the layout was made by zenat from lspa and btn. codes were taken from support boards and w3schools. character and everything else belong to their owners. if there is something that is yours here, but it isn't credited for, please contact an admin and we will immediately add you to the credits.
It always took him a minute to adjust to the sunlight. Sunlight was just too bright! What with the sun... and the light... and it being sunlighty. He wrinkled his nose and wished vaguely that he had the money to buy some snazzy sunglasses or some such nonsense.
Tail wagged almost eagerly, as he poked around. He loved coming to the village, if for no other reason than the smells. Certain SeeDmates loved hotdogs - he liked the various scents that filled the area. There was always some sort of spice, and the sea... it was all so amazing to him, even though he'd been here a dozen times. Stepping from the shuttlebus deal, he peered around the crystal blue skyline, bringing a hand up to guard his eyes.
The day was promising all sorts of things - he had a day off, he had a fistfull of money, and he had all the time of the world! Well, until the end of the day, that is. Still, despite that, he had his Spearshot all but strapped to his back - because no good mercenary left home without their weapon! No doubt about it! He was dressed in loose fitting bits of tan and brown, which only served to make his whole appearance look a tad bit dirtier than he really was.
But that was okay! So long as he didn't smell bad, everything was good, for him. Good to him. Honestly, he didn't care. What he cared about right now was the nifty - albeit cheap - pie that he could smell, coming from somewhere. Somewhere...
Up!
He shot upwards, almost immediately, bouncing quite acrobatically atop a hanging deck above a door. He was standing up, peering in to a house, nose twitching rhythmically. "Hey. Uhm. Are you gonna sell that? 'Cause--" Of course, the scream made him yelp and jump back. Into open air. Another yelp, and his tail was ensnaring the edge of that same landing, keeping himself aloft.
"Not nice!" He whimpered, quite visibly unhappy about the turn of events. It was just lucky that he could dangle so effortlessly. He peered around, trying to decide if he could figure out what else there was to eat, since obviously that crazy lady wasn't about to give him some of her pie. Which, in his opinion, just wasn't fair! He did... stuff... to deserve delicious pie. Fresh baked...
A little slump of his shoulders had him dropping in a graceful little somersault, landing on his feet. It wasn't til then that he realized that there had been more than one scream. More than one scream, because there it was again. Not from up. From out! Were there supposed to be people outside the village this time of day? What with there that random excess amount of fiends roaming around.
He pouted, and let out a little bit of a moan. "Totally supposed to be my day off. It's not fair if I have to go play firned hunter. 'cause boo." What would the Headmaster say to that kind of sentiment? He snickered at that thought, and bounded towards the sound of the helpless. It was always someone who was helpless that screamed, 'cause people like him fought, not screamed.
Wiggling gingerly, he poked his head around the corner, and widened his eyes. Oh crap, it was one of those electro-cat things! With the tentacles! He tried to rack his brain for the name of the thing, but legitimately, it wasn't his forte. He just knew how to beat the hell out of it.
With a knife. Or in his case, you shot it. Either way! It was attacking some woman and her small child. Not that that made much sense, because he knew full and well he looked like a small child, too. But he'd shoot anyone who said that.
He rushed forward, unentangling his Spearshot, and aiming it uncertainly. He definitely didn't want to hit someone in the process of saving them, right? With an impressive bit of spinning his weapon, he did the only thing that came naturally to him. He teleported to the other side of the tiger creature.
Existing on the other side, he brought his blade down, tugging the trigger at the same time. There was an eruption of fire, of course, as that was the point - and the creature flinched, yowling, angry and in pain.
He leaped back, tail wagging gently in anticipation. "You guys should run. 'Cause that's what you do when you get rescu--" For the second time today, he was cut off. This time, there was a nice reason. Lightning crashed in to him, sending him hurtling backwards, grimacing.
"Ow." The Coeurl. That's what the hell this thing was. Magic using fiend. He grimaced. No, he was not a fan of magic users.
Wolfe just happened to have been in Balamb territory again. He wasn’t all that sue why, but then again unless he was in Midgar territory he never really knew why he was in any particular place. He just free roamed and drifted with the changing of the winds. So it really wasn’t all that crazy to have made his way back into Balamb territory, and he knew he as just over thinking it at the moment. Wolfe had made his way to a small village somewhere in Balmb, he wasn’t really sure of it’s location and he had run across it by accident, but he had been more then hungry, and he also needed to refuel his bike and while he was in the village it couldn’t hurt to hit on a few o the girls.
Upon entering the village Wolfe made his way to the most important thing on his list, food. He found himself a small food shop and pulled his bike to a stop. He dismounted the bike and made his way over to the window of the place and ordered himself some food. About 10 minutes later Wolfe was making his way over to a table, food in hand. However, people were giving him odd looks as he slowly found a table and took his seat at it. Wolfe had almost 3 full plates of food on his tray, which was obviously way too much for a person his size, but then again he wasn’t normal, and he could devour food for someone 4 times his size and could still keep eating. Wolfe didn’t really consider himself human for most intents and purposes but when it came to the basics like a need for food and rest he was still at least semi-human.
Wolfe could go days without sleep, and could easily eat enough food for someone 3 ties his size, and this was one of those moments when he was going to do just that. He ignored the strange looks from the others at the tables he passed. Upon taking his seat he dug right into his food and started devouring it. It only took minutes before he was done inhaling his food. His in-human spectacle of food intake had not only caused all the people at nearby tables to have looks of shock on their faces, but now Wolfe had a group of random pedestrians that had stopped to watch the show, but Wolfe didn’t care, he was full now and that was all that mattered.
Wolfe slowly stood up and was walking over to take his trash to the trashcan when he heard a scream, but he could tell it was from a shop like 2 or 3 doors down, and it sounded like a scream of shock rather then a scream for help, so Wolfe just chalked it up to nothing and continued on his new quest to dispose of his trash. Just as he was completing his quest of dumping his trash he heard a new scream, but this one was from either just outside the village or at least on the outskirts of it. This scream however, did sound like a scream of worry and most likely a cry for help.
Wolfe just rooled his eyes as his head fell forward and he gave a slight shake of his head as he let out a sigh. Obviously he couldn’t go anywhere without incident. All he wanted was a good meal, some free time, and maybe a cute girl to spend sometime with, but obviously that was too much to ask for. With his head still slumped and in a half hearted walk he started to make his way to where th scream had come from.
Wolfe showed up moments before the bolt of lightning crashed down on Asher. Wolfe just shook his head as he walked from the side of a building and out into the open. He was walking right past where Asher had landed after getting hit by the bolt, and as he walked by Asher he spoke in a mumble.
“Amateur…”
He spoke it under his breath, but loud enough that Asher would catch it. Wolfe walked casually right past the recovering Asher towards the cat like creature. Wolfe saw as the cat turned it attention from Asher to Wolfe and then crouched down as if it was getting ready to attack. Wolfe didn’t flinch as the cat got into it’s attack position. A moment later the cat shifted it’s body just as it had done right before it had brought a bolt of lightning down and Asher. Wolfe quickly reached his hand back and wrapped his fingers tightly around the hilt of Cerberus and pulled it from behind his back. He then in one swift motion turned the blade and stabbed it into the ground in front of him and with lightning quick reflexes he let go of the sword and took a quick step back as he leaned his body away from the blade and brought his arm up to shield him. At that very second another bolt of lightning came crashing down, but it was drawn to the metal blade and the bolt connected with the blade and channeled into the ground with grounded the electricity of the bolt.
Wolfe smirked as he quickly leaned forward and took a step s he reached out and once again took a hold of Cerberus and pulled upward, pulling it from the ground. Wolfe then took another step as he continued his advance on the cat. The cat crouched down again but this time much lower then before and then suddenly sprang forward as it went to pounce on Wolfe. Wolfe quickly brought his hand up that was holding Cerberus so that his hand was at about head level and he was holding the blade in front of him with the tip of Cerberus only inches from the ground pointing down. Wolfe twisted his hand so Cerberus was flat, so Wolfe could use the blade as a shield. Just as the cats paw connected with the blade Wolfe slid his legf foot back and twisted his body to the left, deflecting the attack to the side, using the creature’s momentum against it rather then trying to straight out block the attack.
The cat was deflected of course to Wolfe’s side. Wolfe twisted the blade with his hand while bringing his other hand up, and as the cat was still in the air next to Wolfe he put his free hand on the back of his blade and with all his strength he swung the blade up while pushing on the back of the blade with his other hand for more force. The blade connected with the underbelly of the cat and there was a whelp of pain from the cat as it was sent flying up and away from Wolfe, spinning through the air. The cat landed a few feet in the distance, landing on it’s side and tumbling a few ties before it came to stop. The cat started to squirm a little and was obviously trying to recover now.
Wolfe turned to look at Asher who he figured should of recovered by this point and gave him a questioning look as he took his hand from the back of his blade and swung it out in the direction of the cat on the ground, in a fashion as to welcome Asher to attack the cat.
“Well? You going to finish it or what? I don’t think it’s going to wait all day for you to go over and finish it…”
Wolfe just gave a slight shake of his head as he spoke to Asher.
He had been about to step forward, already his knuckles were whitening as he prepared to step forward.
But, just like that, another guy brushed by him as though he didn't even exist! Well, that was a lie - the guy obviously knew he existed, he had commented on him being an amateur. Being a SeeD, he was anything but - everyone got hit every once in a while! He very visibly pouted, as the other guy started making relatively quick work of the beast.
He actually did a really nice technique, grounding the Thunder spell as though that were the most sensible thing to do - when in truth, it was. His pout quickly turned in to a grin, as the guy worked hard at it. "Nuh-uh nuh-uh! I'm not an amateur! I just had to make sure those people gots away! Otherwise then why'd I save'em, right?"
He called these words, heedless to the fact that dear Wolfe was still fighting the beast. He was actually doing rather well, the cat-creature wasn't entirely certain what hit it.
But then Wolfe turned to face him. With his back to the Coeurl. Immediately, red flags started kicking up in Asher's mind. This was bad. An Injured Coeurl didn't have to recover. Those antennae rose, as Wolfe made his jerk-ish comment. Before he could call out, the beast fired a ray of deadly light.
Asher's body vanished, appeared on Wolfe, and vanished again, all in quick succession. The beam of light cut through where Wolfe had been standing not a second ago, as the two of them popped in to existence behind the Coeurl. Letting go of the guy, he flourished his Spearshot a little bit, while the Coeurl looked stunned, trying to find out where it's prey had gone. Without even hesitating, he brought it down on the Coeurl, pulling the trigger for a second time.
The creature let out a yowl and fell over, tentacles falling limp. It faded, slowly.
Giggling a bit, he rounded on Wolfe.
"Yooou turned your back on a wounded Curl! That's a no-no, they use a Death-zapper-ray-cannon-thing when they get hurt! Nyah nyah, who's an amateur now!" He then stuck out his tongue a little bit, letting out that extra aggravating humming sound that often came with such an action.
He giggled again, hopping back a few steps.
"Hiya! I'm Asher - and thanks for your help, even if you were mean 'bout it. Meany mean-- are your eyes glowin'?" He asked, almost immediately distracted. It was faint, but Asher's keen eyes were far more than necessary to pick that up. It was really, really cool, in his opinion.
His tail wagged excitedly. "Coooool." He added, just in case his not-so-friendly saviour was confused as to how he felt about that. "I want glow-y eyes, too!" He said these words far too cutely, as if doing so might prompt this stranger to pluck his own eyes out and hand them over to the boy.
He let his tail wrap around his Spearshot, so that he could let go of his weapon - there were no more monsters around, and as such, no more need for the thing to be out and ready, and he didn't really want his new friend - for unfortunately, Wolfe had said words to him, which was the typical Asher Criteria for Friends ( tm ) - to feel threatened by his presence.
[/blockquote][/blockquote] ( Word Count: 615 Thread Word Count: 1413 )
Wolfe was in the middle of his comment about Asher finishing the cat creature when he caught movetn from it out of the corner of his eye. Wolfe instantly knew what was about to happen, as he had once long ago let his guard down against one of these creatures and he paid the price for it. He caught the burst of light and was about to try and make a move when out of the other corner of his eye he caught as Asher just vanished, but then a moent later he was next to Wolfe and grabbing on to him, and then there was a quick flash and the next thing he knew he was standing on the other side of the cat creature. It took Wolfe a second to realize what had happened, but then it struck Wolfe that this person must be able to teleport. He then watched as Asher took his weapon and went in for the killing blow. It wasn’t a bad shot, so Wolfe couldn’t complain, but he then listened as Asher started talking and Wolfe could instantly tell that Asher was one of those happy go lucky types. The Kind that always looked for the good in people and things and always seemed happy. He also got the impression that Asher might be a little scatter brained, or childish maybe, based on the words he was using and the how he was speaking.
Wolfe didn’t care though as it seemed that this person might be a little green so to say, but he had at least a little skill it seemed. Wolfe smirked when Asher said something about Wolfe being amateur, but Wolfe took no offense to it, because he did make his mistakes from time to time, the most recent being in Kalm, and he had room to learn. Wolfe just dismissed the comment as Asher then went on talking telling Wolfe his name, but it was obvious that Asher had a short attention span, as in mid sentence he changed subjects. However, his new topic was one that Wolfe wasn’t very fond of, his eyes. However, it wasn’t like he could hide them so he just dealt with the topic when it came up, and it seemed this was going to be one of those times.
Wolfe was a little thrown actually by what Asher was saying, Soldier was legend in Gaia, and everyone knew of them, and what they were, and about the one trait that distinguished them from everyone else, their blue glowing eyes. However, it seemed that Asher either was so caught up in the moment he wasn’t thinking about what he was saying, or he didn’t know about Soldier, or their glowing eyes, but either way Wolfe was a little taken back by it. Then Wolfe heard as Asher made his comment about wanting glowing eyes too, and Wolfe just started to shake his head a little as he spoke to answer Asher.
“Yes……they are glowing, and no… you don’t want to have anything to do with them or how you go about getting them… they are a curse… trust me…”
Wolfe Swung his blade over his shoulder and behind him sliding it into it’s holster on his back. He then turned to face the town and started to walk away, but as he did he spoke to Asher.
“forget about the eyes, and don’t bother looking into them…you will only find lies, pain, and a lot of very nasty people you don’t want to deal with….trust me….”
Wolfe brought his right hand to his face and rubbed his chin for a second as he felt a few memories making their way to the surface of his brain. Memories of his mother and all the things she had told him about what Shinra really was and what they were capable of, and of the monster that helped create some of Shinra’s darkest secrets, Hojo. Wolfe started pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind, as he didn’t really want to ponder on these thoughts right now, as they were better served in a time of solitude.
He tilted his head uncertainly. They were a curse? Like, the condition? He was obviously a bit confused and concerned, brows furrowing as he tilted his head a bit. After all, if they were cursed, why not get a White Mage to fix them for you, instead of walking around like that? He didn't know exactly how to broach the concern, though.
With those thoughts, though... he still popped up and grinned.
"I still want glowy-eyes. Is that so bad?" He giggled a bit, spinning uncertainly on his feet. Easing backwards, he added. "Besides, you don't seem nasty. A bit mean - meany. But not nasty." He snorted a little bit at that, obviously very amused with his own assertation of what sort of character Wolfe was.
Glancing back at where the Coeurl would have been, had it survived, he sighed. "Today's my day off. I'm supposed'ta be buying pie and cake and milk and all sorts of stuff that's bad for me, but nooo. I have to go out and save people. OH! I'm Asher, by the way! I'm the newest SeeD graduate from Balamb!" He cheered, loudly, at that, specifically so the other would know just how cool he was.
Tilting his head a little bit, he wondered. "Hey! I've never seen you before, here in town! Are you from Galbadia? Or one of those other places? Maybe Spira! I came from Spira to here! My friend Odion dropped me off and went back to... uh... wherever he went..." At that point, however, he began just speaking inanely, about nothing of any particular importance. The word 'pie' came up at least twice more, for no real reason.
"So how come you've got glowy eyes?" He retracted back to his previous call and question, curiosity evident and unwavering in his youthful eyes. Flicking his wrist uncertainly, he finished: "And y'might as well tell me 'cause 'pparently I'm better at interrogating than everyone else in the Garden for some reason." He never really understood that particular honor, nor did he have any desire to - deep understanding was more or less wasted on this kid.
His tail waved effortlessly, obviously displaying his contentment much like a dog would.
Nose twitched a couple more times, and he returned his view past Wolfe's shoulder. There was pie in them thar buildings, and the more he smelled it, the more he was determined to get his own slice of pie!
Or seven.
[/blockquote][/blockquote] ( Word Count: 441 Thread Word Count: 1854)
Wolfe could tell this kid obviously just didn't get it. Wolfe listened as he continued to go on about them and giggle like a little school girl. Wolfe almost smirked when Asher called him mean. He needed to introduce Asher to some of the people he knew and his feeling would be quick to change. Wolfe could tell that Asher needed to see the darker side of the world before he would understand, but that wasn't that important to Wolfe. Wolfe was still walking when he about ahit himself as he stopped for a second in mid step as Asher said he was a Seed. Wolfe couldn't believe his ears, there was no way this kid could be telling the truth. Seeds were basically a organized mercenary group that was led by the gardens and were considered well known and well versed, so how could this SeeD not know of Glowing eyes and Shinra, and how the two were connected.
However, Wolfe subdued his extreme shock and sumed it up to Asher just being childish or something of the like, and figured it wasn't worth even trying to understand how someone, especially a SeeD member would not know of Soldier, and their trademark glowing eyes. Wolfe then smirked a little at Asher's comment about Wolfe not being nasty, and it crossed Wolfe's mind how a naive person like this Asher needed to be taught and it crossed his and for only a second to let him meet Hojo, and see if he still felt that way. Then Wolfe's human side got the better of him and he knew he would never do anything like that, not even to his worst enemy, well besides maybe Hojo himself. Wolfe then got lost in the thoughts of how nice it would feel to just let Hojo meet Hojo and watch the kill each other with experiments. Wolfe then was thrown back into the conversation as Asher grasp of the obvious was getting better it seemed as he stated how he had never seen Wolfe in this town before, but Wolfe was once again thrown off the conversation as Asher started rambling about stuff like where had come from among other things, and for reasons Wolfe couldn't grasp he kept catching it as Asher would insert something about pie repeatedly throughout his ramblings
Wolfe finally decided to cut off Asher’s now perpetual ramblings as he spoke out
“yes they ARE that bad, and they come with a lot of baggage, baggage you don’t want, trust me…. And lets just say they were an unwanted present from someone I plan on repaying back in full… and please tell me you are joking about being a SeeD, because if you were one you would know all about my glowing eyes, and the evil that stems from them”
Wolfe really just didn’t know what to say to Asher, as he just seemed like a child and Wolfe didn’t know what to do with him. Wolfe had not really had a childhood, and as such didn’t deal well with kids, and talking and dealing with Asher was about the same as dealing with a child, but just a child that could fight, at least a little bit.
((Gerrick is here to ruin your fun with crazy mauling antics))
A very loud explosion followed by several people screaming and getting trampled by other people loudly interrupted the SeeD member and the SOLDIER's conversation. A building to the right of them (the one with the pie) disintegrated in a massive blast of fire. From the rubble walked a single, dark-haired man wielding a single very nasty-looking gun and a single piece of pie. He was chomping delightfully on said pie before briefly mumbling "Mmm... Apple..."
He took another large bite out of the slice of deliciousness before tossing the remains over his shoulder and walking up to another house. "Hot damn am I hungry today... the man muttered to himself as he raised his gun and blew another house down. He searched through the rubble until he came up with a freshly baked loaf of bread, which he promptly began devouring. He then stole a bottle of soda from a passing child (by "passing" I mean "running as fast as humanly possible") and began to walk towards the only two men who weren't running. One was what appeared to be a half-monkey person thing, while the other had glowing eyes that clearly defined him as a member of SOLDIER.
"Evening, gents. I was wondering why exactly you weren't fleeing in every direction whilst screaming like everyone else? You're either both very stupid or very brave." He looked at the monkey kid for a moment before nodding. "I'm guessing stupid for him." He muttered to the SOLDIER, grinning a little.
The explosion vibrated enough to make his teeth chatter, as rubble and smoke and debris filled the air. He spun on his heel, tail flashing through the air. Eyes narrowed on the second falling building, and he let his jaw drop. This... was outrageous. More than anything else, his mind was rushing now - who in their right mind would attack Balamb Port, knowing that the Garden was less than a five minute's drive away?
SeeDs would already be heading here by now, and he... well, he was here now. People started to rush around him and his new 'friend', who's little quip and insult was forgotten... at least for the moment. He slipped to the side, so he could catch a woman who started to fall, and who would no doubt get trampled in the panic that was following. The town wasn't huge by any stretch, but there were still enough people to cause harm to each other.
Righting her, he let her continue her exodus from the township, giving her a slight nod and a smile. Turning once more, he faced the clearing dust, as a figure came out, chomping on...
He pouted furiously - he'd wanted that pie! How come the guy that blew up the buildings gets some?
Or at least, he could assume the guy was blowing up the building - what with the whole 'walking', not running. Just as easily, the guy could figure out that the two of them were not just average people, either. Well, one of them played glow in the dark, and the other had a tail. Yeah, not average sufficed.
He stuck his tongue out. "Nuh-uh. I'm just not scared of a guy with pie on his chin!" He squished his nose a bit, thoroughly unhappy with the current situation of... well... this! Spiralling the Spearshot a couple of times, alternating sides so quickly that the blade was more or less invisible. His free hand shot down, catching the back end so that the blade's point was aimed at the guy.
"Buuuut, since I'm here, I guess I'mma have to beat you up now, since you decided to eat my PIE!" No mention of the buildings or anything... no, instead, he was focused sharply on the idea that this man... this horrible, horrible man... was eating his pie.
The dark-haired man looked at the monkey-kid-thing in front of him with apparent disgust. Throwing down the loaf of bread he was carrying and downing the rest of his beverage, he brushed a small layer of dust off the shoulder of his coat. He didn't like it when people pointed pointy-looking things at him. He didn't like it at all. In fact, the only thing he hated more was when people were happy for very stupid or not readily apparent reason. That and badly made pie, which the one he had just devoured was not.
Clearing his throat, the man gingerly pushed aside the pointy weapon and twirled a deep blue and matte black rather mean-looking gun around his index finger. "I do NOT have pie on my chin, little boy. And, if I did, I'd have taken it off by now and eaten it, as it was absolutely delicious." He continued glaring at the kid, his eyes flashing gold. "And I'm pretty sure that anyone who attempts to attack someone because of pie needs to get his priorities straight. For instance... the buildings I destroyed and the innocents I no doubt killed." (in reality, he had killed no innocents as of yet, which greatly upset him. He quickly decided that he'd have to strangle a few before the day was out)
Flipping the gun into the air, the man twirled around dramatically and swiped it from the air as it fell. It made a bunch of clicking noises as he dramatically cocked the weapon and pointed it at the kid's face. "Who the hell do you think I am, anyway? Some two-bit villain who would allow himself to be subdued by such a small child?" He chuckled darkly under his breath, grinning evilly. "I think it's high time you learned just who you're dealing with!"
The barrel of the gun began to glow a bright orange and a low hum filled the air as the man forced his will into it. His eyes glowed golden and he pulled the trigger of his gun, still grinning. "The name's Gerrick, though you can just call me your ticket to Death! Blast Calibur: Release!"
The ensuing explosion rocked the area, blasting away chunks of the road they were standing on as well. Gerrick turned around and walked away, not waiting to see if he had actually managed to hit the kid and completely ignoring the SOLDIER-y looking man as well. He had innocents to kill before any SeeD members managed to get here.
(thanks for skipping me...>_>. I will just opt out on this thread cause i am busy and cant post as often as is wanted)
Wolfe normally would stay and fight but this was one of thos moments when he just felt his whims change, and without even so much as a word he just smirked and walked away from the two men and made his way back to Lilith and rode off.
The muscles in Asher's legs went to work before the trigger finished pulling. He was moving down - after all, the laws of physics dictate that a projectile moving in a solitary direction would continue in that direction. It was aimed at his face and he was certainly not going to stand there and get shot. His body weaved down wards, and almost immediately he dove to the side, easily underneath the barrel of the weapon.
He began his roll almost immediately, a 'just in case' scenario - he didn't know what kind of munitions this thing could fire, but he did know that the buildings were no longer standing. This prompted his motion to move away from the direction he was firing in, as well. His tuck and roll was mostly effective, as his Spearshot [ Word Count met: 138 ] was tucked with him, making him look much like a wheel with a spear sticking through it.
He popped up again, going completely and fully aerial as he did so. His body began to pick up speed at an alarming rate, as was his heritage. Genomes were faster than humans, that much was blatantly obvious. His focus, however, was not necessarily on the man, but his weapon. He'd turned away from the direction the blast came from, thus actually causing him to face Asher, even if he was at a little bit of an angle. Asher's feet barely had time to register the fact that they'd hit the earth before he sprang in to action.
Hand slid up the shaft of his Spearshot, so that his grip was clutching the very center, one finger held over the trigger, beneath the trigger guard. His movements would be somewhat difficult to see, as the boy was an excellent specimen of physical superiority. Tail swayed violently, acting almost as a rudder to guide him through the air as his pounce brought him ever closer to his target.
In a final burst of speed and awareness, one foot barely touched earth, specifically to set him in a very controlled little cyclone - a single arc's path where the business end, point and all, would be aligned with Gerrick's chest. His 'Ticket to Death' was a big enough target that even without his keen marksman's eyes, he wouldn't have too much trouble hitting him even unintentionally.
To make matters worse, however, was that as the blade would pass - either through him, or near him, his finger would react almost on it's very own instinct. The trigger would squeeze, creating a dangerous concoction of gunpowder and steel, exploding forth a bullet that, while nowhere near the size of the blast Gerrick had released, would be able to punch a sizeable hole in stone. He knew - he'd done it before. The whole movement would span only a few seconds from pounce to the point where he fired, the large arc ending in almost pinpoint fashion at ninety degrees from where Gerrick was standing.
[ Attack Count: 341 ]
Whether or not Gerrick avoided his attack was besides the point, he'd still have a monkey-boy in front of him, blocking his path from the village. Even if he couldn't beat this gunner, he was still more than capable of holding him at bay until the rest of the SeeDs arrived.
"Nice to meet you, Gerrick. I'm Asher - A SeeD for Balamb Garden. And small or not, this won't end well for you, pie-thief!" Asher spoke with defiance and a little bit of a grin on his face, carefully watching Gerrick for further movements.
[/blockquote][/blockquote]
( Word Count: 612 - 7 for Word Counts, 605. Thread Word Count: 2863 )
It took a moment for Gerrick to realize that there was no small monkey child screaming out in agony from losing a limb or his face. For a second, Gerrick assumed the kid was already dead, shrugged and continued walking. It was only after he glanced behind himself to make sure his quarry had indeed been blasted to smithereens that he noticed he had missed the kid. Missed the kid by quite a lot, actually. Also, apparently the child was one of those Transformer thingies that could change from being one thing into being an automobile, as he had apparently morphed into a small wheel with a the pointy spear thing that was pointed at Gerrick's face sticking out the side of it. For precaution's sake, Gerrick decided to let his more bestial nature take over for a moment, causing his eyes to flash golden.
{Feral Eyes Activated: +10% to hit and dodge}
{Dodge Innitiated; 341 - 10%(341) = 307}
Looking at the figure with new interest, Gerrick barely had time to register that the kid was headed back towards him at an alarming rate. He noted that the monkey-kid might be one of those cat people he heard about once and decided to stop assuming that everyone who was little was not a threat. It had gotten him into trouble before, after all. Tensing his legs, he only had to wait a moment until the kid leapt out of his little wheel-like form and at Gerrick.
It was almost stupefying how fast the kid moved, even while in mid-air. His manual and physical dexterity was practically off the charts, Gerrick was only able to notice the kid was even aiming at him with the spear-looking thing (which he now noticed had a barrel on the end of it, obviously an adaptation of the Gun-Blade the SeeD members usually used) because of his own enhanced reflexes and perception. If he had been a normal human, he would probably have been dead about a second later.
Gerrick dropped to the ground as the kid landed in front of him, spear-gun-looking-thing and all. The kid spun a little (sort of like one of those ballerina people) on one foot while trailing his weapon behind him in a similar manner. Not the least bit perturbed, Gerrick tumbled out of the way with a look of pure indifference on his face. As he tumbled, Gerrick noted the sound of a gun-fire explosion and thanked Tiamat that he wasn't facing the business end of that thing, as he saw the bullet pass through six people in one shot. He growled under his breath, hoping to Leviathan that the kid didn't kill all of the innocents before he got a chance to. {Dodge Count met: 307}. While the kid was still mid-spin, Gerrick jumped back to his feet and took several steps back, surveying his opponent.
He was in prime physical shape for one so small. Gerrick was surprised he hadn't noted this before and frowned, shaking his head. He always missed the important things about people when he fought them. Luckily he had noticed his mistake before it proved fatal and ammended calling the kid "monkey-boy" to "Physically-fit-monkey-boy" in his mind while the kid was busy spouting off some nonsense about SeeD and Balamb Garden and pie-thievery.
While the kid was rambling about whatever the hell he was rambling about, Gerrick cocked Sanguinis in a menacing manner and glared at the boy. He would enjoy rending this pompous kid limb from limb more than he enjoyed that pie he stole a few moments ago.
Taking slow, deliberate steps towards the kid, Gerrick radiated a sort of semi-tangible malicious energy from his body, glaring at the boy. He wasn't in any particular hurry to catch the monkey-thing, as he had plenty of time to play tag with the kid until Balamb showed up. He mentally set a clock in his head to two and a half minutes before deliberately raising his gun and aiming it at the boy.
"BANG!" he shouted, ejecting the clip of ammo from the gun instead of firing it. He desperately hoped the kid ducked, but he didn't take the time to note whether or not he had. Running at the Genome with incredible speed that matched it's a moment ago, Gerrick reloaded and cocked his weapon, expending one un-spent shell into the air as he did so. When he was barely out of reach of the spear weapon's full melee length, Gerrick grinned maliciously and fired in a circle at his foe, cutting off every escape route as well as placing a shot directly in the center of the circle, expending his entire clip of ammo in an instant.
Ejecting the empty magazine, Gerrick punched forward with his unloaded weapon, hoping to catch the kid directly in the mouth with cold, durable metal. After all, the only way for the kid to come was forward, and Gerrick would be ready for him with Sanguinis in hand. An unloaded Sanguinis, mind you, but a very hefty hand-gun nonetheless. And hefty anythings usually managed to hurt an awful lot if they were to connect with one's face.
{Word Count: 324 + 10%(324) = 356}
{Countdown Until Feral Eyes Deactivates = 3 posts from now}
Whether or not Gerrick even managed to hit the child was beside the point. Balamb was, no doubt, closing in on this location due to the unwarranted destruction he had caused moments ago. Gerrick began to look for a way to escape the city and decided to end his fight with the boy another day... But at the moment there was no visible way to escape the place, but Gerrick supposed that didn't mean ways could not be made.
By nature, genomes were tricksters. That was why so many of them were thieves, as Beis had so carefully informed him. When the man yelled Bang, he did not duck, but rather, darted to the side, literally growling when he realized that the finger had not so much as flexed against the trigger, which meant that he had just been fooled. The sound of something hitting the ground, however, gave him purpose and desire - the back end of his weapon slammed in to the ground, propelling himself in to the air much like a pole vaulter might. The end result was that he easily gained ground on the man, landing several feet to the side, having spiraled in mid-air to make sure he didn't stop facing him.
It had not been a grenade that the man had dropped like Asher initially assumed - but that was besides the point. The obvious danger this posed became a little more obvious. When a clip was tossed out, that meant a clip got put back in. Legs tensed almost involuntarily as Gerrick began his charge. Asher's only real mode of defense was the obvious one - he brought his Spearshot forward, as if parrying a melee blow. He wasn't sure what to expect - this guy was obviously nutters. Asher's feet carefully took several steps back, thus increasing the ground Gerrick had to cover to get close to him, and offering him a brief respite to come up with a plan of counter attack.
But Gerrick was not without his good points. Gerrick was able to keep up with the burst of speed Asher had recently added - that in itself was impressive. But that speed, being used to destructive ends, meant that the barrel of the weapon began flashing out. It was almost as if there was only one click, instead of a full round of them - Asher was able to note the trajectory. He was firing a circle blast, which was meant to cut off all modes of escape. But Asher was not without his own tricks. Rather than attempt to dodge by traditional means, Asher simply ceased to be. ( Word Count Met: 366 )
When he appeared, on the other side of Gerrick - a few feet behind - he did so in a burst of Pyreflies, which steadily increased after just a moment's time. He Called to the Pyreflies. His feet lifted from the earth, which some might consider an advantage - higher ground and all that. Nevertheless, he would take advantage of this little trick, and press the attack. Hand pressed forward, and he didn't even need to murmur as the blue light shone outward - a Slow spell, meant to make sure that the dear boy wouldn't be able to keep up with him.
Not that he'd be able to now, considering Asher's multicolored aura. They shifted, and as he decided to truly rush forward, at Gerrick's rear, he did so with speeds that would remove him from the visible spectrum. This was no doubt the cause of magic - or at least something like magic. Rather than make it an easy dodge, like the last time, he focused on making this as difficult a maneuver as possible.
He figured that Gerrick's strength lied in his weapon, and by proxy, his weapon hand - Asher charged, dropping down, and bringing up his blade in a horizontal sweep, aimed directly at the gun-hand. More appropriately, the wrist that held the gun hand. As it seemed, for all his robust amusements and cheerful demeanor, he was not afraid in the least of maiming - or murdering - someone that was threatening him or his friends.
Further, much like the last time, at the exact point where blade would meet flesh, regardless of whether or not that was necessarily going to happen, he squeezed the trigger again, letting out a dangerous bark of destruction. A bark that spat out another metal slug, just as dangerous and powerful as it had been the last time. He was faster, now, than he had been before, and Gerrick would be slower - how on earth would he get out of this particular mire of doom? Correct answer? He wouldn't.
( Word Count: 714 - 4, 710 Thread Word Count: 3573 Note: Call Pyreflies [ Rank 2, Support ]
Asher increases the amount of Pyreflies he is able to call forth from the Farplane, regardless of his location. The Pyreflies grant him 4 turns of Shell, Protect, Haste, Float, and Regen. This cannot be cancelled, or Dispelled, as the Pyreflies are the ones 'casting'. Can only be used once in combat, but may be used as often as one likes out of combat, to no real effect. When summoned, they cast Esuna on him. )
To say Gerrick was surprised when the monkey boy dodged all of his attacks would be lying. You could almost say, judging by the look of indifference on his face, that he was expecting it. However, he obviously wasn't at all, judging my the fact that he was now almost missing his entire right hand. Wincing in pain, Sanguinis dropped from his useless hand and clattered onto the ground.
Gerrick instinctively leapt back and scooped up his gun, mumbling the incantation for Drain as he did so. The spell went off and it's long red tendrils latched onto the Genome, sucking out his life force and feeding it into Gerrick.{Auto Hit Used} The torn skin and membranes reattached themselves as Gerrick ran, allowing himself to grab Sanguinis with his dominant right hand again. It still hurt an awful lot to hold, as the Drain spell didn't fix his hand entirely (as could be told from the tendons and muscle still visible, as well as the large amount of blood still falling from his mostly open wound), but he could still fire it well enough.
Turning on his heel, Gerrick began to run in the opposite direction from the kid while he was still dazed from his Drain spell. He didn't want to run, that was for sure- but the sounds of speeding cars coming up meant that SeeD was going to be in the city in seconds. He would have to settle the score with the little monkey boy later. Getting captured by SeeD was not high on his to-do list, as there wasn't very much he could accomplish inside of a jail cell. Not that a cell could hold him for very long, but the time spent in the cell, no matter how short, could cause problems. Every second counts when you're devoting all of your time to revenge and destruction.
He reached a wall on the far end of the city in a few moments, pausing only to look over his shoulder at the glowing monkey kid (when the hell did he start goddamn glowing?!) before raising Sanguinis and firing his Release technique, blasting a hole through the wall, which he immediately ducked through, turned around and blasted at a section of the wall above the one he fired through, filling the hole with rubble.
Gerrick ran through the open plain until he reached a small forest, where he immediately located the nearest bear and cast a Drain spell on it, finally closing up the wound in his hand. After that, he continued running, cursing under his breath the entire time.
"Just you wait, Asher... You'll rue the day you ever heard the name Gerrick! I can't wait to hear you scream to your false gods..."
Gerrick's conversation with himself continued much like this for a very, very long time.
Word Count: 486 - 3 = 483 Thread Total: 2155
{GERRICK'S EXIT}
((I'm sorry I ended this so quickly. We'll definitely have another fight shortly(if you can't tell XD) ))
