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10-27-2014, 08:31 AM | #11 |
Gathering Rangers for D&D
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orgrimmar
Posts: 7,949
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3rd Revolution: Departure, a New Adventure Begins Trey ran down the late night streets with a large fully packed red knapsack swung over his shoulder. He turned into an alleyway where Syd was leaning against a steel garage door waiting for him. She looked over to him with a grin. “You get everything in order?” she asked curiously. Trey nodded, “I told my folks I was going on a camping trip with a friend of mine.” “Good, then I’d say it’s about high time we got moving,” she turned around and pulled up the garage door, she bowed to him, “ladies first.” Trey ignored the remark and stepped inside the pitch black garage, “I’m guessing you still have a bit of packing to do?” “Not exactly,” she pulled on a lever as a million bright lights switched on revealing a chrome interior that gave the impression of a dome, a control panel sat in the center of the room. The interior was sleek yet gave the impression that it was fairly worn out, with several exposed wires jutting out from busted wall panels The twin swords, crossbow and staff that Jayd had used in battle hung in glass cases along the wall on one side along with a pair of violet daggers which Trey did not recognize on the very end. Syd stood next to him and placed her hands on her hips, “Welcome to the Annex Trey.” “The Annex…” Trey stood in awe of his new surrounding, “so… this is where you guys live?” “For the most part,” Eli called out from the gem on Syd’s gauntlet, “The Annex acts as our base of operations and safe heaven. It’s reinforced so that no Gate Keeper can enter no matter how strong they are.” “It’s our mobile fortress,” Jayd said as a small chirping sound erupted from a pile of broken panels as a mechanical owl like creature flew up from the clutter and dashed over to Syd. Syd laughed a little, “Hi there Torchwick, you miss us?” The owl made small clicking noises and nodded, “Yes! Yes!” Syd smiled, “We missed you too.” Trey jumped back, “GAH! The heck is that?!” “Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” she held the robotic owl up to Trey, “This is Torchwick, he acts as the anchor and navigator for the Annex. He keeps it running but sadly his systems got fried he can’t control where we go… I’m still working on it.” “I see…” Trey looked around for a moment then turned back to Syd, “So… how exactly does this thing move?” Syd snapped her fingers and pointed to the terminal in the center of the room, “Right over there,” she said hopping over to the control board grabbing a large lever. She looked back to Trey, “You might want to hold onto something.” Trey raised an eyebrow, “Wait, why?” Eli spoke out, “Turbulence.” Syd shrugged then smirked, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She flipped the lever down resulting in the entire room shaking knocking Trey off his feet and onto the floor. The primary lights of the Annex shut off as dull neon green ones took their place as a drowning electronic whine filled the room. “Oh, almost forgot,” Syd spoke up pulling the lever back up bringing the Annex to a halt, the lighting remaining the same, “there’s something I want to show you.” she said jumping over to a small hatch on the wall. Trey picked himself up off the ground and made his way over to the hatch. Without saying a word Syd opened the hatch revealing a glass window that looked out to a neon green void filled with what looked like cables made of neon light of various colors. Trey’s jaw dropped, “What is this?” “This is the network, my world,” Syd smiled, “network riders such as myself use this subspace to travel all across the world to get to where they need to be. Oh, there goes one now!” she called out pointing to an orb of light travel down a violet colored path at a speed that was almost impossible to see. “Whoa!” Trey jumped back, “You can get halfway across the world in a matter of seconds from here?” “Yup,” Syd returned leaning against a wall, “Beautiful isn’t it? Such a shame that you can only see it for an instant… though most good things in this world rarely last forever.” Trey looked at her, “Syd… who exactly are you?” She looked back at him and smiled, “I’m just a wandering network rider,” she said poking him on the nose, “that’s all you need to know.” {Insert Opening Theme - “Rinbu Revolution” by Chihara Minori} Selias hung upside down from a steel hoop swing above a bit of dusty old bones surrounded by several pale blue flames. She spun herself around in the air as her puffy orange pigtails hung down over her face letting out a small sigh. “Man, what is taking Many Faces so damn long!” she moaned, “He should know better than to keep me waiting!” She pulled herself up and leaned against the hoop with one leg up against one side and the other hanging off the edge of it, “Man I’m bored… I hate that.” Just then, a bright sapphire blue flame ignited behind her. “GAH!” Selias screamed nearly being knocked off balance, “What’s wrong with you!” The blue flame crackled angrily at her, causing her to raise an eyebrow, “Status report?” she slumped back down on her swing, “Kind of crap, the girl has gotten a new friend on her side.” The flame crackled once again as if it was asking a question. Selias nodded in response to it, “It would appear so. Not sure what’s so special about him though, he’s just an average fledging.” Another crack from the blaze erupted this time causing her to raise her voice, “I JUST SAID THERE WASN’T ANYTHING!” The flame grew warmer as a soothing coo sounded from it. “I know I know, geez this is such a pain… how are things going on your end?” The flame responded to her causing her to roll her eyes, “Oh my, aren’t you so lucky.” The flame seemed to laugh at her. “Easy for you to say, you’re sitting on your ass while I have to do all the work!” After another response she raised both her eyebrows in disgust, “It’s always the girls with you! What is it about them that get you in such a hot tizzy anyway?” The flame laughed once again. “Yeah yeah whatever. Anyway, by the looks of things the wanderer and her friend will be arriving in their next location shortly. I should get back to work.” The flame made a small crackle that sounded like a kiss being blown before going out in a burst of ember. Selias rolled her eyes and sighed, “I love you too.” “Excuse me my lady,” a deep booming voice called out from one of the blue flames around her, “I’m in position and awaiting further instruction.” “Many Faces…” she glared at the flame “you’re late. Surely you know the punishment for those that disappoint me.” “I’m sorry Lady Selias,” a slithering voice beyond the flame pleaded, “it shall not happen again.” “I should hope not,” she said maintaining the disappointed glare. “Now then my lady,” a raggy old woman’s voice called out, “what are my orders?” Selias rolled her eyes, “just… do whatever you want.” “As you wish,” the slithering snake voice call out once again, the blue flame quickly going out as soon as it was done speaking. The orange haired seraph fell down on her swing hanging upside down once again before letting out a sigh, “honestly… what is even the point of all this?” --- Syd switched off the Annex as it’s primary lights switched back on as the rubble settled down until only a relaxing hum could be heard throughout the rooms interior. Syd hopped down and went to pull open door on the side of the large garage one. “Alright, I wonder where we’ve ended up now,” Syd said with a grin out of anticipation pulling the door open as daylight rushed into the confides of the Annex. She looked over to Trey, “You might want to come see this.” Trey stepped over to the door and looked out, his heart stopped for a moment as the bustling streets of London England filled his vision, “Unbelievable… I never thought I’d be this far away from home in my life.” Syd smiled at him, “You can go anywhere you want to if you set your mind to it, you just need to take the first step out the door.” She slapped Trey on the back, “Now then, how’s about we look around and see where the beasts are hiding?” Trey looked back and nodded, “Just one question, where should we start?” Syd patted him on the shoulder, “That is just one part of the fun.” A small growl erupted from Trey’s stomach. Jayd laughed a bit closer her dull green eyes, “First off, why don’t we get you something to eat.” Trey looked off to one side and smiled with a look of embarrassment in his eyes, “Yeah… that sounds like a good idea.” “Alright then come on!” Syd instructed stepping into the streets of London, “There’s a place I know not too far from here, follow me and I’ll show you.” --- In an elementary school across town, a group of kids made up of three girls and five boys had gathered kicking a soccer ball in the field just outside the main building. One of the girls kicked the ball over to one of the boys who in turn kicked it so hard that it flew over the fence.“Aw nice going Will!” cried out a larger boy, “That’s the fourth time you’ve done that! Honestly, why do we even bother playing with you?” “Hey! Leave him alone will ya Ronnie!” Shouted back the girl who had passed it to will in the first place. She had short brown hair along with deep violet eyes and wore a red t-shirt and navy blue shorts along with heavily worn out running shoes. The older boy crossed his arms and scoffed at her, “not my fault he sucks.” “Oh just shut it!” the girl yelled back at him, “I’ll just get it okay?” Will raised his hand, “It’s okay Jill… I’ll get it.” “A-are you sure?” Jill asked raising an eyebrow. Will nodded back, “Yeah, it will only take a sec.” The small boy ran over and placed one foot into the chainlink fence and slowly but surely climbed up to the top. Once there, he swung one foot over it and looked down to the ground which from his perspective felt like a hundred miles below him. He looked over to the ball which had landed in a gutter then gulped before climbing down to the other side. He picked the ball up from out of the gutter and threw it over the fence to the other side. “FINALLY!” Ron shouted from the other side of the fence. Will walked over to the fence and grabbing onto it with both of his hands. He let out a small sigh then leaned his head against the links, “Why do I always do this?” he whispered to himself as a tears began to form in his eyes, “why do I always fail?” A ghostly blue thread like beam appeared onto his back and ran down to a sewer grate as a tear in reality ripped open from the grate. The thread fell down into the rip and wrapped around the finger of a humanoid lion like creature with a goat's head stuck to his shoulder, red bat wings jutting off his back and poison green snake in place of his tail. The lion’s head cackled, “Well well… looks like we’ve found one.” The beast’s snake tail slithered up his back and hissed, “Lady Selias will be pleased.” “After Grak’nar’s failure, I don’t it will be hard to do so,” The goat’s head smirked, “let the hunt begin my brothers.” “We’ll wait until he’s alone,” The lion’s head snarled sniffing the thread, “then we’ll break him apart from the inside out.” “I love the way you think,” the snake called out licking his lips, “Ashura of Many Faces.” {End of Part A} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {Start of Part B} Syd and Trey sat at a white circular table atop the roof of a cafe. Trey tapped his fingers on the glass of the table’s top looking out to the horizon while Syd aligned her five dice in the order of green, orange, blue, violet and red from the left side of the table to the right. “Alright, let’s see if we have this right…” she called out to Eli whose gem sat in the middle of the row of dice on the table removed from Syd’s gauntlet, “We have five at the moment, but not much info on how they all work. How much do you think these guys will be able to handle?” “Analyzing,” Eli announced with a quick spark in his gem, “ D6: Emerald, Classification: Striker, Uses: 14 of 20. D6: Amber, Classification: Hunter, Uses: 9 of 20. D6: Sapphire, Classification: Caster, Uses: 1 of 20. D6: Violet, Classification: Stalker, Uses: 3 of 20. D6: Crimson, Classification: Finisher, Uses 19 of 20.” “I see,” Syd returned raising an eyebrow, taking both the red and green dice into her hands, “we should probably set a bit of jayd aside to make new Striker and Finisher dice… Torch is not going to be happy about this. Oh well,” She shrugged and put them back down on the table where they were, “Guess there isn’t much we can do about it now, is there?” “With every choice comes sacrifice,” Eli announced, “You of all people should know that by now Syd.” Syd sighed, “I know I know… still doesn’t make it easy,” she looked over to Trey who was still staring off into space with somewhat of a long face. “Trey?” she called out to him, “is everything alright?” “Oh? Yeah, I’m fine,” he said turning to her forcing a smile, “Everything is a okay.” She raised an eyebrow, “You sure?” “Of course,” Trey nodded, “why do you ask?” “Oh, no reason,” she returned sliding back into her chair. She looked up to a big white ferris wheel that towered over them, “Hey look!” she called out pointing to it dawning a smile, “the london eye! Photos sure don’t do the thing justice, am I right?” Trey shrugged still with the same smug expression, “I guess…” Syd frowned, “is that so…” in less time that it took to blink she raised her arm into the air and brought her splayed open hand down hard on the boy who sat in front of him. “OW!” Trey shouted grabbing the top of his head where Syd had struck him, “What was that for!” Syd cross her arms, “Maybe if you were paying attention that wouldn’t have happened.” “Well I’m paying attention now!” Trey yelled back. Syd glared at him in silence, keeping the boy in the dark. After a few moments, she slapped him again. Trey shouted in agony, “What did I do that time!” Syd bursted out laughing, “I just felt like it that time.” As the two quarreled, a waiter with long slicked back black hair wearing a formal black shirt and a pair of neatly pressed black dress pants approached them. “Excuse me… I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” “Oh no, we were just-” Syd began speaking only to be silenced once she caught a glimpse of the man’s face, “... what are you doing here?” “Why I work here,” the waiter said with a grin, “don’t you remember my flower?” “How could I forget?” Syd pouted crossing her arms, “is there something important you came over here for?” “Why yes, that would be your order,” the waiter said with a smile placing two plates from the tray he carried onto the table. A chocolate and strawberry sundae with sprinkles and hot fudge sauce along with a cherry on top in front of Syd and a chicken club sandwich in front of Trey, “Please enjoy your meal, I’ll be back once you’re finished.” the waiter said before walking off. Trey raised an eyebrow, “Uh… mind me asking what that was about?” Syd shook her head, “Just forget about it. Trey asked once again, “You sure?” Syd nodded, “He’s not worth the time,” she picked up a silver spoon that had been placed into the strawberry side of the sundae, a smile quickly appearing on her face, “this on the other hand is.” She picked up a small spoonful of ice cream and brought it to her mouth only to stop halfway and place the spoon back into the bowl, “Whoops, almost forgot.” “Forgot what?” Trey asked as Syd pulled off one of the filled vials attached to her belt and cracking it open, pouring a bit of it into the ice cream and mixing it with her spoon, “Uh… is that really a good idea?” Syd completely ignored him and shoved the spoon into her mouth, “Hmm, sweet momma that’s good stuff!” She shouted with glee as her dull green eyes seemed to brighten up with every bite becoming a dazzling emerald like color. “Wait, you mean you can actually eat that stuff?” “You got it,” Syd returned, “you wanna try some?” Trey thought for a moment, then nodded, “Sure, I don’t see why not.” Syd grabbed a glass that was meant for water and poured a small bit of the green liquid into it before passing it over to Trey. “Here ya go,” she said with a somewhat sinister smirk. Trey looked into the cup for a moment watching as the bizarre substance bubbled inside the glass, he took a small gulp then brought the class to his lips taking a small bit of it into his mouth. Upon contact the liquid sent a sharp burning sensation to the inside of his mouth causing him to spit it right out on to the ground. “BWAHAHAHA!” Syd laughed, “I can’t believe you actually did that!” Trey grabbed his chest and panted, “How can you eat this stuff!” “Silly boy,” Syd grinned patting Trey on the head, “only network riders like myself can consume jayd.” “To the average person it’s highly corrosive,” Eli explained, “that’s why over time, the network navigators devised a defense system to neutralize the effects. There are even a select few amongst the Network’s highest ranking riders that have proven able to use it as a source of nourishment.” “Is that why you collect it?” Trey asked somewhat taken back by this new information. “That’s right,” Syd nodded back to him, “though most of us just use it to power our weapons. It’s a gatekeeper’s own life force that is used to destroy them, rather ironic don’t you think?” “That’s certainly one way to put it…” Trey thought for a moment then gasped, “speaking of, don’t you think we shoul-” “SYD!” Eli shouted alerting the two, “A gatekeeper has emerged not too far from here!” Syd smirked, “right on schedule.” She quickly finished her ice cream them grabbed her dice off the table and placed Eli’s gem back onto her gauntlet, “You might want to take notes this time around Trey my boy, you’ll surely learn a heck of a lot more that way.” --- Back at the school, the kids had finished up their game and were making their way home as the sun began to set on the once crowded schoolyard. Will picked up his bag up from where he had set it down by one of the imaginary goal posts wiping a bit of sweat off of his face.“Here,” Jill called out handing him a bottle of water. “Oh… thank you,” Will returned taking the water from her and cracking it open, taking a few sips before closing it once again. “Sorry about Ron… he gets a bit too competitive when it comes to things like this.” Jill looked at him with her brow furrowed, “You alright?” Will nodded, “Yeah… I’m okay.” Jill smiled back at him, “That’s good.” As she spoke, a cherry red car drove up to the curb, “Well, that’s my ride. I’ll see you on monday okay Will?” Will nodded once again, “Yeah… see you then.” Jill ran over to the car and opened up the rear door before climbing inside and closing it behind her, waving Will goodbye from the window as the car drove off. Will waved back to her, his heart beginning to race a small bit. “Aw, how touching,” a voice hissed from behind the small boy. Will’s heart skipped a beat as he quickly turned around. His eyes shot open as he stood frozen in horror at the sight of Ashura who now stood directly behind him, the beasts crimson red bat wings covering any source of light making him appear as a mere black shadow with a single blood red eye visible to the boy. The beast’s snake tail broke off and constricted around the small child making it impossible for him to get away. “Such a cutie… don’t you think brother?” the snake hissed looking will in the eye, “should we eat him now?” “HE IS NOT FOR EATING!” the lion roared pulling the snake’s head away from the child’s face but still leaving him wrapped around his body, “His pure threads must be corrupted, once he has given birth to a gate keeper you may do as you wish with his husk of a body.” “Is that so?” another voice called out. Ashura turned around to see Syd standing on the field a few feet away from him with Trey standing just behind her. Trey began to shake a small bit, “Syd… what exactly is that?” “A chimera,” Syd returned, “a gate keeper made up of all sorts of different creatures with each one of their minds fighting for control. Seems that the lion is the most dominant in this one’s make up.” “The wanderer…” the beast’s goat head spoke out, “we were wondering when you would show.” “I’ve been awaiting the day I could crush your head within my jaws,” the lion’s head growled licking its lips, “though I’ll admit… I wasn’t expecting a girl.” Syd rolled her eyes ignoring the beast’s comment, “Eli, you ready?” “Always,” Eli returned, “when you are.” Syd smirked and pulled out her emerald striker gem and her driver slapping it onto her waist, she then pulled up her hood and slammed the die into her belt, “Mihara, Lowe, Sharza, Kuwa, Grune, Nago. Ancient spirits bind this beast and grant me you power. Through me unleashed! she called out before spinning the dial the buckle, “Henshin!” “Game Start!” her buckle shouted as she spun the dial and pulled her hood up over her face, her coat changing from blue to green as a mask formed in the hood along with light medieval style armor throughout her outfit and two swords formed on her back, “STRIKER! Piercing Saber Arise!” “Nameless beast of rage and hate!” Syd called out in the combined voice of both her and Eli, “Your soul is forfeit and thus we have come claim it!” She pulled both her swords off her back and aimed one at the beast, “Now… repent foul beast!” The lion head snorted and turned its full attention to Syd, “You claim my soul?... Mere mortal, I am but a construct created to give life to those similar to myself and bring death to those that attempt to slay me,” he narrowed his and sharpened his eyes at her, “I have no soul.” Syd gritted her teeth and tightened her grip around her swords, “Trey, get back.” she ordered him, he following her instruction and backing away as far as possible. The lion growled and charged at Syd clawing at her with all his might, she blocking his strike with one sword then slashing at him with the other, his emerald blood gushing out of the wound as she did so. This however didn’t phased the lion in the slightest as he proceeded to ignore the pain and jump down to the ground and kick Syd in the gut with his horse like legs knocking the wind out of her causing her to drop her swords. Syd panted as she did her best to ignore the pain and make her way back to feet, however Ashura simply grabbed her face and slammed it into a nearby tree. “SYD!” Trey shouted taking one step forward. “Stay back!” she called back to him snapping her fingers resulting her both her swords shooting back to her hands. She then reached her arms behind her back and sliced both her swords at the beast’s arm slicing it clean off freeing her from his grasp. She turned on her heel and aimed her sword at him once again, “You’re stronger than the others… my mistake for underestimating you.” The lion chuckled, “that makes two of us,” the snaked unraveled itself off of Will and reattached itself to the beast’s tailbone, “tell you what wanderer, we shall leave you and the fledgling be for now. But come this time tomorrow we shall aim to corrupt the fledgling… and we will kill you.” Syd gritted her teeth a small bit then muttered, “... deal.” Without another word, the chimera clawed at the air in front of him with his remaining arm causing a rip into the network to form in front of him and with one strong leap he dashed into it as it closed after him leaving his severed arm behind. Syd pressed down on the button on the top of her driver ejecting the die from her buckle returning her to normal. She sighed then kicked the beast’s severed arm across the field, “Man, I can’t believe we actually let him get away!” “There was nothing we could have done Syd,” Eli called out to her, “you know that.” “yeah I know,” Syd sighed, “you don’t need to remind me.” Will fell to the ground and began to tremble before breaking down and bursting to tears. Syd turned to him then gave a warm smile and knelt down in front of him. “There there little one, it’s alright” she cooed wrapping her arms tightly around the small child patting him on the head, “that monster isn’t going to hurt you…I’ll make sure of it.” Trey watched from the other side of the field keeping his distance. He felt that even though both him and Syd were very much human, she seemed to be from a completely different world then he. Of course he suspected this since he first met her, but now is was all the more true when now, even though they were only a few feet away, the distance to him felt far greater. --- Deep within the cables of his network, Ashura dug through a pile of bones and dismembered body parts as if he looking for something.“Looking for this?” a voice called out from the shadows, “Many Faces?” Ashura looked over to see the same man with slicked back black hair that Syd and Trey ran into earlier standing just outside the mouth to his lair. He held in his hand a glass jar with the arm of a dragon like creature with pale white scales and long blue claws. “Maestro…” Ashura growled, “where did you get that?” “Scavenged it from the corpse of another lion much like yourself,” the black haired man proclaimed tossing the limb over to the beast, “I figured you might get better use of it then it’s former owner… poor thing never was all she was cracked up to be.” The goat’s head raised an eyebrow, “what’s the catch?” “No catch,” Maestro returned, “so long as you bring in yours.” The lion broke open the jar and attached the arm to his gritting his teeth from the pain of the nerves connecting, “With this there will be no problem of us securing our prey “I should hope so,” Maestro leaned against the mouth of the cave looking up at the ceiling, “mother is already irritated, you best not disappoint her younger sister much longer.” Ashura snarled, “We don’t intend to. We’ll capture this fledgling and destroy the wanderer... without fail.” Maestro looked back to him and smirked, “music to my ears.” {Insert Ending Theme - “Kyoukai no Kanata” by Chihara Minori} Next time on Kamen Rider Jayd: Oh boy, things are really heating up now! How are Syd and Eli going to get out of this one? With Ashura on the prowl with new drive and power there’s no telling what dangers our heroes face! But you’re just going to have to wait and see when Kamen Rider Jayd continues with it’s 4th Revolution: Crossing Over, A Reason for Being! |
11-06-2014, 11:19 PM | #12 |
Gathering Rangers for D&D
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orgrimmar
Posts: 7,949
|
4th Revolution: Crossing Over, A Reason for Being Maestro sat atop the mouth of a large crater within the web of cables, watching carefully as the chimera Ashura slashed away at mindless masses of human shaped cables that Maestro control via threads of light attached to his fingertips. Ashura got to the point where he began to get frustrated as once he would tear one of the dummies a part, two more would take it’s place. Ashura growled and roared at the top of his lounges erupting in a wave of ear shattering sound which sent all the dummies against the walls of the crater. “MAESTRO!” he growled glaring back at the man who looked down on him from above, “WE GROW TIRED OF YOUR GAMES!” the snake tail hissed, “WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO WASTE OUR TIME!” Maestro, retaining his devilish smirk, shook his head and rose to his feet, “I am not ‘wasting’ it as you so gently put it, I’m merely allowing you kill it.” he flipped his haired and snapped his fingers causing a wine glass to appear in his left hand along with a black bottle with a severed grey hand with long black nails, “it was you who set the timer, have you forgotten that already Many Faces?” The lion’s head growled while the goat spat back, “No we haven’t! WE are simply-” Ashura then grabbed the goat head by it’s mouth and began pulling, “learn to shut your mouth Elda… this is my body, not yours.” The goat pleaded, “Sorry master… I didn’t mean to-” “Didn’t mean to what?” Ashura growled glaring at Elda with hungry eyes, “Speak on my behalf without permission once again?” Elda began to shake, “It won’t happen again… I swear it on my life!” Ashura snarled, “I know.” In one fell swoop Ashura ripped the goat’s head off from his shoulder as red threads quickly healed the wound left open from her removal on his body. Elda began to shake even more as her eyes shifted around rapidly, “Brother please… DON’T DO THIS!!!” Before the goat could say another word, Ashura crushed the poor defenseless thing within the paw of a single claw reducing her to an unrecognizable pile of threads and human bones. Maestro smirked as he swirled the wine in his glass, “now that’s the beast I worked so hard to create,” he whispered to himself, taking a small sip from his glass, “Oh Syd my dear, you’ll certainly have your hands full with this one.” {Insert Opening Theme - “Rinbu Revolution” by Chihara Minori} Trey and Will sat on a park bench just a small ways away from the school field. Syd was over by an ice cream cart picking up something for the two kids and herself. “Okay… let me think,” Syd thought for a moment looking over the selections that were available, she then snapped her fingers as her usual grin appeared on her face “Okay got it, I’ll have to fudge pops and once Tasty Nugget Gobber Fire Cracker please.” “Alright miss,” the man at the cart nodded reaching into the freezer and pulling out what Syd had asked for before handing them to her and reaching out his other hand, “that’ll be sixteen pounds and forty-six pence.” Syd nodded and finished out a hand full of blank pieces of paper and metal and handed them to the vender as they transformed into the currency she needed, the vender not seeming to notice. Syd looked at him with a smiled, “Have a nice day!” she said taking the ice cream from him and skipping away back to Will and Trey on the bench. “You too!” the cart owner returned with a smile of his own and a wave. Once Syd had made it back to the bench, she handed each of the boys one of the fudge bars she had bought, “here you go kids.” “Thank you,” the two returned taking the bars from her. Syd sat down on the bench beside Will so that the boy was directly in between her and Trey, “So then… Will was it?” the boy nodded as Syd unwrapped her frozen snack and took a bite into it chewing it slowly before swallowing, “what’s your story? Why do you think that creature was after you?” Will began to tense up a bit, “I-I really just don’t know…” he dug his nails into his jeans as tears began to fall down from his cheeks and onto his hands, “it all happened so fast… I was grabbing my bag, then next thing I knew…” Syd frowned then placed one hand on the boy’s back, “there there Will,” she cooed wrapping her other arm around him, being careful that none of her popsicle get on him, “Sorry for being so pushy, you don’t need to tell us if you don’t want to.” Will sniffled, “thanks,” he whimpered wiping the tears from his eyes. Trey then handed Will his fudge bar, Will simply took it, unwrapped it and then proceeding to eat “just who are you guys away?” “I’m just a girl with a dream and no home,” Syd smiled, she then pointed to Trey, “and this guy is just tagging along… he’s not important.” Trey sat straight and spat out the fudge bar that was in his mouth, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT IMPORTANT!” Syd laughed a little, “Silly boy,” she chuckled flicking Trey in the nose, “for a former high school student you must have not taken the class on how to take a joke.” Trey’s eye twitched, “... well I wouldn’t need it if they weren’t so personal.” Syd shrugged, “I guess you’re right… ah well,” in a few short bites she finished her popsicle then eyed the bag that Will had just below his feet, “So Will… you play sports?” “Well… football on occasion…” Will sighed hanging his head, “but I’m not very good at it… I should probably just give up on it” Syd raised an eyebrow as she turned her attention to the back of the boy’s neck as a ghostly pale blue thread began to grow noticeably darker. She jumped to her feet then patted the boy on both shoulders. “Nonsense!” she exclaimed with a smile looking deep into his eyes, “I’m sure with a little work you can be great!” Will shook his head, “I can’t… there’s no point.” She sighed then stood up straight, “Alright, if that’s how you wanna be,” she pulled out a dull grey die and threw it up into the air, “we’re gonna need to do this the hard way.” The die burst into a cloud of black smoke before transforming into a hovering clown face with an analog clock wedge within it’s mouth. “Gah!” Will shouted jumping back a bit, “What is that thing?” “You’re training buddy,” Syd returned with a smirked, “Now, we don’t have much time so I’ll be brief.” She pointed to the clock which currently had both it’s hands on the zero at the top, “This clock will count down sixty, that means you have one hour to complete your training for today.” Will’s eyes shot open, “TRAINING! What do you mean training!” “Simple,” she raised her hand pointed to a race track just down a set of step “I want you to run one hundred laps around that track in under an hour.” she then pointed over her shoulder to the clock, “otherwise, chucky over there won’t leave you alone,” an evil smirk appeared on her face, “and he’ll haunt you for the rest of your life.” Both Will and Trey’s jaws dropped, “You serious?” “Tick tock Will,” she smiled tapping her wrist like a watch, “we haven’t called all evening.” “Alright alright, I’ll do,” Will then sighed as he hopped off the bench and proceeded down to the track, Trey and Syd watching him from the top of the stairs. “Syd, are you sure about this?” Trey asked concerned for the child’s well being, “Doesn’t this seem a little bit harsh?” “Hush,” Syd returned placing her finger overtop of Trey’s lips which felt rather cold probably due to the ice cream she had been eating, “I’m curious to see how this goes.” Trey stood looking at Syd in silence for a moment, a bit taken back from how quickly her mood changed. He then looked out to the field where Will was running and kept his focus on him. After a full half hour of running, Will finally collapsed onto the track after only doing about ten laps. Syd then sighed and rose to her feet before making her way down the steps and over to Will. She knelt down and placed her hand on his shoulder, “Tired?” “Yeah…” Will panted trying to force himself up but only managing to get up onto his knees using his hands as support, “I can’t walk another step…” “I see…” Syd thought for a moment, “Well, how about you run another four laps then take a break for a bit?” Will’s eyes shot open once again, “You’re kidding right?! There’s no way!” “Oh come on, it’s just four laps,” Syd frowned, “once you’re done I’ll let you rest and then you can finish tomorrow. How does that sound?” Will looked over to the clock which was twenty minutes away from reaching zero, he gulped then rose to his feet and without another word took off down the track. Within five minutes he had finished the laps and had made it back to Syd. “There…” he panted resting his weight on his knees using his arms as a brace, “happy now?” “Very,” Syd smiled, “Hey, come to think of it that was your fastest time yet, how about you go for another three laps?” “OH COME ON!” Will cried, “You said tha-” Syd slapped the boy on his back, “it’s just three laps, you’ll be done before you know it.” Will sighed then ran around the track three more times with the same time as it took him to do the five from earlier. This time he stood up completely straight and was barely panting at all. “THERE! Can I take a break now!” Syd tapped her finger against her cheekbone then looked back to the boy, “Oh? Sorry, I was else where. Would you mind doing those three laps again?” “WHA-” Will was about to burst but then swallowed his frustration and just took the three extra laps. Once he had finished them he felt like he was about to drop, his legs felt heavy and he could just barely lift his arms. Once he reached Syd he fell to the ground on his backside, “That’s it! I’m not doing anymore!” “That’s fair enough I guess,” Syd said with a smile before snapping her fingers dismissing the clown like clock at the top of the hill, “though I am curious about something… You ran a total of eleven extra laps when you claimed you couldn’t take another step, why do you think that is?” Will looked up to her confused at her question, “You forced me to!” “I suggested you run more laps, but never did I say you had to run them,” Syd stated crossing her arms looking down to the child, “You were the one who could have simply said no but you only did that once you had only run the eleven extra laps. You claimed you were down after running just twenty, but somehow you managed to run eleven more. So explain yourself kid, why do you think that was possible?” Will was stunned speechless at what the woman before was saying then hung his head and looked down to the ground, “I… I honestly don’t know.” “Well, then perhaps I can explain it to you,” Syd said giving the boy a warm smile and kneeling down to his level, “It’s because people naturally doubt their own abilities as well as their limits, but when they’re required to they can find the strength they need. That’s part of what makes being human so special.” She extended her hand, “Now then, let’s get you home. I’ll buy you another ice cream on the way if you want.” Tears began to fill the boy’s eyes as he was absolutely stunned by the woman’s kind words. “Ms… who exactly are you?” “Syd’s the name, and I’m only a wandering network rider,” she said as she scooped the boy up and placed him onto her back, “that’s all you need to know.” “Thank you Syd,” Will smiled back to her, “for everything.” Syd frowned for a second, the thought of what might happen to this poor boy if she should fail tomorrow crossing her mind. She shook her head getting those thoughts out of her head then regained her warm smile, “Don’t mention it kiddo!” {End of Part A} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {Start of Part B} Maestro sat above the crater where Ashura was still at work batting away at the cable dummies as a clock in the mouth of a bat slowly ticked away before finally reaching twelve as a pair of loud bells rung from the bat’s wings. Maestro smirked, “Times up… let’s see if it was enough.” Ashura growled as the targets finally backed away from him and merged back from the walls that they had originally spawned from. He then turned to a recently stitched up hole in the side of one wall and ran the claws of his newly acquired reptilian arm and sliced through the wall opening up a rip in reality leading to the human world. “We’ll be back later,” Ashura growled as he stepped through the rift, “try not to be here once we return.” “Oh, I don’t plan on it,” Maestro returned, “just be sure that you do return.” Ashura snarled and said nothing else before stepping through the tunnel as it closed behind him. “Oh my,” Maestro grinned pretending to wipe a tear from his eye, “they sure do grow up fast nowadays don’t they?” he grabbed the collar of his shirt with one hand, “Perhaps I should change into something a bit more formal, I do like to look my best at funerals afterall.” --- Syd stood in the field of Will’s school after the bell had already rung dismissing the students for the day. Trey and Will stood a good few feet away from her as a pair of claws tore through the air in front of her, she instantly pulling out her driver and slapping it onto her waist. “Keep Will close to you okay Trey,” she instructed as she pulled her hood over her face as the tear infront of her began to widen, “if things go wrong I want you two to run, you got that?” Trey remained silent and simply nodded, placing one hand onto Will’s shoulder. “Here he comes Syd,” Eli’s voiced echoed in Syd’s head as the beast’s claws began tear open the rip further, “you ready?” Syd smirked under her hood as she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out her green striker die, “always.” At that moment Ashura tore through the rift in front of Syd and stepped through it, snarling at her. He sniffed the air and looked over to Will then back to Syd, “you actually brought him?” “I keep to my word,” Syd returned looking at him with a great fire in her eyes, “even if it’s to a beast like you.” Ashura snarled, “admirable… for a human.” Syd ignored the beasts comment choosing not to respond to it. She looked to the creature’s newly acquired arm, it’s bone white scales glistening in the amber hue of the setting sun. “Alright… let’s do this already,” without another word Syd slammed the die into her belt, “Mihara, Lowe, Sharza, Kuwa, Grune, Nago. Ancient spirits bind this beast, and have your power be through me unleashed!” she called out before spinning the dial the buckle, “Henshin!” “Game Start!” her buckle shouted as she spun the dial and pulled her hood up over her face, her coat changing from blue to green as a mask formed in the hood along with light medieval style armor throughout her outfit and two swords formed on her back, “STRIKER! Piercing Saber Arise!” Without much delay, Ashura charged at Syd at full force readying the claws of his reptilian arm to slash her to pieces. Syd raised one of her swords in preparation for the beast’s attack leaving her second blade by her side as the chimera finally reached her. However, instead of clawing at her, Ashura instead forced all of his weight into his shoulder and rammed into Syd pinning her into a nearby wall. Syd laughed, “That all you’ve got?” she flipped the sword in her left hand so she held it with her backhand before delivering a powerful strike to Ashura’s chest knocking him back a few good feet, a high amount of jayd beginning to spew out from the wound. “Because I’m just getting started!” She slammed her fist down on the button on top of her driver popping out her striker die before quickly replacing it with a deep violet one. “You haven’t used that one in a while,” Eli pointed out, “what’s the occasion?” “Figured I’d mix it up a bit,” Syd returned giving her belt a good spin. “REROLL!” Her belt shouted as the die came to a halt, “STALKER! Descending from the Shadows!!” a ray of light covered her swords shifting them into a pair of curved daggers with violet accented hilts, her coat changing from green to purple. “It doesn't matter what color you are,” Ashura snarled, “We’re still going to kill you!” The beast slashed at Syd only to have her vanish in less time that it took to blink. Ashura looked around rapidly trying to find her, the bright yellow eyes of Syd’s mask flashing in front of his own for a second only to disappear as if they weren’t even there to begin with. The beast then felt a sharp pain in both of his sides as Syd reappeared behind him with both her dagger japped into the beast’s thread like flesh. “GAHHHH!” the beast roared swiping at Syd resulting in her jumping back, just then his heart began to slow down rapidly as he was brought to his knees, “What… what did you do to me you cur!” Syd pulled out two more daggers from a pouch on the back of her belt, “poison tipped blades, super effective in taming wild animals.” she explained before throwing both of them into the lion’s forehead and left shoulder, “in a few moments you won’t even be able to speak, let alone move.” “Like hell…” Ashura growled trying to force himself to his feet. “I better finish this quick,” Syd said to herself as she popped the violet Stalker die out of her driver and switched it with the red finisher. “FINAL ROLL!” She spun the dial on her belt spinning the die before it came to a halt as a white five appeared on it, “FIVE! CRITICAL STRIKE!” Syd pulled yet another dagger from her pouch, this one glowing bright red, and threw it at Ashura. The blade split into five smaller blades as the chimera grabbed the snake forming his tail just before all five hit him simultaneously engulfing him in a shroud a violet flames and black smoke. The red finisher die cracked, turning to grey dust as it fell out from Syd’s driver. As the smoke cleared, Ashura was revealed to still be standing with a human skull still attached to it’s spinal cord in his claws and the snake tail ripped from his body. Syd’s eyes narrowed as she realized what just happened, “he sacrificed a part of your own collective mind to survive the attack… clever, yet far too cruel.” Ashura snarled at the rider then set his sights on Trey and Will, his eyes narrowing once Will entered his sight. He scrapped his horse hoof leg against the ground before pulling out both of his claws and charging straight at the boy, letting out a fearsome roar as he did so. With not much time to switch forms, Syd jumped in front of Will and swung her arms out to either side as Ashura swung his claw at the three of them, not carrying much who he struck. “SARAH STOP IT!” a voice echoed in the beast’s head as the imagine of a crying blue eyed girl with long red hair flashed over Syd in his eyes before fading just as quickly as it appeared, resulting in Ashura stopping dead in his tracks as his eyes began to fill with tears. “Who is Sarah?...” Ashura growled, he grabbed Syd by her neck and looked into her eyes, “ANSWER ME!” Syd gritted her teeth, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Ashura snarled then threw her to the ground, “LIAR!” he then raised his horse hoof and kicked Trey square in the face knocking him to the ground, “No matter,” he continued to growl as he raised his claws to Will, “I’ll simply take what I need from this one!” In one fell swoop he slashed his claws across Will’s chest as a massive rift formed over top of him, Ashura quickly jumping into it and sealing it behind him. Syd and Trey jumped to their feet and ran over to Will. Trey began breathing heavily holding the boy in his arms. Will then began to shift around making painful grunting noises as small blue cracks started to form on his skin, the color of which quickly fading to a dark purple. “Come on Will!” Trey shouted slapping the boy a bit, “Stay with me! Don’t let this guy get to you, fight back!” “That’s not going to do anything Trey,” Syd put bluntly reaching into her pocket and pulling out a pair of black dice with one with a gold trim and the other a silver. “These are the only things that can do any good.” “What are they going to do?” Trey asked holding the boy tight. “Lay him down flat on the ground,” Syd instructed, Trey immediately doing what he was asked. Syd placed the silver trim die on Will’s forehead and the gold on his heart, she then closed her eyes and pressed her thumbs down on the two of them. “Mihira of Shadow, Lowe of Light. Banish the beast from this pure heart,” she called out as the dice began to glow and phase themselves into the boy, “Ready your hands of godly might, and send me forward as your dart!” Syd’s armor then shattered to pieces while her eyes shot open shining brightly for a split second then faded into a dull soulless grey, remaining open and staring blankly at Trey. “Oh Syd?” Trey called out to her reaching his hand out to her. “DON’T TOUCH HER!” Eli called out from the gem on Syd’s gauntlet, “If her vessel is moved her mind not be able to find it’s way back.” Trey raised an eyebrow, “Her… vessel?” Deep within the depths of Will’s inner network Syd walked through a cavern made up of bright blue cables still donning the robes of her Stalker form. She stumble through a few tunnels before coming upon a large sapphire blue crystal set on a pedestal in the middle of a clearing with a bright azure flame burning strong within it. “So that’s the boy’s flame,” Syd smiled placing her hand against the crystal, “I always knew he had a strong one.” “Don’t touch it,” Ashura snarled as he jumped down behind her, “I was told make that flame burn red with hatred, and I’ll tear down anyone who gets in my way of that.” Syd laughed, “That’s funny, because my job is to hunt down creatures like you and bring in their blood as proof.” she announced as she pulled yet another pair of daggers from her pouch, pointing one of them at Ashura smirking under her mask as she did so, “and I’ve never fail an assignment.” “You dare mock me?” Ashura snarled, “Do you know who you’re even dealing with!” “I’ve killed plenty of gate keepers just like you, they all boasted about how powerful they all were but in the end… they turned to dust in my hands,” Syd disappeared from in front of Ashura and reappear directly behind him, “AND YOU’RE JUST THE SAME!” she threw her two daggers at him then kicked him to the ground, flipping off him and landing on her feet just a few feet away, “I am Network Rider Jayd, and I’ll protect the innocent from creatures like you!” Ashura cackled as he rose to his feet as if he were in a zombified state, “How can you protect… when you cannot protect yourself?” Ashura dashed over to Syd clawing her coat resulting in the sleeve on her right forearm ripping a bit as well as making a gash in small plate of metal underneath it which. Syd grunted and grabbed her forearm as if it were her own skin that had been damaged. Ashura however didn’t stop and slashed open a few cables behind him as a red fluid began to spew out it. Ashura then quickly turned on his heel and threw a punch at Syd who quickly turned herself to block it with the same forearm that had been damaged by the beast’s previous strike. She held it there for a moment but the metal under her coat continued to crack forcing her to pull her arm back and throw her other one out in it’s place. Ashura saw this coming so as soon as her fist and been thrown the beast grabbed Syd’s arm and used it as leverage to pick her up and slam her into a wall, Syd simply gritting her teeth a bit as it barely even hurt. “Nowhere to run you filth,” Ashura snarled, “any last words?” “I have a few,” Syd said with a smirk under her mask as she ran her hand along the wall covered in the red fluid, “for you.” Before Ashura had time to react, Syd grabbed the another dagger with her free bloodstained hand and jabbed it into the elbow joint of the reptilian arm which the chimera was using to pin her down. She then grabbed hold of the beast’s wrist with her other hand once he had released her and force her dagger upward ripping the beast’s new arm clean off of his body. “AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!” Ashura roared out of pain grabbing the stump, “That’s twice you’ve removed this arm! You’ll pay for this!” Syd panted heavily looking down at her closed blood filled fist as she swirled it in her hand, “Sorry Will, I’ll need to power this,” she thought to herself, closing her fist tightly around it as the blood began to glow before transforming into a new red finisher die, “you’ll thank me for it later.” Ashura charged at Syd for one final strike as Syd placed the new die into her driver. “FINAL ROLL!” She spun the dial on her belt spinning the die before it came to a halt as a white three appeared on it, “THREE! FATAL STRIKE!” “Game over,” she said to herself before throwing one final dagger at the raging chimera, this one glowing bright red before splitting into three smaller blades and striking Ashura on various parts on his body engulfing him in a cloud of violet flames. As the smoke cleared, only a pile of human bones covered in red thread remained with a fair amount of jayd covering them. Syd knelt down and grabbed one of the viles from off her belt and scooped some of it up, swirling it around to inspect it before screwing the cap on and placing it back onto her belt. She looked behind her as the tear in the wall began to slowly but surely repair itself from the damage that was inflicted onto it, Syd smiling under her mask in the process. Back outside the network, the cracks on Will’s face faded away as he began to regain consciousness. Syd’s eyes then regained their emerald green color as the gold and silver trimmed black dice removed themselves from Will’s heart and mind. Will’s eyes shot open as he began to breath heavily, “Where did the monster go?! It didn’t hurt anyone did it?” Syd smiled and simply shook her head, “and it won’t be able to hurt anyone else ever again,” she looked to him with the same warm eyes as before and grabbed hold of his hands with her own, “and it’s all thanks to you Will.” Will gulped, “Really?” Just then, a cherry red car drove up to the curb and came to an abrupt halt. Syd then quickly stood Will up and grabbed Trey by his wrist, pulling him behind a tree. “Syd!” he whispered “What are you-” “Hush you,” she interrupted, “I wanna see where this goes.” The driver side passenger door then slammed open as small girl with short brown and violet eyes dressed in a red t-shirt and blue jeans came running into the school yard, stopping once she noticed Will. “Jill?” Will asked brushing dirt off of his pants, “W-what are you doing here?” “Oh, I uh forgot my bag,” Jill said a bit embarrassed by the whole thing, “what are you doing here?” “Oh I… I forgot mine too,” Will returned quickly, “I came back to get it but now I can’t find it... Isn’t that funny?” Jill burst out laughing, “Yeah! It kind of is!” “I think I might have left in the classroom,” Will scratched his neck, “Would you like to come with me to get it?” Jill smiled and nodded, “Of course, I’d love to.” “Great,” Will smiled beginning to blush a small bit, “shall we get going?” Jill nodded and the two ran off towards the main entrance together. Syd then came out from behind the tree with a smile on her face, “Aw, I sure do love happy endings don’t you Trey?” Trey smiled back, “Yeah, I suppose so.” “So Trey my man,” Syd spoke back turning back to Trey, “shall we get on our way?” Trey nodded, “Right behind you.” “Excellent, with more gate keepers being born everyday there’s no telling what awaits us on the road a head,” she said grabbing him by the wrist once again and looking up to the sky, “but then again, isn’t that only a small part of what makes an adventure fun?” {Insert Ending Theme - “Kyoukai no Kanata” by Chihara Minori} Next time on Kamen Rider Jayd: Our heroes find themselves face to face with yet another fledgling with a gate keeper on their tail, but this one seems to be putting up a fight and doesn’t want their help. What’s up with that? Why can’t people just get along when lives are one on the line? Well, you’ll just have to wait and find out when Kamen Rider Jayd continues with it’s 5th Revolution. Stubborn, The Self Loathing Fledgling. |
03-30-2015, 07:24 PM | #13 |
Gathering Rangers for D&D
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orgrimmar
Posts: 7,949
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5th Revolution. Stubborn, The Self Loathing Fledgling In a small school in France, a teenaged girl with long black hair with a single braid stood in the hall by her locker. She wore a simple regulation school uniform comprised of a deep blue blazer, black pencil skirt and a plain white button up shirt. She stared into the back of her locker which was almost completely empty save for two books and small sketch book with a worn out spine. She let out a small sigh and closed her locker as the bell rang signaling the end of the day as several female students. “Hey Samantha!” a brunette with short hair and vibrant blue eyes called out her dressed in the same uniform only with two clips in her hair, one hot pink and the other pale blue, “I didn’t see you in fourth today, there something wrong?” she asked as she lightly patted the black hair girl on the back. The black haired girl shook her head while avoiding eye contact, “No… I’m okay Amy… really.” “Oh, that’s good,” the brunette smiled while she lead her friend off down the hall, “So how goes the work on those sketches I asked you for? I bet they’re awesome!” Samantha bit her lip and gulped, “About that… a few things came up and I… haven’t exactly gotten anything of value just yet.” Amy turned to the other girl and blinked then smiled, “Ah, that’s okay. I was merely curious is all,” she placed her hands on Samantha’s shoulders and looked her in the eye, “I’m in no real rush so just get them to me whenever they’re done, okay?” Samantha avoided eye contact with the other girl once again and simply nodded, “O-okay.” “Now then, how’s about you and I get something to eat?” Amy asked patting Samantha’s shoulders with both her hands, “We can stop by that cafe you like so much.” Samantha froze as she felt her heart stop then shook her head, “Sorry Amy… I can’t today,” she said looking Amy in the eye and forcing a smile, “I’m supposed to be home early to watch my little brother… sorry.” “Oh…” Amy thought for a moment as she back away, retaining her smile, “that’s alright, I understand. You gotta do what you gotta do.” she adjusted her bag that was slung over her shoulder and turned her back to Samantha, “I’ll see you in class tomorrow then, have a goodnight!” she waved back to her as she took off down the hallway. Samantha waved back with her right hand until Amy was out of sight then balled that same hand into a fist before slamming it into the door of a near by locker, “Just stop it will you,” she cried a little to herself as she felt herself choke up, a pair of horns jutting out of her head on the shadow she cast, “Please... just leave me alone already.” {Insert Opening Theme - “Rinbu Revolution” by Chihara Minori} Selias sat on her ring surrounded by candles lit by blue flames, holding a withered and crack skull in her right hand, “Worthless little chimera!” she snapped as she crushed the skull in her hand, “I expected more from him, and now he’s merely another dead candle.” she looked over to the flames that surrounded her, “As will the lot of you if you follow in his footsteps!” “Excuse me Aunt Selias,” Maestro called out as he appeared in a ghostly form before Selias, “But might I make a suggestion?” Selias grumbled, “Fine… but make it quick.” “Allow me to see to the conversion of Fledglings into Gate Keepers,” he offered, bowing before the seraph, “just this once at the very least.” Selias sighed, “Very well… I’m in too foul a mood to say no at the moment away,” she stretched out her arms and fell back on her ring letting her body fell limp as she held on with her legs alone, “Do as you wish… not like your mother would let me stop you if she were here anyway.” “Thank you,” Maestro lifted his head up and smirked, “I’ll swear on my life I shall not disappoint you.” He said before vanishing into thin air just as quickly as he appeared. Selias lazily spun her ring around to where Maestro’s ghostly form was previously suspended in the air before her, “I’m going to hold you to that.” --- In the valley of a small town in france, Trey and Syd had stopped for lunch in a humble looking cafe. Trey had in front of him a half eaten sandwich and orange smoothie but pay little attention either, simply looking down at the floor while Syd sprinkled a bit of Jayd into a bowl of ice cream in front of her before screwing on the cap to the vile, slipping it back onto her belt and digging in.“Ah!” she said with glee twirling her spoon in her hand, “Nothing beats french vanilla from the source, don’t ya think Trey?” she looked over to the boy in front of her and blinked, “Trey?... Everything alright?” Trey did not respond, still looking at the floor as if he were caught in a daze. As a result, Syd leaned over and flicked him in the forehead. “OW!” Trey shouted being forced back a little, “What’d you do that for!” “I was asking you a question, try and pay attention will ya,” Syd sighed as she sat back, “Like I said, you seem to be drifting off rather frequently as of late… everything alright?” “Yeah… it’s just that…” Trey dodged eye contact with the girl sitting in front of her and looked out the window to the grassy fields of the town they were currently in, “I just can’t seem to shake this empty feeling I have.” “Empty feeling?” Syd raised an eyebrow, she then laughed and picked up the remaining half of Trey’s sandwich and held it up to him, “If that’s all it is than how about you fill up by finishing this? After all, that’s why I ordered it for you.” “I don’t think this void is something food can fill,” he said softly taking the sandwich from Syd and putting it down on his plate, “I just… feel like something is missing.” “Understandable,” Syd grinned as she placed her hand on Trey’s shoulder, “But you shouldn’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find whatever it is you’re missing someday. You just need to keep your eyes open.” Trey laughed a little, “Knowing my luck I probably won’t until it’s too late,” he let out a small sigh and quickly finished the sandwich he had on his plate. As he ate the front door to the cafe opened up, Syd turning her attention to it as she saw Amy walk in and proceed up to the front counter. The waitress working at the front smiling at her as she approached her. “Good afternoon, welcome,” the waitress at the counter greeted her, “What can I get for you today?” “Hmm, let’s see…” Amy thought for a moment looking over the menu above the waitress’ head while making a few small glances at the fresh food by the cash, “I’ll take a blueberry and banana smoothie, a BLT on wheat and could I also get two slices of those new cakes you have on display there?” “Certainly,” the waitress nodded as she went to get the girl’s order together, “Which kind of cakes would you like today?” “Pick two of your best,” Amy said with a grin. The waitress nodded once again and carefully wrapped the girl’s sandwich and putting it in a bag before setting it aside and pulling out a cake travel box, selecting one layered chocolate fondant with a cherry on top along side a strawberry short cake and placing them both in the box next to each other. “Here you are miss,” she smiled as she handed the order over to Amy, “Your smoothie will be along in just a moment. And… well if you don’t mind me asking,” she paused for a moment and thought her words out carefully, “How is that friend of yours doing? The one I always see you here with?” “She’s alright, she’s just a bit too busy to come down here today,” Amy smiled and took her food from the waitress, “Thanks for asking though, I’ll let her know your thinking about her. I hope these cakes will be enough to cheer her up,” she added as Syd’s ear twitched a little, “she hasn’t been acting like herself recently.” The moment Amy got her smoothie and paid for everything she ordered, she turned back around and began making her way over to the door drawing closer to Syd and Trey. As she past by, Syd kicked her foot outward pushing the chair beside her out into the girl’s path resulting in her tripping over it and falling to the floor and throwing the food she ordered up into the air. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Syd jumped to her feet pretending to be alarmed but the girl’s sudden fall, “Are you okay?!” she asked as she extended her right hand out to her and blindly caught the girl’s food in her left. “Yeah… I’m good,” Amy winced a little as she grabbed Syd’s hand and pulled herself up. She looked at the chair and laughed a little bit, “Wow, I should really pay closer attention to where I’m going.” “There’s an idea,” Syd laughed handing the girl’s order back to her as if nothing happened, “Um, excuse me for eavesdropping but did you perhaps mention that your friend wasn’t exactly acting like herself?” Amy blinked for a moment, then nodded, “Yeah… why do you ask? Do you by any chance know Samantha?” Syd eyed Amy taking note of her uniform then looked her in the eye and smiled, “I’m a classmate of her’s, I was merely concerned about her as all and noticed the same thing… I was only asking to confirm whether or not you were talking about the same person.” “Oh, well I guess it’s good to know she has other friends other than myself,” Amy said softly, forcing a smile, “Especially considering how distant she’s making herself with others.” Syd watched her closely and raised an eyebrow, “Distant how?” “Well… she used to be a fairly good student, never missing a day of class and even staying late if she had to. Not to mention she’s been at the top of the art program since first term,” Amy sighed then frowned, “But recently she’s been skipping class and she goes home the second the bell rings. Plus she rarely draws anymore and I’m starting to worry.” “I see…” Syd thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers together, “I’ve got an idea! How about you and I sit her down tomorrow during lunch and have a stern talking to? You can voice your concerns to her and I’ll hold her down in case she tries anything.” Amy blinked for a moment, “Are you sure that will work?” “Positive,” Syd nodded, “Just leave everything to me and this whole thing will turn out okay.” Amy stared at the girl in front of her for a while on the verge of tears, then with one quick sniffle regained her smile and bowed, “Thank you uh… I’m sorry, I don’t think I ever got your name.” “You can call me Syd,” she said simply. “Syd?” Amy looked up at her, “Like Sydney?” “Just Syd is fine thank you,” the red haired rider glared at her, “And… you are?” “Amy, Amy Amarante,” the brunette said simply as he watch beep, she raising her arm to look at her, “Oh my, where does the time go?” she laughed a little and bowed once again to Syd, “Sorry, but I need to be going now. We’ll talk to tomorrow, and thanks again for the help!” she waved to Syd as she ran out the door, “You two have a nice day!” Syd smiled and sat back in her seat with a grin on her face, “She seems nice.” “Is that why you tripped her?” Trey asked, glaring at her intensely. “No, that was only to gather information,” Syd said casually as she returned to her ice cream, “How else was I suppose to ask her about that friend of her’s?” “Walk up to her and say hi like a normal person?” Trey suggested shrugging as he raised both his hands up with open palms, looking at her with an expression that said no duh. “Well what’s done is done and now we have a lead on a new fledgling,” Syd proclaimed, “the details of how we got the information are irrelevant.” “Wait a minute-” Trey looked out the window, “that girl was-” “Not Amy, her friend,” Syd clarified as she finished her ice cream and smirked upon the final mouth full, “Normally I’d need to see them face-to-face in order to tell, but for this one I only needed the description of their behavior.” “How exactly were you able to that?” Trey asked, tilting his head to one side. “I’ll explain later,” Syd said as she got up and grabbed her coat from behind her chair and slipping it on before bringing her gauntlet up to her face, “Eli, were you able to get the location of that girl’s school?” “Oren Pierre Preparatory School for Girls,” Eli’s voice echoed from the gem on her gauntlet, “1.5 kilometers west of here. Rests at the top of the hill in the center of town.” “Got it,” Syd nodded, as she made her way to the door with Trey right behind her, “Any idea where we can purchase two uniforms?” “Searching…” Eli spoke once again, “five local boutiques, one within range of here.” “Perfect,” Syd smirked as she looked back to the boy behind her, “Hey Trey, what size did you say you were again?” --- Samantha lay flat on a queen sized bed with violet sheets in a fairly large room with the lights shut off. Several sketches and paintings covered the walls that looked fairly well made and looked like quite a lot of time and effort went into making of each one.She let out a small sigh as he phone buzzed beside her. She reached over and flipped it open showing that she had an unread text message. Upon opening it she found it was from Amy reading Hey, you free for a moment? She groaned and flipped the phone shut letting it fall onto her bed once again before curling up into a ball like position and closing her eyes. “Just go will you,” she whimpered as she began to cry, “I don’t have time for you right now.” Just outside her window on a stray tree branch stood Maestro, who loomed over her watching the girl carefully noticing her shadow become more beast like as it began to constrict around her. “She seems to be maturing nicely,” he said with a smirk, “Sorry to disappoint you Sydney dear, but you won’t be getting your hands on this one.” He pulled out a set of black D10 dice keeping his eyes fixed on the girl, “I’ll make sure of that myself.” {End of Part A} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {Start of Part B} Early the next morning, Syd walked through the fronts doors of the school dressed in a recently purchased girl’s uniform and strutted into the center of the hall as if she owned the place. She looked around to survey the area until to notice that she was completely alone, letting a sigh and rolling her eyes before turning her attention to the doors behind her. “Come on Trey,” she shouted a little banging her fist on the door, “no one is going to notice, you’ll just blend into the ground so long as you don’t act out.” “NO!” Trey shouted back in protest, “I’M NOT GOING IN THERE LIKE THIS!” “DON’T BE SUCH A BABY!” Syd yelled back as she kicked the door in revealing Trey huddling just beside the door. She reached out and grabbed his wrist before pulling him to his feet and into the school, “We’ll get through this faster if you aren’t embarrassed by it.” She released her gripped and turned to face the young boy who was currently dressed in the same girl’s uniform with a long brown wig that did well to hide his face. She rested her chin on her closed fist and stared at him intensely. Trey glared back at her raising an eyebrow, “What?!” “Nothing,” she whistled turning her back to him, “I was just thinking that look suited you is all.” Without looking back, she took a few steps toward him and grabbed the cuff of his jacket and took off down the hall, “Now let’s get going before they arrest you for being a perverted cross dresser!” “YOU WERE THE ONE WHO MADE ME DRESS LIKE THIS!” he cried out as he dragged off, “And could we please avoid this in the future?!” A few hours passed by and it soon came time for lunch as Samantha found herself wondering the halls before the bell sounded over her head. Amy quickly finding her and walking up to her and taking hold of her hand. “Hey there Sammy!” she smiled greeting her friend, holding her hand tightly in case she tried to get away, “What’s say you and I go grab some lunch? I know this great place far away from everyone that’s perfect for unwinding after a stressful morning.” “I don’t know,” Samantha felt herself begin to tense up, “I have a lot of work to ca-” “I don’t want to hear it!” Amy interrupted placing her finger over Samantha’s mouth, keeping her grip on her friend’s wrist, “You’ve been working non-stop for the past few weeks, so how about you just cut back and live a little?” “I…” she thought for a moment then sighed, “You aren’t giving me a choice now, are you?” “Nope! Now let’s go!” Amy grinned as she pulled her friend down the hallway and eventually lead her to an isolated stairwell where she was certain no one would bother them. The two sat quietly for a while and ate their lunch peacefully as about half an hour passed by within a matter of moments. Samantha kept her eyes fixed on her watch and impatiently tapped her foot as she felt a tight pull in her chest as if she was going to burst if she stayed there for another moment longer. She let out a loud cough and began packing her stuff away, “Well, I should probably get going. Thank you for the cake though.” “Not so fast!” Syd called out as she swung herself down from landing above and landed directly in front of Samantha, “Lunch ain’t over just yet, so how’s about you just stay where you are?” Samantha fell onto her back and began to shake, “W-where did you come from? Who are you?!” “I am merely a new transfer student,” Syd glared down at her cracking her knuckles, “That’s all you need to know.” She looked over to Amy, “Do your thing.” Amy blinked for a moment then nodded as she hopped to her feet and walked in front of Samantha, “Sammy, you haven’t been acting like yourself lately… and I just want you to know that if there is something bothering you that you can talk to me,” she pleaded, extending her hand out to the girl on the floor, “So please… let us help you.” Samantha panted as she looked at Amy, then over to Syd and finally back to Amy, “You… want to help me?” she asked her friend as she stood up and got back onto her feet. She breathed heavily and looked Amy in the eye. Amy nodded, “That’s all I want to do… so can you let me?” Samantha looked at the girl’s hand then back at the girl’s eyes, “THEN LEAVE ME ALONE!” she shouted before pushing Amy into Syd causing the two fall over allowing her enough time to run down the stairwell and out the door. “Gah!” Syd groaned in annoyance as she picked herself off the ground, “I hate it when they run!” Amy clung to the rail and panted, looking up Syd with panic in her eyes, “We have to go after her!” “Don’t worry, I have a guard by the door,” Syd smirked, “She won’t get far.” “I see…” she sighed with relief, “then why did you lie?” Syd raised an eyebrow, “Lie about what?” “Be honest, you don’t actually know Sammy do you?” Amy laughed a little as she got up off the ground and looked Syd in the eye, “So why did you lie and say that you did?” Syd glared at her, “Is that really important?” “No, not really,” Amy said looking out the window as she rested her arms on the rail, “It just that you wanted to help her out despite not even knowing her at all. That alone proves to me how good a person you are, and how good people can be in general. You know?” “I suppose you’re right,” Syd sighed as she walked over to the rail and looked down to a small window where Samantha could be seen running out into the courtyard, “We’ll give her a little bit of space then try again. How does that sound?” Amy nodded with a sad smile on her face, “I just want her to feel better… nothing more.” In the courtyard below, Samantha angrily stormed away and reached into her bag to grab her cell phone before tripping over her own feet and falling to the ground. Her shoulder bag flying from her reach and landing with the flap open with her sketch book in plane view. She climbed up to her feet and grabbed her bag before laying her eyes on the book, pulling it out and flipping through it before coming to a page with a half colored violet knight with a gold trim along long flowing black cape and claymore style sword raised in the air with one hand and a simple shield in the other. She looked at it for a moment as she began to shake and slowly ran her hand over a small signature that read “To Amy.” “A knight in shining armor, huh?” Trey asked as he suddenly appeared over her shoulder, “You draw that yourself?” Samantha’s eyes shot open as she quickly closed the book and shoved it back into her bag, swinging it once again over her shoulder and jumping back on her feet. “Shut up!” she shouted as she turned to face him, “It isn’t any of your business so just leave me alone!” she said as her eyes began to turn red from holding back tears. Trey’s eyes shot open for a moment as her words reminded him of something. “You’re mean!” his sister’s voice echoed in his head, “And you’re annoying, now leave me alone!” echoed his own voice. “Are you sure that’s… what you really want?” Trey asked placing his hand on her shoulder, “Whatever it is you’re going through, we can help you. What about Amy, you ever consider how she feels?” “WHY THE HELL WOULD I?!” Samantha barked back, slapping Trey’s hand off her, “She doesn’t care about me, so why should care about her?!” Trey felt his heart upon hearing the girl’s words, having absolutely know idea what to say he simply let his arms fall down to the side and looked down to the ground. “You couldn’t be more wrong…” he said quietly to himself. Up in the trees directly above the pair, Maestro hovered over them with a smirk on his face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the three black D10 dice from before while keeping his eyes fixed on the girl. “Sorry kid, but you’re the one who is misguided,” he said to himself as he threw tightly gripped the dice in his hand before throwing them down to the ground by Samantha’s feet. The dice struck the ground by Samantha, knocking her back a little bit from the second. “What was that?!” she panicked as she looked over to the ground and saw three sets of bat like wings sprout up from the ground in the places where each die hit. Her whole body began to tremble, “W-what’s going on?!” “Get behind me!” Trey said as he forced himself between the girl and the wings as they rose up from the ground revealing three vampiric humanoid creatures attached to them. “What are these things?!” Samantha cried out as the creatures drew closer, “Answer me now you stupid girl!” “It’s a little bit hard to explain right now,” Trey said as he removed his wig and threw it to the ground, “and I’m a guy.” He turned to her and grinned, trying to hide how terrified he was, “I’ll distract them, you use this time to get away okay?” Samantha simply nodded and ran as far away from the area as her feet would carry her. Trey watched until she was out of sight, “Alright,” he cleared his throat as he turned back to the humanoid bats who hissed their teeth at him, “You freaks want a fledgling? Then come get one!” “Striker! Piercing Saber Arise!” Syd’s driver shouted as she lept in out of no where and landed between Trey and the bats fully cloaked in the jade green hooded coat of her striker form with both swords in hand. Within a single moment, she tightly gripped both her swords and struck the leftmost bat with an over arm swing from her right handed sword, then struck the rightmost bat with her left sword before crossing both her blades and delivering a strong blow to the center bat as well as the other two sending them propelling backward and falling onto their backs. “Why must you be so quick to throw your life away?” Syd sighed as she twirled her right handed sword and resting it against her shoulder before looking over her shoulder to Trey, “A gift like that should not be taken for granted.” Trey gulped and nodded, “Sorry,” he said as he dodging the bright yellow glow from the eyes within the black void of the rider’s hood, “I didn’t know what else to do.” “You should count yourself lucky we were able to get here in time,” Eli’s voice echoed from within his gem on Syd’s gauntlet, “otherwise you might not be alive right now.” Syd readied both her swords as the bats got back on their feet and turned their attention to her. “I need an analyses Eli,” the green rider demanded as she scrapped the blades of her swords together, “what can you get from this swarm?” “Shadow type, age 31.6 seconds,” Eli stated, “they’re only hatchlings, so the gate keeper that’s controlling them must be near by.” Syd smirked under the plate that covered her face, “Perfect, then let’s finish these off quickly and find the abomination they fell off of!” she said as she swung her swords outward and charged over to the bats, opening with a slash from both her swords at all three of them with both her left and right swords coming together from opposing directions in the form of a pair of scissors. “Couldn’t agree with you more,” Eli said as two of the bats jumped in front of the third acting like a shield allowing the third to take advantage of the opening by lunging at Syd and biting down hard on one of her blades and snatching the other within his claws. “Damn it! Why must these things be so damn annoying!” Syd groaned as she swatted the bat away. Her hand with Eli’s gem on it moving on it’s on to pop out the green striker die and placing it within a pouch on the back of her belt. “Here, let’s try switching gears,” Eli suggested as he moved Syd’s right hand to grab the orange hunter die and snap it into place at the front of the driver before giving the dial a good spin. “Hunter! Burning Arrow Ignite!” Syd’s driver called out as the color of her coat change from jayd green to a bright amber orange, the female rider throwing her swords away and throwing out her left arm as her crossbow materialized in her hand along. A simple grey quiver now adorned her left shoulder. “I like the way you think,” Syd said as she pulled an arrow from her quiver and loaded it into her bow, “but you know how I feel about you moving my limbs like that.” “Sorry,” Eli returned as Syd aimed her bow up to the three bats, the yellow eyes from within her hood locking onto all three at once, “Sometimes I forget my limits.” Syd smirked, “One of your better qualities.” Syd held her bow in her left hand and switched out her amber orange die for her blood red one before giving it a good spin. The die slowly coming to a halt as the bats dug their feet into the ground and charged towards Syd. “SIX! Critical Strike!” Syd’s driver shouted as five dots illuminated on the die within it. Syd instantly pulled back on the trigger of her bow, firing the arrow as it split into six burning ones. Two hitting each one of the bats engulfing them in a cloud of crimson flames and smouldering smoke. As the cloud dissipated, the three bats fell lifelessly to the ground and transformed back into the back D10 dice that they spawned from. Syd then removed the die from her driver and powered down before walking over and kneeling down to ground, picking up one of the dice and examining closely. “Let me have a look,” Eli offered, “if the gate keeper that made these hasn’t yet sealed off it’s network I could still track it.” “Wait just a moment,” she looked at it closely then closed her fist around the dice, “I know exactly where these came from.” “Smart as ever I see,” a voice called out as a series of black threads shot up from the ground, grabbing the three dice and eventually forming into Maestro’s body. He juggled the dice between his fingers before slipping them into his sleeve and looking over to Syd, a sinister smirk appearing on his face as he eyed the young girl, “I should expect nothing less from my darling Sydney.” Trey blinked as he jumped to his feet, “Wait, I know you.” “Damn it Maestro!” Syd barked at him, “You have no right to so much as utter my name, let alone get it wrong! More importantly, what the hell are you even doing here in the first place?!” “Come now my dear,” Maestro snickered as he slipped his hands into his pockets and began to approach her, “Is that anyway for you to speak to your father?” {Insert Ending Theme - “Kyoukai no Kanata” by Chihara Minori} Next time on Kamen Rider Jayd: 5th Revolution: Stubborn, Unshed Life. |
03-30-2015, 09:36 PM | #14 |
Gero Gero Po
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Anime High
Posts: 3,435
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Finally! Jayd has returned and with a great chapter too! Loved it from start to finish!
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04-28-2015, 01:07 AM | #15 |
Gathering Rangers for D&D
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orgrimmar
Posts: 7,949
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6th Revolution: Stubborn, Unshed Life Syd stood with her eyes narrowed at Maestro and grunted, turning her head and dodging his gaze, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, because you aren’t my father,” she snarled as she looked back at him in the corner of her eye and pulled out her green striker die, “You never were and you never will be… just go, before you regret it.” “Oh my, you’ve certainly grown up to be a feisty one,” Maestro chuckled shaking his head a little at her. He took two steps forward resulting in syd taking one step forward herself, tightly gripping the die in her hand as she sharpened her gaze at him. He sighed, “Fine… be that way, but just so you know you shall always be mine my sweet little flower. As will that girl you’re protecting.” He turned his back to her and waved before dispersing in a small black cloud of smoke which quickly shifted in a flock of black bats which flew up into the sky cast in a deep orange from the setting sun. Syd gritted her teeth together and kicked over a can that lay partially crushed at her feet, the clang of metal against the pavement and far away caw of birds cutting through the otherwise dead air. “Come on Trey,” she spoke up turning to the boy behind him, Trey’s lost eyes jumping over from the sky above to where Syd was standing, “we’re going.” “Oh, right,” he paused for a moment as the girl walked past him, “Where are we going?” “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked as she looked over her shoulder to him, with a cold look in her eye, “We are going after that fledgling, that is my job after all remember?” “Right, of course. But…” he stared at her for a moment as he felt his heart begin to race, “Who exactly… was that?” “He’s just someone who’s better off dead, that’s all you need to know,” Syd snarled turning her back to him once again, “Now are you coming with me or not?” Trey nodded, “Of course.” “Good,” she smirked a little, “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” --- In a small plaza at the bottom of the hill where the school sat atop of, Samantha quickly walked down the street with her eyes fixed in front of her as she bumped into a small child and knocked him to the ground.“Ow…” the boy sniffled as he began to cry, his mother instantly ducking to the ground to pick him up. “Are you okay sweetie?!” the child’s mother panicked a little as she patted his head, the boy sniffling a little before nodding. “That’s good, yeah you’re okay,” the mother smiled as she wiped the tears away before looking over to Samantha, “There, I’m sure this nice lady didn’t mean it… right?” Samantha froze as the boy smiled and extended his hand to her noticing a small pin she had in her hair, “Pretty!” Samantha jolted and smacked the boy’s hand away, the mother gasping in shock and pulling her son away from her. At that moment, Samantha felt a sharp pain in her chest that instantly ran into a near by alleyway as fast as her feet would allow her. Once she was out of sight she collapsed to the ground. “Why…” she panted heavily as she tightly grasped the pain in her chest, “Why won’t you people ever just leave me alone!” {Insert Opening Theme - “Rinbu Revolution” by Chihara Minori} Trey sat on a bench by the side of an open road as Syd stood atop a tall lamp post with her wrist held up to the horizon, a small light green glow emitting from the gemstone on her gauntlet. As Trey let out a loud sigh he looked over to see Amy running towards them, crouching down and resting her hands on her knees once she reached them. “Any luck?” Trey asked simply. Amy sadly shook her head as she stood up and frowned, “How about you two?” “Sadly not,” he returned as he hung his head. Amy looked up to Syd and raised one her eyebrows, “Uh… what exactly is she…” “Tracking,” Trey answered looking up to Syd himself, “At least that’s what she told me.” “Oh, so she’s like a spirit medium or something. Right?” Amy asked jumping to conclusions, Trey turning to her with a look of confusion, “Yeah, I read about them once. It’s said that there are some people that are so in touch with the world that they literally find anything or anyone just by concentrating hard enough and feeling for their energy.” She looked to Trey and laughed, “At least that’s the best I can describe it anyhow.” “Oh… that does sound a lot like what she told me,” Trey looked over to Syd, taking note of how focused she currently was at her current task. “Thanks again for doing this,” Amy smiled at him once again, grabbing his attention back, “It means alot to me, honest. Especially all that she’s done,” she sighed and looked back up to Syd, “I don’t know if I could ever be as selfless and thoughtful as your friend is up there… really, she’s something else.” “Yeah,” Trey felt his heart skip for a moment as he balled his hand into a fist, “It would help me out a lot if I were more like that… more like her.” At that moment the light hovering over Syd’s gauntlet flickered as it quickly faded away. Syd then snapped her fingers together and opened her eyes. “Got her,” she exclaimed as she jumped down to the ground below, “She’s not far from here, but we need to hurry.” “Fantastic!” Amy clapped her hands together before placing them over Syd’s shoulders, “Where are we going?” “We are going after he,” Syd put simply turning her gaze down the road with her back to Amy, “You on the other hand need to go home.” “How come?” Amy protested, “She’s my friend, I should be there for when-” “You need to leave!” Syd barked as she turned around and looked the girl in the eye, a small spark like glimmer going off within her own, “Now!” Amy’s look of concern was instantly replaced with a warm smile, “Alright, if that’s for the best I understand,” she bowed before turning her back to them and walking off down the road in the opposite direction of where Syd and Trey were going, “Let me know how it all goes, alright!” she waved as she disappeared over the horizon. Syd let out a small sigh and turned to the other end of the road, “I really hate doing that.” Trey blinked and looked at her, “Uh… what the heck did you just do?” “I reconfigured her mind set by tapping into her mental network,” Syd explained, “It isn’t easily done, hence why I don’t do it unless I need to.” “Uh, isn’t that kind of wrong?” Trey asked as he felt his skin crawl, “That’s someone’s mind you’re messing with! How would you feel if I stepped into your head and rewired you just to make my life easier?” Syd’s eyes flickered for a moment resulting in her twitching for a moment and becoming frozen in her tracks, “This isn’t the time for such nonsense.” She turned back and looked him in the eye, “There is a flame that must not be allow to be blown out no matter the cost, so are you coming with me? That is what you wanted right, to take you with me?” Trey thought for a moment then nodded, “Sorry… lead the way.” “Excellent,” Syd smirked taking hold of the boy’s hand, “because I’m not leaving you behind.” She laughed a little, “Your petty concerns are far too amusing for me to do that.” --- Back on the other side of town, Samantha limped her way out of the alleyway as the sky began to grow a deep angry amber from the setting sun. She gritted her teeth and fell to the ground, grasping her chest as she felt her arm begin to pulse violently.“Does it hurt?” a voice called out to her. She wiped her head around to see Maestro standing directly behind her, “W-who are you?” she winced and grabbed her arm before shuffling away from the black eyed man who lurked over her, “Get away from me!” In what seemed like a single step, Maestro loomed over her and propped up her head with one hand and placed a finger over her lips with another “Hush now my dear,” he cooed as he looked deep into her eyes and gently caressed the girl’s cheek with his thumb, “You have no need to fear me child, it is everyone else who you should be afraid of. They are the one who wish to cause you such torment.” Samantha looked into her eyes and felt all her pain seemingly vanish within his gaze. She felt her heart begin to race not out of fear, but more in comfort, as something about this man made her feel safe somehow. She gulped as her eyes widened, “W-what are you talking about?” Maestro slowly knelt down and pulled up the girl’s sleeve revealing several blue thread like cracks of light constricting around her arm. She gasped in shock as the threads slowly began to pulse, revealing a slight shade of violet from within them along with a hint of a deep red. Maestro leaned down and gently kissed the back of her hand as the thread began to fade. “There,” he whispered as he looked up to her, “feel better?” “Yes… thank you,” she breathed heavily as she pulled her sleeve back down to cover her wrist. She looked back to the man in front of her who in turn was looking back to her with a piercing gaze and a seemingly warm grin on his face, “Why are you helping me?” “It is because you and I dear are one and the same,” she put simply, pinching her cheek a small bit before standing back up, running his hand through his long jet black hair as he looked down upon her. He then reached for the collar of his shirt and, like a knife tearing through fabric, undid the top six buttons leaving his well sculpted chest exposed which was covered in several blood red cracks much like the ones on the girls arm. Samantha gasped and rose to her feet before reaching out her arm and placing her hand on the male’s bare chest, “Do those… hurt?” “On the contrary,” he placed his hand over her’s and looked into her eyes once again, “these markings are proof of my power, and that I am alive.” He released her hand and pushed her away before turning around and redoing the buttons of his shirt, “That same power rests within you as well. All you need to do…” he looked back to her over his shoulder and smirked, “is cast yourself away from everyone.” Samantha’s eyes shot open, “No,” she shook her head and looked down to the ground, “I-I can’t… everyone will be disappointed in me if I… if I-” “If you what?” Maestro interject as he walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in close before whispering into her ear, “You’ve practically already done so, what harm is there in taking one final step?” Samantha began to shake within the male’s arms as the comfort she felt from him before quickly changed into fear once again. She was trapped with no where else to go and as a result her entire body began to completely lock itself up as she closed her eyes tight, fearing the worse from whatever this man had planned from her. “LEG HER GO MAESTRO!” Syd called out from the entrance of the alleyway with Trey directly behind her, slapping her driver onto her waist as she pulled out her green striker die. The black haired male looked over to her and chuckled, “Of course, as you wish my flower,” he said as he violently threw the girl in his arms to the ground, Trey instantly running into catch her. The boy looked the girl over and sighed with relief, “She’s alright!” he called back to Syd with a small thumbs up. “She is,” Maestro smirked as he pulled a black die from his pocket and flipped it into the air, a curved blade as black as obsidian forming from it as he quickly grasped it and swung it over his shoulder, “but you might not be.” Maestro swung the blade at Trey as Syd quickly slammed her green die into her belt and pulled up the hood of her jacket, giving the dial on her belt a quick spin. “GAME START! STRIKER!” he belt called out as her coat changed from navy blue to jade green as her eyes shawn bright yellow from within the void of her hood, “Piercing saber arise!” In one motion, Syd pushed Trey and the girl out the way, whipped out her twin swords and clashed one with Maestro’s own blade before slashing at him with the second. Maestro however caught the blade and used it to bend Syd’s arm around her back before kicking in the back of her knees and forcing her to the ground, Syd crying out in agony and powering down as a result. “Do you not understand yet child?” he whispered into Syd’s ear as she tried to break free, “You still have yet to fully grow, and so you cannot even dream of defeating me. You still are merely a delicate flower that cannot survive on the outside of my garden.” Suddenly, without thinking, Trey placed Samantha down on the ground and ran over to Maestro, “Damn bastard! YOU ARE A SIN AGAINST NATURE!” he shouted punching him hard in the back of his head with all that he had. However, this didn’t even so much as phase Maestro as he simply looked back with a glare of only slight annoyance. “Worthless little pest, do you not understand nature?” he said as he thrusted the hilt end of his sword into Trey’s gut, winding the poor boy as he fell to his knees. He then released Syd’s wrist as let go of his blade as it dispersed into a puff of black smoke in the air. “Lightning strikes the tiger’s home, which sets catches and burns to the ground. The tiger fleas and out of fear attacks a passing man. The man is a hunter and shoots it dead, then take it home to feed his family” he said coldly at the boy who huddled on the ground before kneeing him in the face which lead into a kick to the chin from the same leg. “That is the truth about nature my boy.” Syd crawled back onto her feet and watched Maestro, not seeming to care too much about what he had just done to Trey, “Just leave… you monster...” Maestro looked back to her and laughed, “We are all monsters my dear little flower.” Without a single word more, he turned his back to her as his body began to break apart into a swarm of bats which flew up into the sky and disappeared over the horizon. The second Maestro left, Samantha tossed around violently and grabbed her chest as she cried out in agony while bright violet threads of light began forming all over her body. Trey instantly got up and ran over to her, “Hey! Girl!” he called out to her as he shook her shoulder, “Come on! Stay with me!” he turned to Syd, “What’s happening to her?!” “Stand aside,” Syd said, pushing Trey off the girl and reached into her pocket, pulling out her pair of black dice, one with a gold trim and the other with a silver. She knelt down and placed the gold trim over Samantha’s heart and the silver trimmed over her forehead, pressing down on them with her thumbs as the began to glow, “Mihira of Shadow, Lowe of Light. Banish the beast from this pure heart,” she called out as the dice began to phase themselves into the girl, “Ready your hands of godly might, and send me forward as your dart!” The second the dice had completely dissolved however, the threads covering Samantha’s skin quickly repaired themselves as she threw Syd off her and got back onto her feet, “STAY AWAY FROM ME!” she cried out grabbing her chest, “All you people do is make things worse! So just leave me alone alright!” After screaming her lid off, she turned on her heel and ran out of the alleyway and into the now empty street. Trey froze for a moment, then turned to Syd who laid passed out on the ground. “Syd!” he called out to her trying to shake her awake, “Come on! We have to go!” Syd’s eyes slowly opened as she blinked once before staring blankly for a moment, “Could you not be so rough with Syd’s body when she isn’t in it?,” a voice escaped her lips that was much deeper and clearly not her own, “she won’t appreciate it if you break something you know.” Trey blinked for a moment, then took his hand girl who lay on the ground in front of him and screamed, “W-WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!” --- Syd slowly opened her eyes as she began to regain consciousness. She looked around but could see nothing beyond the ghost like glow her presence emitted off her body as it stood suspended in the pitch black void that seemed to stretch on farther than her eyes could see without any sign of a top or bottom. She couldn’t even tell whether or not she was currently facing up or down.“Where… am I?” she asked aloud to herself trying to make sense of things as a small glimmer sparked from either side of her, “And what… are those?” She reached into her pocket and grabbed her green striker die but before she could do a single thing the small glimmers began to multiple and swarm around her, revealing themselves as small blue torches that stood suspended without chains or a stand to carry them. “Hang on a moment…” she thrusted herself forward and floated over to one of the torches, placing her finger on the bottom of it and lifting it towards her. Despite the light it cast, it gave off no heat and was instead rather cold to the touch. Syd looked into it as the image of a much younger Samantha at a table surrounded by and small boy who sat beside her and an elderly man and woman who stood over her. A cake with seven candles lit sat in front of her as she blew them out resulting in a collective applause from the trio standing around her. “Happy birthday dear,” the older man and woman said in unison as the small child reached toward the cake with his mouth wide open. “Patience Tori,” the woman grinned as she lightly tapped the back of the boy’s hand, “it’s your sisters birthday so she gets the first piece.” The boy sobbed a little. “Here Tori,” the young Samantha laughed as she grabbed a knife and cut a small piece before setting it down on a plate and putting it in front of the boy, “I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let you have this one.” The boy smiled happily before digging his hands into the cake on his plate and shoving it into his mouth, getting more on him than down his throat. “Tori!” the boy’s mother growled as she grabbed a napkin and began wiping the boy’s face, “Manors!” “He’s only a baby dear, he’ll learn,” Samantha’s father chuckled placing his hands on his daughters shoulders. “Which reminds me,” he reached into his bag and pulled out a black sketch book with a coil ring binding wrapped in a red ribbon with a matching bow, “happy birthday sweety.” “So these are her, what are they called… memories,” Syd said to herself as she pushed the torch away and looked over to the other ones that surrounded her, “But I was supposed to go to her heart, how did I…” she thought for a moment then smacked herself in the forehead, “Right, she knocked me over and threw off my aim!” Her ear then twitched from the light sound of sobbing that began emanating from another torch as it floated by her, Syd in turn picking it up and looking into it to see a slightly older version of Samantha sitting on a swing set with her sketchbook partially buried in the sand below her feet. “HEY! YOU DOWN THERE!” A voice called out as a small girl with short brown hair ran up to her and knelt down in front of her, “You alright little missy?” Samantha remained silent as she kept her eyes fixed on the book which the brunette was now stepping on, “Oh…” the girl paused as she took her foot off the book and picked it up, “I’m sorry, did you drop this?” Samantha rubbed her eyes then hopped off the swing and began walking off in the other direction, not carrying at all for the book she left behind. “Hey, wait!” the other girl called out to her as she got back on her feet and turning the book over as it opened to a page with a rough sketch of a man without a face, “Where are you going!” she chased after Samantha and held the book out to her still on the same page. “You can’t just throw something like this away, can you? I’ve never seen anyone my age draw like this, you shouldn’t waste it.” Samantha turned her head to the side and looked out to a river that sat at the bottom of the hill the park sat on, “I haven’t seen my dad in a while… that’s why I tried drawing him… but…” her eyes began to fill up with tears as she found herself starting to choke up, “I-I can’t even remember… what he looked like.” “Oh, is that all it is?” the girl smiled as she tapped Samantha on the head with the front cover of her sketchbook, “I know it’s hard with someone you’re that close with being so far away, but you’ll see him again someday and even so he never is that distant… is he?” Samantha sniffled and looked towards the girl, “What makes you say that?” “Because, when you love someone they never truly leave you,” she raised her finger and pointed towards Samantha’s chest, “They’re in here, so long as you remember them being out there.” “You really are strange you know that?” Samantha glared at her, “What’s your name?” “You just call me Amy,” the girl grinned as she extended her hand to Samantha, “And… you are?” “Samantha…” she returned slowly extending her own hand to take hold of Amy’s, “And thank you,” she added forcing a smile, “I’ll take my book back now.” Syd shook her head and laughed as she flicked the torch away, “Oh children, what I wouldn’t give to be like you.” “I don’t want to be this way!” a voice called out as a crack formed below Syd’s feat allowing a blinding light to shine through, “Someone please! Help me!” As the darkness cleared Syd found herself standing in front of what seemed like a circular window that looked out to a small river with a surrounded by two banks filled with vibrant green grass. On the other side of the window sat Samantha crying into her knees as she wiped her tears away on her sleeve. “You know, if she wanted help she really could have just asked,” Syd sighed as she leaned against the window, “Stubborn girl.” “Huh?” Samantha lifted her head up and looked around, “Who said that?” “Oh crap, she can hear me!” Syd jumped back as the view in the window shifted from one end of the river to the other. “Of course I can hear you!” Samantha called out, “Where and exactly who are you!” “I’m in your head!” Syd sighed as she banged his fist against the wall beside the window resulting in an echo that filled rung through Samantha’s ears, “Now if you don’t mind, can you get me back to my body so I can help you like you asked?” “NO!” Samantha shook her head around violently, “GET OUT OF MY HEAD FIRST!” The room Syd was in began shaking from side to side as the girl shook her head as Syd hung on for dear life, tightly gritting her teeth together as she clung to the wall, “Eli!” she spoke into the gauntlet on her wrist, “please hurry and get me out of here!” {End of Part A} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ {Start of Part B} Eli walked down an empty alley in control of Syd’s body as Trey walked behind him. A small glimmer lit up from the gem on Syd’s gauntlet as Eli looked down to it and nodded, “We’re getting close, we need to hurry.” He said as he continued down the road. “Okay,” Trey called out trying to keep up, “think you can give me a slight explanation of what the hell is going on?” “I guess that’s fair enough,” Eli returned not dropping his pace, “When a fledgling’s mental state is on the verge of breaking a network rider is allowed to activate what’s referred to as Heart Soul Ejection or HSE for short. This procedure is achieved through the usage of to specialty dice that can only be used once before needing to be replaced, the Heart Gold die and Soul Silver die.” He turned the corner but kept on topic, “Using these two dice, the network rider can focus their own energy on both the fledglings soul, which is represented by the brain, and the heart which represents itself.” “Okay… but she’s done that before hasn’t she?” Trey asked still trying to keep up with the soul that was currently controlling Syd’s body, “Why exactly are you moving Syd’s body right now? Where exactly did she go?” “I was getting to that,” Eli shot a sharp glare at him, “Thing is that a network rider can only focus if the target is standing still. If either the target or rider are moved during Heart Soul Ejection, the end result could be… inability to return to one’s own body.” “B-but that’s only a could be, right?!” Trey asked as he began to sweat and his body trembled a bit, “You don’t know for sure after all, right Eli?” Eli turned his back to Trey in the same cold fashion that Syd usually did, “We need to getting moving, there is no time to be worrying over such things.” He said as he continued down the street, Trey following shortly behind him. Deep within a network of cables that pulse between a deep ruby red and a bright sapphire blue, Maestro leaned against one wall as he gazed into a mirror cast in the frame of a demonic red eyed bat with the glass of the mirror set within it’s jaws. The mirror displaying the image of Trey and Eli as they continued onward. “Sorry boys, but you shall not interrupt this flower’s growth,” he smirked as he pulled a black six sided die from his pocket and placed it onto the glass of the mirror, the die slowly submerging into it, “at least not for the time being.” Back on the street, Trey and Eli overheard a small gaw of what sounded like a dying crow behind them as Trey turned back to face it. “Did you hear that?” he asked Eli who kept his gaze on the road in front of him. “It was only a bird,” Eli returned as the sound of a small crack came from above. He looked upward to see a network of jet black chains with a violet aura around them spew downward onto them, “Now this… might be a problem.” Before either them had anytime to react, the chains formed into a dome like cage that entrapped them within it’s void before sinking deep into the ground in a motion so quick that it was as if they were never there to begin with. Maestro smirked as he watched the two from the inside of their prison through the mirror, “There, that should keep those two occupied.” He ran his hand over the mirror and switched the view from Trey and Eli over to Samantha by the river, “Now, let’s see how my dear flowers is coming along.” Samantha smacked her fists against her skull and screamed, “GET OUT OF MY HEAD ALREADY YOU PSYCHO STALKER!” Syd held on for dear from the inside of Sam’s mind as she did her best to remain on her feet, “I’ve already told you, it isn’t quite that simple!” “Then how do I fix this!” Sam screamed at her as an older gentleman with a small child walked by, saw her and covered the boy’s hears before running off down the road and dragging his child with him. “I don’t know,” Syd sighed as she closed her eyes leaned against the wall by the window in Sam’s head, “This hasn’t exactly happened to me before.” She reopened them after a while a saw a small memory torch floating just in front her and, out of pure curiosity, she picked it up and looked into it. Inside was an image of Samantha leaning against her school locker with her sketch book opened to a rough sketch of the same knight Trey saw in it earlier, only this one had color to speak of. The Samantha from within the memory let out a sigh and closed the book before gently sliding into her locker. “She asked me to make this over a month ago,” she said to herself as she smacked her head against the door of a nearby locker, “what’s wrong with me?” “Hey Samantha!” Amy called out as she came up to her friend and patted her on the back, “I didn’t see you in fourth today, there something wrong?” Samantha froze and stepped in front of her locker and closing it with her foot, the door locking automatically, “No… I’m okay Amy… really.” she said forcing a smile “Oh, that’s good,” Amy smiled as the two made their way down the hall, “So how goes the work on those sketches I asked you for? I bet they’re awesome!” Samantha bit her lip and gulped, “About that… a few things came up and I… haven’t exactly gotten anything of value just yet.” Amy turned to the other girl and blinked then smiled, “Ah, that’s okay. I was merely curious is all,” she placed her hands on Samantha’s shoulders and looked her in the eye, “I’m in no real rush so just get them to me whenever they’re done, okay?” Samantha avoided eye contact with the other girl once again and simply nodded, “O-okay.” Syd raised her eyebrow as she watched the events in the memory unfold, “Hey, can I ask you something?” she asked pushing the torch away as she looked toward the window, “That girl Amy… why do you keep avoiding her? You two are friends, correct? Shouldn’t friends, you know, want to spend time with one another?” “I don’t even know anymore to be honest,” Samantha shrugged before collapsing on the river bed and looking up the sky, “It all started with her wanting something drawn and I offered to do it for her. Then she began asking for more and more and I just got… overwhelmed,” she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before exhaling, “I guess that’s why… happy now?” “I think that’s a question you should be asking yourself,” Syd sighed as she got back onto her feet within Samantha’s head, “Years down the line when everything is said and done, will you be happy with the life you lived by cutting yourself off from the world?” Samantha sat up and thought for a moment, however just as she was about to come up with an answer she heard the small crack of a twig come from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see a swarm of Maestro’s bats surrounding her and drawing closer. --- Deep within the cage that Maestro had trapped them in, Eli sat on the floor by the solid wall while Trey paced around. Four doors had been placed around them, each with a bat set above the frame. Trey looked at each one as a haunting and chilling wind echoed throughout the room.Trey went around and jimmied each of the doorknobs and turned back to Eli, “So… none of these seemed to be locked,” he said as he was about to open one of the doors, “I guess we should just… pick one.” “I wouldn’t if I were you,” Eli spoke up before the boy opened the door, resulting in him taking his hand off the know. He raised his finger up to the bat at the top of door, “Take a look.” The bat above Trey’s head had a tiger clenched firmly in it’s jaws, he then looked directly across the room to another which had a tongue in the shape of a canon. The bat to the left of that one seem be molded to look as if it was on fire while the last one remaining had jagged fur as if it was being subjected to a constant flow of electricity throughout it’s body. “I’ve seen this trick before, the maestro is going easy on us with this one,” he said as he got up and looked to Trey, “The only way out is to pass through each door in a specific order… alive.” “Then how do we figure out the correct order?” Trey demanded as he started to lose patients, “I doubt that man would leave the answers on the back.” “If he did there would be no fun to it,” Eli sighed, “or at least that’s how he sees it.” Trey groaned and ran his hands through his hair as he looked back to the bats on the doors, specifically the details that set them apart from one another, “Wait a minute…” he looked over to the bat with the tiger within it’s jaws, “Lightning strikes the tiger’s home, the home catches fire and burns to the ground.” he turned his gaze over the bat on fire along with the bat to, “The tiger runs and attacks a man in fear. The man is a hunter and shoots it dead, then take it home to feed his family.” “What was that?” Eli raised an eyebrow and turned to Trey, “Where did you hear that?” “It was something that psycho said,” Trey explained as he took a closer look at the bats once, “I didn’t quite get it at first but I think he must have been giving me a small hint of some sort… but why is anyone’s guess.” “What fun would there be if victory was guaranteed?” Eli sighed, “Another of his popular phrases.” “You and Syd sure have a long history with him, don’t you?” Trey asked, “Would you mind telling me something?” Eli looked at him, “Shoot.” “I-is he… really who he says?” Trey stumbled, “Syd’s father I mean.” “No, at least not how Syd views it.” Eli put simply, “At one point he was the man that gave her the life she has now, but that man died long ago. The man calling himself Maestro is nothing more than an empty shell.” “That man… who was he?” Trey asked, “If you don’t mind me asking.” “He called himself Matlyn, that’s all I can say,” Eli returned his gaze to the door with the electrified bat and took two steps towards it, “for now we should concern ourselves with getting out of here,” and for your sake… I hope your right.” --- Back by the river, Samantha ran for her life from the bats that were on her tail as she ran up a hill and rested at the top with her hands on her knees. She panted heavily as she looked over her shoulder to see the swarm still close behind her, quickly taking off at an unsteady pace as she tried to catch her breath.“How’s about you let me take the wheel for a moment?” Syd called out to her from inside her head. “Huh?” Samantha questioned, jumping a little at the question, “Wait, what are yo-” Before she could finish speaking, Samantha’s legs seemed to move on their own and leapt her onto the rail of the bridge resulting in the top half of her body falling forward and Samantha catching herself with her hands. “What’s going on?!” she shifted her eyes around, “How did you do that?!” “Just relax and let me handle this,” Syd said to her as she slowly but surely took control of the girl’s arms and kicked her up off the rail and began propelling the two of them forward, “Geez, why must your body be so slow?” “This isn’t the place for comments like that!” Samantha cried out as Syd shifted her eyes over to a cluster of bats that were forming along the bridge’s support beams above their heads. “Great, looks like our friends brought company,” Syd tsked as she brought Samantha’s arms upward and cracked her knuckles, completely ignoring what her host was saying by this point, “Sorry girl but I need to borrow this.” Syd then used Samantha’s arms to pull a pin from her the shirt of her uniform and prick her finger so a small bit of blood came from it. “OW!” Samantha cried, “What was that for?!” “Watch,” Syd instructed as she snapped her fingers together as the small bit of blood dispersed and scattered into the air. Syd clapped the girl’s hands together and chanted “Mighty Grune, lord of steel and master of blades. Take this offering and fused it with strength from your forge’s blaze!” Syd then twisted Samantha’s hand sideways and turned them so they laid flat against one another and the fingers of one met the palm of the other, “RELEASE!” she cried out causing the few drops of blood in the air to reform into thin spike like blades before launching themselves into the bats in front of her and Samantha, knocking them down and turning them to dust. Unfortunately, as the few bats went down more seemed to take their place. Syd however went unphased by this and simply jumped up into a flying jump kick and plowed her way through to the other side, landing feet first with Samantha’s body on the other side of the growing horde as they turned to face her. “Can’t transform,” Syd looked around and saw shovel driven into the ground directly behind her, “guess we’ll need to make do with what we’ve got.” she said as she picked up the shovel and gripped it tightly with both hands before turning back to the bats. “Uh, you’re joking right?!” Samantha protested trying to move her feet and run but couldn’t due to Syd’s influence, “There’s far too many of them, you’re gonna get us both killed.” “That’s where you’re wrong princess, because I can’t die yet,” she looked over to her wrist where Eli’s gauntlet would normally be, “Not without him anyway.” “Him?” Samantha thought for a moment, “You mean that boy you were with?” “Not quite who I was talking about,” Syd jumped at the bats using Samantha’s legs and swung at a few with the shovel before kicking off the rail and propelling the girl’s body up to one of the support beams where even more bats were waiting for her. She adjusted her hold on the shovel and smiled warmly, “Though now that you mention it, he’s kind of important too.” --- Back within the cage set by Maestro, Trey and Eli ran out of the doorway marked by the electrified bat as a large crack off surge of electricity went off behind them. The moment the two touched down on the other side, the surges instantly stopped as the door crumbled and turned to rubble.“Well… that’s one…” Trey panted as he wiped sweat from his forehead, “Now what’s next?” “That’s the tricky part,” Eli returned looking at the remaining doors, “In the verse there were two lines that mentioned a tiger. One was placed to throw us off while the other is part of the order we need to follow.” Trey thought for a moment then pointed to the bat sculpted to look like it was made of fire, “This one is next.” he said as he took a step forward towards the door. Eli’s eyes shot open as he ran over and grabbed Trey, “Stop! We don’t know that yet!” “The first line is for the lightning, the second is the fire then the tiger and finally the hunter,” Trey said as he pushed on towards the door and grabbed the handle, “If it isn’t it’s only a fifty-fifty chance that I’m wrong.” “You sure you’re willing to take that risk?” Eli asked him. Trey nodded, “Alright,” Eli sighed as he reached for the handle, “For your sake I hope you’re right.” --- Back on the bridge, Syd plowed her way through more of the bats using Samantha’s body which beginning to buckle under the force Syd was putting into it. As a result she was forced to jam the shovel into the ground and rest her host’s body on it with her hands as the last of the bats circled around her.“Damn… only seventeen left…” she panted heavily, “If I were in my own body these things would be dust with one little warm up swing…” “You sure about that my little flower?” Maestro called out as he suddenly appeared sitting on the rail of the bridge with his hands in his pockets. The bat with the mirror within it’s teeth hovering over his shoulder, “I’ve trained you well, but in your current state I don’t think you’ll last for much longer before you wither away.” Syd gritted Samantha’s teeth and spat on the ground, “Shut your mouth!” she barked at him through Samantha’s teeth. “Carefully,” Maestro chuckled, “You’ve been in there for far too long my dear, if you don’t watch yourself you might end up erasing that girl’s life force with your own.” Syd’s eyes shot open resulting in Samantha’s doing the same, she looked down at the girl’s hand and moved it as if it were her own, “Oh crap, this isn’t good.” She smacked Samantha’s head, “Girl! You still in there!” “I’m afraid she can’t respond anymore my dear little flower,” Maestro chuckled, “But nice job snagging yourself a new body for yourself,” he smirked as he lifted his arm to show a single ring on his hand with a jade gemstone, “The apple never falls far from the tree as they say.” At that moment, a small glimmer sparked from within the mirror as two long chains shot out of it and forming into Trey and Eli who both had burn marks and bullet marks covering them from head to toe. “We… made it!” Trey panted as he climbed to his feet and looked over to Syd, “Samantha… where’s Syd?” “Eli!” Syd called out as she ran over to her body and grabbed her own hand, “Tag out!” Both the eyes of the two girl’s bodies shawn a bright green for a moment as Samantha’s fell down to the ground and Syd’s fell face first on the pavement. “Bravo young lad,” Maestro clapped with a grin on his face, “I’m impressed how quickly you were able to figure it out.” “It was rather easy once you left me the answers,” Trey glared back at him, “that was your biggest mistake.” “No,” Syd growled as she regained control of her own body and forced herself to her feet, “His biggest mistake was being alive!” She instantly pulled out her blue Caster form die and slapped it into her belt which was still around her waist from her last fight, pulled her hood up as she placed her hand over the dial on her belt “GAME START!” her belt shouted as she spun the belt without giving her usual chant or cry of henshin, “Caster! Conjuring of the Unknown!" Her coat changed from it’s standard navy blue to the bright fluorescent azure color of her caster form as her armor and mask form around her. The bright yellow eyes of her ballet mask illuminating as her staff formed in a burst of blue fire. With one single motion, Syd conjured an immense ball of deep blue fire within the hook on the top of her staff as the gem changed from it’s usual sapphire collar to a deep purple before unleashing it upon the remaining bats wiping them all out in just one swing. She then turned on her heel swung her staff over her back with one hand and grabbed the other end with other as she turned her anger filled gaze toward Maestro who looked back to her with a calm unassuming smirk. “Next, YOU!” Syd gritted her teeth as she conjured yet another burst of fire from her staff, this one at least ten times as large in an even deeper shade of blue as her eyes began to shift from their normal yellow to an angry crimson red. “SYD! STOP!” Trey cried out to her as he ran in between them and threw his arms around her, “If you kill him like this we’ll all be killed!” he called out to her and he gripped the back of her hood and tried to hold her back, “That way HE wins! Do you want that!” Syd’s eyes slowly returned to their normal yellow as she loosened her grip on her staff and let it fall to the ground behind her, the fire going out the second she let go. She glanced over to Trey the smirk under her mask, “Thank you Trey…” she thought to herself as she slowly wrapped her own arms around him, “I knew there was a reason I let you come along.” “Well, I do believe this has been enough excitement for one don’t you think?” Maestro clapped for a moment as he pulled out a black die from his pocket, “But first, a slight parting gift.” He threw the die over to Samantha resulting in it submerging into her forehead as Maestro hopped onto the rail and bowed, “Thank you ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been a lovely audience.” he said before jumping backward and dispersing into a swarm of bats that flew up and vanished over the horizon. “Get back here you bastard!” Syd shouted as he ran over to the bridge and slammed her fist down on the rail. “He’ll be back,” Eli called out to her from within his gem on Syd’s gauntlet, “When that day comes, you can claim your revenge.” “Guess we don’t have many other options,” Syd sighed, “do we?” “Syd!” Trey called out as he hovered over Samantha who convulsed violently on the ground as the deep red cracks began to reform and become dark black, “Come quick!” Syd looked over her shoulder in horror and ran over to Trey, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him away, “GET AWAY FROM HER!” The cracks overtook the girl’s entire body as a massive tear opened up from her center and a large minotaur with deep blue skin and jet black fur stepped out, shaking the ground as he touched down onto it and looked down towards Syd and Trey. “S-samantha?” Trey gulped. “No,” Syd put simply as she replaced her blue caster die with her orange hunter one and gave her belt a quick spin, “not anymore at least.” “RE-ROLL! HUNTER!” her belt called out as her coat changed from blue to orange and her bow formed in her left hand along side her quiver on her shoulder, “Burning Arrow Ignite!” “Syd! Wait!” Trey grabbed her bow and looked her in the eye, “What are you doing!” Syd batted him away and aimed her bow and the beast, “My job,” she said in a cold almost machine like tone as she ejected the orange hunter die and replaced it with the red finisher before giving it a quick spin. A three lit up from the face of the die as it came to a halt “THREE!” Syd’s belt called out as she pulled back on the trigger, “Fatal Strike!” “NO!” Trey cried out as he jumped to his feet, Syd knocking him back with a single swing of her right arm as three burning arrows shot out of the bow held by her left. The arrows impaled the raging beast and instantly set it ablaze, it roaring out in pain as it fell over backwards and burst into a gust of smoke and fire leaving nothing but a small pile of jayd as the smoke cleared. Trey collapsed to the ground as Syd powered down and walked over to the remains, removing a vial from her belt and scooped up what little there was. “Figures there wouldn’t be that much,” she said as she looked at the small amount of fluid in the flask before shrugging and returning it to it’s place on her belt, looking over to Samantha’s lifeless body with a sympathetic frown, “Shame it had to turn out this way… I was really starting to like her.” “Why do you talk about her like that?!” Trey snarled as he looked up to her, “She was just a girl dammit!” he shouted as he jumped to his feet and looked Syd in the eye, “And you write it off like that!” “There’s nothing that could have been done,” Syd looked at him, “Once a fledgling casts away their humanity and shuts themselves off from the world, there is no going back.” she looked to the vials on her belt and sighed, “No matter how much I wish it was otherwise.” Trey balled his hands into fists knelt down beside Samantha’s body, “If that’s the case… what’s going to happen to her now?” “Slowly memories of her will start to fade away,” Syd explained as she looked over the body, “Her body is still whole, so that gives her sometime… but not much. First with the people she’s met only once or twice, then her close friends until finally, not even her own family will remember that she even existed.” “I will,” Trey said as he picked up Samantha’s body and carried it in his arms, “even if no one else will, I will never forget that she was here.” Syd raised an eyebrow, “What exactly do you plan to do?” “I’m taking her to a hospital,” Trey said, “Even if she doesn’t have a soul her body is still breathing, that way at least her friends and family will be able to say goodbye to her while they still can.” He looked over to Syd and gulped, “Now are you coming with me?” Syd simply nodded, “Of course.” {Insert Ending Theme - “Kyoukai no Kanata” by Chihara Minori} --- --- --- Amy sat in a chair in a hospital room overlooking Samantha who lay lifeless in a single hospital bed dressed in a simple white gown, Samantha’s sketchbook. After a while of sitting in silence she opened it a skimmed through the pages until she came to the knight in violet and gold armor with the signature marked, “To Amy.” “You see,” she cracked a small smile as a tear formed in her eye, “I knew it would be… awesome,” she slowly began shaking as she hunched over and brought her hand to her face and wiping her eyes. Just then. a nurse came to the room and knocked on the doorway. “Excuse me Ms,” the nurse called out to her, “Sorry but visiting hours are over, I’m afraid I need to ask you to be going soon.” “Oh, okay,” Amy nodded as she wiped her face a little and placing the book down on the bed on Samantha’s lap, “just give me a minute, I’ll be heading out in a moment.” She slipped on her coat then ducked down to the floor to pick up her bag, only to turn back and look down at Samantha with a sorrow filled look on her face, “I’ll be back tomorrow,” she said lightly taking hold of her friend’s hand, “Okay?” As she went to release her grip, she felt the hand she held with her own slowly tighten itself around her’s. Her heart skip a beat as she looked back to see Samantha with her eyes half open and a warm smile on her face. “S-samantha?” She asked in a state of disbelief. “Please,” Samantha weakly called out to her as a tear formed in her eye, “Don’t ever leave me.” Without so much as a second word, Amy dropped her bag and threw her arms tightly around Samantha as tears began running down her face, “Of course,” she sniffled as she held her friend in her arms, “I won’t ever leave you.” Next time on Kamen Rider Jayd: Seventh Revolution. Criminal, The Delinquent Fledgling |
03-12-2016, 03:50 PM | #16 |
Gathering Rangers for D&D
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7th Revolution: Criminal, the Delinquent Fledgling Attention! The following chapter contents explicit content which is not PG in the slightest and is there for not fit to post on this site! Due to me not wanting to tone it down while at the same time not wanting to leave the chapter unreadable, you can find the unedited chapter on the link below. I apologize for the inconvenience but I stick with my guns with what I want to write and publish. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1073850...men-Rider-Jayd On a side note, I deeply apologize for the long hiatus. Kamen Rider Jayd will continue with outsourcing to Fanfiction.net for it's 8th Revolution as well and shall return to Tokunation afterwards. Thank you for your patience and I hope you all understand. |
03-16-2016, 02:49 PM | #17 |
Gathering Rangers for D&D
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8th Revolution: Coward, the Only Way Out Attention! The following chapter contents explicit content which is not PG in the slightest and is there for not fit to post on this site! Due to me not wanting to tone it down while at the same time not wanting to leave the chapter unreadable, you can find the unedited chapter on the link below. I apologize for the inconvenience but I stick with my guns with what I want to write and publish. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1073850...men-Rider-Jayd |
03-22-2016, 12:25 AM | #18 |
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You know, I have to be honest, I really didn't think the last two eps were that bad to warrant just a link. And I went back and compared them to the other stories to compare and again, I didn't see anything really that bad. Granted it all comes down to personal taste and judgment, and if you felt it was prudent to put a link there more power to you. Just wanted to get another opinion out there.
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03-31-2016, 03:31 PM | #19 |
Gathering Rangers for D&D
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Location: Orgrimmar
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Quote:
You know, I have to be honest, I really didn't think the last two eps were that bad to warrant just a link. And I went back and compared them to the other stories to compare and again, I didn't see anything really that bad. Granted it all comes down to personal taste and judgment, and if you felt it was prudent to put a link there more power to you. Just wanted to get another opinion out there.
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04-01-2016, 04:07 AM | #20 |
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Nothing wrong with. There's been a couple of times I wondered if I was pushing things. Figured I just get a warning if anything.
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