Journeys of a Samurai - More roleplaying!

[BryanFJ]

*Hey all! Now that I've gotten my chibi, and the other roleplaying threads are looooooooong, I decided to start one of my own! It will follow the journeys of my character, Takao Kinoshita (or Kinoshita Takao if you're going by Japanese custom), a samurai and video gamer elite, in his journeys to find someone to match him in combat, digital or otherwise.

Note: I myself am not actually a samurai fanatic, so if anyone here is and I get some minor details wrong, don't kill me over it :P
-----

Takao's sandals left faint prints in the grass as he ascended the hill. He paused at the summit and gazed up at the mountain range that loomed before him. The wind whipped through the grass and his wispy hair danced with each gust. Clouds blotted out the sunset at his back, and he knew that soon they would be upon him. He breathed deeply as he waited for his game of Metroid Fusion to save completely on his GBA, pocketed it, and surveyed his surroundings. He was only an hour or so off from the mountains, which would take at least a day to cross. He knew that if he started his trek through them, the storm would surely catch up, a prospect he disliked.

"Well, I've only got 44% of the items in Metroid Fusion," he mused, "and I'm almost to the end. I guess staying here for a while and waiting out the storm wouldn't be the worst of ideas." He thought for a moment, and then dropped his pack, opened it, and started to set up the shelter. "I also need to finish Resident Evil Zero on hard," he added as he unpacked his GameCube with portable screen. "And if the storm is really long," he chuckled, "I still have my PSOne I can replay a bunch of games on." He smiled as the rain finally started to trickle down from the sky. "Not to mention that sword kata in the rain are great fun," he said to himself as he ducked inside the finished shelter.

--

The sound of the thunderstorm was incredible. The rain beat down on the roof of the shelter, and thunder seemed to shake the very ground in an endless tide as lightning flashes illuminated the sky one after another. But he still knew. He didn't hear it. He felt it. Something was out there. And it knew he was in here. It was close. The feeling had awoken him in a cold sweat, and he had instinctively reached for his katana. Now, slowly, quietly, he crept out of the shelter and let his keen eyes peer through the dark and the downpour as best as they could. It was pitch black, but he was going on instinct.

And it served him well.

He rolled forward just in time, dodging an unseen attack as it whizzed over his head. His long ponytail and red trenchcoat billowed out behind him as he sprung up into a twist flip and landed facing his invisible enemy, sword at the ready. Whatever his opponent was glared back at him with glowing yellow eyes that pierced him to his very soul.

--Bryan

[Reverend]

Perhaps it was fate that had caused Airus Origen, more commonly known as Reverend, to be awakened from his meditations. He couldn't explain it, as the sound of rain hitting his tent had never drawn his focus from his work or quieting the two voices that begged, pleaded, and threatened him to release them. "You can't get me to say yes you know," he said to himself. "As long as I have my pendant, I control you two." Reverend reached down to feel the smooth edges of this four pornged star...

Only to find it missing!

Instantly, he began to hear them, Aftershock and Surbifeh, fighting to take control of him; Reverend began to shake, his breathing became erratic, and he felt as if he was being ripped in two. In frustration, he let out an ear piercing scream, one of shear fear and loathing for what would happen next.

...

Free am I, free to run wild, to hunt, to kill.

I am chaos exemplified, I am a destroyer, I want blood.

What this? One alone? He is armed, but easy kill.

He will be mine.

With that, a Surbifeh possessed Reverend lunged at the trenchcoated figure only to miss. Surbifeh hunched over on all fours, like an animal ready to move in any direction. He snarled, and with that, charged his prey head on.

[BryanFJ]

Takao was startled by the suddeness of the attack, even though he had sensed his unknown enemy's muscles move in time to give him an opportunity to leap clear of the charge. But something held him in place, transfixed.

Those eyes...

An inhuman snarl snapped him back to reality just in time to steady himself for the impact as he was bowled over by the aggressor. A quick series of lightning flashes lit up the two locked in combat just long enough for Takao to see what exactly his opponent was.

It was a man! A man in torn priest robes!

A possession?

Takao, however, had no time to think as the figure raised a large mace over his head. Reacting, he grabbed the priest's arm as the mace swung down and used its own momentum to topple him to the side. Now free, Takao gave a quick parting slash, which merely grazed the priest's robes, with his katana as he rolled back and handsprung up to his feet. The priest had already gotten up and was staring back at him.

Possession or not, Takao thought to himself, this man is trying to kill me. I will do all I can to not do the same, but... if it comes to that... then I will do what I must.

As if to punctuate his thoughts, the priest wailed and leapt at him again. This time, Takao did not hesitate, and stabbed forward with his katana, aiming for the man's chest, and hitting square on. The blade pierced air, and nothing else. Takao's eyes widened as the illusion faded from in front of him and he felt a presence behind him.

Too cocky for my own good, Takao thought as he turned to move his vital body parts out of harm's way. The mace hit him on an upswing in the hip, sending him flying into his own tent, where he landed with a crash, toppling the supports and bringing the canvas down over his belongings. Knowing that the priest would soon be upon him, he quickly shook his head of the daze that gripped him and staggered to his feet, clenching his teeth against the pain. His hip was surely broken; he could feel that much. Would he be a match at all for his strange man, now? He moved away from his tent as the priest charged him again and tried to parry a crushing downswing of the man's mace. He caught the strike on his katana, but was unable to support the weight of the blow with his broken hip, and the strike flung him into the ground hard, knocking Takao breathless. Grasping at straws, he pushed himself forward and aimed a kick at where he hoped the priest's knee was, hoping to cripple him. He missed knee, but heard a solid crack as his kick impacted on the man's shin, sending him toppling to the ground.

What? That shouldn't have knocked him down.

Takao quickly got back to his feet, coughing and trying to fill his empty lungs with air. The priest was down on the ground and not moving. Was this a trap? Takao carefully approached the man, sword poised to strike given any provocation. The priest's eyes snapped open, but this time they were not glowing yellow -- they were normal. The priest opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly seemed to be wracked by a series of convulsions. Takao watched incredulously as he floated off the ground a few inches, and then a few feet, before finally exhaling and falling back down with a thud. A few moments passed, and then the priest once again opened his eyes, which were again missing the piercing yellow glow from before. He opened his mouth again, and this time words came out.

"Stop me--" he begged.

Takao was silent.

"Knock me unconscious, kill me, do what you must," the preist continuted, "but don't let him free...!"

"Don't let who free?" Takao asked.

"The one you fought."

"But..." Takao said, confused, "I fought you."

The priest opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly seemed to be drained of all energy. "I shall... keep him in check... for as long as I can..." he whispered. "Four... pronged... star..."

...

And then all Takao could hear was the patter of raindrops on the ground.

[Reverend]

"I must have the worst headache ever" was the first thought to cross Rev's mind; that was until he suddenly remembered what had happened last night after his pendant turned up missing.

He sat straight up, but soon found a jag of pain course up his leg. He looked down to see the shin splinted, bandaged, and packed with cold earth around it to cool swelling. "Oh god, what did I do last night? HOw did I get here? Who took care of me?" As if to answer those questions, a face ducked underneath the lean-to, appearing to be a samurai wearing a red trenchcoat.

"So you're up finally?"

"Yeah...uh, who are you?"

"The guy whose head you almost collected with that mace or yours last night"

"Oh my! Are you all right? I'm so sorry, I-" Reverend looked down as if he'd cry right there. "...I couldn't control him. He seized an opportunity to exploit my weakness, and took over."

Reverend looked up to the gaze of his benefactor and almost prey "I need my pendant, it's what keeps them under my control. Without it, there's no way to tell what will happen next."

"Please help me find it! That's the only way to keep everyone safe!"

[Therin]

OOC: Nice intros, both of you! I'm wondering...Is this event seperate from the other quests, specifically Black Forest, and if it is, is it before or after? It seems like it shouldn't matter, I know, but if you've read black forest up till now, you'll know that my character has split into two characters...so basically, should I use the two-man version or the one-man version? I won't interfere with your character's duels, either way, unless you ask for help.

[BryanFJ]

*I haven't really read the Black Forest thread, since I wasn't able to post in the Battle section until now, not to mention the thing is 20+ pages long :P For continuity's sake, let's say these events take place after the Black Forest thread, so you can use the two different characters. Also, feel free to jump in whenever if you want to and see an opportunity, as long as it wouldn't seem contrived or forced. Now, back to the show! :D

-----

Takao breathed deeply to mask his frustration and sat down next to the strange man in priest's robes. "Look," he began, "you're going to need to tell me who this mysterious 'he' is that you keep referring to, and convince me as to why I should help you control him."

"Not just one, there's two... two spirits," the man explained. "It's a long story... I..."

"Alright, alright," Takao interrupted. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Two spirits, good and evil, right? You control them with your pendant."

"That's almost--"

"I'll help you find your pendant," Takao said.

"What? You will?"

"But I ask a price. After we find it, and you regain control of yourself..." Takao's eyes narrowed. "I want to fight you again."

"Fight me?"

"We didn't finish our fight. I haven't lost yet, and I want to see if you are finally the one who can best me. In physical combat, at least."

"Physical combat?" The priest looked confused. "What other--" he started, but was cut short by Takao as he pointed over to his collection of video game systems huddled beneath the canvas of the lean-to.

"No one has bested me in digital combat yet, either."

The priest suppressed a smile, then a laugh, and failed at both. Takao seemed unfazed by his laughter. "All right, Samurai Jack, you've got yourself a deal."

"Who is this 'Samurai Jack'?"

"He's-- oh, never mind." The priest rose to his feet, favouring his splinted shin, and extended his hand. "My name is Airus Origen. I go by 'Reverend'."

Takao stood and bowed, then took Airus' hand. "I am Kinoshita Takao," he said. Then added, with a smirk, "unless we're playing video games. Then you have to call me 'The Sensei'."

Airus chuckled and nodded his head. "Very well, Kinoshita-san, I can handle that."

"Good." Takao looked up at the cloudy sky. "The rain is stopping soon, and we'll be able to pass over the mountains. Maybe we'll find some answers as to who stole your pendant, and why." Then he looked back down at Airus, and his gaze turned to stone. "One more thing, though," he said sternly. "If you lose control again, I may be forced to kill you. Are you all right with this?"

Airus slowly nodded. "If it comes to that," he replied.

"Good. We'll rest for now, and set off tomorrow at dawn."

[Therin]

OOC: well, I've started to story-ize it in fanworks, if you want to go read that...I think I'm gonna put chapter 2 up today...all that aside, though, here I come!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"gaaaaaaaAAAAAAA-!!!" Someone slammed into the side of the tent, ripping it aside by sheer force of momentum. "-AAAAAAA-ouff!!" Together, tent and person then slammed into a tree a couple yards away and fell to the ground. "Aw c'mon, Pop! You promised you wouldn't do that!" yelled the person-infested tent as it squirmed to seperate itself.

"But I couldn't just let you win, now could I?" yelled another voice, "Oh! Whoops!" As he saw the destruction, Lews Therin tried to apologize, "Sorry about that. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Dad, aside from being tangled in a large tent, I'm compl-"

"Not you, fool, the two whose tent you happen to be playing around in!" With that, the tent jumped up into the air with muted cries of "Hey!" and "Put me down!", quickly straightened out amidst more of the same, and suddenly flipped over, dumping a red-faced and disgruntled Damion out onto the ground, followed by his caltaka. "Terribly sorry," Said Lews Therin as the tent reshaped itself and settled down over the two would be sleepers. He entered. "I tend to get carried away sometimes. Hope you're all ok. I'm Lews Therin Mythral, and the boy out there is my son, Damion." Outside, the three could hear Damion grumbling to himself.

"...Bloody Father and his bloody magic..."

[Sperrit]

*Sperrit paused in midstep, his eyes open and searching, as if seeing things that only he could see, a different sense than could be easily precieved*
"Do you sense that Gira?"
*the small blue bird on his shoulder nodded an affirmative*
"Something terrible has awoken. Something... evil. Perhaps this is the lead we've been looking for all this time. Perhaps they didn't really disappear into thin air like we thought."
*Sperrit leapted into a waiting tree branch and kept leaping up until his head poked out from the top of the forest canopy. The view was breath taking. Forest for miles, full of life, and in the distance were blue tinted mountains. It was from those mountains that Sperrit sensed the disturbance. He was just pinning down the exact location when the terrible energy suddenly ceased to be. Sperrit jerked with surprise and looked at Gira, who had settled on his shoulder some time ago*
"It's gone... but it's not too late, Gira. I've got it located to a few miles. With any luck we should be able to get to that point and track it to wherever it went. This intrigues me, though.... An energy signal that comes violently to life and then just as suddenly vanishes. This might be what we've been looking for. Let's go!"
*Sperrit jumps off the branch and lands gently on the forest floor, despite the fact that he must have fallen at least 100 feet. Gira flutters down to him a few seconds later*
"Alright. Now we'll see where this leads us. Maybe this time we can finish this quest."
*The two begin to travel towards the mountains*

[Reverend]

Reverend tasted blood inside his mouth as he realized the sudden interuption by this new person had made him bite down on his cheek.

His leg wasn't feeling that better either

Takao turned towards Reverend, and began to sheathe his katana. "Seeing as you seem to be adept at magics, any chance you can heal this guy up?"

"Is that all?" Therin seemed a disheartened, "I was hoping for a challenge" With a flick of his hand, a glow encircled Reverend, healing all physical ailments he was suffering.

Reverend stood and tested the leg, removing the splint. "It's as good as new; thanks for the help sir, as I'm not in a good situation to-"

"Look, just tell us what the hell you're doing out here anyway." Damion's interuption earned a withering stare from both his father and Takao, and despite Damions' bravery no one can stand to such a sight.

"You'll have to excuse my son" Therin stated. "As strong as he is, he's yet to master the art of Tact."

This quote earned an appreciative grunt from Takao, and a hearty chuckle from Reverend, who in turn layed out the events as he remembered they transpired. He began with his unwanted hosting of the spirits of Order and Chaos, his pendant and it's subsequent loss, and what he had almost done to Takao.

"And now you need to find this pendant to keep you in command of your unwanted guests" Therin mused. "An interesting predicament you're in."

Takao nodded, "that's why I'm helping him out."

"Among other reasons I guess?"

"That's my business alone" Takao replied, staring at Therin.

"Wait a minute, I'm lost here"

"Not the first time Damion" his father muttered.

Damion turned to Reverend, "why not expunge them from you? Y'know, like an exorcism."

His remarks caused Reverend to tense up, and look away from everyone else. "Because they'd be more of a danger released. They'd continue their private war without care for who got involved; so as long as they are sealed in me, they can't hurt anyone else."

"Oh" was all Damion could muster.

In the awkward silence that followed, it was Takao who spoke first. "We gain nothing by standing here, we need to act." He turned to Reverend, "where were you before attacking me?"

"At my camp, it shouldn't be too far from here actually"

"Then we can start there for any evidence of whose responsible" Damion replied.

"Right" said Therin, "and mayhap give us a lead to follow."

As the four unlikely comrades set off for Reverend's camp, they would not have spotted the little blue bird, who was now following them silently above...

[Sperrit]

*Sperrit was running with all his might, drawing Earth strength to sustain him, towards the place where he had felt the unleashing of the power, one thought in his mind:*
"I really hope Gira found whoever was up there. At this distance I can't keep in complete contact with her, but she's faster than I am, and as long as I keep getting closer to her, the better chances I have. I'm not letting this one get away."
*He continued to run*