NPF Avatars: Pain and Amazement

[Mesden]

<This isn't really my world. I can feel this planes mannerisms. The slight color variations. The way I had made it. It is...off. Though my connection to my world seems...restricted here.>

Her glance turned towards Raiden. His casual look sickened her. Aramene felt its master's anger. He blazed through the air towards Raiden, snarling and fangs shown.

Raiden'sonly response was opening his mouth. The silent words pulled out again and covered Aramene. He was stopped in mid flight instantly. The characters turned into sigils as they rotated around it. With a final flash the dragon had beentransformed into a small lizard.

"Raiden," her voice echoed out throughout the entire area, "You have forsaken your followers and friends. Turned your back on everything for what? Power? A god complex? What is it? Why have you turned your back on everything?"

[POS Industries]

Patience is a virtue. POS is not one to be considered virtuous, however.

He had been waiting outside of the door for about five minutes. The door opened for whatever reason, some of his "teammates" had already gone through theirs, and the handful left outside seemed to be content with killing flamers indiscrimanently. Pedro had always had a problem with waiting, especially when his curiosity got the better of him. And it always did.

So, he sighed, he shrugged, he cursed, and he walked through that door alone...

...and found himself in an office waiting room. With the exception of himself and the receptionist, the room was completely uninhabited. Given this, the next logical course of action was clear.

"Excuse me," he said, approaching the receptionist's desk, "I believe I have an appointment."

The receptionist, clearly apathetic to the situation, scanned the appointment book in front of her and then cast an empty stare up to POS. "Ah yes," she said in a mildly nasal voice, "Mr. O'Shannahan?"

"O'Sullivan," he corrected, annoyed by all this.

"Of course. I'm afraid that Mr. Raiden is in a meeting right now," she drolled, "Several meetings, actually. You'll have to take a number." With that, she gestured vaguely at a number ticket dispenser and returned her attention to her game of computer solitaire.

"Take a..." he said in disbelief, but cut himself short knowing it wouldn't do him any good. He briefly considered simply smashing her head into the monitor and storming into the office of "Mr. Raiden", but that lacked professionalism. Unhappily, he snatched a ticket from the dispenser and read it. Number 8.

"I'll let you know when your number's up," the receptionist mumbled to him as he sat down, not taking her eyes off the game in front of her. The double entendre of that statement wasn't lost on him, of course, but he was too irritated to care. Sitting down in the furthest corner of the room, POS picked up the nearest three year old issue of People magazine and scanned the cover. "Boy, it sure is good to see that things are going so well for Ben and J. Lo," he growled under his breath.

Pedro had always had a problem with waiting.

[Krylo]

Krylo was a gunslinger, a trigger man, a hired gun, and a duelist above all else, and here he was standing face to face with a god. An opponent he couldn't possibly take down alone, even though even the god lacked the ability to kill him. His mind slipped into the state it always slipped into when facing near impossible odds.

'The first rule of combat: Shoot them before they shoot you.'

His hand moved like lightning, in a blur of motion that would have put Twiddy to shame. With the kind of practiced easy and speed that only came to the best gunslingers in the world Krylo drew his forty four, five bullets still in the chamber, and fired.

The last word of Raiden's statement had just entered Krylo's ear as the hollow point bullet entered the Thunder God's forehead, tearing the back of his head out, and splattering the lobby desk with gray matter.

At that, Krylo stopped for a second, "This isn't real..." his eyes moved down to Raiden's body, which had fallen from the chair and onto the floor, oozing blood and brains, "And neither are you."

With that he began to walk toward the opposite exit of the lobby, intent upon finding the REAL Raiden.

[Raiden]

Raiden looked up at Mauve with a bit of a chuckle.

"What's going on? So many things, Mauve. So many things."

He looked as her shaking hands went to her knives. His chuckle turned into a full laugh.

"You're going to fight me with just those two knives? Come now, Mauve. You're smarter than that."

He nodded his head toward the coffeeshop counter. On it was a candy shelf.

"Fill up your MP if you need to."

He could see the question in her eyes. She shook his head a bit.

"They're not poisoned, and they're certainly real. Don't be so worried, Mauve. I'm here to keep you from getting to the Mashirosen, and nothing more. If you want to fight me, then we'll fight. If you want to sit and have a conversation like civilized people, then for all it's worth, be my guest."

He went back to his paper.

************************************************** *******
Raiden's glowing eyes stared at Mes, the electric aura seemed to seep right from the sockets.

"How can one have a god complex, my sister, when they are already a God?"

His eyes looked down for a moment. But only for a moment. Then the eyes stared right back into Mesden's own.

"And I have my reasons for doing what I do. Merely know that I'm not letting you past me. You want to fight, then fine, we'll fight. You want to talk, then go ahead and talk."

************************************************** *******
Even as Krylo began to walk towards the 'exit' of the area, a strange sound was heard behind him. The blood that had been spilled from Raiden's body was pooling back together, and the bones were stitching into their original places. Muscles slid up the structured body with electric pulls, and all the organs seemed to be reconstructing themselves before his eyes. It was healing much faster than Raiden usually healed. His mouth was finished before the rest of his face, and once his vocal cords were set, he spoke.

"Oh, Krylo. Always shooting before asking. You know, that could land you in quite a bit of trouble one of these days. Especially when you find an opponent that, like you, simply...won't...die."

Raiden's body was completely healed, and he was sitting in the torn seat as if nothing had happened. He gave a wry smile.

"Honestly, Krylo, I was expecting better."

[mauve]

"I'm only here to keep you from getting to the Mashirosen..."

"I'm only here to keep you from hurting yourself, or getting taken away like the others..."

Mauve didn't know why her memory brought forth that particular statement from their last adventure. Just as she was pondering this, another memory rose to the surface of her mind. After Christmas, Raiden and a handful of the other NPFers had gathered in this very shop, relating their adventures. Raiden was telling them how he had entered the mind of a thought-controlling monster, effectively frying its brain and saving the day:

"...And so then I told him, 'Well, what is a mind but a series of ELECTRIC SYNAPSES?' So I zapped the bitch, right in the ol' gray matter..."

Mauve grimaced.

"Damn," she said. "Damn, hell, shit, and all those other four-letter words I gave up as a New Year's Resolution. So that's what you're doing." She shook her head and sank down into the chair across from Raiden. She crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair, still afraid but not as much so.

"None of this is real, you're not even really here, and you're just hijacking my nervous system to make this fake-world, right?" she asked angrily. "So is my real body lying unconscious on the ground somewhere? Or should I not even ASK what's happening to my real self right now?"

There had to be a way out of here. It probably meant distracting Raiden, connecting with her real body, or killing this fake Raiden, though. Mauve had to take a moment to think about these options, so she decided to see if he'd give her any more information.

"So what are you going to do with us once you've got the Mashirosen?" she asked. "And as long as we're asking, WHY do you need the Mashirosen?"

[Krylo]

"All things can die when the right pressure is applied, Raiden. Even I've come dangerously close to death... Pyros saved my life, remember?" Krylo said as he turned toward the thunder god, "...No. I don't suppose you would. You aren't Raiden. You aren't the one who stole The Kurosen, are you? You're just a puppet. You don't have expectations... stop pretending."

As he spoke Krylo flicked upon the chamber of his forty four and dumped the empty casings to the ground, before sliding a new pair of bullets in and flicking it shut. However, he slid the gun away, instead electing to reach to his back and draw out his withering blade.

He held the blade in front of him at a slight angle, his hands just below chest level. "I don't have time to waste on your stupid games."

[Mesden]

"It seems you have limited my connection to my world. Smart, but it shall not help you."

Her eyes grew into the bright white light. Her hand extended in a blazing white fire. SHe looked to the still content Raiden and yelled, "SOUL BURN!"

As her words came out, so did Raiden's. His words as silent and real as ever as the Rune formed into sigils and merged with his body.

"Please, sister. I helped train you to fight. You think I didn't pick up on your tactics after all these years? You'll need to use something new."

Well Raiden, if that be the case..."

Her outward hand clenched tightly. The sound released echoed like loud wailing.

"You see Raiden, you may have tought me how to fight. But not how to control MY spirits in this universe."

The small lizard that had been crawling on the floor ceased its movement. Outbursted from it came a completely spiritual Aramene. The dragon flew into the air and turned its gaze upon Raiden for a moment.

Silent words escaped Raiden's mouth as it has before so many dull times before. But His sigil that tried to surround Aramene were blocked in mid movement by other sigils. These markings were mirror opposites of their opposition. The dragon wailed loudly and dashed towards Mesden.

It passed into her body and her white eyes were now crimson red. With blinding speed she darted behind Raiden, the God actually surprised of his fellow Goddess's speed. She had already drew her sword in mid dash and brought it around into Raiden's back.

The ethereal blade shook upon contact within his chest. Crackling electricity and white flames erupted as the two forces met. Raiden was soon blown back into a nearby wall as Mesden readied herself again.

"Now let us see which is better. Your Rune or my spirits."

[Raiden]

"Oh no, Mauve. You're in your real body. The hand you're moving is your own, the clothes you're wearing is your own, and your body, which is unravaged by my hand, is your own."

He took a drink from his coffee.

"No, this is far more advanced then some simple mind-hijacking, Mauve. This is a complete alteration of reality. My Rune abilities are quite excellent, I must say. While this isn't exactly the coffeeshop you and I know and love, this area of our reality has been altered to resemble it. But I assure you, this is all real as far as reality is concerned in this place."

He chuckled a bit at a funny, then went back to his explanation.

"And no, I'm not the real Raiden. Then again, I'm not entirely a fake. Think of me as a breathing, moving, and talking video camera. The real Raiden is communicating with you through me. I'm no more than an extension of himself that he left behind to keep you all distracted. And as for the Mashirosen..."

Raiden placed the newspaper down on the table. His smile was gone, and he had a completely serious look in his eye.

"You don't need to know."

Then the smile came back on his face.

"You sure you don't want anything? The food here is real. And if you intend to get past me, you'll need all the magic you can muster. Or, we can just sit here and enjoy the environment."

************************************************** *******
Raiden looked at Krylo.

"Pulling out the blade, huh? Yeah, I remember this blade. You took it off that creature back at the North Pole. Has the power to even kill a God?"

Raiden got up from the chair, and walked forward. He lightly grasped the sword in his hand, but made no effort to take the sword away from the Mod. In fact, the Thunder God moved the edge of the sword down to his own arm. The sharp blade grazed his skin, and then, with a quick pulling motion, he slashed deeply.

The blade had slit his skin in a long strip down the arm. Already the edges were festering and decaying from the incredible poison of the sword. Normally it would have kept growing, if not for something strange.

The poison bubbled, then dripped to the ground. Even as the incredibly potent toxin left his body, the wound quickly healed itself. The blade made to kill immortals hadn't even made a cut that lasted more than 10 seconds.

"When you're a true immortal, Krylo, games are all you have. Then again, you wouldn't know. You're not a true immortal. You're simply a mistake. A glitch. An error in programming."

Raiden's eyes got in close to Krylo.

"Yes, I know. Your creator, though powerful, was not High Creator. As such, he had no permission to create Gods. However, he was jealous of the creator and his ability to create deities. So, instead, he made a mortal. But, he made sure that the mortal was a mistake. The rune that controls the lifespan of this mortal was fractured and incomplete. As such, there was no set date for its death. Which ultimately left the time of death to the mortal."

Raiden stepped back a bit.

"All it would take, Krylo, is an immortal skilled in Rune to 'fix' that glitch of yours, and your death would be set like it is for all other mortals. However, as you guessed, I'm not the real Raiden. I'm a part of him. A man of such intelligence as yourself would know that I got his immortality, along with weakened versions of his other gifts. As such, I don't have the Rune expertise it would take to fix it. Well, not right now, anyway."

He had said that last sentence with a relatively cruel grin plastered on his face.

"Regardless, I can't let you pass. And since you can't really keep me down, we might as well have some fun while we do this. Let us 'immortals' be entertained for a bit, shall we?"

************************************************** *******
"Galinkan, Sisno."

Raiden muttered as he pushed himself away from the wall. He was not a whole being. Only his skill in Rune was kept equal. The rest of him was weakened, which was why she could hit him like that before he could respond. However, she had upset him, and she wanted a fight. His job was to keep her distracted.

He looked over at Mesden.

"You used the basic Rune I taught you to counteract the Rune I was using? Very nice. However, that means I'll need to step it up a notch. The Rune I taught you was the basic of basics. You'll now see what a true wielder of Rune is capable of, if only for a short while."

Solid words were escaping from Raiden's lips as he spoke to Mes. He flew about, plastering themselves onto any surface they could find.

"Now, my sister. For your safety, you will know fear. Not any normal fear, but true fear. Something you have never been exposed to."

[mauve]

Mauve looked down at the ground. She had added the bit about her "real self" just to see if it'd piss him off that she suggested it. It hadn't. In fact, he had managed to add that little voice inflection to make her feel stupid just for SUGGESTING it. Damn, he was good.

She sighed and stared up at the ceiling. She grabbed one knife and began to absently toss it from one hand to the other as she thought. It wouldn't bother Raiden, this much she knew.

"One question," she said, watching the glimmer of the lights play across the blade as she tossed it in the air. "Why me? Why did you give me my own door? I'm not immortal. I'm not a goddess. Even when you weren't being all spazzy and power-hungry, I was no match for you. Why bother?"

She caught the blade between her fingertips and thumb.

"Also, what'll happen to the video camera if you do this?" She flicked her fingers, and the knife left her hand, burying itself in his neck.

[Krylo]

"If you can 'fix' me, Raiden, then why don't you come down here and do it?" Krylo asked, his eyes narrowing, "Maybe you only have games, but I don't. Even though I know it's transitory, and I know I'll have to watch them die someday, I have my friends. And what about you, up there on the tower? Betraying everyone? Casting the city into disarray... sending waves of flamers, violent newbs, and strangely belligerent lurkers? How many of your 'friends' do you think have died already, Raiden?"

Krylo struck out with his sword, against the, as of yet, unarmed puppet, leaving a large gash in his chest, and used the little bit of extra room he gained as Raiden jumped back, to set himself up for a thrust.

However, Raiden's damascus sword was out now, and its blade met the blade of the withering blade. Steel slid across steel, a few small sparks ricocheting out, as the withering blade was redirected away from Raiden and his gash healed.

The two were locked for a moment, blade to blade.