out a brief "Oh fuck!" as he spots the tentacles coming in at him. Quickly kicking up to his feet, Alex makes for the trees, skidding into the brush as one of the black tentacles lashes past his head. (Definitely succeeded in pissing him off...)

Johnny runs up to the edge of the trees as the darkness spreads around him turning him into a shapeless black void as his, now red, eyes search from the darkness for his prey. The tenticles that seem to be coming from that darkness spread in amount and are now joined by various sets of claws, spikes, and teeth like an unholy alien force ripping into this world from the tear that Alex had made. From within that darkness Johnny screams in rage, "QUIT HIDING FUCKER!!!! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE STARTED SHIT YOU WHEREN'T PREPARED TO DEAL WITH!!!!"

Xue Qian is officially unconscious at this point.. for the moment

Samantha's eyelids flutter as she struggles to remain as alert as possible, slowly pushing Xue off of her and only now registering the gunshots that sounded previously. (Someone else is here? Just hope they're on my side...) She slithers out from under the half-elf and mutters a vague apology as she turns around, head swaying and legs shaking visibly as she tries to focus on where Johnny and his latest target have ended up...

Alex stays nicely nestled in the trees however. Panting slightly as he darts through the brush as he weaves in and out around the various large trees present, tryign to make life as difficult for the various black tendrils chasing him. (Okay genius) he thinks to hismelf (You got yourself into this mess, now how do you plan to get out of it?) He knew he couldn't keep running forever.

Mr Eff appears suddenly infront of Alex as he runs. Very clamly before vanishing from sight again he announces, "Oh dear... seems our master decided to make an apperence after all. I'd hate to be you right now..."

Samantha straightens herself up a little as her eyes focus and widen, her ears twitching and tail flicking behind her to echo the pace of her heart - which has just increased considerably. Gritting her teeth she turns to look back over her shoulder towards Xue's unconscious form, pausing a moment before she speaks.. her voice clear and edged with steel. Whatever else, she won't let Johnny kill.. even if it is really him, better he die again than turn to the old ways she's heard much about. "SilverFrost....? Y-your mistress is hurt, I can't help her unless you help me. Can ya hear?"

SilverFrost hmph's "The brat tried to control what cannot be controlled. Wouldn't listen, even when i told 'er so. She had it comin, as usual. Too bad i can't just let 'er die. What'd you have in mind?"

With the disturbing sound of mouths crunching the mass of claws, teeth, tenticles, and bone that are ripping it's way from the shadows begin to DEVOUR the trees as not only the tenticles spread, but the darkness spreads blacking out all light from around the trees in the process. Beneath the horrible noise the only sound that can be heard is NNY's manaicle laughter as the forces controlling him prevent the boy from concious thought...

Samantha smirks slightly, running a gloved hand back through her hair, almost completely dry now but sticky with blood and sweat. "We c'n talk about that later.. fer now, if I don't do somethin' we're all gonna end up dead." She's fairly sure the relationship between the two is rather closer than the blade suggests, but she won't push that side of things.. yet. "I need a weapon that can.. channel energy.... a -lot- of power.. without breaking on me." She places her hand now to the hilt of her ninjato, fingers tapping it gently. "This has done me well for four years, but.. it's not enough now. I need to use you... I have something in mind." (This had better work.. I don't know what else I could do. If you're there, speak to me now? I know you're watching me, I've felt it...)

Alex tries to pay no mind to the evil dougboy. If nothing else looking in any direction besides the one he was running invited him t run into a tree. As he hears the sounds of the forest being torn apart behind him, Alex casts a glance over his shoulder at the approaching darkness. (Not good! Not g-!) Alex's train of thought is derailed as his left hsoudler collides with a tree, sending him in a jerky stumble off to the side and drastically slowing his pace for a few moments.

SilverFrost is silent a moment, whether actually considering, or to make Sam sweat, only it knows. After a time, it sighs "I suppose you must if you must..."

Samantha flashes a small grin and turns around fully, her shoulders seeming to 'deslump' as SilverFrost answers her in the positive. Suddenly she feels a whole lot happier about the situation, the passionate glint returning to her twin sapphire orbs. Stepping over to Xue's side, she hesitates before adopting a more solemn expression and bowing at the waist, keeping her gaze on the magical blade. "Thanks.. we'll all owe you for this one." Bracing herself for the expected chill she reaches for the hilt and slowly closes her fingers around it, though in truth she's so hot right now that a quick burst of ice magic should do just the trick. All the while she continues her unheard conversation, finding it disturbingly one way, though she keeps any reaction from her expression.. trying not to offend SilverFrost after such a breakthrough. (Come out... I want you to this time. And.. if you do, I'll slay your demon, or god.. or whatever it is. I swear I'll do it. Just save our lives - give me your power. It's the least you can do. Right.. Cassandra?)

Alex doesn't seem to have much on his side at the moment. Rapidly running out of trees, he's 'lucky' enough to slip while trying to step over a log. Falling face first into the forest floor, he quickly scrambles back to his feet, stupidly looking over his shoulder to see how much ground he lost. A vague impression of something else starts to nag at the back of his mind, adding some much unwanted distraction.

The first of the tenticles makes their way past the line of trees after Alex as the forrest is slowly devoured. The shadows blacking out almost the entire area from Alex's sight when he looks behind him. Given the fact that the sun set long ago, it was already dark to begin with. Johnny's laughter is all but drowned out at this point as the beast he is ment to lock away has almost completly become free from it's prison...

Samantha's spine tingles with the chill and she almost jerks away, but closing her eyes she shifts her grip and lifts the blade slowly from the floor. Letting her lids slide open again she smiles and weighs SilverFrost in one hand before switching to the more comfortable and practical grip the sword demands. "Let's get this show on the road..." she murmurs softly, before a grin breaks out as she sweeps the glowing blue length of metal with her gaze. (Hear me? Better come out when it counts or you can forget this whole 'deal' your grunts made with Jack... I mean that, even if you are some kinda god.) Suddenly she raises her voice, cold glare snapping to the forest line, "EFF! BETTER GET READY FOR ME, Y'HEAR!" She now looks to Xue and smiles, "Wait up.. I'll be back, I promise..." And like a bolt she's off, SilverFrost held in both hands by her side and tail streaming out behind her as she plunges into the leafy depths and trains her ears to pick up the sounds of battle as she seeks through the horrible blackness to find its central point.

The blade weighs about 8 to 10 lbs.

SilverFrost is silent, waiting for the moment, it would seem

Alex tchs as he gets a glimspe of the impending darkness. With a minor clearing ahead, he chances aiming over his shoulder to fire a couple quick shots behind himself, hoping to possibly hit something of substance in the void. (I hate gambling...!)

From out of the blackness erupts a deep growl. From each impact with the shadows another set of tenticles erupts instead of blowing a hole in the darkness. Could any of them have hit our resident maniac? That has yet to be seen... reguardless, someone's gonna be sore tomorow if he mangages to come back from this...

Samantha stops inside the dark void, her senses keen and trained on her goal but.. finding nothing. With a frustrated yell she slashes at the seemingly infinite nothingness now surrounding her. "Where are you?" She growls out, and suddenly with a cry more pained than angry she falls to her knees, holding SilverFrost's hilt in her lap as her body convulses. "Come out or... never use me again.... or I swear....." with a gasp she lurches backwards, almost falling but releasing the sword's hilt with a single hand to brace herself. Her eyes slip closed again and.. something changes... her hair shifts from its ebon blackness to a shining platinum blonde, and her entire being is shrouded in light. A voice echoes, unheard, in the girl's skull.... before she stands slowly and takes a stance, SilverFrost once again in a two-handed grip. "I'm ready for you, demon... come to me." The voice is her own but.. changed somehow. Definitely not that of whoever two present have seen her possessed by before, but there are elements there - almost like an almagam of two.

SilverFrost, as Sam is appearently possessed by something, is once again wreathed in blue flame of deep deep cold temperatures, just as it was when Xue was insane not too long ago, the blade going silent for it's duration, although still being conscious.

The beast stops suddenly, alerted at the presence in the void it has been escaping from. All at once the claws, tenticles, and everything else simply turn - surrounding the white light that had invaded it's former prison. With the combined growls of hundreds of sets of mouths and teeth, the abomination begins to speak, "JUST WHAT MANNER OF CREATURE ARE YOU? HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE WITH MY MEAL? DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DIE THAT BADDLY?"

As the newly formed tendrils erupt from the approaching blackness, Alex finds himself a half step too slow in dodghing, partially thanks to an odd voice that fills the back of his mind. A pain filled yell pierces that which is left of the forest as one of the tendrils cuts along Alex's side, slicing through his jacket and into his torso. As the thing suddenly stops, Alex turns to face it, panting heavily, teeth grit. Strange...he didn't have fangs before...

A confident smirk crosses Samantha's lips as she lifts SilverFrost up over her right shoulder, turning her gaze to the central point of the abomination facing her. The golden energies licking all around her body part and spread out at a slow pace, the effect not unlike watching a sunset in reverse as light floods out from the girl's slender body to eventually encompass the whole forest, bringing bright daylight to the area. "What manner of creature am I?" She asks softly, pausing a moment before her shoulders lift in a faint shrug. "I'm not sure I could answer ya.. not honestly anyway. See, funny thing.. apparently this goddess thinks I'm worthy to be her avatar. Not that it matters much to you..." she springs back a pace and takes a traditional samurai's fighting stance, both hands locked on the flaming weapon's hilt and feet set firmly. Her eyes flare, not changing colour but burning a hundred times more bright, sapphire glow erupting for just a second, "You're dead either way."

As the power of will within the user increases, as with the hikari no ken, so too do SilverFrosts flames grow brighter, as well as colder

The abomination laughs, "STUPID WOMAN... I'VE LIVED SINCE BEFORE THE TIME OF MAN... THE FOOLS THAT LOCKED ME AWAY ARE LONG SINCE DEAD IN THIS WORLD... GODDESS OR NOT, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE STRENGTH TO KILL ME... BUT YOU SHALL MAKE AN INTRESTING MEAL, NONE THE LESS..." Without any hesitation the countless claws, teeth, and tenticles converge on Samantha trying to smother her and devour her all at the same time...

Samantha simply lifts her left hand from the katana and flicks it outward with a flourish, the area growing darker as some of the light is sucked back in to form a protective shield. "If you're anyway less pure than I am..." the girl murmurs, her voice becoming more like that heard before by Xue and Johnny as the possession becomes more deep and controlling briefly - long enough to execute that manuever, and then the voice is Sammy's once more. "Y'can't touch me. And y'never will... all in all this is a pretty pointless battle." She lets her hand slip back to join the other in its grip, and glances at the flaming length. "SilverFrost. I'm gonna do what I was worried y'wouldn't want... I need to add a little something.. it shouldn't damage you..." with that she lets her eyes slip shut and starts to concentrate, trying not to let Cassandra grip her too tightly as she calls on the goddess' energy again, but this time.. it's not defensive.

Alex is left with little to do, save stay wher ehe is, clutching his now injured side as he stares inwards at the darkness. All things considered, he couldn't exaclty tell what was going on, but something had the thing occupied. Just as was him starting to hear thigns again.

SilverFrost is silent as it does something much akin to what it was origionally created to do: channel energy from it's weilder.

The tentacles reach out and wrap around her body from every possible angle, meanwhile the countless number of teeth begin to try to chew at the girl - wheather it's own tenticles get in the way or not! Somewhere deep within the blackness floats the limp conciousness of Johnny as the beast had tried to exchange places with the boy, sealing him away so that he could never use his 'flusher' to destroy it.

Samantha opens her eyes and tilts her head, peering up at the central point still. "I told ya.. you can't get me, ya can't hurt me. So stop tryin'..." shaking her head she looks to SilverFrost and smiles, "Ready to go?" And with that there's a burst of something akin to holy energy from the girl.. it's not pure and it's like nothing the blade would ever have felt before but it's most definitely divine in nature and incredibly powerful. The power floods every inch of the slender nekogirl's body and blends with her own, though there is so much more here that the usual blue-white is indiscernable should the energy visibly manifest itself, which it does now... provided SilverFrost continues to accept the girl's energies, his own blue glow will be bolstered with one of pure white at the innermost point and vibrant gold at the edge.

As he gets a glimpse of the light coming from within the darkness, Alex closes his eyes andlets out a soft sigh. Holstering his gun, he turns and starts to head out, limping through the forest, heading away from the encounter and back to town. He got the distinct impression he'd be of little use byt his point anyways.

The Abomination writhes in pain as it begins to intensify it's attack. Not neccesaraily to devour as it first suggested, but infact to smother the girl with the enveloping darkness. The stalemate does little good for the beast though as the energies from the girl are more focused. After a few moments the darkness begins to give way to the light and one by one the tenticles begin to withdraw into that void...

The fight isn't over yet.... the nekogirl's eyes remain open but seem to glaze over as she continues channelling the divine energies, SilverFrost receiving a monumental boost in that golden light surrounding him, a flood of power thrown into his length by the girl and her 'benefactor'. "Where ya goin'? We're not done yet..." Angling the tip of the katana towards the point her gaze has been focusing on this entire time, Samantha's lips part and she begins to intone something in that strange tongue two of those three present have heard - like Latin and a host of other languages, with a harsh, barbaric edge that lies mainly in the phrasing, the girl's voice no longer ringing clear and sweet but with a hint of.. darkness, even, though that would seem to belie the light raging out around her. The golden energy surrounding SilverFrost intensifies further, now entirely white - though ripples of gold occasionally crackle out like small bolts of lightning - and seems to be preparing to launch itself from the blade into the heart of the surrounding darkness.

From SilverFrosts tip, a blue-white beam of sub-zero magical energy, sent by the blade itself, zips towards the target in question, intending to not only freeze it and slow it down, but also to act as a 'lock on' for the big blast to travel along with greater speed, should it successfully hit

Johnny begins to stir as he feels an energy begin to gather around him... It doesn't feel threatening, almost welcome... turning in the void towards the energy he begins to push his way towards it. The Abomination however begins to growl as it is torn back into the void as it's power begins to fade against the energies being forced against it. With sudden realisation it begins to scream in terror it feels the real attack begining to build...

The foreign speech emitting from Samantha's mouth breaks off as she starts a low cry, building in volume and pitch until the sound pierces the air, and any surviving birds launch themselves from their treetop nests and dart away into the air. The set-up by SilverFrost doesn't go unnoticed, and shortly afterwards the supercharged nekogirl's voice slips into subsonic before cutting off abruptly, and every last dribble of white energy pours from the extended blade and coalesces in front of its tip before charging off into the void, the rough sphere at least as tall as Samantha herself. It hammers past the central point before looping back around and whipping in a crazy, seemingly random path through the vast, dark creature that is the half-goddess' target. Once the ball is away, the girl stops directly channelling her boosted energies into SilverFrost and lowers his tip to the ground, lifting one hand to brush back her hair which has been blown into a dishevelled mess by the winds generated as she charged her attack. Her chest rises and falls heavily as she fights to catch her breath, though in her left hand she starts - almost unconsciously - to channel more of that energy, though this time it has a different feel to it, the air growing rather cold.

SilverFrost continues to flame, silent, as it always is when willed as much as it is at the moment

Lifting her left hand to the daylight above, Samantha begins to speak again.. but in Cassandra's voice, only the barest hint of the girl remaining in her tone and manner. The skies brighten once more, now the sun appears to burn as vividly as on any stifling summer's day and the cloudless blue sky screams peace and quiet. Turning her gaze from this heavenly weather down to the creature around her, the girl speaks in English once more. "You're an abomination who should never have been... now you writhe in pain I shall take this time to return things to how they -should- be. There is no reason for you to exist, dark despoiler.. and now is the time to correct that!" She throws her blazing sapphire optics heavenward and clenches her outflung hand. As an explosive shockwave rocks the city she screams three words in that strange language... then silence descends, and darkness falls. Absolute, all-encompassing, not a thing is visible within, not a sound either.. it is as if someone just switched the whole world off - though somehow you are still aware. When the world shifts back into gear a few long minutes later everything is restored, the forest is repaired, the darkness is gone.. and everybody lies where they have fallen, or where they stand. It's as though everything but the combatants themselves was suddenly reset. And Johnny?

Near the restored tree rests an unsual shadow. A closer inspection would reveal that it's not a shadow at all, but Johnny C... still 'blacked out' and passed out on the grass. Very slowly his shadows fade and the no-longer wounded boy lays still from exahstion...

Samantha remains with her hand and head thrown heavenward, standing posed like a statue of a Greek goddess before slowly she lets her arm fall back to her side, and her gaze slip to the forest floor. "That's enough.." she murmurs, in her normal voice, "Get out.. an' I'll hold to our bargain... just.. leave me now..." her eyes slide shut and her hair shimmers before fading back to its usual midnight black, tangled strands appearing even moreso now the golden sheen is gone. Next the nekogirl looks to SilverFrost, whose energies are beginning to fade, and a soft smile crosses her lips - gratitude almost as great as the utter tiredness in her eyes - "Thanks, SilverFrost... I.. I owe ya one okay?" The blade is silent and she gives a breathless laugh, "Sorry, guess you're tired too..." with great care she props the katana against a tree nearby and then looks around until she spots Johnny. A gasp then, and she dashes forward with a sudden burst of energy to kneel at his side, "NNY.. you're okay! Speak to me..."

Johnny lays silent as the last of the darkness evaporates from his skin. After a second or two, he slowly begins to stir after hearing Sammy's voice. "Whaaa...?" Sitting up very slowly and painfully the boy looks around confused, "Ahhhh... shit... did I fall asleep again...?"

Samantha giggles, unable to hold back her happiness that after so many losses of late, she's finally won! "No, you-" she stops and pauses as she lays a slender gloved hand on NNY's shoulder, squeezing gently, "Yeah.. yeah, ya did. Welcome back! I saw ya an' was tryin' to talk when I noticed... thought I'd, er.." she rubs at the back of her neck with her free hand, "Thought I'd wait 'till ya woke up. You okay?"

Johnny rubs the back of his head and stops for a moment to examine his not-missing hand. "I... I guess so... had the most fucked up dream though..."

Samantha grins and stands up, giving Johnny's hair (or what remains of it) a quick ruffle. "Betcha did! Hold up a sec, I gotta go do somethin'..." she walks back over to SilverFrost and pets the pommel gently before she grabs the blade in one hand and lifts it up across her shoulders, waving to Johnny as she walks back towards the clearing.

Johnny watches Samantha walk off, getting more confused as she picks up the sword. Deciding to do an inventory check he glances around and notices in shock that his black scars from the fight in the Badlands are suddenly gone as well... oO(What the hell? Was that a dream too?)

Samantha returns a couple of minutes later, wearing a satisfied grin. (That went to plan too... sugoi!) She strolls back over to Johnny and braces one hand on her hip as she offers him the other, "Get up, it's late an' I reckon you should get some sleep!"

Johnny takes the offered hand and stumbles up to his feet. Standing as if it where the first time he wobbles and uses Samantha's hand to steady himself before letting go. Despite his own dislike of sleep, he actualy considers it. "Yeah... maybe your right..."

Samantha blinks at a sudden thought, but releases a swift sigh of relief as Johnny fails to notice the stupidity in recommending to sleep to someone who just woke up. With a grin she gives a perky thumbs up, "Great! Um.." she looks Johnny up and down before lifting an eyebrow and asks, just to be sure.. "You're feelin' okay though, right?"

Johnny blinks, "Uh... I don't know to tell you the truth. Something feels... off... but I'm not sure what. Damn that was a weird dream..." Staring into the eyes of the neko-girl he suddenly get's overwhelemed with a sence of guilt. "Um... I don't know why... but I feel like I should appoligise for something..."

Samantha meets his gaze for a few moments, then blinks and the grin returns, "No, it's fine! I don't mind ya fallin' asleep on me, Mai-sensei always told me men do that all the time.." she shrugs and starts to lead the way back into town, "C'mon, I'll buy ya a soda or somethin' on the way back.. if y'want."

Johnny wobbles a step or two towards her and glances at the trees for a long moment. "It's not over yet, you know, " he mumbles absentmindedly, "he's going to come back..." Shaking it off he glances at what is bound to be a confused glance from Samantha, "Huh? Sorry... I dunno what the hell just came over me... yeah... a drink sounds good..."

Samantha does turn over her shoulder to blink at Johhny, but she's in her own little happy world right now - drunk on power, if you will, but just smiles and gives a happy shrug as she turns away. *scene over and out!*


Personal tools