|
|
Post by Jimmy Claymore on Jun 17, 2008 18:41:13 GMT
Itopu was, quite possibly, the strangest little town that existed on Lavertia. It still lived what most places would consider a historical re-enactment style life but to them seemed the height of technology. Anyone who went outside the town and found out that this, indeed, was NOT the case was proclaimed a witch and banished. It was to this town that a shambling, dark haired young man in sunglasses walked with a slightly exhausted gait and with a deep grumble sat down on the nearest porch
"Good morrow to thee stranger!" Said a cheerfully over-weight voice from the steps next to where the young man was sitting
"Hah? What do you want?"
"Well... as you are sitting on my step I assumed"
"Assume makes and Ass out of U and Me. Remember that" The young man growled, looking quite evidently irritated by everyone and everything in his immediate vicinity.
"Errr, I see... I'll just leave you to it... if you want anything before you leave town please talk to my wife in the store..."
"Right. Now go away." The large man vanished in a small cloud of dust and sweat. The traveller stared up at the sky with a sigh and wondered where the HELL that idiot kid was hiding...
Travis Gourdmeyer (AKA The large man) was now hurrying to Al's Bar so he could try and round up a posse of his friends and show that young punk what was what. Unfortunately, what with the new local crime problems, a lot of them were dead or wishing they were dead. The whole bar was darkened so people couldn't see the scars and burns so easily. There was a lot of sniffing from the recent victims... Travis was lucky, he could pay his "Tithe" regularily, but some of the others... it was ridiculous! Who did they need protecting from! Except maybe people like that travelling kid... he smiled in the shadows and approached the bar with a wide smile
"I'd like a bottle of Aiden please, Al... and do you know where the Dragon God's meant to be today?"
The kid on the porch was a little surprised when a fairly sizeable gang of people wearing black cloaks adorned with flames suddenly appeared in front of him. He looked up with a scowl and sized them all up, the only one without the hood up stood in the middle. He had wiry black hair and a firm cocky glare at the man in the sunglasses. There was a long pause and the man with the cloaks spoke
"Well? Aren't you going to throw yourself on our mercy? Beg for your life?"
"That depends..."
"On what?"
"Whether or not your joking..." the man in the sunglasses made eye contact (semi eye-contact, tinted lenses after all...) with the leader of this new little group
"And you are?"
"Me? I am the Dragon God of the Zolan Lands, my worshippers call me Rizuk. And who, human, do you think you a-" The man was off his feet and flying before he even registered he'd been punched straight in the cheek by the man in sunglasses. He was bewildered but focused on regaining his momentum "Ha? Thinking you can win with a quick strike, eh-"
"YOU LITTLE SHIT! I WILL WIPE YOU OFF THE FUCKING PLANET FOR THIS!!" The man in sunglasses was screaming throwing away the muscular men trying to restrain him with disconcerting ease.
"Oh? Heh... maybe your not so dumb, you know Im a fake and want to defen the honour of your God?" There was a pause and the man with sunglasses regained his breath.
The cloaked men saw a chance and tried a dog-pile on him. Each extra body forced him more to his knees but with a sudden flex and stand up were sent flying upwards and one or two into buildings. A spark of fire surrounded the shaded man's hand and "Rizuk" looked a little concerned
"A flame Elemental? Well, that could be troublesome..." There was a sound of shifting bones and skin cracking as the faux Dragong God began to develop scales all over his body, dark green protection from whatever his enemy had in store. "Lets see you get past my defence shall we!" The man snarled and threw a hand forward, flames leapt at his command and scorched towards the reptile warrior. With speed and lithe, the reptile dodged and with a cackle of glee, struck out at the Flame elementals face. The black plastic and glass flew free and shattered on the ground, the green scaled man sniggered
"Not so tough without your glasses are you, huh?" The flame elemental slowly opened his eyes and the scaled man saw the brilliant orange irises clearly. At first he just thought they were odd but a sudden remembrance slowly burnt in his mind... he knew those eyes... "Oh no... you can't be, you'd have to be over a thousand years old!" A hand grabbed the fake's robes and growled down
"One Thousand, One hundred and Nineteen years old... and you've been using my name as your own"
"I'm terribly sorry, your grace. I swear I'll-" The rest was drowned out in a flash of flames bursting forth from the True Dragon's mouth. Rizuk threw the smouldering body on the ground and sat down with a sigh
"Well, that was somewhat beneficial. Wouldn't like the idea getting out I didn't believe in Divine Vengeance."
It took a few hours for word to circulate, they were free. The 'Dragon God' had been beaten by the true Dragon God! And by the evening they were all standing in front of Rizuk Ryujin, the last Dragon native to Dragonia.
"Mr Ryujin... we are dreadful sorry we let that imposter use your name for so long"
"Its fine, its not like my face is that well known. Just make a note of it so no-one pulls the same shit a few hundred years later. I can't be everywhere"
"But of course, your holiness"
"I'm not a pope" Rizuk said with his characteristic, "damn humans..." scowl. Travis apologised profusely
"There, errr, there is one more thing, your all forgivingness, sir..."
"... all forgivingness?... WHAT DID YOU DO!!" Rizuk bellowed at the assembled mass of people who were now shivering in terror.
"We... We put a plea out to bounty-hunters in the area, and local martial artists and heroes to come save us from the Dragon..."
"Oh for the love of me!" Rizuk cried in one of his oddest oaths "So now what? You want me to stay and deal with them?"
"Ummm, well, it means they won't attack you out of nowhere later in the future and we won't need to pay them all if you explain"
"... You know I could burn the village down?"
"Yes, o merciful lord of flames" Travis mumbled into his hat. Rizuk sighed, the stoking of his ego had worked
"Fine, we'll see if any idiots come... hopefully no-ones got a hero complex nearby"
((OOC: Annnnnd thats a nice window for someone to attack the R-man. Lets see what happens people!))
|
|
|
|
Post by Shei'ki\Agatha on Jun 18, 2008 17:00:12 GMT
(Im in, figure I'd whack the beehive with a stick)
As if on cue, two heafty THUNK sounds lit up the air, and two black projectiles, from completely different directions, flew into the crowd, landing with deft precision at Rizuk's feet (right and left). They were blurs right about up until they stopped... in which case, they were obviously grenades. Time was brief before these would blow, maybe half a second, to send shrapnel, white-hot fire, and a great deal of concussive force into any unlucky son of a bitch that was near the dragon god at the time, with no regard for human life at all. From two other, completely different angles, rockets came, aimed not at Rizuk, but at the ground beneath him, precisely aimed to create a perimeter of sorts, with Rizuk just within their warheads' charges.
The headhunter had lead Pariah right to Lavertia, to some backwoods town that had been ravaged by... gods know what. It was not Pariah's concern. These people were none of her concern. Only one was: Object Rizuk, her objective. she skid out of her high-speed movements, her processors already contemplating the possibilities of hits and misses, deathtolls, and the effects that would have on her objective....
(more later)
|
|
|
|
Post by Garoten Reklor on Jun 18, 2008 17:35:41 GMT
Far above the beautiful country of Lavertia, a gleaming figure split the sky, leaving a streak of vapor behind it. Secure inside his newly repaired armor, the White Knight silently reviewed the information he'd gathered about his first 'job' in this new world. Of course, priority one was to get back home, the job was just a means to an end. The plan was to defeat the 'dragon', accept the gratitude of the people, and ask only for information in return. Surely this world had scientists of their own, perhaps even better than Earth. At the very least, he could gain access to a laboratory where he could investigate the matter himself.
Rhia's voice broke the silence of his thoughts.
"Approaching final waypoint. Itopu should be straight below."
It had taken nearly all night, but upon completing repairs, Kyle had located an atlas and scanned the entire volume into the armor's database. From there, Rhia had been able to create a completely functioning virtual GPS and plot a course to Itopu.
""Very good. Return to manual flight control. I'll check things out before things get too messy."
How to find this dragon subtely escaped the Knight for the moment. The description he'd been given - a man with spiky hair and orange eyes - didn't sound anything at all like a dragon to begin with, much less a rogue dragon god. Did such things even exist? Then again, in a place called DRAGONia, dragons were probably pretty common. As he circled again and dropped lightly to the ground behind a ring of villagers, his suspicions were concerned. The man in the center of everyone's attention looked nothing like the garden variety, St. George-and-the-dragon-type. He looked more like a teenage kid with an attitude. For a moment, Kyle hesitated. Something just didn't seem right. In that moment of hesitation, something dropped right in front of the kid. Instanty Kyle knew what they were, but there was too little time to clear the crowd.
""Look out!"
For his part, the White Knight dove over the crowd and landed between the front row of people and the bombs, shield up. He couldn't shield the whole group, and there was no time to think about who needed help the most - it was all instinct that drove him to jump where he did. The explosions flung shrapnel in all directions, hitting several civilians, but the ones behind the Knight were safe.
""Rhia, locate the source of that fire, now! If someone else is after the target, that's fine, but not here! The people can't get mixed up in this!"
A second later, four recticles appeared: One on a figure sliding across the ground to his left, one on the man in the center of the crowd, and two more on a pair of rockets coming in fast for Rizuk. With no time to spare, the Knight kicked forward, the jets beneath his blue cape roaring to life and propelling him just past Rizuk and slamming his extended shield into the rockets. The energy in the metal shield pulsed, and the rockets were deflected straight upward, where they exploded hamrlessly in the sky. from there, the Knight rolled forward, cut the engines on his back, and slid to a stop on his feet. He retracted the shield and held both hands up, signaling for a stop to everything. Activating his external speakers, he soke loudly, but gently.
"Time out! We're not doing this with innocent people in the way! If you don't want to fight, I'd suggest you clear out, now."
The crowd needed no more encouragement. Already, many were scrambling for whatever cover they could find. Now with two target tagged on his HUD as threats, The White Knight lowered his arms to point straight at each of the others. as if on cue, devices resembling small crossbows flipped out of his wrists.
"Now, which of you is the dragon?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Shei'ki\Agatha on Jun 18, 2008 23:50:52 GMT
A figure, moving at speeds a fighter jet could envy, dropped out of supersonic speeds, and rapidly slowed, billows of dust rising to the sky along with pillars of debris where its feet were touching the ground. It was female, a tattered grey cloak whipping around behind her... but she was not taking five by any means, nor was she in any process of slowing or stopping. Now there was just an environmental hazard; White knight. Whether or not he'd turn red to the Headhunter for his interference was none of her concern. Rizuk was, though.
He was her target, not this irrelevant human that had decided to risk his life... but, then, he was so like the sheep all around him which he'd risked himself to defend from her so-far assaults: irrelevant. Her hands were outstreatched, and fire was coming from them... no, they were muzzle flashes, accompanied by the thunder of a very heavy pair of machine guns... but even then, she wasn't even aiming at them, but at the area around her targets. Her shots, accurate as they were, would send dust flying upward in shoots...
She would flash past them at those astounding speeds, weaving among them with but the finest adjustments, mathematical precision and beauty witnessed only in a machine... but the pass had not merely been to harass and taunt them. In her wake, another pair of grenades lagged but a moment in the air, making a heavy whirring sound as they spun madly midair, then burst violently. She was not stopping, not by a long shot. His words had fallen on deaf ears.
She had turned full around by the time the grenades had burst and the bullets hit (same time), still going away from her targets for the sheer speed she had pulled, the pillars of dust and debris wakeing where her feet contacted the ground providing some cover to her.... but it gave them a chance to get a good look. She was pale, her eyes set in sockets that had massive, bruised bags under them, like she had not slept in weeks. Her clothing was ragged, composed of bandages under the cloak and nothing else. Her skin was pale for Zolan standards of course, giving her a sickly ashen-tan appearance, haggard to behold. This was a creature that had no soul: her eyes were empty, no life, no hate, no love, no... nothing, even if she did have living energy inside her by how she might feel to a person with those kinds of perceptions. Once she had slowed some, six fixtures, set into her head and sliding seamlessly under her hair, replaced her ears completely, swiveling and adjusting in rapid succession.
Only a second would they have to look at their attacker before she would start moving again.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jimmy Claymore on Jun 19, 2008 0:04:12 GMT
You don't get to be over a thousand years old with a personality like Rizuk's without a certain amount of reflexes. He saw the flying black spheres and without even looking at the assembled crowd who'd hung him out to dry leapt skywards and curled into a ball. The explosion was pretty spectacular. Rizuk was blown forwards from where he'd originally been facing and crashed through a wooden building's first floor and bounced once of the mahogany panelled floors before landing in an explosion of feathers on the bed. He lay still for a while as soft white down floated through the air before doing a firm stomach crunch and staring at the hole he'd made
"Ow... so that's what a grenade looks like" He felt himself all over and yanked out the shrapnel that was stuck in him. He was fairly tough so none had gotten far enough in he'd need to do a focused healing. He tugged out a chunk in his fore-head and dabbed the blood off with the unfortunate towns persons sheet. He heard someone trying to defend the crowd from more explosion and sighed deeply as he got up off the fluffy remnants of the bed.
"You'd think I'd learn..." He said, almost conversationally as he strolled down the stairs leading to the ground floor "I mean, obviously, there's no way that after agreeing to help there'd be a time delay! I mean, statistically, there is no way this would ever happen" He grumbled to himself as he licked the blood on one of the scratches of his arms "These people spend weeks, if not MONTHS, waiting for someone to come and deal with the big bad Dragon... and then suddenly, two come all at once as soon as I deal with the imposter" He announced this last part as he stormed through the front door of whoever's house that had been. He saw them lying besides the house and looked severely wounded, a big chunk of metal was stuck in his chest. Which was odd since shrapnel wasn't usually that big... nor did it traditionally have a handle. He decided not to look into the mentality of the townsfolk and simply patted the man on the head
"There, there"
"I'm not dead... I think he missed all my internal organs..."
"Oh... lucky you! I'm going to go talk to those two insane killer robots over there. By the way, I destroyed your bed, hope thats cool?"
"Ahh, its fine... you do what you have to do right?"
"Thats what I'm saying!" Rizuk was cut off from this reverie by hearing the White Knight's demand of who the Dragon was
"In a minute!" He shouted in reply "I'm talking to this guy, I'll come kick your fool ass in a second! Anyway, as I was saying..."
"Hey, don't worry about me, you go deal with those bounty hunters. I'll just hobble over to the doctor"
"Huh? Ah, right, well, see ya later. I'm Rizuk, by the way"
"Nice to meet you Rizuk, I'm Yorick" Rizuk felt an immediate tragic twinge that he'd make a horrendous joke later but left to talk with the people he was now calling mentally 'Shiny the Robot and Crazy the Bitch'
"Alright, what do you two want? I won't grant you wishes unless you gather my 7 balls. And yes, that was a sex joke" Rizuk's scowl showed how unamused he was about this. He tried measuring his enemies power-scale but came up with a bit of a blank. Cybernetics were harder than normal people...
|
|
|
|
Post by Shei'ki\Agatha on Jun 19, 2008 13:35:29 GMT
Some distance away, a humvee sat at rest, its engine idling, its crew of soldiers at full alert. They were in full uniform, some were officers... and one was none of the above. This one was a woman, in a female-fitted tuxedo, no badges or equipment marking her as any kind of military personelle whatsoever. She was calm, quiet, smoking at a wine cigar just gingerly, not inhaling the sweet, heavy smoke at all... just tasting it, and it did not bother her comrades at all. At her side was a younger soldier, holding a small device in his hands, and wearing a visor over his eyes. The soft, buzzing hum of the device the loudest thing in that soundproof vehichle.
"Reporting headhunter activity. She found him, alright... But not the other target..." the young man said quietly, his knuckles white as he held that device, around the size and shape of a PDA.
"That's fine... Rizuk will be a handfull, probably best they don't get a chance to gang up." the woman said softly, and gave him a casual shrug. "she's still running at thirty percent?" she asked, and puffed a wisp of smoke.
The soldier shook his head gently, replying "No, she exceeded that about when she started. She's running at... looks like about fourty or fourty five, the reading fluctuates."
"How much variance?" she asked, a little concern leaking into her voice, making the young man tense a little, wary of some kind of failure in this 'ultimate weapon' his nation had at their disposal. This is only fourty percent....? Anything this powerful could route platoons of men in a heartbeat... moving THIS fast and doing this much damage, and only at fourty?
"A-about five degrees, ma'am" he said, and gripped the device tighter inbetween his hands. Dr. Alkai noticed, and gently put her hand on his shoulder. Just like that, he lifted his head, and sighed a little, but he relaxed just the same.
"It'll be fine, that's small potatoes compared to the trial runs. Once we start seeing upward variance from 100%, then we can start worrying... we'll keep her in this green zone unless something comes up." she said, in a calming, warm voice to the young man, very gently. He was not used to being spoken to like that... but he nodded and complied. No sense wearing the kid out, he was her little goon, after all.
"Ma'am, what about that other reading, the man in white armor?" an older soldier, one of the men who gave this program funding and legal support, much needed, asked softly, with more respect than Dr. Alkai was used to.
"So far, he's not shown hostility. The moment he does, which I'm sure he will, kick it up another twenty percent or so and Mark his meddling ass. We can't fault him for being a chivalrous moron in a tin can, can we?" the good Doctor said, with a joking tone, and her goon smiled.
A voice that had so far been rather quiet, belonging to a man clad in a different sort of uniform entirely spoke up. "So what about the human lives she just blew to hell?" he asked, and leaned foreward, glaring at Alkai.
"You wanted the dragon gone." was her frank reply, and he did not respond favorably. "Gone, but I don't want people dying either, Doctor. We agreed that the dragon must go, but-"
"We did not discuss terms of that nature. If you want her to serve you tea, you're shit out of luck, sir... she's a weapon. We're in combat with a superpower, a creature that can level cities with relative ease... and you want to worry about ten or twenty? Don't waste our time." she hissed venomously, and he sat back, not at all impressed.
"Look..." Alkai said, after pulling a small, huge-barreled pistol and inputting a small device, shutting it firm. "We saw a clearing about twelve or fifteen out, right? That field we passed?" she asked, and the man nodded a bit, blinking. "Good" and just like that, she opened the door, took off the safety, and launched the device.
Back in the war zone, the mysterious woman again appeared, skidding to a complete stop as quickly as she could, the ground rumbing and shaking gently as she did so. She actually reached a complete stop, and stood erect. Her knuckles were scraped, but she did not bleed... perhaps because she did not have much of a chance to; the wound from scraping ground simply closed again with little time at all, within seconds.
Her voice was as emotionless as she, and she ws not at all even winded by this whole experience. She wasn't even breaking some kind of sweat. "OBJECT: LIZARD. STATEMENT: ELSEWHERE"
|
|
|
|
Post by Garoten Reklor on Jun 20, 2008 2:43:41 GMT
At first, the only answer to the Knight's inquiry was another attack from somewhere. The character who kept attacking was moving impossibly fast - even the supercomputer housed inside the armor could barely track its movements. The movements of the projectiles used in the attacks, on the other hand, were doable. With some effort, the Knight managed to stay in the line of fire from the chain guns with his shield and prevented any injury among the civilian population of Itopu. The bullets that hit the ground still kicked up an impressive dust cloud, but nothing the Knight's visual imaging system couldn't filter out. Unfortunately, he missed the real point of the volley and received for his trouble the concussive force of a pair of grenades twenty feet behind him. Tumbling to a stop against a nearby building, the Knight righted himself and re-acquired his targets. As of now, the threat to this village was the bounty hunter, not the dragon - if Kyle's assumptions on who was who were correct. There were already well over a dozen injured to be tended, but the bigger problem now was to get the battle out of the village. If the reports on Rizuk were correct, it wouldn't be difficult to goad him into a challenge elsewhere, but the creature trying to kill him was an unexpected element that made that plan impossible.
Finally, the hunter slid to a stop and confirmed that she was not the dragon - at least, that's what it seemed to be saying. Kyle could easily have assumed on the identity of the dragon without asking, and in this case - as in most cases - his instincts were proven correct. But that just wasn't the way he did things. Not since his last mission for the Project had he attacked an opponent who had been unarmed or unaware, and he wasn't about to start. With both Rizuk and the strange looking woman confirming his suspicion, it was time to fight, given the calls for Rizuk's destruction had been just. Another changed habit from Assassin to Hero - nobody was to be attacked without just cause, and all he had now was the tale of one villager a continent away. Given the momentary lull - and assuming he wouldn't have another opportunity once the girl resumed action, Kyle whirled to face the man and conspicuously grasped the handle of his sword.
"Sir, are you the dragon who has been terrorizing this village for the past several months?"
Realizing his potential target may not be perfectly honest in such a circumstance, he looked to the few villagers either courageous or stupid enough to remain in the streets and inquired of their opinions:
"Is this the man from whom you have called to be delivered? Speak now, lest there be any regrets!"
Though it seemed naieve, even foolish to be asking such questions at such a time, Kyle was aware of every detail of the situation. Inside his helmet, displays in the lower left and right corners of his field of vision allowed him to keep tabs on Rizuk and the girl - he wouldn't be caught unawares himself any more than he would take anyone else that way.
Sir Edwards, you should take note of this:
A third recticle appeared in the extreme right of his display, zoomed in on a nondescript military vehicle and a woman standing outside with a weapon raised into the air.
Detecting a large array of advanced tech inside that vehicle.
"Just track it for now. I'm kind of busy."
|
|
|
|
Post by Jimmy Claymore on Jun 20, 2008 14:02:50 GMT
Rizuk responded to the question almost immediately with
"No" but this was cut off by him asking the crowd, Rizuk sighed and shouted
"I just said NO I'm not, I already iced the one that was, he's right over..." Rizuk had enough time to realise that between his burning the body to kill it and the explosions the Saurian corpse just looked like hunks of burnt meat. He sighed and simply rubbed his face in the vain hope he was asleep and this was all a nightmare, he finally threw his hands down and looked at the assembled crowd
"Well? Are you going to tell him who I am?" Rizuk demanded. The towns people looked a little sheepish
"Errr, well, technically you're being here has brought us a lot more trouble than we thought... I mean the womans only after you for you, I don't think she even wants the reward..."
"What!? You can't blame me that you advertised to kill "Rizuk the Dragon God" and then when I actually turned up and beat him all the bounty hunters appear? Plus, I got nothing on the Crazy Bitch, I don't think I've done anything to her or her immediate family to provoke this"
"Well... to be frank, Mr Dragon God, we'd much prefer we had the man in shining armour as our village protector than you"
"What!? I'm a Dragon!! I breathe flames!! Why would you prefer that guy?"
"He's a knight... he'd probably be cheaper"
".... I knew I'd regret not burning your village to the ground"
"Yes M'Lord..."
Rizuk re-focused on the man in the can and sighed, this was going to be a bitch...
"OK, it looks like they're shifting the bounty onto me as the REAL Dragon God because they're a crowd of ingrateful bastards... let's just take this into the fields. I want the satisfaction of smashing this place up myself if I win" he turned back to the villagers "And rest assured!! For hanging me out to dry there will be much smashing and probably even some burning of your personal property!" He turned his attention back on to White Knight and jerked his thumb at a field a few feet from the village
"We can deal with it out there... if you REALLY want to fight me" Rizuk was half hoping that the guy was smarter than he looked and had cottoned on to the fact that he, personally, didn't have anything to DO with this and was the victim of mistake identity... twice. But regardless, he wandered out of the village, giving smouldering glares at every villager who dared to make eye contact and stood unceremoniously in the centre of a muddy field, he scowled deeply and wondered why he bothered helping people... when he suddenly remembered the crazy bitch. He looked around frantically, all he saw was a large van that... wait... Amish town... large van... cybernetic killing machines. He very slowly turned to look at the humvee with a glint of murder in his flame coloured eyes
"Oh, this is going to end badly for you" he growled as he fire began to form in widely circling spheres around his hands.
|
|
|
|
Post by Shei'ki\Agatha on Jun 21, 2008 16:19:26 GMT
The woman's harsh voice came clear and direct, from a spot about twenty feet to the side of Rizuk's line of sight, standing unnaturally calm and quiet. Her chest did not move, her eyes did not blink, nor did they display any emotion whatsoever for the dragon to see.
"OBJECT: LIZARD." she said, her voice obviously forced, synthesized. Her mouth moved, but it did not really seem like her body was carrying the sound, an eerie kind of effect, like a person opening their mouth to have music come out for no appearant reason at all.
"OBJECTIVE: TERMINATE." she said, and the headhunter released the charge it held as soon as she finished analasys on the damage to the dragon's body, making her energies spike very suddenly, a visible aura finally appearing, abnormal for an android to posess. Accompanied was a crystalline sound, a little bit like a woman letting out a wail of pain from deep within her. The six metal 'horns', constantly moving and adjusting, began to vibrate, but to no audible effect, though they did appear somewhat sharp like that.
|
|
|
|
Post by Garoten Reklor on Jun 22, 2008 4:45:24 GMT
Kyle Edwards watched in something between amusement and shock as Rizuk - but not the Rizuk he had been sent to destroy - and his subjects (or were they worshippers?) debated his position. After all was said and done, several facts were clear that would change the course of this mission:
A. This Rizuk was not the one from whom the villagers had requested rescue, by their own admission.
B. This Rizuk was willing to fight outside the village, making him even less of a threat and perhaps even a protector of the ones who had requested help.
C. The clear and present danger to the innocents was not Rizuk, but the lady bounty hunter who had already killed or injured over a dozen of them.
Without another word to the villagers, the Knight followed the Dragon into the field and landed beside, not opposite him.
"I find no cause to fight you as you appear to be a victim of betrayal. I'll help you deal with the lady, but know this..."
He whipped the cylinder free from his belt and the weapon called Shadowbane flared to life, instantly forming a slender metal blade surrounded by white electrical energy.
"If you raise a hand against that village, I wll have no choice but turn against you just as fully as I have now come alongside."
The White Knight's shield expanded again from his left arm, and a small crossbow popped up on his right shoulder. He raised his right arm and clanged the pommel of his sword against the left side of his chestplate and nodded to his new, allbeit temporary, ally.
"God speed, Rizuk the Dragon."
And he was gone. Vanished by means of teleportation only to appear before the mysterious lady bounty hunter.
"Now for you I offer this only once. Surrender and leave this village in peace, and this fight can be avoided. I have no desire to strike a lady, but if you reject terms of peace and strike instead, you shall be no lady to me."
The move seemed foolish, but Code required it. Even so, Kyle made his offer with shield raised, sword at the ready, an energy blast charged in his crossbow, and thrusters online. The response he expected would be met with sufficient force.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jimmy Claymore on Jun 22, 2008 13:11:04 GMT
Rizuk could simply stare in awe at what he could only call the complete and utter failure to understand how the world really works. I mean, he'd literally just heard the argument and knew that he'd been "the victim of betrayal" but expected him to turn the other cheek! That was... that was just naive! I mean one does NOT mess around with a fire-breathing lord of destruction and expect him to play it off as a prank! In all honesty, if this fight with the woman didn't bash him up too badly, he'd probably just go and do it anyway and hope for the best that two consequtive battles wouldn't take too much out of him...
"Do what you want, I think she just wants me dead. And she's doing it the only way a military can, by taking out everything around the target. Makes you wish for the clean-hearted honesty of an assasin" Rizuk sighed, he always ended up conversing in the heat of life and death battles... maybe he was getting old
"Help if you want, your not under any obligation or geas" he shrugged at the Knight's generosity, just as he wished him Godspeed, and stared instead at the woman's now mounting weaponary
"Shiiiiiit, that's not gonna be pleasant to get hit by... and I wish she'd stop calling me a Lizard..." Rizuk muttered as he twirled the flame around his fingers. With a quick flick of his wrist the fire spiralled out and encircled the humvee sitting just above the crops growing in the field. Rizuk's intention to burn the village to the ground would wait until AFTER he had no more opposition. The circling fire was just in case he was right and the Crazy Bitch wasn't attacking him because of a personal issue but because of a POLITICAL issue. And since Rizuk believed himself to be a God, he was inherently opposed to politics, preferring the simplicity of religion (ideally one where he was the main deity but, hey, he'd share a pantheon if neccessary. After all he wasn't arrogant at all, now was he?)
With the humvee safely surrounded by fire that would cause most normal humans to suddenly panic and think "wait, maybe we shouldn't be messing with a Dragon God". He took a few steps forward so he was a good distance from the guy in armour (or where he thought he still was) and grinned like a beast. His dark hair shifed in a breeze that caused the tall grass stalks to bend and curve. His blazing eyes, filled with fire glared forwards, the air around him seeming to become wavy as he gathered his strength.
"Heh... they really think a toy's going to enough to stop a roll of a thousand years?" With next to no warning fire suddenly gushed along Rizuk's arms and legs, spiralling into the sky in a huge cloud of smoke, amidst the sea of hellish flames, the blazing orange eyes of the Dragon in human guise glared out staring at the humvee to disconcert them. His mouth, obscured by the steady flow of heat, scorched the air around him. But the plants stayed untouched... Rizuk was controlling the heat and restraining it to only himself. He bent his knees and leapt skywards he flipped and twisted in the air before finally focusing down and seeing that the Knight...was he offering the woman a chance!?! You never offered the enemy a chance! Rizuk would be happy attacking the enemy from behind while they were making love to their girlfriend and killing the woman in the process if it meant the job got done. Rizuk's policy on women and children first was pretty much the exact opposite of everyone else's, it just meant that the enemy lost the will to fight before the real battle even began. And yet he wondered why some people thought Dragons were monsters... with his attack fully charged Rizuk had nothing to do with all these flames except focus them in front of him as a kind of buffer for the inevitable attack
"WHEN I SAID YOU DON'T HAVE TO HELP I DIDN'T MEAN GET IN THE WAY!! " He screamed down as he mentally prepared himself to try and deflect the Gynoid's attacks...
|
|
|
|
Post by dimitri on Jun 23, 2008 4:12:04 GMT
It had been far too long since he had come back to Lavertia, but lately, here and Elisea are the only two places he could remember. He had spent so much time up in Elisea, he figured that coming home to Lavertia would be a nice change of pace from the ice and snow of the holy city. He was still roughly a hundred miles from the coastline that would take him back to his home island where he could see his friends once again, or rather, his only friend. As luck would have it though, the planet, nay, the universe would have more work for Dimitri to do before going back home. This tale involves knights, dragons, and bounty hunters.
He had entered the small town and noticed most people outside with some slight destruction and talking about something that made no sense at all to him. He heard whispers of dragons and knights who would probably get paid less, and bounty hunters. He looked down and with a little snicker whispered to himself, "Heh, throw in some fairies and a goblin or two and we got ourselves a fairy tale told for ages." He decided to stick around and talk to some of them in more depth to get more details on the events that had transpired in this small town he later found out to me known as Itopu. "Last we saw, the three of them went into the fields to the south, but we farm there and if our crops are destroyed, we're really tight for the rest of the year." He smiled and patted the man comfortingly on the shoulder as he made his way towards the aforementioned fields.
To him, it appeared as though he had arrived just in time as he saw things that were already somewhat disturbing in this wannabe fairytale struggle, but something was out of place. More on that, later. He walked across the field confidently, feeling the sleeves of his shirt beat against the wind as the breeze of the open field felt refreshing during this time of year. In his field of vision he could indeed see what the people in the village talked about. There was a woman on the ground, six horn shaped things starting to protrude from her and in that second, he prayed to himself, Please be an android, aliens are annoying as hell. He had guessed that this one was the bounty hunter because it was clear what the other two were.
Airborn, he saw one face that after so many years did seem a tad familiar to him. He believed he had fought alongside the dragon god once, or had at least seen him before. Could have been at the tournament he competed in, or one of those struggles against those annoying aliens back in the day, which was a wednesday, if he remembered correctly. Regardless, Rizuk looked ready to attack as his body was all set aflame and seemed to be defensive. Obviously, Rizuk was as unsure about the woman on the ground as he was, but it was odd, Rizuk was never this conservative before.
Ah the interesting one in the picture, the knight. Standing tall and proud, ready for battle but, wait a second. There was no better way to try to relieve some of the tension and get himself over there while stalling the battle than this. "You have got to be kidding me." The voice echoed from where he was as he appeared slightly before the woman holding his blade towards her, but not before firing a wave at Rizuk in an attempt to distract him and calm him down.
This would be the part where he would normally insert the need for unnecessary battles that were pointless to the cause of keeping the peace that had been prevalent on dragonia in the last few years. But in his mind, there was something more urgent that needed to be attended. "Why is there a Knight fighting WITH a dragon...and AGAINST a damsel??? I've never heard anything like that and it's kinda freaking me out."
Edit: I had to add the against a damsel, that's just too funny lol
|
|
|
|
Post by Shei'ki\Agatha on Jun 25, 2008 16:31:07 GMT
The pause was filled with silence, only the sound of Rizuk's flames roaring. Truth was, she had been calculating. Her eyes never left Rizuk, never payed an iota of attention to White or the new-new comer. Her response to his proposal was probably a coincidence, probably had nothing to do with what he said... but it came with a bang, no more words for any of them. They were all in a lot of danger. Stones began to rise from the ground, and the aura flickered once or twic....
-------------------------
"Spike! Spike! She's pushing eighty!" the goon said, just as the image projected of the humvee Rizuk had tried to intimidate broke as the device saturated with a burst of energy that was not yet visible. "Eighty percent! Ma'am, what are your commands!" he said, nearing a panic. He'd given her twenty percent, she took fourty.
Dr. Alkai was steeled, though, against this. After all, the control systems were flimsy at best. "The headhunter is still active, right? She's still beneath safe thresholds, we have nothing to worry about." she said, resolutely, even if nobody else in the cabin seemed to agree with her.
-------------------
The aura exploded, multiplied in size and became a solid, blunt object lined with a million spikes of burning energy, the crew some distance away in her support noting the manifestation of L-Photons in great numbers. It manifested instantly, the area of about fourty feet around her tearing up the ground, boulders of stone rising and breaking to pieces within that terrible aura, flying outward as shrapnel, white-hot and molten from supersaturation as energy.
Accompanying the Aegis attack was a shriek like the first, only many times louder, very much now like a woman screaming in agony, but it was not at all coming from the android herself. After the initial POP, which would certainly put White Knight within range, the aura again focused, trimming down. She was barely visible within it... the body was shaking badly, the scream fading to a metallic hum... but it would soon fade to nothing. She wasn't there anymore.
If she was fast before, that was nothing now. She appeared again, some distance away, and an explosion of energy like the first erupted at her feet, hurling her again at such force that she again dissapeared, reappearing above Rizuk some distance. She spread her arms, and from her back, tendrils of energy lashed outwards like whips as they formed, and like a viperstrike, they whipped in Rizuk's direction with a thunderous series of cracks.
Spears of energy, each long as a car, fired from the very farthest tips at the perfect moment they would crack, suddenly rigid. This energy was unstable at best, but it was not something that could simply be heated up by a flame. The head, the heart, vital organs, these were things she'd aimed for. Body shots were cream, but she was out to kill the dragon, not test his limits at all. She already knew he was powerful, she had no warrior's need to test herself. She was not playing around.
They only had enough solidity to get just past Rizuk, though. At that point in their travel, if they hit their mark or not, they would explode in a thunderclap. Water condensed in the fringes and clung to itself in the miniature airsystem the explosions formed, rings forming and slowly circling the borders of the explosion, lighting crackling within the energy-fire conflagration that lasted for at least a second. As it faded, it pulled moisture in the air inward, and She descended inward for the gravity of her fall.
|
|
|
|
Post by Garoten Reklor on Jun 26, 2008 1:17:59 GMT
Kyle sensed every development in the quickly accelerating battle with plenty of reaction time - except for one. Rizuk's accelerated heart rate, even a hundred yards behind him, may as well have been a bass drum. The attack above him and the android wasn't unexpected, but he somehow knew the dragon would pull the punch in time. The lady still hadn't responded when yet another man showed up on the scene and let a shot fly at the hapless Dragon. This thing seemed a little one-sided. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Kyle couldn't withhold a chuckle when the newcomer blurted out:
"Why is there a Knight fighting WITH a dragon...and AGAINST a damsel??? I've never heard anything like that and it's kinda freaking me out."
Before anyone could respond, there was a sudden change in the air around the 'damsel' - a change that spelled something ugly coming. With the reaction time that only a neural interface could provide, the armor's jets kicked in and sent him shooting straight upward - just in time to avoid the strange energy that flared out from the woman, accompanied by an ear-piercing wail that tugged at the Knight's compassion in spite of the danger she clearly presented. The woman focused her energy and then launched into a dizzying assault on the dragon - which presented the next question: Was his involvement really necessary? The woman was focused on Rizuk and Rizuk alone, and now that they were out of the village, away from the civilians and their homes, it seemed prudent to leave them to sort out their own differences. On the other hand, if Rizuk truly was a victim of mistaken identity, that made him innocent, and the Knight then honor-bound to aid him. But did Rizuk want - or need, for that matter - help? He seemed the self-reliant type, but that was usually the type that never knew when he needed help. Perhaps the best things to do was to intervene after all - besides, it was hardly noble treatment for one warrior to simply ignore an offer for terms. Even a negative response was better than none at all.
Tremendous explosions snapped Kyle's mind back into the Knight's persona. The battle was on, and he was in. Whether Rizuk liked it or not, duty demanded he step in.
"Okay Rhia, we're in this. What is that thing? It screams like a woman, but even the hard-core female agents from the Project didn't fight like that. I'm guessing android, or something similar."
"Correct sir."
His vision focused on the woman's blurred movements, and a zoomed in view presented itself in front of his right eye, accompanied by Rhia's best guess at a schematic:
"It's definitely non-human, but it's something more than machine. Initial scans suggest an organic presence completely integrated into an androidic body, but I'm afraid I can't give much more help than that. The technology is far beyond even the best Earth has to offer."
"Wow - too bad Rob's not here to see this. He'd be able to work wonders with something like that. Okay then, let's go. Feed me any more useful information that comes up."
Suddenly, something shifted in Kyle's mind. Kyle Edwards faded into the background, and the White Knight surfaced in full force. Shadowbane flared with new energy, and the suit streaked from the ground to just above the woman, fresh off her attack on Rizuk. Since it was clear this character was well past her warm up rounds, the Knight stepped up his performance as well. His first swing went straight for the neck, followed by a forward 'shield check that was meant to throw her off balance when she dodged and hide the thrust aimed at her stomach. The trust was also just a diversion, meant to bring the crossbow on the right forearm to point-blank range before the Electric Net was fired, bringing a quick end, or at least some breathing room, to the battle.
Unsure how well the net would hold even if it did hit, the Knight teleported backward, let loose a quick barrage of electrical blasts from the crossbow, and locked onto the signals of Rizuk and the newcomer, just in case one of them decided his help wasn't entirely welcome.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jimmy Claymore on Jun 26, 2008 10:28:24 GMT
Rizuk cursed at the sudden explosive up-burst, this was not going to be in his top ten encounters with the opposite sex. He swerved backwards in mid-air, creatively using the hot air updrafts as a blast to swerve himself backwards and spun in the air as the spears were launched.
"Shit!" Rizuk twisted his body and the majority of spears streaked past him, as he rolled forward to counter-attack. One of them, the one aimed at the biggest target, connected sharply and he felt pain suddenly flood all through his body, his neurones and nerves traitorously swarmed to report to his brain there was a fairly large problem now lodged through his small intestine. Rizuk wanted to tell his body to shut up just as it exploded and a spray of blood blasted across the area filling the air in an almost sphere like shape. Rizuk blinked as he saw bits of his organs falling across his vision, this should have been fatal. As far as most organisations in the world knew, Rizuk wasn't really immortal. The Zolan Landers knew he had basic healing powers and he was immune to fire from his time ruling there, but they had no idea how much his body could stand. The gynoid had gone for all the right areas, brain, heart, organs... if she'd hit all three they wouldn't even of checked the body. But that would've been a mistake... as was thinking that after doing that to someone you can just drop down safely.
From the cloud of violence, just after White Knight's assault, emerged a blood stained hand, clawed viciously, that shot out to grab hold of the Gynoid's shoulder, somehow tracking where it had moved despite the blinding smoke. A blood-stained horror, a small piece of his own internal organs lodged in his hair, Rizuk emerged, his eyes blazing with fury and power as his mouth dropped open to reveal a blinding orange light
"LIKE HELL BITCH!" Were the only words that seemed to come out as one of Rizuk's Fire Boom Breath's was launched, his claws trying to squeeze into the shoulder so she would be held steadily in the stream of incredible heat billowing forth as hot as the core of the world. He let go and dropped like a stone to the fields, a small trail of blood still pumping out of him as he hit the grassy main area in an explosion of mud. He got up by means of an EXTREMELY ill-advised sit-up and focused his energy on healing the wound. He could feel his organs already snaking around the hole and re-forming his vital structures. He coughed up some blood and flicked the curling piece of his pancreas stuck to his head into the mass of plants. He looked down at his now ruined shirt and sighed... that was annoying. He'd make sure the woman paid for this, if he hadn't already removed the head... if she was dead he'd violate the body, no biggy. Well, the knight may object to post-mortem rape but hey, he'd just do it out of eye-sight, thats when he did most of his atrocities.
It was about here that he noticed Dimitri and remembered his sarcastic comment
"Oh thanks for that you sonuva... hey, wait a minute... you were in that tournament years ago... and you know I'm a Dragon, so you have a passing knowledge of who I am... Hey! Praise me!" Rizuk demanded, the tone was deadly serious even if the request wasn't "Seriously, say something complimentary and I'll pay you back" Rizuk's stomach was healing way too slowly, if the Gynoid was as fine as he was willing to bet she was after all that then he was going to end up with some pretty severe flesh wounds. Not to mention that stupid Knight was showing his honour by getting involved to "Defend him" in case of mistaken identity. Rizuk didn't have the heart to tell him he almost certainly deserved this one, he just didn't know who from... regardless, it was always nice to know when fighting a W.M.D you had a meat-shield on your side... Rizuk heard a soft splat and recognised what looked like a chunk of his kidneys... yep. This wasn't going to be fun...
|
|
