NPF Avatars: Pain and Amazement

[Raiden]

Raiden's feint of shock went away to a smile.

"Silly...silly little sister. Rune makes everything. It even makes...your ability to control this world. And when you used your will to undo the rune..."

Mesden suddenly had a small pain on the back of her neck, along the very top of where what consists of spinal cords in Gods were.

"A true Rune manipulator understands the slightest of subtle movements, little sister. By allowing yourself to manipulate that which I was manipulating, my secret rune that I kept in waiting launched its attack. Tell me, sister, how does it feel for one of your personal runes to be altered? Namely, the rune that gives your the ability to create these mini-realms of yours?"

Raiden sat on the ground cross-legged.

"Now, if you're done messing with my runes, I'm not in much of a mood to fight. Though it seems that you are."

************************************************** ******
Raiden watched Mauve as she walked toward the counter. He was right. She was slow. And though this form wasn't as fast as he normally was, he still had his godly strength.

"What now? I don't know. I was enjoying a coffee, and you stabbed me. Just because I'm a puppet, doesn't mean I don't have feelings."

He wiped the dried blood from his neck with a napkin.

"I'm here to keep you busy. You chose to fight, so I guess we're fighting."

His fist pounded down into the floor. The tile shattered as his fist carried through into the ground, ripping up a gas pipe. Natural gas began to hiss out as he pulled several feet of the thick iron pipes.

[GARUD]

Garud was reading the runes that had been written on the wall. That was before the four sword brothers of Premonitions pushed him toward a door. The runes on it read Premonitions...Garud. Obviously they were supposed to go inside.

"I'll take it from here guys. I have legs. So, Premonitions... whats behind the door?"

Garud didn't wait for him to answer though as he went insided. Gasping, he noticed...

(OOC: Leaving room for finding something.)

[mauve]

"Curse my lack of self-restraint," Mauve said flatly. "Always knew it was going to get me in trouble some day." Note to self: Stabbing Fake-God in neck during his coffee break = bad idea.

"I had kind of hoped we could put that behind us," she said, watching him tear the floor apart like it was made of saltine crackers. The smell of natural gas mixed with that of coffee as the god yanked the heavy pipes from the ground.

Mauve raised an eyebrow.

"You really went into detail with this whole 'bending reality to my every whim' thing, didn't you?" she asked. THIS seemed like an Un-Raiden thing to do. Not the ripping pipes out of the ground; that was entirely Raidenish. But the fact that there WERE pipes there came as something of a surprise. Details didn't usually concern him: Raiden was more of a global thinker. He saw the big picture. At least, that's how Mauve figured he saw it.

She sighed. Maybe he was right. Maybe the Raiden she knew was gone. She guessed that meant she had to fight him.

"Okay," she said. "Okay. Guess everybody's gotta die someday, huh?" DAMN! She HAD to be all smart-assy and hurl a knife at him! Graaah!

"Slow!" she commanded half-heartedly, pointing at Raiden. Couldn't hurt, right?

[Mesden]

"Impressive. But nonetheless, I have to end you. You make it seem like if you take away my first weapon I am now some harmless child. Now I know you are not Raiden. You are an idiot."

Her body's glow flashed brilliantly. A blinding, yet beautiful sight. Her arm ourstretched to the slightly more concerned Raiden.

"Now, tell me what makes a god a god. Not just the rune. Something more. Your soul gem. You personal force of power. Normally soul gems are only altered and affected by their users. Becuase they aren't really there until you form it into being."

She clenched her fist tightly. Raiden could feel something in his chest. Something solid. He looked at his chest to see the blazing, electric light erupting from beneath his skin.

"Now Raiden, how does it feel for me to control something of yours like you had just done mine? Don't think it will go back either. That is a pitance of a soul gem. As easy to make real as a human's soul. Here is your flaw Raiden. You once again underestimate someone that is just as powerful as you."

She darted forward, the speed of her dragon still retained. Raiden sprang up to the coming assault, but he was not as fast as she and he was caught off guard. Her sword connected to his chest, but unlike before, there was no electric and spiritual crash, just a loud thud as the sword struck the gem. He had barely muttered his Rune to try to bring his soul gem back into its previous unreality. But Mes was no fool.

"I am constantly blocking all flow to your crystal. Your code has hit a firewall Raiden and you don't have the time to break it."

She brought her sword around in full spin to strike again. Raiden's muttered words made the swords movement falter and hit elsewhere. But his attention had been distracted now. He had felt something grasp his chest, like someone was trying to rip out his heart.

"I have to break it. I have to. Damn it. It won't break. Must shatter it. I have to kill this. If I can't beat this then how can I fight the real thing? I can't doubt it. I have to break it."

She continued her pressure on the gem for a breif moment. But Raiden had again muttered his words. He had disappeared and reformed across the room in a flash of sigils.

"Try what you will. That crystal isn't going anywhere except to oblivion."

Her sword pulled back as she lashed dozens of ethereal blades towads Raiden. His words ever blocking, yet wavering bit by bit. As she slashed with one arm the other continued to put hints of prssure on the gem from afar.

Damn it, he won't die. This code has gotten out of hand. He couldn't have known this much before. What happened? Damn it, we need Him. He is the only one who can sort this out."

[Raiden]

Garud and Premonitions left their tunnel to see a strange sight. While Premonitions may not know the area, Garud certainly did. With the barren landscape, the charred bodies of lesser demons lying about, and a large swirling gate of madness, it could only be the HellGate, the place where he and Raiden had destroyed countless invading demons.

And standing atop a pile of demon corpses was Raiden.

"Garud. Premonitions. Welcome. Certainly took you two long enough."

************************************************** *******
Raiden continued to block with his sigils.

"Little sister, I trained you well. In fact, I may have trained you too well."

As the swords were fended off, Raiden used a Rune to encase the partial soul gem within him. Though he couldn't return it to its original form quite yet, it would at least shield it some more.

A few spare Runes floated down to what consisted of the ground there, and formed several Knights from the minerals. The knights were wielding swords and shields made from the strange minerals in the area, and rushed forward at Mesden.

************************************************** *******
After Mauve sent out her spell, Raiden's movements became slower, his attack dragging through the air. Though his movements were hindered, his face never changed.

"Doon't haaalfff-asss thhiiiissss, Mauuuuvvve. FFFIIIIIGGGHHHHTTT MMEEEE!"

The slow would only last a little longer. And when he came out of it, he had a whole selection of toys to choose from.

[GARUD]

"Raiden...why?"

Garud had tears in his eyes, but he was not crying. Hellgate was one of the most memorable places for Garud. It was not often he would slay demons beside a comrade. The very same comrade he thought was his friend... everybodies friend...

"Raiden... how could you do this to us? There is no great reason for this, no point to take the Kurosen... It is better off in NPF..."

Garud took a deep breath trying to regain his composure.

"C'mon man, just give back the Kurosen, stop all of this and come back to us. Look, in a couple of weeks I'm having that party I promised everybody... Pyros will be there, so will Mesden, Mauve, Twiddy, Premonitions here, and everybody else from NPF. Even Melfice. Just come back. You have a chance for redemption. You have everything anyway, what more could you want? Just come back."

Garud was down to pleading now. He was about to sob, but seeing the look on Raiden's face... he knew the answer. The demon slayer unlatched his staff, tears streaming down his face.

"Don't make me fight you. Don't make me regret it... Please Raiden, just come back."

[mauve]

"Half-ass? You accuse me of half-assing when my life is on the line?" She smiled and moved out of the way of a much slower iron pipe. "I'm just leveling out the playing field."

She had to find a way to stop him. She really hadn't planned this far ahead yet. As always, he was stronger than she was. The slow status wouldn't last, and when it ran out, he probably wouldn't come out of it as a happy thunder god. Things would get messy.

The smell of gas was starting to make her sick. Stupid pipes... Wait a minute. A lightbulb went on in Mauve's head.

"Element Absorb!" she said, protecting herself. "Aero!" A vortex of clean air and ice crystals spun around Mauve. Hopefully that'd do something. She pointed a finger at the approaching Thunder God and prayed that she knew what she was doing.

"Fire!" she yelled. The god was standing in a cloud of vaporized fuel. In Mauve's experience, this could make a fire spell all the more interesting. And explosive.

[Mesden]

"Damn it Raiden."

She could tell these knights of his had no soul. Just dolls trying to attack her. There were 7 of them. All slow and strong. No finesse to their attack. Just charge and stall.

She easily weaved through the attack of the first 2, impaling the second and tripping the first. She dashed through the next 3, placing a well placed slash that cleaved through each of them.

As the last two charged her she had to step back to avoid being two Mesden's. Her step had placed her on top of the fallen knight that she quickly stabbed and pulled the blade through. The next two came in similar style to the first, but instead of the same weave she simply jumped atop the first and let the second kill it for her. Being the last one and recovering from an the attack he had just launched, the last was easy to slay.

Raiden had gained the sufficient seconds to launch his next runes. But as time wavered her own rune had began to heal.

"We play the stalling game Raiden. You are barely preventing my attacks and I am healing. Your Rune cannot beat me alone. As I have said, it will take the true Raiden to challenge me."

[Arhra]

OOC: Given the nature of the delicate negotiations going on, I believed it would be a good idea to keep waking up for a more dramatically appropriate time. Thus, here's some dreams instead.

With this fortunate timing, it seems a good time to examine the sleep habits of the rare and elusive Arhra. With no further ado, we present Arhra Dream Theatre.

The colours were all twisted, leaping and cavorting in a tapestry of abnormal light. Black rain fell from orange thunderheads pregnant with fiery hail. The earth writhed like a live thing, fissures opening and great geysers of pyrotechnic bones leapt out. Strange warped reflections of people Arhra knew paraded across the heaving landscape and then inexplicably, there was cheese. Arhra turned in her sleep, muttering something about cheeses and then the whirling madness began to subside into nothingness. Out of the shadowy echoes, a more coherent dream coalesced.

The sky was a breathakingly clear and pure shade of blue, a few white wisps of cloud floating serenely through its azure expanse. Under that bright sky, the golden fields covering the ground as far as the eye could see seemed lit with a radiance of their own. The wind rustled through the long grasses, their gentle rippling making it look like a sea of gold.

Arhra found herself as a young girl walking through the bright field. That was strange, considering she had reincarnated as an adult. She felt the serenity of the place as she bent and picked some tiny flowers she saw tucked away on the ground. Smelling their sweet fragrance, the child version of Arhra straightened again, and continued on her way, headed for a great tree that stood out of the grassy ocean like an island of green.

Clustered under it's branching shade, a number of sheep sat around, most of them in a doze. Arhra walked deeper into the green coolness, heading towards the great girth of the tree's trunk. At its base an old man sat, looking up at the shiftings pattern of sunlight streaming through gaps in the leafy canopy as the wind gently swayed the branches.

He smiled at her, eyes twinkling. "Hello there little girl. I don't suppose you could help me? One of my sheep has strayed. Have you seen it?"

Arhra shook her head, "If I see it, I'll bring it back to you mister."

The old man thanked her and she rested for a few minutes in the shade before setting off again. The ground begain to get hillier, the calm shining sea becoming turbulent waves. She plunged on.

Then, on top of the rise, she saw it. A magnificent looking ram, with horns like jagged lightning bolts. It's pure white coat crackled with static electricity. Each proud step it took sounded like a thunderclap in miniature as each dark hoof touched the ground. Set in its coal black face, its eyes glowed. The sheep that had strayed.

"Raiden..." Arhra breathed.

OOC: Seeing how I do have to leave something for the next bit, cliffhanger! I decided it was likely her dreams would mirror the current events as it could be a fun counterpoint. You will get to see what she does to her dream version of Raiden next time on Arhra Dream Theatre!

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

OOC: Sorry Raiden, but I'm going to play a bitch and wang out on you this time.

IC:
Rhiya opened her mouth.
“……..”

She closed it, and managed to make a couple of indistinct noises the next time, before words slipped out.

“You know? I didn’t even say I was going to HIT you…”

A mad grin suddenly spread across her face – it was the face of somebody who knew what was going to happen, but was DAMNED if they were going to resign themselves to their fate.

Those gleaming eyes fixed upon the tell-tale half-gloves Rhiya had lovingly bestowed upon Raiden for the pure purpose of torturing him. Raiden’s confidence faltered.

“You might like to try and stop me, eh?” Rhiya said as she held a switchclaw before her face and opened her mouth again.

*zoom*

“Shouldn’t have given me a warning, honey,” Raiden muttered as his hands flashed over her mouth, standing behind her. His other hand came up when Rhiya thrust down viciously, halting it mere inches before her own abdomen.

But he couldn’t stop the other claw – the one closest to her head – thrusting deep into Rhiya’s own eyes, effectively – and painlessly – coming out the other end and grazing Raiden’s neck. Instantly dead, Rhiya slumped forward, the claws sliding out effortlessly and bringing half her brains out in the process.

The last spiritual shreds of Rhiya brushed past Raiden as so much dead weight nearly brought the God to his knees, laughing.

I didn’t, was her parting words as she vanished from that reality.

~~

Nobody knows how it works, or why it works, but Rhiya’s automatic respawn place is always in the place where either a) she’s safe from extreme harm or b)she’s in a position where she can readily defend herself right after reorienting her new body.
This is why Rhiya – now holding a rifle – respawned right on top of Krylo’s Raiden as he landed in a heap on the opposite side of the Mod’s Domain.

Highly confused, yet knowing she was still in danger, Rhiya wildly began spraying bullets, before realizing the one she was SUPPOSED to get at was essentially beneath her.
“Shit,” she muttered as she unloaded the last forty bullets into Raiden’s prone head, leapt off, and yelled at the top of her voice:

“JIGGLE!”
She reloaded before throwing the plasma and halo rifle to Krylo with a muttered “sorry about your spleen… By the way, why are you here now? I thought I left Raiden back in… oh… different Raiden. I see…”