Elicoori (Cham, Kihaku, Atsuko)

[chameleon]

Chameleon looked at her with a questioning look and a tilt of his head. "You told me what? You interest me. But what did you tell me a month ago?" he said but to no avail as she walked out the door. Whatever she had said had obviously blown straight over his head. If it wasnt flat out words, it would most likely fly straight over Cham's head.

"No," Shota said grabbing a few herbs from the shelf and walking out to Elena outside. "Promised is someone to whom he will wed, someone he will make his wife." she said with a nod and looking to Elena. She looked as if she had realized something and walked over to Elena, leaning in close and whispering in her ear.

"My brother can be very literal and dense. Always has been growing up. If you haven't told him that you really care for him in ways to be Promised, then he might not have understood. Even if what you said may have been very clear to you. If the words 'I love you' did not come out, it may have been lost to his ears. But, dont be afraid. Cham speaks his mind. If he didnt say anything in return, as you said, he most likely did no understand what could have been plain to you. I swear, that brother of mine wont think on anything unless ordered to." She leaned back and gave her shoulder another squeeze, though this time for re-assurance. Her face had no smile, but her touch did feel warm and gentle. Her face seemed to always be in a constant emotionless gaze.

"What was she talking about?" Cham said looking to Kihaku

[kihaku]

"Promised is someone to whom he will wed, someone he will make his wife."

Well, YEAH, Elena had surmised as much, considering the context the phrase had been put. Elena was just about to tell her off, when:

"My brother can be very literal and dense."

Elena's world stopped spinning. Time was standing still, and her mind was reeling from the shock of what she'd just heard. Brother!? Chameleon's SISTER!? HOLY-MONKEY-FUDGING-SNAPS! Her heart was hammering now from a combination of relief and waves of surprise. Her mouth split into an uncontrollable smile. She listened raptly to Shota's description of her sibling, and, though the Chaos Spirit had suspected as much, it was still very comforting to hear it from the mouth of someone who intimately knew the young man.

"I swear, that brother of mine wont think on anything unless ordered to."

It was then that Elena was rocked with unbearable amounts of embarassment and shame, her porcelain cheeks glowing bright red and her hands closing over her face to hide it away from the world. Speaking both to herself and to Shota, her voice muffled by her hands, she said, "Omigod, I am such an IDIOT! Why didn't I think that you two were related!?" She peeked over her fingers just enough for her eyes to connect with the woman who, she suddenly realised, was taller than herself. "Please forgive me, I don't know why my judgement was so clouded. I feel like such a cotton-headded ninnymuggins."

"What was she talking about?"

Kihaku looked at his former student with a mixture of incredulity, pity, and detest. "Are you serious? You don't remember... that night after we defeated Dramanius?" Seeing his lost look of confusion, he finally decided to knock some sense into him. "She kissed you! She didn't say it out loud, but she's in love with you, you fucking idiot! HONESTLY, how can you learn to fight, but still be so stupid?"

[chameleon]

"She's in love with me?" he said tilting his head and looked at the door that Elena left, still not sure what the heck was happening. "But... she never said..." he spoke softly to himself, not entirely hearing all of Kihaku's criticisms. They came often enough that they had a tendency to simply roll from his head.

He watched blankly at the wall, his head felt lost in everything that was happening. He remembered thinking back to everything that had happend. Back to the night that Elena had kissed him. He didnt know that the kiss was one for love. He thought she just was wishing him well and sent him off, like a sibling would do.

His stomach felt odd, as if something in itself was coming together. If felt as if a thousand butterflies were trying to force their way out of his body. He didnt know entirely what he was feeling. He was jsut about to run out to Elena when a heavy blast erupted from the nearby fields, shaking the ground heavily.

Chameleon looked over at Kihaku, his eyes wide. "What on Elicoori was that?" he said rushing outside. He looked over seeing Elena and Shota. He was just about to say something to Elena but it was drowned in another blast. A few villagers ran passed, away from where the sound of the blasts came from. Their yells said that a demon was attacking.

Cham turned to Kihaku. "C'mon, we have to see what's happening." he said stopping for an instant. "And it wasnt an order, it was a request, so dont freak out please," he said looked to Elena. "I can use your help too Elena, please," he said staring into her eyes for a moment longer, as if there was so much more to say but no time. He turned and shot off from the ground towards the sound of where the blast came from.

Cham saw a figure in the distance, hovering a couple dozen feet above the ground. As he neared, he recognized the figure. It was that thing from within him, that Dream Demon that came out of his body before. The man that looked to have been stitched together, a Demon of nightmares.



"Well, I've finally found you again. I knew it had to be you who dragged me to this place."

"You..." Cham said stopping in mid air not far from him. "What are you doing here, why are you causing so much damage?"

The Dream Demon laughed a low laugh. "I'm not here on my own will, you are the one who pulled me here, as well as the one who banished me to this world. When you... teleported... or whatever the hell you did to come here, it pulled me with you. I think we finally have a score to settle for putting me here."

[kihaku]

When the blast rocked the very ground they stood on, neither Kihaku nor Elena really needed Cham to ask them for their help; when the innocent were in danger from one who could kill without remorse, especially one powerful enough to shake the earth in such a manner, the Chaos Spirits had always felt it was their responsibility to do something to stop it. Kihaku nodded in response to Cham's plea, walking quickly out the door behind the boy, and going around him as he stopped to talk to Elena.

Elena, on the other hand, was just about to follow Kihaku when an unfamiliar look in Cham's eye caught her attention and froze her in place. Her heart skipped a beat; there was no way that the cryptic way she stormed out of the building had finally wormed the message through that thick skull of his, but she got the feeling that perhaps he knew more than she gave him credit for. Not waiting for a response, he shot off towards the cause of the disturbance with the two Spirits not far behind him.

Upon reaching a macabre-looking figure, Kihaku was a bit startled to realize that he recognized their unexpected assailant, the unique blades he carried a definite give-away to his identity. Elena, on the other hand, knew nothing about this person, and as such was already prepared for the worst.

"I think we finally have a score to settle for putting me here."

"You should be grateful, you whiner! Honestly, this place is absolutely beautiful, why would being here be such a problem? S'not like anyone ANYWHERE would actually WANT you around, so what's the difference between here or there?"

Kihaku didn't move, but he was chuckling on the inside.

[chameleon]

The dream demon began to chucke very softly, slowly becoming louder and louder. "Shall I show you what happens when I'm no longer around Chaos Spirits?" He extended a single black blade above his head. The black blade hissed and then split into 3 blades on one hilt. They looked painful. He ran one of the blades against his arm. He cut himself, but didnt seam to bleed. But, the point was made...

Cham tilted his head back and let loose a yell, holding his arm. There was no gash in his skin, but he sure as hell felt it. "DAMMIT!" Chameleon yelled in anger. "How did you do that!?"

"Pitiful mortal child," The Dream Demon said in a mocking tone. "I've told you before that we are linked now. I was one with your mind until that damned Chaos Spirit separated us." He said with an angry glare at Kihaku.

Both blades went up, and the other one separated like the first, forming 6 blades on two hilts, look extraordinarily dangerous. The blades seemed to humm to life, as if they were expecting something. The Dream Demon took on a fighting stance. The stance, overall, betrayed that he wasnt exceptionally strong physically, but his agility was quick. They would have to be careful. You can be stronger than a person, but you waste a lot of energy missing them when they dodged.

Chameleon looked to Elena and then to Kihaku. "His blade didnt cause me harm in any way except to cause me pain. I'm fairly certain that if he is killed, I'll be fine, since nothing physical happens to me," he said, though he didnt sound entirely convinced.

"Elena, I wont ask you to hurt him." he said his gaze lingering on hers for a moment longer before turning to Kihaku.

"Kihaku, you better not have a problem with attacking, because I dont know about how much I can attack him if I feel the same damage he does. And be careful, I dont have Channeled Energy now,"

Shota peered around the house to stare out at the open field watching the fight that was about to unfold. She saw her brother, up in the air, ready to fight an evil that hurt his people before. People who have already turned their back on him. Her green eyes watched the Dream Demon in hatred.

The Dream Demon shot off forwards towards Kihaku, for he hated him the most as well as he couldnt attack Cham, since that made no sense. His speed seemed to be the hurdle these fighters would have to get over, since he was quicker than anyone Cham had ever seen move before. He appeared behind Kihaku almost instantly with his tri-edge blades rose. He began to bring them down in a swing, as if to decapitate Kihaku where he stood.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

(You know, looking over this post I posted earlier here, I realized that it was not within her charachter to be so vindictive of... well, anyone. It wasn't in her charachter, and I deleted it. Oh well.
Sorry 'bout that! Better one on the way!)

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Atsuko bolted off the bed in an instant, and stood beside Shota, as she peered into the area in which Cham and the others were going to fight. She knew this man was powerful... and that he had hurt people to get Cham's attention. It... filled her with anger and pain that anyone was capable of that... let alone that Cham, her friend, was his target. Looking to Shota, she frowned and took her hand firmly. "We can't fight that creep... we'd only get in my friends' way... but we can certainly help the people that monster hurt! That's how we can help Cham-san most! Come on, Shota, I need your help!" she whispered, and took off.

She would have to save them all... every last one. Only then would she be satisfied... only then would she feel at peace with her concience. She did not want to see her new friends suffer this kind of loss, even if they did betray Cham, such a good man, for something so... silly to her. She did not want them to suffer, either.

[kihaku]

Kihaku listened to the young... thing rant, taking in every gesture, every word, every twitch of his fingers in an attempt to ascertain what kind of a fighter he would turn out to be. Still, as much as he could glean from their little meeting, nothing gave him more than the actual attack itself. Kihaku watched the attacker bolt for himself, and even before the attacker had reached halfway, he immediately barked out a single word.

"Elena!"

When the word was gone, the Demon was already behind Kihaku, his unique blades in the air, striking downwards to remove the Spirit's head from the rest of him. There was a whoosh of air, and the weapon passed right through him, his body seemed to seperate as if made of smoke. Blocked by Kihaku, the Demon never had a chance to see Elena's attack: she threw her right arm forward, and from her gauntlet a whirling ribbon of blackness swirled for Kihaku. The Chaos Ribbon, deadly sharp yet light as air, shot through the Chaos Spirit, aiming to impale the Demon right through his stomach. Looking at Cham apologetically, "Sorry Cham, but I don't have a choice."

Her left gauntlet sprouted a small blade, no longer than a dagger, but it would be sufficient; with hardly a tap, she struck the blade against her right gauntlet, and immediately a high-pitched ringing emanated from the black steel, the sound of it was like angels singing to everyone, especially Elena, but to the Demon, unless he had some special attribute that prevented him from hearing sound, everything about it would be absolutely excruciating. The pain wouldn't be debilitating, but it would certainly cause some damage to his hearing if it went on for very long.

Kihaku, his neck severed and his torso impaled, gave a small grunt of approval before transmitting out from in front of the Demon. He reappeared high and to the right of him, pulling the black staff off of his back, the dark weapon shivering with excitement. His left hand went instead into his belt pouch, and withdrew a black glass oval, small enough to fit into his palm. He turned his hand to allow his palm to face the Demon, the Yang Talisman floating an inch away from his gloved hand. His aura misted off of his body, and the talisman spun crazily before unleashing a devastating attack: a torrent of black shards of Chaos Energy, each a foot long and only an inch thick at their widest, bursting forth from the talisman like water from a shower. Easily dodged, wherever the Demon went, Kihaku would appear right behind him, a powerful swing of his staff aimed for his midsection, the hidden blade still drawn inside the weapon.

[chameleon]

He saw the black ribbon at the last moment as he tried to move. With great thanks to his fast speed, he managed to move, though it just wasn't fast enough as it hit his thigh, creating a large gash. Black blood seemed to flow from the demon for a beath of an instant before smoothing over, as if the wound was cauterized. The Dream Demon seemed to show no outward show of pain.

Cham, however, grabbed his side falling half way down towards the ground before catching himself. "Agh!" he grunted. Moving his hand, his flesh showed no sign of damage what-so-ever, but the pain was very real.

A loud sound invaded the battle ground coming from Elena. The Dream Demon and Chameleon simultaniously put hands around their ears trying to stop the sound. They both seemed to recover quickly enough however, as Chameleon appeared very angry looking up at the Demon.

The Dream Demon saw Kihaku dissapear and re-appear away from him, and knew what he had to do. The Demon blasted off from his spot, narowly avoiding being sliced by the shards of Chaos Energy. He seemed to dissapear for an instant and re-appearing behind Elena, serving a quick kick to the side of her head. Regardless of whether or not he accomplished in actually hitting her, he dissapeared again away from everyone as to assess the situation.

Chameleon saw him dissapear once again. Shouting in anger, he held up a hand towards the sky. His body glowed with Chaos energy as he split, two identical clones formed right next to Cham, looking exactly like him in every way except that they didnt have a face on them, just a smooth surface where all his features should have been. He nodded to each as all three of them took off towards the Dream Demon's new position, ready for Kihaku's attack.

The first of Cham's clones reached him, stricking out with a punch and a kick, which the Dream Demon blocked, dismissing the clone with a single quick slice from his tri-edge daggers. The other clone, along with Cham, began a ruthless assault on the Dream Demon, though Cham made sure as to not actually get a punch through, making sure his clone did the same. They were doing this as so Kihaku would get a good clean shot.

It was then that Kihaku's blow struck home in the middle of the Dream Demon's back, connecting wonderfully. The Demon launch forward towards the ground, away from Kihaku, at the same time as Cham was thrown towards the ground in the opposite direction from the blow that the Demon suffered. Chameleon and the Demon both hit the ground at the same time, kicking up a lot of dust.

Shota ran to Cham, her eyes in shock. She knelt down low, putting a hand on his back. Cham's eyes shot open.

"Shota, no, dont heal me!" he said, though he couldnt move, his spine had been hit so badly that he couldnt feel any portion of his body. He wondered if he had become a paralyzed. It would take time, but Shota would be able to cure him, though that couldnt happen.

"Chameleon, you're hurt, I have to help you!" She said in anger.

"If you cure me, so will the Demon. He has to be destroyed."

A blast of orange came out of no where towards Chameleon and Shota. "Stupid mortal woman. I cant have you healing everything I hurt!" he roared in anger. He seemed fine, unlike Chameleon.

Shota turned, wide eyed as the Demon fell upon her, a tri-edged dark blade struck at her face. She almost had no idea what she was doing.

The tri-edged blade was met by the clang of two black daggers. The Demon was stopped, a look of surprise almost passed over his face as he looked at the large woman who had stopped him. "So, you are no so innocent as the rest of the people on this planet are after all," he said with a raspy chuckle.

Shota's body erupted in a burse of green light, it looked exactly the way Chameleon's did when he battled before. Only, this wasn't a web he ever made. The green light seemed to coalesce around Shota's hands, feet, and waiste, looking to be like a green cyclone around them. Instantly, it began.

Her attacks began raining in on the Dream Demon at fantastic speeds. A speed that the Dream Demon was having a noticable trouble keeping up with, one that seemed almost impossible. She didnt seem to have hands or feet as she lashed out at the demon. She almost seemed to be a floating torso and head coming at him.

Kihaku, being as powerful as he was, would still be able to track her arm and leg movements towards the Demon, but even his outstanding ability would prove unable to fully keep up with everything she was doing. The Demon fell back, only for a moment as a barrage of slashes made it's way home.

Cham, in the distance, screamed in agony as if felt like thousands of small cuts were crossing his body all at once. Shota appeared by be something of a wood chipper.

Then, the change came over her. Her body stopped as she fell to the ground, the Dream Demon jumping back far away. His body seemed beaten and cut up, black marks seemed to be on the magority of his body. He was breathing hard.

Shota picked her head up slightly, rasping breath coming from her mouth. Her green eyes were no more, they were now a light gray, like Cham's once green eye was. Her face looked pale and sunken, her eyes especially. She, like Cham, no looked like the living dead. She was cut off from her Channeled Energy.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

"Shota!" Atsuko cried, and stared at the sight of her amazing attack... with her jaw dropped near to the floor. She ha neer imagined Shota capable of that... she was messing that demon up rightly... he couldn't o anything against an assault that insane. But... Atsuko only paused for a moment, then took off towards Shota and the demon. She knew what was going to happen, fighting on this world, like this... but she froze. Every second se used up, another person of this village could die. Biting her bottom lip, the goddess had no idea what to do just then... well,she knew what to do, just ot how she would go about doing it.

So she thought it out... This was quite a dilemma. If she let Shota alone after this kind of assault on the dream demon, she would then be a huge target... a massive red target may as well be painted on her... and after that buisness, she would not get away scott free. The demon would go after her, without a doubt.

But what about those people? They were killed for no good reason, by a cold-blooded destroyer. They were people for christ's sake. What good would she be as a goddess if she just let them die when she could easily do something about it.

Atsuko's fists clenched, and she seethed in frustration at the sadistic choice she had laid out before her. It was so cruel, how this choice had no real solution. When Shota collapsed, and the demon took a standby to catch himself... her eyes widened. She had to make a choice. She had to make that choice... now.

They say that stress breeds power, that strving can awaken things in yourself you never knew you could do. Faced with this great beast of a problem... her mind began to grow once more. Motivated by deeply set needs pulling her in two directions, Atsukos divine power spaked momentarily, and a flash erupted from her location. Her third eye chakra beamed like a flashlight as she turned translucent, and stepped out of herself... wait, what? She stepped from a version of herself that did not move,and both solidified in that brilliant light. She just made a copy of herself. The lights died down, and the two Atsukos looked between one another, then took off. She did not think about what had just happened... just accepted it. She knew what she had to do. She had been given the chance to make both things right.

Atsuko skidded to a stop beside Shota, and stared down the dream demon. "Here, Shota..." Atsuko murmured to the woman beside her, never once taking her eyes from the demon. Hopefuly, his injuries would slow him down enough for Atsuko to get Shota out of the battlefield. That just left the issue of being on guard. She was a dragonian... she could take a few hits, she wagered... but Kihaku and Elena would have to keep the demon off of her.

"Kihaku! Elena! I'm getting Shota out of here!" she cried, and if Shota had taken her hand, she left... and if not, Atsuko would outright grab the woman and carry her away. Either way, she was going. She was in no shape to carry on the fight.


The other Atsuko bounded across the battlefield, running as fast as her legs would carry her headlong towards the wrecked buildings, and into one such building, on fire from the attack, "Is anyone in here!" She cried, and bent,touching the ground... it kept her head out of the heat... but she was feeling the psyschic imprint of the building, trying to decide for herself whether or not someone was there with her.

[kihaku]

Elena nodded to Atsuko just as her Chaos Ribbon retracted to her gauntlet, a slight snapping sound coming from the black metal as the energy disappeared for the time being. The tiny dagger faded from view as well, just as she reached around and yanked a small scroll from behind her back. Normally, she resisted the urge to use this, but right now was not a time for hesitation.

Biting her thumb, she created a small pool of blood as the scroll seemed to unroll itself like a window shade in her other hand. Swiping her finger along it's inner surface, the streak of crimson exploded across the paper to create spidery letters that looked like no language ever seen before. After going from one end to the other, it immediately rolled itself shut, and Elena touched down on the ground just as her aura blazed to life, golden flames burst into existence all around her as a circle of crimson light etched itself into the ground all around her. Intricate designs recognizable only to the Chaos Spirits wound the inner workings of the spell form, until twelve central nodes were placed in a pattern all about her.

Holding the scroll between both hands, which were clasped as if in prayer, the technique concealed within the rolls of the Dubl-Yu-Ti-Ehf came to life. From each central node, a perfect copy of the lovely young woman coalesced out of thin air, each one wielding a different weapon. Two each held a katana, one short, one two-handed, and the others carried weapons such as polearms, axes, and even a kusarigama.

Without so much as twitching a facial muscle, every sinlge one of the twelve dashed in for the attack. The kusarigama struck first, the weighted iron attatched to the sickle lashed out to strike the Demon in the gut, follwed by several arrows from a clone carrying a bow and quiver. The three axes and a morningstar came in next, followed by expert slashes with the katanas.

As if this weren't enough, Kihaku followed Chameleon's lead and created eight Shadow Forms, each one replaced with blades instead of forearms. They held back, a rough circle around the writhing mass of Elenas, Demon, and flashing, silvery metal. The Chaos Spirit himself wasn't too far from the concentrating female, his merciless gaze fixated on the Demon's energy signature, his arms crossed over his chest.

[chameleon]

Right as all the clones were upon the Dream Demon, he vanished in a small puff of orange smoke. The field was completely calm, the only noise was from Chameleon's labored breathing.

Cham was trying his hardest to move but he really believed that his spine was completely broken, he was paralyzed. Kihaku's blow was one that he had known would happen and knew this was going to be the result, he had just hoped that the Demon would be in the same shape he was in.

There came a cackle of laugher as the Demon seemed to appear out of thin air right next to Chameleon. "My mistress has taken me back," he said, his kackle grew louder and a little more maniacly. "She said that she will deal with you all at a later date. You will all feel the wrath of Beatrice, and she wont allow you all a quick death as I would have. But... as for him..." he said looking down at Chameleon. "You, mortal, have caused me much trouble. Too bad I wont be able to kill you where you lay, like some helpless pup. But, I will take away something that you hold dear to yourself before I leave, I've been given this much permission."

A dark orange haze seemed to surround the demon, blocking out him and Chameleon. Cham's last look, before the orange wrapped around him, was to Elena. In a loud, booming voice that filled the head of the three outside the menacing aura came the words. "I will take away Elena from him, take away his love!"

The smoke vanished, along with the Dream Demon. Nothing happend. Elena was still there, Chameleon was still there, though he was completely passed out now.

Shota sat on the edge of the wall, watching, tears filled her grey eyes. Emotion of sadness crossed her face as she put hands to her eyes.

Chameleon laid still on the ground, his breathing shallow.

[Shei'ki\Agatha]

Setting Shota down and staring into her eyes, Atsuko nodded. She would be alright... she just needed to get off this planet, this place where she was so... opressed. She could not begin to imagine how bad this must have been for her... having her own planet reject her, simply because she defended herself. How cruel... she could hardly stand the thought of a planet rejecting someone. Shota had to let it out... she had a lot to cry away.

Turning, Atsuko saw the messed up Chameleon, and sighed heavily, striding over towards the boy crumpled on the ground. She got there in a few moments, and bent beside him. Without a word, she set his body straight, no matter how much it made the barely concious man grunt or groan in agony. She winced as she felt him in this state... she knew the pain he was in all too well... he'd just gotten the shit beat out of him by his friends, after all, or may as well have.

Smiling at Cham, her hands... started to glow, shining a gentle pinkish-gold hue, pressing against Cham's body. Her spirit would press against him through this contact, her heart flooded with thoughts of healing, of the easing of pain, the repairing of tissues. Under her gradually hardening grasp, wounds would quickly start healing, the flesh of his broken spine realligning, and shuddering as she worked on him. As she did this, her hair started to glow, brilliant and pink, slowly flowing upward as she worked on her friend's well being.

Meanwhile, the other Atsuko frantically fought her way through the flames of the wreckage.... Three houses were cleared, it's total of six inhabitants laid in front of the houses... all dead, but she had saved them from the terrible burning. She was tiring... slowing down... she had needed to tear the houses apart to get the people out, to help them, to save their lives. She had to hurry... had to fight harder... had to strive! If she could not save them, what good was she? No good at all! No freaking good at all.

House by house, the desparate goddess fought her way through flames, through debris. Some she pulled out were alive, others, not so much... and two... two had been hit the hardest. They were the last two she had to save... and unfortunately for them, they had survived their horrible fates; their skin had burned off, and they were huddled together under a blanket, unconcious from the aweful pain, but alive. They had been protecting a child between them, but the child was dead already, died of smoke inhalation... but his body was miraculously preserved.

The two shuddered and groaned, writhing on the ground where Atsuko set them, panting and heaving, forced to her knees, her body shaking and exhausted. She could have used Shota's help, but she understood what and why she was doing... but that still left the matter of fact that this was freaking hard work.

Staring at the two parents, she knealt between them. They could not see... she knew that... and they at first recoiled from her touch... but she scooped up their child and sighed, cradling it closely as their burnt hands felt for it. She healed the child first. Her embrace started to glow with golden-pink energy, like the other Atsuko's glow. The smoke purged from the child's lungs... stipped clean, worked entirely from his system in but a few seconds. But Atsuko's efforts were not... fully in this world.

Closing her eyes, the woman's gaze turned to the Ether, and she saw, clearly... a child, floating... crying... he was terrified, in pain... he had not gotten peace enough to pass on yet, and that was a relief to the goddess.

"Meryl..." she called... it was the child's name. Sobbing, the little girl looked up to her, shuddering in terror, clutching her throat... and her eyes widened. "Who... who are you?" she replied, slowly lowering her hands from her throat, as if she just then noticed... that it did not hurt anymore. Atsuko smiled lovingly at the girl, and squatted beside her, offering her an embrace.

"My names Atsuko, Meryl..." she said, and the girl stared at her for a few moments... before realizing that this woman was not going to hurt her... that she was a good person, gentle and kind, and would never let her get hurt. Wrapping her arms around her, Atsuko stood in the Ether, and walked back into where she had stepped from, back to the real world. The child moved in her arms, kicked, and opened her eyes, alive once more, her little heart fluttering. Handing the child back to her parents, the little girl never took her eyes off of Atsuko, even as her hands felt her.... very, very warm parents, which were crying now... and doing a poor, poor job of it, really, considering most of their skin was gone, their bodies cauterized.

Atsuko then set to work on them, grabbing each by the leg with those golden hands. Her body shook hard, her eyes were glowing brighter, and her nose was starting to bleed, but she Wasn't going to stop, not to leave them in that sorry state. Their wounds healed quickly, but the tax on her was definately noticable. Atsuko may as well have just been getting warmed up... she was burning the reserve oils on this one.

(Ima have you roleplay the family cham! I figure that's best, considering it's your race an all)

[kihaku]

((At my girlfriend's house, gotta keep it short))

Kihaku's Shadow Forms suddenly disappeared as he sent them out to patrol the surrounding area, Elena's clones simply fading from view, the spell-form on the ground fading at the same time. She was a little fatigued from using her blood to plug in her Chaos Energies, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle for now. What she was really worried about was Atsuko and Cham.

"Kihaku, please, help Suki!"

Without even acknowledging that he heard her, he used his Shadow Tramission to appear right behind her. Reaching reluctantly into his pouch, rather than pulling out the black glass he had used only recently, he instead retrieved the Ying Talisman, brilliantly white, and almost blindingly reflective. Pressing the cool glass against her arm, it began to glow with a soft light, augmenting her own power quite suddenly with spiritual energy, tinged with the faintest hint of Celestial. "C'mon girl, I know you can do this," he whispered in her ear.

Elena rushed over to Cham's prone form, kneeling immediately and checking his vitals. He looked dead, but that was just from the effects of being a Forsaken. His pulse wasn't too slow or high, his breathing was shallow, but steady, and pressing her palm against his forehead she couldn't ascertain anything life-threatening. "C'mon Cham, wake up, please?"

[chameleon]

Shota ran to Cham's side with Elena, she bent low but she couldn't use her Channeled Force ability anymore to cure whatever might have been wrong with him. She whiped her eyes and that was it, her icy exterior of calm analyticity was back, she examined him carefully, as if he were a patient. Channeled Energy wasn't the only means to cure someone of their ailments.

"Chameleon Roughnight, get up," she said prodding him in the shoulder.

Cham stirred, his eyes finally opening as he let off a long groan. He looked up at his sister. "Shota..." he said looking up at her as he lifted himself up carefully onto his butt. He looked around for a moment, looking to Elena but not saying anything, just looked at her for a brief little moment before he directed his attention back at his sister. "You... you're a Forsaken, why did you..." he winced slightly, one of his rips still hurt but his spine seemed to be doing just fine.

"That's not important right now Chameleon. Elena, can you stay with him? I'm going to go check on the house, see if I can't scrounge up a couple of things for our trip."

As she ran towards the village, Cham looked to Elena again, a kind hearted smile across his face. "Hello," he said trying to stand up, wincing a bit as he finally got to his feet.