Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

[Endgame]

"Have you ever seen anything like it?"

The Nameless One sat, perched haphazardly upon one of the larger of the vertically-jutting basalt columns that made up the Giant's Causeway (Giant's Causeway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), just off the northeastern coast of Ireland. His hands gripped it's edge as his feet swung childishly, hanging out over a 50-foot drop directly down into the breaking waves. A rare smile crossed his face as the latest in the ocean's relentless series broke, showering him with a fine spray of cool saltwater.

His female companion was hardly as enthusiastic about the view as he was. They were an odd couple 'To be sure, to be sure' as the locals would have put it, and just as he was strikingly handsome for a thinly-muscled young man, she was stunningly beautiful in her own way. One would have thought that two such people, if forced to work together, would have spent most of their time doing unseemly things behinud closed doors, but The Nameless felt no such attraction. They were partners, nothing more, and they'd never be anything but, for The Nameless knew that such feelings, if they were to develop, would be nothing but trouble.

Another wave broke, and the stinging mist caught him in the eyes as he chuckled jubilantly, forcing him to blink it away. This was indeed, an odd place for the two to find themselves. They wern't here on pleasure, though.

"Why the hell are we here, kid?"

Her voice was at once like a lash and a caress, beautiful yet harsh. He merely shrugged.

"Ever heard a story... about a man named 'Fumetsu'?" he asked, stringing her along by dragging his explanation out purposefully. He liked to toy with her, from time to time, but today, she was in no such mood.

"Get to the point, Kid."

"Well, this guy. They say he fought all kindsa powerful guys. They say he was a manifest... ya'know, one of those manifestations of existance in physical form? Well, not one manifest, but two. Two in one body. Anyway, the story goes that he messed with this witch, some bitch who could change shit just by thinkin' about it. So, to teach him a lesson, she sealed him in a crystal, and as the legand goes, this crystal's hidden somewhere around here. Apparently, Fumetsu's been in this crystal the whole time, in some kinda metaphysical cocoon, changing not only his present, but past and future selves as well. Ya'know, the regular mumbo jumbo about destiny."

His companion rolled her eyes as he finished his lengthy, waffling explanation.

"Lemme guess..." she intoned.

"Yup. We're here to find that crystal. I mean, a legendary crystal with the only double-manifest ever to exist sealed within? Some occult freak's gonna eat that crap right up and pay us through the nose for a pretty rock, and you and I are gonna get rich."

 

[Chaotic Dreams]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

The spray of the ocean on her face didn't quite impress Voix. The Nameless One seemed to be in awe at the water, almost as if he'd never seen it before. Being outside and in an area that would clearly mess around with her outfit wasn't exactly her idea of a good time, but then again they never went anywhere for that reason. Standing below the pillar the kid was on, she sighed, questioning "Why the hell are we here, kid?"

He barely shrugged off her annoyed tone, and asked about a man named Fumetsu. He seemed to be trying to make it more dramatic by dragging his sentence out, but Voix was already annoyed about being here.

"Get to the point, Kid."

He continued his rant about Fumetsu, explaining what he was, and that he was sealed within a crystal all this time. The mention of such an expensive item got her attention more, but she merely looked up at the kid, not wanting to show too much excitement... that just wasn't her style.

"Lemme guess..." she started to say, before The Nameless One finished off her sentence. They were here to look for it. Rolling her eyes, she sighed again. "Do you even know what it looks like?" asking with a condescending tone. Although Voix wanted to find it too, he was the one who brought them here, and if he didn't know what they were looking for, what exactly was his point.

"Well, either way, I'm not doing any dirty work. That's all for you, understand?" glaring directly at him as she emphasized on the last part of her sentence.

 

[Endgame]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

"Not a fuckin' clue." he retorted honestly, absent-mindedly fiddling with the pendant hanging from his neck: "Hell, for all I know it could even be that rock right there."

Slipping off the pillar, he picked up a red quartz rock from the ground, about as big as his head, with one hand, and offered it to Voix.

"Here, break it open and see if there's a manifest inside." The kid joked with a grin, met again with a roll of her eyes.

"Get serious. Let's start looking." She sighed in exasperation, dropping off her own perch down onto the slippery rocks beneath, and picking her way through the rubble. The kid watched her sift through it bemusedly, tossing the small rock up into the air and catching it with one hand repeatedly.

"Will you drop that thing and help me?" she snapped angrily, and he sighed, shrugged, and tossed it over his shoulder, into the ocean.

Suddenly, a red light flared up from the ocean behind him, bathing the causeway in an eerie crimson glow. A blood-red pillar lanced from the heavans, splitting the water, and the resounding rumble of thunder rolled around them.

"Oh shi-"

 

[Orion]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

The young boy chuckled.

Boy was not quite correct. 'He' had no gender, had lacked it for a fair few centuries now, but his appearance still aproximated the sex he once was, and the apparent age never differed either, always around twelve years old, always looking exactly the same, whenever and wherever he appeared. His skin was pale and seemed almost translucent, barely differentiable from the grey and cloudy sky above.

'He' hovered in the air with no apparent means of propulsion, and didn't look to be moved or affected by the wind that blew by the sea. Instead, a singular and gentle gust apparently rippled the his robe behind his shoulders. He stared at the scene from some fifty metres up, staring with pitch black eyes, no differentiation between pupils or cornea or iris. The scene was a pleasant one, neatly arranged pillars by a raging sea. The basalt looked almost like it could have been made by human hands and chiselled in its immense scale. He knew its actual origins, the images, sounds, and various other senses of the moment running through his angelic mind even as he observed the two beings, soon to be three, standing upon the stones. The large and perfect patterns and roiling waves reminded him of something else he had not only witnessed but caused.

Atlantis.

That is, it's sinking. Buildings of exacting geometry and impractical size being consumed by the violent waves of the sea. Where volcanic activity had raised the Giant's Causeway from the waves, the same forces, triggered by the boy some indeterminate amount of time ago, had seen Atlantis fall. It seemed the two upon the rocks, one enjoying the waves, the other not, for similar reasons as to why Atlantis sunk, would soon bring about the reason why Youth had been called once more to Earth from the Heavenly Plane.

He hovered in the air of what appeared the human realm, but instead hung in purgatory. No spirits bothered him or were even within easy sight from here, and Youth was glad for the brief reprieve it gave him. He now had so little time to himself, instead it was all taken up by his service to Him. He, Youth, had wanted it, but didn't expect it would become so all-consuming. At least he could never truly cease to exist. Dying, that was another story.

And now these people, not understanding what they dealt with, seeking power and knowledge they did not deserve or were not capable of handling, brought Youth here.

 

[Ashes Remnant]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

Rebellion is part of the human nature. Curious thing though, as non-humans can act quite human as well. This was the case of Fumetsu. He’d died, or was supposed to be. Evan had killed him, however a mysterious woman saved him. He stayed with her for lifetimes. For the longest time, he didn’t even know her name. All he knew was that she was his maker in some twisted way. She was also helping him. The place they were for this time was so strange. They stood upon what looked like a small circular panel on nothing. There wasn’t a single star in site. Then on his left and right were two large pieces of something. They looked like he could see into a galaxy, yet it was spilling over like a waterfall would. This abstract world was his home. But it was not his.

He took all he had learned because of her, and turned it against her. He thought it would be enough, yet he couldn’t have been anymore wrong. She simply trapped him into a crystal. More like a prison. She held all that he was in the palm of his hand. Inside, he was screaming at her. She chuckled. She muttered something about needing him. She then pulled her hand back, and threw it. The crystal began curving in mid-air, and dropped into the galaxy waterfall like it was a pond. The next thing he knew, he saw only dirt.

Human curiosity always wins in the end. The woman must have known this, if not, why else send him to this planet, this world? Two people would one day search for him. That’s why. The two unwittingly unleashed the crystal. Immediately, Fumetsu broke free. As the crystal shattered, he grew in size to his normal stature of around six feet tall. This is where the similarities to his former form stopped. His outfit didn’t make physical sense. His shirt looked like hell. Literally. As he moved, the shirt’s image changed. It looked as if it were a door into the underworld. It was cut off at his arms, yet has sleeves. There are pieces of what might be cloth that float around his arm, two on each arm. Both were colored black. His pants were a layered mess of black. Overall, he’s a sight from a nightmare. His physical looks have changed over time as well. His hair is unnaturally spiked in many directions. His eyes are pale, the pupils a bright blue, brighter then the sky. His eyes also look as if he’s applied eyeshadow, adding to his mysterious appearance.

Fumetsu turned towards the two that had freed him, as he floated in the air above them. He smiled. “Cute kids. You deserve a reward? What about this?” Even as he talked, the water behind him began forming into a monster. A dragon formed from the water. Fumetsu laughed louder. “Come on! I want to hear you SCREAM!”

 

[Chaotic Dreams]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

Voix heard the splash of the stone hitting the water. That's when a chill shot down her spine... not many things could create such feelings in her. Standing straight up and looking to the ocean, she too noticed the crimson glow emerge from below the water's surface, along with Kid's profanity. "Of course it had to be THAT rock, didn't it..." she mumbled to herself, watching the being emerge from within.

A tall male appeared, with clothing beyond this world. Black appeared and vanished over his body, almost like flames licking over where clothes should be. Hair standing on end, defying gravity and spiking wherever it pleased, covered his head. His eyes weren't normal either, though from distance, she couldn't figure out why.

“Cute kids. You deserve a reward? What about this?”

"Cute kids?! He may be young, but don't put me in the same boat as him." Voix spat out as she pointed to Kid. That's when she noticed the water forming into the shape of a dragon behind Fumetsu. "Oh, so this is the thanks we get for releasing you? Fine, lets do this your way."

Without delay, Voix put her palms together. A shimmer of light began to glow around her black army boots, traveling up her body, bringing a gust of wind with it. It flared out her silk blue half-skirt, the dark leather edging around it brightening to an almost white colour before continuing upwards. Her left arm-sleeve glowed the same, being a tightly woven leather material also, while her right silk arm-sleeve flailed with the wind. Her black tube-top shimmered as the light passed it, but no glow seemed to appear, along with her red bikini top underneath. As it reached her face, her long black hair seemed to gain a life of its own, her eyes changing from dark green to almost a bright, acid green.

As the power surged around her, smaller rocks and stones around her hovered for a moment, before crashing together behind her, forming a cat-like shape behind her. As more stones hit the beast, it grew in size, holding its basic form, but still clearly just a pile of rocks. Thrusting her hands forward, Voix sent the beast straight into action.

"Learn some manners..."

 

[Orion]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

"Fool." Youth spat, revulsion in his voice. "Utter fools."

He began descending in more ways than one. From his heightened position in the sky he came towards the ground gently, moving with perfect balance between haste and sloth, but at the same time, if one were to be observing the sky from the Earthly plane, a boy clad in ragged white robes would be seen slowly falling from the sky. Youth left the purgatory realm for that of the wholly normal living, so as to exact a more tangible influence upon it.

A beautiful woman of average stature, clad in form-fitting if not also revealing clothing, named Voix as Youth had overheard it, was channelling energy through herself, and an animal shape, formed of gathered stones, was assembling behind her. She let out a verbal command, and it began charging towards the recently resurrected man called Fumetsu, the one the Voix and her accomplice had sought. Youth's feet touched the ground only ten metres from where the beast's path would cross. Oh how this situation was so like Atlantis, before any due preparation, the two were seeking out a being who they more or less had no true idea of, like the Atlanteans had sought power they did not deserve nor could control.

Youth's right arm bolted up to the horizontal, a single finger loosely pointing at where the stone-animal was now stopped in its tracks, not moving an inch. It was stationary in mid-stride; Voix took a small step back as a slight look of worry crossed her face when she realised the creature she summoned was now totally immobilised. He then shifted his arm to the right, still point, back towards Voix. The stone beast began moving back in that direction. It did not turn. Did not even take steps backwards, in the normal sense.

In a perfect reverse of its path thus far tread, the thing followed the cracked footprints it had set upon the stones of Giant's Causeway. It soon resumed its place where it had first come together, and at that point began coming apart, pieces of rock looking like they were being pulled from where they had been set, and then descending back to the ground. When the beast was no more, back to its individual parts, the rocks then flashed through myriad forms, but always of the same mass, until they became invisible, dispersing into a cloud of monoatomic dust. That too, extremely soon after, disappeared totally from existence.

Youth now spoke, head still leaned and cocked, in Voix's direction. "And you," He said, reaching into the folds of his robe, fiddled for not two seconds, and pulled out a small amber-coloured spike, scratched and ancient-looking, "Should learn some basic skills of observation. The sheer speed with which you rushed to attack Fumetsu shows you to be no different to the children he called you to be."

 

[Endgame]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

"Seriously? C'mon dude, we let you outta that stone after how long? Arn't you meant to grant us three wishes or something?" quipped the Kid, leaning against the piller he'd sat atop earlier. His protest came to naught, however, when a dragon rose from the sky. Voix, in her unusally bad mood, was quick to counterattack. Kid didn't know what was up with her today.

"Probably that time 'a month..." he muttered under his breath with a grin.

That's when a new figure appeared, literally falling from the heavans themselves, landing neatly on his feet. He looked to be pretty close in age to the Kid himself, but there was an unnatural, unearthly quality about him. The eyes in particular, spooked Kid no end.

The dragon was bearing down upon him now, and he didn't move to avoid it. He just smiled.

And exploded in shimmering, scillanting rays of light, dispelling the mirage he'd created the second that ominous red glow flared up. Normally, such rays would be harmless, but they bent, focussing upon the dragon, entering it, lancing along it's length.

"Sure hope he remembered to wear sunblock..." Kid muttered, the air around Voix literally parting to reveal him. Of course, she'd been able to see him the whole time. By bending the light passing between himself and the eyes of an enemy, invisibility was a fairly easy trick for him. Hardly flawless, as he still made sound and was still there. They just couldn't see him.

As he muttered, the light lanced from the back of the dragon, shining it's rays upon Fumetsu, with a faint sizzling sound.

Decades of forgetful beachgoers had learned the hard way that water reflected and magnified light, and in the absence of a parasol, caught in the focussed rays, Fumetsu was about to experience one hell of a sunburn.

"Do we seriously have to fight these guys, Voix? I'm so not in the mood today. Why don't you, I dunno, let them go on an date with you or something if they cool it? I mean, c'mon, that dude's so young he's probably never kissed a girl in his life, and Sex-on-Fire over here's been trapped in a rock for years. Bet they'd do anything you tell em' to if you flash some thigh."

 

[Orion]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

Not a second later after the stone cat had been disassembled by no apparent force, Youth's right arm dropped and his left arm came up, point straight at the neck of a dragon composed of water, lunging at a figure dubbed 'Kid', who was, through the manipulation of light, unleashing a mild attack upon Fumetsu and hiding himself. For similar reasons to why he reverted Voix's stone beast, he know erected what looked like a mirror in the air, a thin disc of perfect reflectivity. A point of perfectly frozen time, stopping Kid's beams short, and, at the very least, easing Fumetsu's irritation.

That action itself cemented in his mind a feeling he had had since observing the three of them.

This was a waste of his time. A waste of His time, His services. Youth let his hand fall limp by his side, and the shape in the air vanished. Without speaking to anyone in particular, he said: "Why He would organise my services to take care of such a petty matter as this, I do not know. I'll save my time and give you all a challenge rather than obliteration, and give you someone far more fitting in my place." With no more thought for the scene, he jumped lightly up, carried higher by an unseen force, and faded out of the realm of the living.

The three now present looked with brief puzzlement around them.

Only briefly.

A crackled sounded in the air, more prominent than the crashing waves. A second following, and more, forming a continuous crackling in the air that sounded very much like a fire. A brilliant vwoosh echoed about the scene, coming from a very specific point in the air, a few feet above the ground. A dark scar, flaming at the edges, stood hovering, when suddenly another crossed it, forming a burning 'X' in the air. Not a second later, the four divisions it made parted, peeling outwards, and a being toppled through the hole.

He hie the ground with a gentle grunt, on his shoulder, and with superhuman speed, lashed out with a kick, set himself briefly flipping in the air, and landed with sure footing, a four-foot-long blade in each hand, both different, but of dragonic designs, and licking with flames. The portal behind him closed up with a similar sound to when it appeared, and the flames on his blades went out. He stood with his feet wide, arms crossed in front of his chest, and blades pointing diagonally up and back. He had a scarf that blew in the wind, small pieces of metal attached to the end clattering in the breeze. He stared down the three of them with orange eyes that fitted his dark red hair.

 

[Chaotic Dreams]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

The events around her happened so fast, but it was no surprise. The search for the crystal was now forgotten as a battle had taken major importance. A child-like figure had appeared in front of the stone-beast, stopping it with his right hand, and making it rewind into nothingness. The Nameless One, or Kid as she had officially dubbed him, stared straight at the dragon, smiling as his illusion burst into the light he'd made it from. She always knew where he was, he unique ability giving her that advantage over most people.

The light bounced through the water dragon, reflecting and magnifying to no end, then concentrated on Fumetsu. A sizzling sound started, along with a faint smell. But this too was stopped by the child figure, a disc hovering in the air. After watching him stop two very different attacks, Voix concluded that he had some sort of control over time. This wouldn't be easy, but somehow they would find a way. They usually could...

"Do we seriously have to fight these guys, Voix? I'm so not in the mood today. Why don't you, I dunno, let them go on an date with you or something if they cool it? I mean, c'mon, that dude's so young he's probably never kissed a girl in his life, and Sex-on-Fire over here's been trapped in a rock for years. Bet they'd do anything you tell em' to if you flash some thigh."

Voix slapped him, disgusted at the thought of being used as a piece of meat. Though she was used to his immaturity and inappropriate comments all the time, it was just who he was. But her attention was quickly changed as the child spoke, then jumped into a vanishing trick of his own. He was gone, she thought, but not for long.

The air around her changed, picking up a bit before a dark slash emitted from almost nowhere. It was crossed with an exact replica, forming a perfect cross, then began to peel at itself. A figure emerged, moving at incredible speed, flipping in the air and landing with sure-footing. Though he may have been the same person, his appearance had changed drastically. Dark crimson hair now covered his head, and his eyes glowed with a fiery orange. He held two swords, an intricate dragon design on each, but unique to themselves. He wasn't here for a tea party, that part was obvious.

Crouching down to one knee and resting her hands on the edge of where the water met the rocks, a shimmer sped through the ground and ocean. Straightening herself back up, she looked over the new opponent, before flexing her arms out. "I don't have time for you right now..." Voix announced, before dashing forward towards the sword wielding male.

 

[Ashes Remnant]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

“All the boys and the girls, went around in their own little worlds. Never really knowing pain, only what they can gain. You’re gross.” Fumetsu winked. These two were interesting, that much was clear. His water dragon was met with an equally impressive beast of stone. The dragon spun around in a circle, propelled into the air by that water of which it was formed. It appeared to grin, the teeth seeming sharper then any sword. It flew forward as the stone animal did the same. As they were about to meet, another being entered the fray. This one lowered itself in-between the creatures. Somehow, it caused the woman’s monstrous creation to reverse it’s course, and creation. Fumetsu’s grin only got wider. Whether the man hadn’t noticed him or not, that didn’t matter. What did matter, was that his water dragon still existed. It promptly flew upwards, then twisted in the air as it came down towards the young man who had woken him.

The man exploded into light. Fumetsu’s eyebrow went up. The light was there all along. It was an illusion, created long ago. This ‘kid’ was no amateur. Fumetsu started to turn his head to the left. Then he realized something new was in place between him and where the man had stood. A disc. That newcomer was protecting him! Fumetsu snarled. Why he was interrupting Fumetsu’s play time was a true question for the ages. Flying was a power sought after by many, and one Fumetsu has held for centuries. Fumetsu used this power to begin his approach to the newcomer. The newcomer however had other plans. He spouted nonsense that Fumetsu didn’t bother to listen to, and left to some other land. Sadly, another one took his place.

Fumetsu stretched backwards slightly and yelled. “If you don’t care, I’ll make this a little unfair.” Fumetsu laughed slightly. Then a little harder. It probably looked a little weird. Then a second Fumetsu rose from the sea. By the time the fifth had risen up, the shock had settled, and the goosebumps would start to rise. They all laughed simultaneously. With the same motions, they rose their left hand. Then their right. It felt like the air was getting denser. Anyone with even a slight aptitude for feeling energy would feel that something was building. And fast. Already, the energy felt like it was over 9000 on any chart. The only question is what?

 

[Orion]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

"Then make time, Voix." The man said with severity and confidence, holding his stance as Voix rushed toward him. He spotted a foot of hers falter slightly as he mentioned her name. Youth had told Drake Ignis who he was fighting, just after he had plucked him out of his world. Youth would bring him back with no effort at all, if the beings dubbed 'Kid' and 'Voix' would be stopped. Given their abilities, stopping them would more than likely involve inflicting grievous bodily harm or killing them. Drake had no problem with either alternatives, he had been doing that kind of thing to strange and powerful beings for years. And he'd been on important business before he was abducted, important events coming to fruition, enemies massing, and a dark God-King's ten thousand year imprisonment about to be ended. He needed to get back, had no option but to get back. He couldn't afford to lose.

This world felt very different to home, far weaker and with far less potential. No magic, very, very primitive technology. The planet itself still had some things of use, and in the immediate vicinity, a particular one was magma, which he began to put to use as Voix charged towards him. He held his left hand, gripping the maroon-and-grey Dragon's Tail, a blade of hooks and serations, while his right hand, gripping the Dragon's Tongue, aimed it's intertwining blades ahead of Voix's feet. The world responded quickly enough, the rocks of the giant's causeway began to shake, and a second later, with each step Voix took, a hexagonal column of rock shot up from its place of rest, a glowing trail of magma following it after the cylinder cleared it's neighbours.

Drake didn't waste a second, and pounced into immediate action, like he always did, full throttle, which he could sustain for amazing amounts of time, given its potency. He brought the pommel of the Dragon's Tail to that of the Dragon's Tongue, the blades facing away from each other, and the chain attached to the base of the Tail intertwined with the handle of the Tongue, which grew longer, until Drake was left with a weapon one and a half times as long as he was tall, eight feet of blade cut in half by two feet of handle. He brought the new weapon into a diagonal block as his now-free left hand snapped to his thigh, and pulled out a large handgun, a shiny bronze in colour. The firearm glowed a brilliant white as he brought it level with the columns upon which Voix still ran. She stepped up them as they brought her higher and higher into the air, not missing a beat.

When the gun dimmed and was pointed straight at her feet, although it's colour remained, it's shape was now approximating that of a P-90 submachinegun. He pulled the trigger down hard as red-hot bullets, the size and potency of tracer rounds, began pummelling into the stone that Voix stood on, even though she was still moving. There was no next column upon which she could take her next step, and she was now easily thirty feet into the air. The bullets Drake fired, a rapid succession of ten bullets a second, fired for a total of one second, detonated when the final bullet entered the column, and it shattered outwards in a spectacular spray of glowing liquid rock. Voix began to fall, though she was not caught wholly off guard.

Still unrelenting, Drake shifted the gun in his hand, till he was pointing at Voix, and his grip on the handle visibly tightened. The blobs of magma surrounding Voix that were still cooling suddenly ceased to do so, and instead rapidly heated up. As they surrounded Voix while she fell Drake brought both his hands together in a loud clap, at the same time the dozens of red-hot orbs began to coalesce, rushing into their centre, Voix very conveniently placed in the exact same spot.

 

[Endgame]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

Kid didn't waste any more time on words. The battle was heating up, both figurativly and literally, and it quickly dawned on hi that if he didn't get serious, neither of them were going to survive.

The newcomer, who he suspected by the unique use of fire, and his instantly recognisable weapons to be Drake Ignis, burst into action, using the very magma that had formed their battleground to launch a column high into the air, before unleashing a brutal barrage on Voix. Fumetsu, on the other hand, was creating a series of clones, and appeared to be charging energy for an attack.

However, Drake had made one critical error. In using his powers in such a dazzling display, he'd given Kid a weapon.

The spectacular explosion of Voix' pillar generated an inordinate amount of heat, and that heat, in turn, generated light. Light which was suddenly snatched away, and flung, focussed as a beam, towards Drake. A blinding flash tore at the pyromancer's vision, like staring directly into the sun, but a hundred times brighter.

Drake would have felt only a mild discomfort as his cornea's fused and detached, and his world faded from white, to pure, unbroken black. In many ways, it was a very humane way to disable an enemy. Without his eyes, he was significantly less of a threat, but warriors of this level never ceased to be dangerous until their hearts were no longer beating.

Fumetsu, on the other hand, wouldn't be disabled by the same trick. Instead, Kid gathered the ambient light, directing it alternatly towards and away from the eyes of the Fumetsu's, stripping them of their ability to see the world around them with any clarity. Their depth perception, and in turn accuracy, was in a state of shifting disorder.

His hand dropped to his belt, fingers resting briefly on the silver grip of the bulky gun he wore at his belt, before deciding against it, and instead, he unclipped and raised the small torch that hung beside it. With a small click, it ignited, and an intense, blinding ray lanced from it, extending to a range of almost a metre and a half.

He leapt fowards, the blade dropping to point down and back as he ran, the tip carving a clean, scorched furrow in the pillars beneath him as he crossed them, leaping into the air to swing it down towards Drake's unguarded head.

 

[Orion]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

Something like a supernova erupted before Drake's eyes, although not so far away, and with no other real energy to it other than light. Pure, unadulterated light, he saw the area around him grow dim as the magma was closing in on Voix, before his vision exploded into brilliant white, before fading into absolute darkness. One thing Drake could be thankful of as he quickly went blind: There was no heat to the light, and the sudden brilliant flare had apparently overloaded his vision, which not only shut down so as to minimise damage, but got absolutely fried anyway. The pyromancer wouldn't have been at all surprised if each and every single rod and cone upon both his retinae was fried. His own body, along with ever-acting magic and nanorobots, would see it fixed up much faster than any Rhoukanian, but still, that much damage, and Drake would have to find some way to compensate.

Still, without the need for light or vision, it meant he could put certain things into effect he otherwise could not.

Alchemy, in the way he would very soon use it, was not so much a science as it was a magic, but the way it would come into effect was certainly a totally plausible one. Metamaterials have their unusual properties not because of what they are made of, but how they are put together. A composite is the name of a material that combines the best properties of certain materials and structures. In this case, the material was neutronium and the structure was a kind of metamaterial. Neutronium armour was notorious for being the ultimate stealth in space, with the ability to invariably absorb all forms of electromagnetic radiation, and the metamaterial weave acted like a photon magnet. It needed to only be a fraction of a millimetre thin, and that's exactly how Drake made it. The gravitational effect was negligible for anything with more mass than a photon, really, a strange quirk when metamaterials and black-hole materials are combined.

A strong vacuum began in the air around Drake, and spread to a metre in every direction around him, the ground itself being turned into an invisibly thin grey dust beneath his feet while he hovered in place. He scrunched his blind eyes shut tight, and the dust rushed to his skin, his gun, his combined blades. It piled and squashed down to something around a nanometre thick, and it clung to Drake like a ridiculously-well-fit second skin. He could feel the air brush on his skin around him, and the weird gravitational effects, pulling on all sides of him, negated any weight the surface added to him. Now the pyromancer was just a seemingly flat shape in the air, pure darkness.

Beneath all that, the gun in his left hand changed shape slightly, to a lower-calibre P-90, and a shape hanging from his neck reached around and grabbed onto it. Drake then gripped his blades with both hands, and the handle itself doubled in size. He now held a weapon twice his size, but it couldn't have been more perfectly suited to him. He swung it around till it was above his head, allowing his grip to slip down towards the Dragon's Tail side, and brought eight feet of blade rushing to the ground, plumes of sizzling rock brought up to the sky, which Drake guided to where he could feel Voix was with the remaining five of his six senses, the final and most unusual of them taking the form of a combined sight and touch to visualise things impossible for standard humans.

The arm on the back of his neck swung the gun around, but aimed away from Voix, and instead to the centre of curvature that the mounting clones of Fumetsu were forming, aimed at the ground, and a beam of blackness extended from Drake towards Kid, but only slightly off. The beam however, didn't vanish. It hovered in the air, now separated from Drake, but terminated roughly a kilometre away from where it had fired. Unlike the stuff which covered Drake, this affected all forms of matter and energy, irretrievably destroying anything that did touch it, although it wouldn't pull anything towards it, Drake could run the risk of it hitting him. He marked the path of the beam among the landscape in his mind, a mental image of a thick white line extending for a distance, to be avoided at all costs.

 

[Chaotic Dreams]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

All was going to the tiny plan she had in her mind. Before recklessly charging at the new opponent, she had forced a feeling of hers through the ground. Kid knew who this person was, and from that, Voix had a general idea. They had worked with each other for quite a time, agreeing that if needed, they could invade each other's mind. It wasn't something they usually did, but times were desperate, and this battle needed to end.

Drake aimed one of his swords to the sky, whilst the other was directed at her feet. In a split second, she felt the earth move. Her feeling throughout the ground gave her quick information on what was about to happen. As the first pillar of magma shot up straight in front of her, there was only two choices. Run into it, or run over it. Luckily there was still stone upon the top of each column, or she'd have surely found a heated end. Leaping from the ground to the first pillar, it seemed as if this wasn't the first step to the sky she would take.

The columns of magma continued to rise, split second decisions carrying her higher into the sky, all the while still charging at Drake. His swords had formed together, a huge blade blocking any direct attack, while he shot bullets at each pillar she stood on. It was risky, but something had to be done. When there was no more stone for her to climb up, she began to fall. Voix closed her eyes, feeling heated orbs around her, but this would only take a second. The ocean stirred below the clones of Fumetsu, all seeming to work together, forming a huge amount of energy above themselves. They would be next.

Not only had she put her feeling throughout the earth, but also to the ocean. The water zipped over to Voix, creating a sphere of water roughly three meters in width, but the water didn't stop coming. It simply intensified the shield around her, becoming denser by the moment. Hopefully this would help, but Kid was already on the move. Though he was a smart-ass, he knew when to shut up and help. Voix smiled slightly, before remembering what was going on.

The red hot magma zipped at the water and as the two clashed, sizzling and rock surrounded her. The water became more stone, a dome of intense hardness around her. Finally hitting the ground, it didn't even crack slightly. From inside, Voix was focusing. Kid was out there now alone, but she could see everything going on through his eyes. Drake was blinded now, something Kid was a bit cocky about, obviously his doing. But the pyromancer had his own defences set up already to counteract…

He had gathered a light layer of dust around himself, created with a vacuum still surrounding him for the moment. The gun Drake’s extra appendage held shot a beam of darkness in Fumetsu’s direction, but didn’t dissipate afterwards. It hovered there, seeming to dare anything to touch it. Voix couldn’t stand it anymore, and thrust her hands outwards, smashing into the hardened stone around her, sending outwards, but not falling.

The bits of stone floating in a circle clockwise around her, spinning faster as the ocean began a circle of its own, meshing with the stone in a counter clockwise motion. Moving faster against each other, the two circles began to expand rapidly, expanding out around her, consuming the battlefield. Lifting her arms, they followed suit, floating towards the sky, and with a sudden thrust of her arms downwards, so did the circles, carving into the ground. They stopped suddenly, the fusion of rock and water hovering in the moat it had created around them all. Without a second wasted, Voix lifted her arms again. Instead of just circles rising, a barrier lifted instead, the stone dispersing through-out the water, whilst the water hardened.

Soon, they would all be trapped within…

 

[Orion]

Re: Tag Team Threat! (No Temps/OOC)(Challenge from Engdame & Chaotic Dreams to Ashes and Infinity)

As a tempestual sphere of water and earth expanded around Voix, Drake brought his dual-ended weapon to bear in front of him, and with a gentle flick of his wrist up then around, set the blades spinning with astonishing speed. Its definite shape soon lost as its spinning accelerated, until it was a black disc hovering in the air. Rock melted and water boiled as it struck the weapons, but the whirlwind and heat field it generated kept Drake moderately safe, until the sphere expanded further, easily engulfing Drake.

He struggled briefly, grabbing his blades, and hovered in the maelstrom for a second, trying to find an order to the current, or a certain stream to disengage and set the whole thing falling apart. Finding one current stronger than others, smaller ones spiralling around it, he swung toward it with the blade, but currents battered his swing left and right as it came down. By the time the blade was able to reach that main current, it had passed, proved only to be a momentary bulge in pressure. Drake abandoned his attempt to dispell the current, and instead focussed on defending himself. No doubt this effort at disabling him was preceding one to eliminate him.

He brought the gun in his left hand and the blades in his right close to his chest, the latter retracting, handle and blades. He closed his eyes in the darkness of his neutronium armour, but felt a warmth and light seperate from his blades and gun emerge. It barely reached up to his head, but he felt plates and shapes shifting beneath his trenchcoat, before a specific set of them slid up from his back and shoulders and engulfed his head. The jacket he wore took on what appeared to be a life of it's own, and fluttered about in the water, before coming to wrap around Drake entirely, as he tucked his knees up into his chest. A single large zip closed up the entire piece of clothing around Drake, then squeezed tightly as water and sandy grains of earth were purged. The only thing now visible outside the black shape of Drake's body was the dark outline of his scarf, with which purposeful movements came to rest close against his back, a part of it trailing off from his tailbone.

In the darkening world of the storm summoned by Voix, a sudden burst of heat erupted, and a clear sphere appeared, surrounding the blackened shape. Water was turned to steam, and heat induced the remaining water molecules to ionise and loose their bonds, till only free-floating oxygen and hydrogen was left. Excellent burning material. In the emptiness, a blackened shape writhed and morphed into something greater.