OOC: @LadyFoxfire: Welcome to the RP! Looking forward to seeing your posts~ c:
&& Sucks to hear about being sick. D; I hope you get better soon too!

OOC:

Just a quick post.

When i was talking about the rp to a friend of mine, he raised the suggestion of perhaps spelling my characters name as 'Wren' to avoid confusion with Reni and her nicknames.

The pronunciation is still the same, so as Violet Whirlwing suggested, there could still be some opportune moments of confusion among the characters, but the spelling alteration is there for avoiding confusion if Ren and Reni are in the same scene and Reni calls herself 'Ren' in her internal monologue.

What are everyone's thoughts?

EDIT:
Here's a ref for him, in-case anyone was curious. http://jimvalid.deviantart.com/art/The-Dark-Rabbit-Sketch-205377075

OOC:

OH GOD SHADOWLADY *glomphugs*

Seems like Kate's bringing loads of new people and oldbies back to the Guild. =D Go, Kate! Sorry to hear feeling a bit unwell though, SL. =(

Also that sounds good to me, James. Good idea indeed! Also that's some quality pictures, and his arms in particular look exactly as I imagined them to be, which goes to show just how strong both your writing and art is. Just wanted to clarify so I'm not confused, W/ren at the moment can only transmorgrify one of his arms into the mouths so far, right?

Also I just wanted to know what your inspiration for W/ren's face there was. Not saying that you copied it or anything, but it really really reminds me of something else and I just can't quite put my finger on it. Hmmmm...

The two hedgehogs came to a halt upon reaching Nathan and the others. They both slouched over partially, panting from the sprint. "Chaos," Reni said between breaths, "That's exactly, what happened. Chaos."

"The rhino guards from earlier," Glitch continued, panting as well, "burst into the diner room. Caused a real deal of mayhem..." Blood continued to drip off his brow like sweat, but the hedgehog ignored this completely.

"What do you, suppose we do now? We can't just keep running." Reni looked to Glitch's direction. "Glitch?"

"Huh. I guess we... Xell?" He looked behind him and immediately straightened his posture upon noticing the dragon's absence. He clenched his fist around the pan's handle, tightly - to the point that they shook madly. Without any further hesitation, the hedgehog darted off, cursing after every step. Blood trailed from his spines and shoes as he retraced his previous path back towards the inn.

"Where are you going!?" Reni cried out, "You--"

"I'm going back for the dragon. You guys can come along--or stay there if you want to--hell if I care. But I'm going back." With those words, he disappeared into the inn. "Can't let Xell snag all the fun to himself."

--
The entrance room was littered with bits of food, broken wood, and a completely dismantled rug; the diners had left the room in a mayhem, and apparently destroyed the floor in their flight. Glitch glanced to his left - the room Wraith had been placed in. The door was left wide open, and specks of blood could be seen drying in the doorway. Upon entering, Glitch kept his eyes focused on the bed's unkempt sheets, which were drenched with more blood. He approached it and swept a gloved finger across a miniscule puddle -- still wet. Had Wraith been injured?

Glitch darted back out, slowing to a stop once the dining hall was in sight. Straight ahead stood the cluster of the remaining rhinos, all bickering over who deserved what rewards. Some even began to shove one another back and forth, others bapped one another with their weapons in an effort to shut them up. Glitch kept close to a nearby wooden pole, almost completely out of sight from the guards. He peered back yet again and caught a glimpse of Xell and Zach -- both bounded. Wraith however was not visible from where he stood.

The hedgehog took a silent, deep breath before approaching the room once more, tiptoeing. Zach, catching sight of this, locked eyes with him. He mouthed, 'It's you! What're you--'

Glitch shushed him, keeping a low tone. He entered the dining room and crouched behind a toppled table, mindful of the splattered haggis below him. He peered over the table slightly to keep eye-contact with Zach. "Just chill," he whispered sharply, "Don't do--"

Glasses shattered from Wren's fall. Zach and Glitch instantaneously focused their attention on the two; the rhinos however were too preoccupied with their own debates to even hear the noises. Wren returned to his previous stance and braced himself from the lunging Wraith.

"So, sleeping beauty's up," Glitch commented under his breath, still eying the situation at hand. The fight dragged on and the two combatants continued to take hit after hit. "Wait... could it be that Frostbite...?" he stopped himself from finishing the question. Wraith was knocked back yet again, and Glitch managed to catch a glimpse of his eyes -- there were pupils. Red pupils. "That isn't Frostbite... but it isn't the kid either. 'the hell is going on here..."

OOC:

I'm not sure i've been in an rp with you before, shadowlady, but you've certainly stirred up some excitement, so i'm looking forward to your posts. Get well soon

Thanks for the compliments, Ash. With the arms, at the moment Wren (yeah i'm gonna use that name) has only morphed one at a time. To morph both would use much more of his internal reserves, so it's something he hasn't been using at this point in time. Perhaps later~?

As far as his face goes, I actually looked through a heap of images of different cartoon/game rabbit characters to get a feel for what I wanted to draw. It's like, I could see in my mind's eye what I wanted Wren's face to look like, but I couldn't get it right when I drew it. So I looked at a bunch of things, like Jazz Jackrabbit, Bugs Bunny, a character called 'Mia' from dot hack and even some various pieces of concept art for that 'controversial' Loonatics series. What I ended up drawing was an amalgamation of elements from each of these things. If there's anything out there that closely resembles what I've got, I wish i'd stumbled on it earlier, as it took me forever to figure out what I wanted to model Wren after!

OOC: I'm sure most you will already know by now if you've looked at some of the other topics across the forum, but for those of you haven't, this is just a little notice to say that the Mobius Forum will be moving boards at a soonish date to http://www.mobiusforum.net/ Usernames, posts, postcounts etc have all been transferred to the new site but your accounts will have a new password that you should all find via Yuku pm. Just use that to access your account and feel free to change the password to a new, easier to remember password.

There are a variety of benefits coming with the move but I shan't bore people by going into the specific details. Just wanted to post a note here so that we can and make sure that nobody gets lost or left behind as after we've moved the yuku board will be closed down bar for the Emerald Visitor Center subforum.

More information about the move can be found here http://sonichqcommunity.y...o-PHPBB-FAQ-Topic?page=1 If you have any questions or problems, such as not recieving your password via yuku pm then please, please post in that topic your concerns and the mods and admins will be able to respond to your inquiries as soon as possible.

This has been a delightful public service announcement by your wonderful host Pachamac! This announcement has not been paid or sponsored by the Mobius Forum administration. Thank you and good day!

OOC: Oh this is annoying. Do we have to move? What happens if we don't?
Don't mind me. I'm getting too old and cranky for change xD

Shadow Lady!! Can't wait to see ya xD If you need help facebook me or pm me. Woop woop.

Anyway, nice picture James. Commented on DA. Also approve of Wren as a name. *big thumbs up*

Thanks a million Ash. I did get some msg from LightHead about it but I ignored it >>;

OOC: As long as you didn't delete it >__> Otherwise you'll have to poke him for the password again.

OOC: Nope still got it. Ok then, I'll suss it out for myself and guide any other n00b's that suffer from the wrath of bureaucratic internet transfer.
Lol, more like they'll guide me though xP Still Shadow Lady has only just come and now this mumbo jumbo's going on

EDIT: Oh shot! Succeeded. Awesome. Now I can die happy. I mean... yeah, awesome woop woop.

OOC: Just a quick clarifier of where to keep posting for the time being, it'd still be here on this thread on this board for ease of convenience. Although the 'Mobius Forum' user is moving posts made on the new board to here as well in their relevant places for the time being until the move, it'd just make things tidier and less confusing if people just keep on posting here as they have. We'll all know when to begin starting posting on the new board, and not to fear, all of our previous posts made will all be transferred to the new board as well.

Just wanted to give everyone the heads up in advance so they don't get confused when the board does suddenly transfer and they'd all be going "What the dickins?! }:~O"

Also, SL, am I right in remembering your name is Kim? Do you mind if I call you that again? :3

Lani slips past Nathan and follows Glitch quickly back to the inn. She notes the missing Wraith and the disarray of the bed -- but something shiny catches her eye, a sliver of glass, covered in blood. She has no clue what it might be from, though. She tails Glitch back down and into the dining room, though she takes cover near the door, trusting that Glitch will be able to free the captive Xell and whoever the other person was. She keeps her eyes on the fight between the strange rabbit and Wraith, who in her assessment is acting a bit odd. The color of his eyes, for instance, were familiar, and looked a lot like Julien's....

A vision flashes through her mind, strange grey-green humanoid creatures with glowing crimson eyes, seeming to be a part of the mist they were emerging from....Lani has no idea what they were, but there was something decidedly /wrong/ about them. Just as there is something wrong about the blue hedgehog. She won't step in between Wraith and the rabbit until she has a little more information. Fortunately, her illusory disguise is something she can keep in place as long as she doesn't have to fight.

(OOC: FYI, I'm a little leery of the move myself, but...there's not really anything I can DO about it, so...Also, I think the name spelling change to Wren is a good idea...although I hate to be a pain and make you do that. XD; XD I knew his face looked familiar somehow...he DOES look kind of like a cross between Jazz Jackrabit (or maybe more accurately his little brother Spazz...who looks crazier) and like...Max from Sam and Max (Max IS the rabbit, right? I get the two confused. XD; ) ...or something. But he's enough different to not be considered copying I think. )

IC:

"Hey! The Rhino guards are still in there! You go back in there, you'll just get caught again! Ain't no way I'm goin' back in there...I'm staying right here...I'm..." She glanced behind her...there were eight more rhinos headed toward her..with evil in their eyes. Hastily, she started back to the inn. "Then again...No way I'm lettin' you boys have all the fun!" When did you turn into such a coward, Ren? She thought as she ran back into the inn. I ain't a coward! I just prefer the odds in there to those out here...Two against six is better than one against eight...Suuuure...you keep tellin yerself that, Ren...

TBC

(OOC: Meh post is meh. *shrug* )

LadyFoxfire posted

OOC: Hey, thanks for the warm welcome everyone! You guys can all call me whatever you want, Shadow Lady, SL, or Kim. Doesn't matter to me. :3 I'll be posting my intro soon... still have some reading to finish after all.

And what's this about moving? I just got here... D:

(Whatever it was, I didn't do it... I swear, lol)

[[ Just managed to archive all the RP posts that has been made up until this point. And would you know it, so far there has been 84 IC posts making up a whopping 78 pages on Word! And that's only counting the IC posts and resized to size 9.

Let me know if anyone wants one, since i can't post it here

Well done everybody, it's good to see the story having progress this far and we haven't even done Act 1-3 yet!

BTW, just so i'd point out that I have a really big post planned out, but for it to work I would require all remaining Rhinos who have captured Xell and Zach to be intact (as in, characters can still fight them to try "free" Xell or Zach, but they will fail) and the rhinos not escape from the inn. I hope this doesn't derail anyone's planned posts. IF it does, let me know.

Other characters not involved in the brawl can still continue "catching up" to the other characters in the meantime.

I don't plan to post my IC until the full forum has been confirmed to have moved to their new location, since right now i think everyone's in a state of confusion and it too has left me in a totally disoriented state and I am now very paranoid about posting it HERE, but if it's not going to be closed for another good few weeks then i thnik i'll still roll with it. ]]

...Happy Birthdaay~.

Shut up and eeat! Too bad, no bon appetiit!
Shut up and eeat!
You know my love is sweet.

Yes! I am cooking for my son anduh his wife. It's his thirtieth BIRTHDAY.
Pour. Berries. Into my bowl.

Add, milk, of two months ago!
"It's moldy, mom, isn't it?"
I DON'T GIVE A FLYING @#!@, THOUGH! ^_^

Shut up and eeat! Too bad, no bon apetiit!
Shut up and eeat! You know my love is sweet!!!
Shut up and eeat! Too bad, no bon apetiit!
Shut up and eeat! You know my love is sweet!!!

It's food nouveau.
It's food nouveau.
It's the shape of love... <3

Beat it!

Beat it up!

Beat it!

Beat it up!

extra Sugar!
extra Salt!
extra Oil and MSGE
E
E
!

extra Sugar!
extra Salt!
extra Oil and MSGE
E
E
!

Shut up and eeat! Too bad, no bon apetiit!
Shut up and eeat! You know my love is sweet!!!
Shut up and eeat! Too bad, no bon apetiit!
Shut up and eeat!
You know my love is sweet.

You were born in the 60's...! We made a war with the Vietnamese.
We loved LS! We died EASiLY!
Can we just say
c'est la vie?

So what? Say wha? For your own sake
Do you have a headache or a heartbreak?
Are you made or broken by the birthday ca
a
a
ke?
You may be slow on the uptake!
I pour pot in the Birthday cake.
So wha? Say what? For my own sake!

Watch out
YOOO...!

Here I come
YOOO...!
I'm gonna change to a rattlesnake! >

Turn up,
The TV. Do you agaree?
Yeah. I'm talking
TURKEY
take it from me...
I'm gonna show my love for my dove-
But it's moldy, Mom, isn't it? ; _ ;

...

EXTRA sugar! EXTRA salt! EXTRA OIL AND MSGE
E
E
!

EXTRA sugar! EXTRA salt! EXTRA OIL AND MSGE
E
E
!

Shut up and eeat!! Too bad, no bon apetiit!!
Shut up and eeat!! You know my love is sweet!!!
Shut up and eeat!! Too bad, no bon apetiit!!
Shut up and eeat!!
You know my love is VERY sweet...

[[ Please don't hesitate to post either here at http://sonichqcommunity.yku.com or at http://www.mobiusforum.net; they are the same message board and share the same posts. If you post here, your post will be copied there, and if you post there your post will be copied here. There is no reason to hesitate to post. ]]

OOC: Yeah, pretty much what MoFo said, just feel free to post as soon as your IC's ready, Ruby!

[[ Lo and behold, the big epic IC post that I had been planning since way back on post #47 is now up *dances and faints*. Took me 9 days of planning and 8 hours typing it all up. I know i tried to consult as many of you about your characters as i can for this post, I have tried to keep non-mine characters' involvements to the bare minimum so I can still allow you all to IC away on your own, but if you still think something's not right about it please let me know.

Also, slight graphic warning in the first part of the IC, but i have kept it to the bare minimum, to people who thrive to see graphic deaths of certain characters please refer to your imaginations instead ]]

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

Bard & Troll Inn, and its surroundings

Shortly after Serenity rushed back into the Inn after seeing yet another group of Rhinos approaching them; loud sounds of trumpets could be heard from the outside.

"Ha! They're finally here!" Said one of the Rhinos who were involved in the earlier brawl and capture of Xell and Zach. "Our finest hour!" said another. The whole group looked like excited kids hopping around, high-fived and patted each other.

---
"What's that?" Niume said; who stood up at the sounds of the trumpets and footsteps of increased loudness. "Whatever it maybe, it doesn't appear to be nice" Nathan said. He grabbed Niume's hand and walked around looking for a place to hide.
---

Back at the inn, the celebratory atmosphere of the Rhinos were brought to a sudden halt when one of the Rhino Troops, who was to be seen in a wholly formal outfit, clear from it that he served the Royal House.

"The Princess would like to meet you all by the Fountain at the Square". The Rhino Troop said in a totally formal fashion. Although he did not direct his words to anyone in particular, it was obvious enough to the Rhinos that it was directed solely for them. Very quickly and excitedly they made their way out of the inn, pushed everything in their paths, like tables and broken furniture, out of their way. At this moment they felt like they are the most invincible team in the country.

"Hey!" A voice could be heard chasing the group. "You're not going to take Xell away!". Glitch could be seen trying to "dive" at the rhinos, in an attempt to try "save" Xell. But only to be constantly pushed back by the Rhinos, "For a small kid like you, you sure talk BIG!" one of the rhinos mocked him. This further infuriated Glitch who continued to struggle until they're outside, but soon later he found himself pinned down by a rhino different to the one they just encountered. It was Exeter, who kept his foot on top of Glitch, very much liked how Danny did to him back in the Cave. "For "an insensitive jerk" who "killed his own sister", this is a rather odd behaviour coming from you!" He said to a slightly embarrassed but defiant Glitch.

Other protagonists tried to follow, but they were too kept back by more of Exeter's troops. Nathan and Niume remained in an Alley away from the scene and kept close observation at the current events.

From a very short walk from the inn, probably less than 30 seconds, can be seen the said square and the multi-layered fountain continuing to spray water from the middle. Here the mysterious Lady who have been working behind the curtains was now fully illuminated and identified under the street lamps [[ ]], flanked by Scar and Flint who acted like her own bodyguards. Behind her stood her army of Rhino troops and other Royal Soldiers consisting of almost more species than there are of soldiers present. Local Dwellers of this village also formed a huge arc behind the group, overtaken by their sheer sense of curiosity at what was about to take place, or what had brought Her Majesty here in the first place. While others could be heard scrambling back home and locking their doors and windows, as if they're expecting a war of some sort. This Margay Princess looked very angry, impatient and almost growled as the Rhinos cheerfully made their way with their "loot" to her.

"Y--your Highness...!" Ogre said while all bowed respectfully to her. "It's a please to see you ag--"

"Cut out that useless nonsense! I want none of it!" The Margay cutted Ogre off mid-sentence in total anger. This was enough to wipe the original cheer from the team as they were now facing an all-angry Princess. What made her in such a fury? But although they were curious, they felt it was more appropriate to just go about their business.

Ogre stood up, and brought his "prisoners" before The Margay Princess. "Your Highness, it is to our highest pleasure to present you our "hunt of the day"...!" Ogre continued yapping away at what happened, the teamwork involved and all that gobbledegook details which only served to bore the Margay Princess.

When they're finally done, Scar and Flint reached forward to examine the "prisoners" themselves: Scar took a good look into Xell's eyes, who looked back rather nervously due to the reactions Scar has on him. Scar quickly got up and turned away, allowed Flint to then examine the prisoners himself.

Flint stood beside Xell, a sense of rage emerging from within, "So... YOU're the one that is responsible for Danny... I guess it's payback time now!" Flint said, slightly emotionally, and gave Xell a good kick on the upper shoulder which made him tumble over onto the ground.

"FLINT!" The Margay Princess shouted at him, caused him to stop, look back at her apologetically before giving Xell yet another good glare and moved back to position. Xell responded with a glare of his own, too.

The troops carefully loaded Xell and Zach onto the Royal Carriage while the Rhinos continued to look nervous and excited at the Margay Princess, as if they were getting impatient at what they really wanted to ask her majesty. Eventually Claudius down the back could no longer stand it any longer and spoke out: "So... will we get any rewards or promotions since we... got you one of these "Wanted" fugitives??". This question startled the other rhinos, who although didn't want to bring up this topic so early, they could not help but all yelped "Yeah!" in agreement.

The Margay Princess nodded, as if she finally expected the expectable. She giggled at the suggestion Claudius brought up, turned around back facing the rhinos and summoned Flint to have a one-on-one confidential talk with him. Flint gave a what appeared to be two-minutes lecture "explaining" his opinions on the request Claudius brought up. Will she approve the reward? Or did she have other things in mind?

Flint eventually bowed and walked away from the Margay Princess while she continued in her pose trying to find a final verdict for it. She then lifted her arm, snapped her fingers and yelled "Execute!".

This order caused some of her troops to move forward, quickly encircled the rhinos, drawn their weapons out facing them. Before the Rhinos could react, the troops attacked them. In very short time they left with only Ogre barely alive and gasped as Flint drew out his sword and held it against his throat while stood on his chest to prevent any struggle.

"Y--- your highness!" He gasped. "W--what is this for??" He continued, as if it's his final attempt in begging for mercy.

"This is for you deserting your duties and causing the death of Her Majesty's own sister!" Flint said, and jagged his sword clear into his throat.

...........................

"C'mon, let's quickly get out of here!" The Margay Princess ordered while hopped back into the Royal Carriage in which Xell and Zach were brought into. Flint, Exeter and Scar quickly followed suit. The troops pushed the lay people aside to clear a path for the carriage to go, and many people bowed respectfully as it transversed through the village, out and into the deep night. As they slowly increased their distance from the village, Scar could see very faint spots emanating from the village near where they were just been, it appeared that the fight between Wraith and Wren was still ongoing and showed no sign of any abating. Scar knew, if they were to meet again in later scenes, there will be an intensive fight that he will need to make preparations for it, this somewhat excited and worried him a bit, but he quickly diverted his attention away, as if he didn't want this to bother him this early in the story.

---
"...goddamn it, they got Xell...!" Glitch uttered as he got up dusting himself off. He looked around at the remaining Protagonists, tried to figure out if any of them might have came up with any ideas at what needed to be done. Then he realised Lani's not present anymore. "H---hey! Where did Lani go??" He looked around. Nothing was to be seen of her.

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

Margay Princess's Castle

Xell slowly rose from his sleep - it had been a very long night and he had forgotten when he had actually slumped to deep sleep when he was carried with Zach away from the village. He tried to sit up but only to have had his head bump into what appeared to be a very short roof. Is he here already? The "Slave camp" that The Patriarch mentioned about, and that this is now the REAL beginning of it? Xell tried to rub his head, but realised his hands are now chained together.

Xell fully opened his eyes and looked around, it appeared to be a well-kept bedroom of some sort, something that some member of aristocracy live in. And himself? He's in a cage on the floor. Cage? Why a Cage? The Margay Princess wasn't planning to keep Xell as a "pet" now, was she??

The double door opened up to a maid first entering in, stepped aside, and bowed while the Margay Princess came in, in a more casual dress. She gestures the maid to depart after realising Xell had woken up.

"What do you want?" Xell said almost immediately, his sense of anger still fresh in his mind.

"Feisty little dragon for this time of the day, isn't it?" She replied, as if she had been expecting this sort of behaviour from him. "Don't you forget" she leaned down to him "you're here for a reason".

Xell thought about it for a brief moment, while the Margay Princess went aside to finish her morning routine and dress into her normal attire. "Don't worry." She said, once again turning to Xell. "I am sure you have had hectic lives before - today, i am going to show you how it feels to have peace"

Xell was left perplexed at what she was trying to imply, "peace"? What the hell was she talking about?

With a click, the cage roof lifted open and Xell climbed out of it, curiously looked at The Margay Princess while some guards came in, ready to guide the duo through.

The interior of the place was an impressively well built, well maintained castle, done with so well a craft that if left undisturbed will last millennia.

The main wall was lined with galleries of various artistic masterpieces, paintings, models, metalwork, statues and the like. Something which demonstrated the Margay Princess's interest as a patron of the arts - and a huge one at that. All of the stuff she has on exhibit appeared to be genuine craftwork of professional artists. There was one particular painting which caught his eye, though, but he was not able to get a closer view of it before been edged on by the guards telling him to hurry up.

The exterior of the Margay Princess's compound was even more impressive - beautiful gardens of various coloured flowers covered the ground like a natural painting, nearly kept ledges and pathways all lined before Xell's eyes. Butterflies of all forms and colours swarmed the gardens and chirps of morning birds were all that was to be heard. Some working Gardner even waved at the Princess who cheerfully waved back. Xell thought, is this really the "peace" she was referring to? It was never like anything he had experienced before, even in his previous life. He took a long, deep breath, trying to gather in the air that surrounds the compound. Whatever ill feelings he had towards the Margay seemed to have totally vanished.

The group walked to the centre of the garden where a open table with matching umbrella and chairs were to be seen. A working maid presented the Margay Princess with a tray of cookies. But she didn't felt like relaxing down to have a snack - she needed to continue touring Xell around. The Margay princess munched a cookie while took another one, while other guards who had been following the group and keeping watch on Xell also took the offer to dig into the snack, they looked very satisfied. Xell, on the other hand, reluctantly took a cookie, cautiously sniffed it and eventually bited it.

Outside of the compound they were presented with a equally featureless flat grass fields that seem to stretch much of the horizon, Xell was starting to let this new feeling sink in. But his enjoyments were cut short when, over a moderately tall ledge of roughly five metres, could be seen a lot of workers digging into the platform they're standing on, coming up with different sized rocks of all types and grades, carried them to mobile carts which were then carried off on fixed rails by other workers to unknown location. What would one need all these rocks for? Were they planning to build a Temple or a Monument or something? Or were they even planning to build a new Wonder Of The World?

There Xell noticed Zach, he has been assigned to work on the open Kitchen where he could be seen laboriously working away with other chefs preparing the workers' lunch. He appeared exhausted, but nothing out of ordinary for Chefs of that kind of magnitude, though. He doesn't appear to be under any stress, maybe perhaps he was used to it? They arrive at another location where the concentrations of workers were much less than the previous parts.

"...and here, Xell!" She boasted while took another bite of the cookie, "Will be where you'll be starting your---" her speech was cut off with Scar silently patting her shoulder. She turned around slightly disgusted with this distraction and faced Scar holding up a phone and pointing to it.

"Wait, what? "He" wants to speak to Xell?" The Margay Princess said in disbelief. "He sure knows how to ruin my fun!" She puffed her cheek. But Scar couldn't care less and walked off with Xell.

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

Julien's Domain - Raverwar fire palace

Back at the Underworld, where this story first opened. Nothing out of ordinary has happened since the brave protagonists took the challenge of redeeming themselves. Cracklings of the ever-burning flames and the roars of flying dragons were the only sounds that seem to repeat itself over and over and stretching the horizon and beyond.

The Patriarch of the Underworld, meanwhile, had been observing the events of last night with great concentration and enjoyment, as if he had been watching a live performance of a film in the comfort on his couch drinking a shot of Merlot Wine.

His enjoyment shot sky-high, though, when he saw Claudius capturing Xell and him being led off by the Margay Princess. "Well, well, so the dragon with great bravado and promise has fallen already?" He smirked and gulped down the remainder of his wine. "I guess he is, after all, all talk and no show". Although he does acknowledge the fact that he was the one that did the most compared to the other characters, namely carrying the at the time sleeping Wraith, gathering the characters into the inn and virtually acted as the "Leader" of the protagonists.

It was here that Julien decided that he would have a bit of "personal fun" with Xell himself too. He reached to his desk and grabbed his phone which had sat idly near the corner; dialled some numbers; waited; and said to the recipient: "Get Xell over here". *clunk*.

Roughly ten minutes later, by which Julien had already munched two bags of potato crisps waiting for them, Scar and Xell appeared through the vortex that Xell had stepped through back at the very beginning. Scar presented Xell to Julien, who simply looked at Xell with a very large grin of "Who's the daddy now?". Xell on the other hand, just stared right back at him with the nervousness and disbelief only matched by when he looked at Scar.

Although Scar is not one who shows any sort of expression or reaction, Julien still thought that it would be better off if he could have a more "personal" talk with Xell. He signalled Scar to leave his office. Scar bowed respectfully, turned and took his leave, remembered to shut the doors after him.

Julien stood up, walked to Xell, looked down to him, and said: "Son, I am disappoint!"

---

Scar calmly walked down the passage out from Julien's office and there he saw a familiar Black Knight standing at the exit. His mere presence made his very uncomfortable - his very first public expression since appearance. He had dealt with his childish behaviour since starting his service for the Patriarch, and never in his life thought would he need to face him off once again so soon. Scar simply signed in disbelief and continued his way, ready to face whatever junk this Black Knight wants to throw at him this time.

As expected, this Black Knight blocked Scar's exit when he reached him, and whatever Scar do, he would do similar actions to prevent him any other attempts to pass him.

"What do you want this time, Jacob?!" Scar looked him impatiently with this question in his very exhausted expression.

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

[[ Basically, at this point there will be 4 places which everyone else can continue the RP:

> Glitch, Nathan, Reni, Niume after the Margay departed and wondering where the hell Lani disappeared to. (There's still a small timegap between then the Margay Lady departed and when they returned to her base, so there's a place for you to IC) Ken is still MIA
> Wren and Wraith, who are still fighting away
> Julian lecturing Xell (that's for Bentleee)
> Jacob and Scar showdown (that's for Nocturne)

I hope this doesn't cause too much problem for lot of you ^^;

Note: My Margay princess still doesn't have a permanent name yet *noes*

Anyone left confused at the random theme and the whole purpose of Part 2, it’s something I came up randomely and Bentleee approved it, so its implications will come clear later ]]

OOC: No problems if posts are long or short, really. =O It's all about the quality of content, not the quantity.

Also! If anyone wants to discuss any parts or plans for this rp or pretty much anything in general over msn/live messenger, my email address is pachamac0@hotmail.com. If not, well, I won't be offended.

Also, Vi, I wasn't aware Serenity had any superspeed. Sorry about that, but we can always chalk it up to her being tired, limited by the trial or maybe loosing her superspeed? It sounds like an interesting sideplot.

IC:

Road to Margay Princess' Castle

"Thank you very much, miss," Nathan replied. He had of course been unsure as to the siamese cats' intentions. A quick scan of his phone's photo contents showed no records of her, so she was a new face. Then again, however, her actions so far seemed genuine enough, and he didn't even really know the rest of his companions very well. Well, it wasn't surprising since what he did learn would quickly be forgotten, but even then his notes on the individuals suggested that many of the other members of their group had vaguely good intentions towards him. He couldn't say he could easily feel comfortable with any of them. Except for maybe Lani, who's note suggested she was a nice person but was oddly missing, or the magician girl he had befriended a short while ago, Niume.

Nathan took a seat upon the horse that Hikari had gotten for him, after helping lift Serenity onto hers. She was still wiping off some of the mud and dirt that had covered her in her collapse.

"Don't feel embarassed, Serenity. It is getting very late, and I believe it's been a long day for us all...?" Nathan said, taking note of the darkening night sky above them. He had managed to work out a rough guideline of the time in which they'd be participating in the trial by taking note of the timestamps of his notes and photos.

The low battery warning was beginning to concern him, however, but he decided to keep that information to himself.

Nathan turned to Hikari. "Hello there, my name is Nathan. I take it we haven't met before?"

Hikari gave the salamander an odd look. It seemed like such a silly question. "...no?"

"Oh, okay. Just so you know, I have a condition called anterograde amnesia, which means I can't make new memories. Every so often, I'll forget everything that's just occured to me, so please forgive me if I say or do anything odd. And forgive me if I end up explaining this again at any time."

Hikari wasn't filled with much confidence by the salamander's elaboration.

"And this lady here is, I believe, called Serenity?" Nathan introduced his hedgehog companion. Serenity just responded with an affirmative, as if that was obvious.

"Okay then, we're all introduced." Nathan nodded to himself, smiling. But then his look turned to one of concern, as he looked towards the siamese cat, Hikari, again. "I, er, don't suppose you know where we're suppose to be going, do you?"

Inn Mess Hall

Glitch pounded the wooden floor as he rose to his feet, nearly stumbling back. He heaved heavily, clutching his stomach where Wraith had previously attacked him. Sweat—blood—continued to drip down his face. He eyed the scene, especially scrutinizing every inch of Wraith’s face. His eyes seemed to have reverted back to their normal color… but…

“No… Goddamn it, I’m too late!”

Wraith’s body shuddered madly. He choked. Help! Help, someone—anyone—what’s happening to me!? His mind screamed over and over again in trepidation, but not a word escaped his lips. He began to gag, his cerulean fur continuing to fade…

“It’s over,” Wren remarked a final time.

Not yet… Wraith’s eyes darted left and right, words and thoughts of all sorts parading through his head nonstop. What could he do? There must be something, he can’t die here, there has to be something, not dying, not dying, dying, dying, something he could—

Wren’s eyes widened. Wraith arms lifted with ease and softly clasped the transmogrified arm before him. A snake-like tongue slid from between the Wraith’s growing fangs. “Peekaboo,” a sinister voice slithered from his mouth.

Before Wren could even grasp the turn of events, Wraith forced him back, however the rabbit maintained his stance, his morphed arm still snapping at the hedgehog before him. “Now what!?”

Wraith took one step forward – and Wren, one step back. The hedgehog giggled. “You’re funny.” His eyes were now completely white at this point, pupil-less. “You’re… really funny!” he continued, almost stuttering, “So you take and consume the souls of others, d-do you? I see… your trick… what you do to… We’re the same… the same, you see! It’s just… I’m… you’re…”

The hedgehog smiled widely now, boasting his collection of newly-formed disarrayed fangs. “You’re just soooo funny! I like you!”

Wren bit his lip at this. Was the hedgehog being possessed by yet another creature? His body's being tossed around like a ragdoll! What type of powers would this one—

Shadows began to gather about Wraith’s fingers, morphing, elongating, hardening into a velvety obsidian-like structure. He twisted his head slowly, towards the direction Glitch stood. His jaw then split open completely, larger than Wren’s mutated arm’s, and he turned back to Wren in a swift motion. “Sorry, bunny-bunny! I have a new plaything now! Maybe later!”

Wraith clawed at the rabbit, who managed to bounce back in time, completely avoiding the swipe. Immediately afterwards, the hedgehog pranced towards Glitch and slowed to a walk once he was nearer. He held up his shadow claw, as if to beckon Glitch into a fight, still retaining his wicked smile. His tongue lashed the air, splattering saliva all over the reddened hedgehog before him. Glitch merely spat at Wraith in response, who stepped aside in time.

“It’s been a while, Frostbite,” Glitch said.

“Glitchie, oh Glitchie! I didn’t think I’d see you again!”

“You still having fun in there?”

“Fun! Oh—but this body isn’t nearly as sturdy as…”

Glitch swiped a bowl of haggis off a standing table nearby him towards Wraith, who again dodged it accordingly. He ran back alongside the wall, scouring every inch for a weapon of any sort. Wraith, completely ignoring his previous battle with Wren, charged after Glitch, gaining speed with every passing second, merely hindered by the obstacles tossed about throughout the brawl. Whatever wounds scattered across the weakened body began to seal. His body slowly regained color as he chased after his victim, with his nasty tongue lolling out.

Gavin’s severed head was within Glitch’s sight. Glitch ran further, leaping over whatever lingered in the way, attempting to gain more speed. Eventually he passed by the rest of Gavin’s body, and the lance clenched within his fist. Glitch skidded to a halt and dove after it, sliding it right from the carcass’s fingers.

Wraith laughed at this, “Oh—oh! So you’re going to fight back now! Heeeee, this should be great!”

Glitch prepared himself, looking to Wren in the distance – whether it was to check on what he was doing or to call for help was unclear – before focusing all his attention on Wraith. “Well. You’re not gonna get me without a fight.” His fingers drummed along the lance's handle. If I could draw this out long enough...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OOC: Just for reference~ Frostbite’s got the power of vasoconstriction; when he comes out, he can seal the wounds of his hosts. His weaknesses though are that he cannot be out too long (I think… what, five minutes tops? Less if he gets hurt while he’s active?) and that if his host dies while he’s inside them, he dies as well. If he’s to transfer to a different host, the newer host needs to be weakened, to the point where it’s difficult to fight him off. Like Pokemon. (;

…and to clear up things, I am a girl, lol.

Btw, for anyone else who has MSN and hasn’t added me yet: rexcalibur@live.com

((Just so people are aware, Lani's going to be MIA for a little bit. ^.^ she'll show up again, no worries!))

Rexcalibur wrote:…and to clear up things, I am a girl, lol.

OOC:
I wonder what made you want to clear that up @_@;;;

Awesome post, btw. Frosty's a really fun character! =D

My people love their psychotic characters xD

[[ and my msn is rubycored [squiggley thingy] gmail [period] com, if anyone wants mine

and i'm a male ]]

Road to Margay princess' castle

Kari blinked at Nathan's explanation of his condition, looking somewhat perplexed but simply taking it in stride. She had seen a lot of bizarre things since she had arrived in the Patriarch's domain, and while the salamander's condition was inconvenient it was by no means insurmountable. And with that, the she-cat turned her attention to his question.

"Your friends were taken to the castle of the Margay princess, to be used as her slaves. I know how to get there, but as to how exactly we will free them I am not sure. Once we have surveyed the grounds we can form a plan," She finished, edging her horse forward. "But now we must leave if we are to be of any help to them at all!"

So saying this, Hikari made sure her two companions were safely astride their mounts before digging her heels into her own beast. The horse leaped forward with another whinny, closely followed by Serenity's and Nathan's horses. All three combatants galloped onward down the dirt path with great urgency, occasionally looking up to gauge the darkening sky as they went. Although Hikari knew that the darkness would help them in their mission to save the others, she also knew that it would all be for naught if they did not get a good look at the castle grounds before night fell completely.

They could not afford to wait...

OOC: I'm sure everyone knows I am a girl. A chica. A dudette. An' all that jazz. =D But yeah, if anyone wants to reach me too I can be found at kaysco102@gmail.com. I'm not on a lot at the moment but I'm trying to change that.

OOC:
Julien is such a creep but ya gotta love him for it all the same, haha

That's what I like to hear Kim Kim xD
And what's with the gender declaration? I'm sure everyone knows I am a girl. I've been confused for a guy online in the past I guess.

Lyrics taken from VAC's 'The hand'.

Kim. Will introduce that OC we spoke of soon now . Next time I post. Will intergrate as mappropriate to your next postings naturally.

IC:

Infested your intervention of hate
Scrape at the walls, try to escape
Nothing hears, nothing hears
She beauty of life is slowly sinking in
Sinking in

Wraith hunched his back in a predatory-like manner as he eyed Glitch clutching a lance single-handedly.

“Heh,” Frostbyte cackled “so it has come to this huh?”

The cerulean hedgehog straightened his stance and flexed his shadow-like elongated claws as if to accentuate his powerful disposition.

Wren stood back, his arm that had resumed its normal morphology by now as he leaned against one of the dining tables. Panting as the blood he coughed up earlier dripped down his chin and speckled the white table cloths. He narrowed his eyes wearily and murmured with annoyance.

Had his situation not been all that dire, he woud’ve gladly have aspirated both of those hedgehogs’ souls. As it was, however, his long-drawn-out battle with Wraith had come to nothing and as it was- his newly synthesized body since starting this trial had been subjected to nothing but wear, tear and brutality.

In his weakened and famished state of mind, he searched the room hungrily- wondering if folk from the aftermath of the brawl would be courteous enough to die for him.

“You said ya’self that hedgehog’s body wasn’t as hard-core as mine,” Glitch uttered in a lukewarm voice, his efforts concentrated on the cerulean nemesis ahead of him “especially after that fight with mother nature’s freakshow? You’re possessing a creature on borrowed time…”

“Stop boring me to death!!!” Wraith roared like an angry dragon, leaping off the floor and lunging towards Glitch. In a flurry of rapid actions, Wraith found himself trying to attack Glitch from practically every angle mid-air but instead found he was smoothly counteracted with the lance smacking the soles of his shoes at every opportunity every time he tried to invade.

Wraith eventually soared away in mid-air away from the white hedgehog and he landed with his back to Glitch, his back bent in a brooding like manner as he regathered his strength. By now the fighting adversaries found they were standing outside the kitchen type area that gave way to the dining hall.

It was then that Wraith, with his back to Glitch, bent down slightly and extended a shadow like arm to retrieve a metallic object of some sort.

“What are you-“ Glitch began leaning on his tip toes to try and gain a better view-

“What the…?!”
As Glitch tried to roll over to one side as a flying projectile came soaring in his direction, he cried out as a spiralling butcher’s knife gashed the side of his cheek and sawed the lance in half.

The white hedgehog consequently tumbled to the ground, holding but two halves of the lances in his hand.

“Besmirched creature…” Wraith’s normal voice resumed through in a lower octave tone as he jumped in and swiped the lance pieces out of Glitch’s grasp and lifted up towards the air by the collar.
Taking it from here? I’ll get you back for that Wretch…

As Glitch stared back at Wraith, he could see his dominant white eyes.

“Why bother fighting back. Why bother?” Wraith smiled coldly, and used one of his hands to wipe Glitch’s cheek “aw you got a gash.”

“Shut up!” Glitch reactively slapped Wraith single handedly, causing him to drop Glitch to the ground which gave him the opportunity to roll forwards and pick himself up again. Resuming a fighter’s stance behind Wraith.

Wraith guarded his smacked cheek, even though the blow was nothing compared to other attacks inflicted on him earlier on today. He turned around and faced Glitch with a frown on his face, his frosty eyes an unnatural flaring green colour which contrasted greatly against his midnight blue fur.

Oh oh, he slapped you. Kukukukuku. Some ‘friends’ you have.’

“Don’t bluff me Frostbyte, I know you’re still in his head!” Glitch pointed at Wraith accusingly.

He just called you insane. You do know that right?

“So what if he is?” Wraith said, licking the bloodied finger he’d sampled off Glitch’s cheek “heh.”

“Ohhhh what?!? For &%^*’s sake! Listen to yourself!” Glitch spat at his naivety “if I knew you had no symp pal, I would’ve wrenched your sorry self from Xell and asphyxiated you on the spot!”
Wraith was unfazed, but narrowed his eyes nonetheless as he simply studied what the defiant, cranky hedgehog had to say.

Don’t waste your time listening to him. Kill him.

“If you can hear me Wraith, I think you and I both know you’re being exploited. I know what it’s like rookie, I’ve been there and done that for the last 20 god dammed years,” Glitch explained, his tone less passively aggressive in spite of the fact that his main motive was to draw out time.

He loves me really

“Why would you care about my well-being then old man?” Wraith hissed, hunching his shoulders “if you really are just scared about a stupid parasite like that then you should’ve stayed out of my way…”

With that, Wraith came rushing in with a rageful fist towards Glitch’s face…

“I’ll be dammed if I do that, juvenile trash!!!” Glitch shouted and scowled, grabbing Wraith’s fist with a single grasp and diverting his motion to one harshly but without knocking him over.

“I’ve had that thing in my head before and killed masses beyond my control!!! People and places f&*^%d up before my eyes! I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let it happen again punk!!!”

“So just what IS the verdict old man!” Wraith spoke softly, before launching into a sudden frenzy of split second quick attacks.

The cascade of kicks, punches and swipes Glitch off guard. He found himself wincing, and throbbing with sharp shooting pain as Wraith pummelled him down the hallway.

The cloaked hedgehog fell to the ground with his eyes screwed shut in agony.

Wow, you sure showed him. Heh

Wraith once again picked him and stared at him in a condescending manner with narrowed eyes.

“…guh… you’re an idiot boy, did you know that?!” Glitch spat blood on the ground as he forced his angered but pained eyes open, writhing and with muscle spasms “here I am trying to help you when really I should just end your sorry ass but…”

“Aw, poor phantom whipping boy. I’ve had enough fun tonight… or what, are you gonna chew me to death?” Wraith asked with a cold grin on his face as his eyes narrowed.
Glitch’s contemptful eyes suddenly widened as he found Wraith suddenly drop, causing them both to collapse in a heap.
Glitch grumbled as he untangled himself from the lanky cerulean hedgehog host, dragging himself away and just about mustered enough strength to lean against his knees with his palms against the ground. His head felt bolt heavy and his body ached and throbbed profusely.

He stared at the ground in defeat and contempt. All he had done to preserve his strength and stamina had fallen. All hustle, bustle and life that thrived here but an hour ago was severed by chaos.

What was left was a sense of death hanging in the air. A predatory or scavenger like Wren roamed the scenes, whilst dining rooms like flickered away and illuminated the rest of the derelict and broken down Inn.

The white hedgehog rallied a final ounce of strength to look at Wraith- and blinked morbidly. The cerulean Wraith lay sprawled across the wooden floor, his eyes closed but for a haunted expression that lingered across his face.

What the white hedgehog’s expression foretold: guilt, regret, contempt, a sense of tragedy? It was difficult to tell.

What he was sure of was that he had fallen, and that in any given minute his demons we’re going to come back to haunt him.
Any minute now, the familiar demonic face would materialise before him, to taunt and haunt him before consuming his soul. On a part time basis anyway.

__________

Margay princess' castle

The margay princess sat upon the throne in one but many grand halls. The hall she was based in was lined with stained glass windows and intricately patterned curtains and royal interior decorations.

However, she appeared unfazed by the glory of her surroundings as she sat upon the grand chair; filing her nails.
Her stern eyes gradually cast upwards as she detected a strange presence about the air. She was brought up to believe that just because something could not be seen, did not necessarily mean it was not there.

It was but for a few moments later black vortex suddenly opened up in the middle of the hall; its cascading black waves drifting on the spot whilst an armour clad Scar stepped through into the palace realm of the room. Carrying a stunned looking Xell.

His ears were lowered behind his skulls, his hair was frayed after being scratched to death and his eyes appeared to be looking out beyond space in its panicked and constricted appearance.

“Oh,” the Margay cat uttered dubiously at Xell’s dishevelled appearance, before looking back at Scar with a cold-tempered frown “well don’t just stand there. Take him up to the prison tower. Seems Julien's rough talk with Xell has overwhelmed him. Pft…”

The Margay princess, stood up to exit the room. She took one last glance at the knight carrying Xell, eyeing them both in an unimpressed manner.

“Hmpf!” she mumbled coarsely, before striding out through the doors with a bee in her bonnet.

Scar’s eyes merely lingered towards the doors that slowly creeped back to a closing point following the princesses’ departure.
He then followed her orders and made his way to the top prison tower. With plans to throw Xell in his cell.

_____________________

Margay princess' castle, tower prison cell

‘In you get!’ Scar insinuated as he threw Xell into the tower prison. The prison was situated within a confined but partially lit space that was led up by a spiral of footsteps. It was but an inconvenient journey for Scar.

He locked the bars with a chink and turned away from the barred up dragon jail bird, his red cloak whipping harshly as he made his about-turn to depart.

OOC: For my IC, Glitch isn't dead. Just extremely tired. XD So as to avoid confusion~
@Pach: lol XD. Thank-you though! I'm really glad you think so!
@Bentley: You already know how beast I thought your scene was. <3
-------------------------------------------------------------

Inn Mess Hall

Eyes still on the monstrosity laying before him, Glitch calmly moved his hand to the gash across his cheek. Still bleeding. He took a step back and topped over a broken chair beneath him, his back catching the wall behind him. Limply, his hand dropped to his side. He shut his eyes and slid down the wall, leaving behind a trail of crimson as he fell.

There, he sat hunched over, motionless. His breaths were constant, but weak. Heheh... looks like I could use a rest too.

---

Tower Prison Cell

Scar disappeared up the spiral staircase. Xell continued cradling his legs, rocking back and forth. Alone.

Or not--another voice rose from outside the cell, out of Xell's sight. "Aight, capi'tan," she spoke, somewhat reminiscent of a soft Scottish accent, "Will keep a good eye on 'im." A shadowy figure turned from the side, her face now visible from within the cell. She had a genuine smile with bright, happy blue eyes that seemed to light up the room. "Fancy finally seein someone down here. I was gettin lonely."

Xell said nothing in return. At this, the black-furred mouse turned from where she stood, now standing before the cell completely exposed. A pair of binoculars dangled from her neck. She twirled a large ring of keys about her slender finger. "The Patriarch 'imself left me here to keep guard over these rooms, in case any of ya's tried somethin to escape... Too bad there was no one to watch after. 'til now, of course."

She waited for a reply from the dragon, but he still said nothing. Sighing, she said, still beaming, "So yer not one to talk? That's mighty cute. I like quiet guys. I'm usually stuck with those feisty fellas... but they were all sent out. Maybe executed, or somethin. I donno. But that was a long time, anyhoo.." After another lack of response, she squinted her eyes, scrutinizing him. She couldn't see too well through the dark room, just dimly lit, but she did manage to catch how disarrayed his hair was, laying scrambled atop his head and nearly blocking his entire face from her view. Shaking. "Somethin' the matter?"

More silence. "Yaknow, I don't think you deserve this..." She continued twirling the keys. "Name's Mordie." She returned back to her previous position, standing beside the bars, almost completely out of sight from within the cell again. The keys continued to jingle. "Just call if yer finally feelin up to talkin, cutie. Perhaps we could work out a deal. I can help yas out of here..."

-------------------------------------------------------------
OOC: Still working on a ref for her. I plan on finishing it this month though, so I'll post it up here once it's done. c;
However I do have a WIP of her human version ref... It's pretty much the same but with pierced mouse ears, a tail, and pitch-black fur. XD For those still curious, anyway.

(OOC: Now THERE'S a switch...a princess keeping a dragon in a tower. XP Also...Reni's always had superspeed (with the exception of HS)...but I guess I never really explained that in THIS RP, so...Also, I am a girl...though most of you probably already knew that. Hmm...what to post, what to post...Sorry, I got nothin right now...)

(OOC: Now THERE'S a switch...a princess keeping a dragon in a tower. )

[[ I had a good LOL at that observation , well spotted ]]

OOC: Yeah yeah. Maybe we should go back to basics on the Fantasy genre RP... idk some Grimm's fairy tail where characters take their traditional role *eyeroll*

btw nobody post on Hikari, Nathan or Reni's scene or the tower top right now because I am updating it.

[[ Whoa there Kate, it was just an observation - no need to get personal about it ]]

OOC: You're grand Ruby ^^^^ don't mind me, it was early morning. But I meant it in jest

Anyway no one post on scene I mentioned. I saw you online Kim. Stay away til I post this XD

(OOC: I'm away, I'm away! Lol 😛 Gotta go finish peeling my face off anyway... ick!)

OOC: Picture of Seipher and Dolly. Oh Hikari is in it too *faceslap*

Seipher= beige fox @ front.
Dolly= Pink rabbit
Hikari= Siamese cat ¦D

PS Seipher's eyes are apple green these days. Not red. In fact this is his recent look

Peeling your face? o0 Dare I ask?? D: xD

IC:

Clifftop

Towering from a considerable cliff top which overlooked the peasant town and the surrounding sub-urban area was a beige coloured three tailed vulpine with sharp green eyes. He wore an old pilot’s helmet, which sat above a pair of folded long ears that draped over his back. He was otherwise clad
with long leather boots and an extremely long blue scarf.

As he gazed down at the town below which was dotted with orange and yellow lights, a pink rabbit child with robotic feet and a mechanical arm approached him from behind.

“Wow uncle Seipher. Sure is pretty down there hey?” the rabbit by the name of Dolly said, awe-struck by the scene below which stretched out for horizons “do you think that our house is down there uncle Seipher? Do you?”

“Well, yeah… I guess it is…” Seipher hesitated, scratching his chin with a gloved hand “but we won’t be staying there anymore Dolly. We simply MUST move on…”

With that, Seipher adjusted the goggles that were strapped across his helmet such that they covered his eyes. He then boldly turned and walked towards a sheet covered object and flung the former off.

What was revealed was a rudimentary, crude looking flying device. If one could decipher the assemblage of wood, planks, iron, and bolts and screws fixed together to make up the body and tail and the chopper-like blades constructed above… one would come to the concluclusion that this device was supposed to be…

“…a helicopter?” Dolly asked with a finger in her mouth.

“Correct Dolly,” Seipher smiled and closed his eyes at the same time. Almost proudly.

“Built it myself.”

“Oh… oh… do you think it will fly then?” the pink rabbit asked, raising a dubious ear and eyebrow as she turned to look at the scarf donning fennec.

“Of course it will fly! Why wouldn’t it?!” Seipher asked. Before Dolly could utter any further thought, she found herself ushered to sit inside.

“Come along now. We don’t have all night… wouldn’t wanna run into those dumb dogs again right?”
Seipher asked rhetorically, referring to the Dobermans like the ones Flint and Danny had earlier.

“No no. Not at all. Not at all,” Dolly said as she sat inside. Seipher nodded, whilst stepping inside and flicking various switches to get the flying vehicle into gear.

With a few droning and unwinding sounds given forth, here and there- Dolly looked up fascinated as she found the blades were indeed starting to turn at an accelerating rate. This caused her to smile as her violet eyes took in how the crude machine was indeed, coming to life.
“Oh wow… oh wow. It’s moving now huh!” she exclaimed as the wind began to whip at her fringe as the craft indeed began to lift off the ground. There was a steady uplift, before it lowered itself slightly. And then what followed was a sudden up thrust which launched them into the air, meters above the ground.

“Wowees…” Dolly uttered mesmerised, turning her gaze to absorb the surroundings of the everlasting seeming horizon in the distance and lit up buildings, field patches and forests below.

“Pretty good, isn’t it comrade?” Seipher shouted above the roars of the crude mechanics.

“Sure is!” Dolly cupped her hands over her mouth to shout her response, her long ears and hair being whipped by the passing airflow whilst the chopper sailed forwards in the sky.

“… but… but… uncle Seipher… I have a QUESTION!!!” Dolly shouted over the engine noise.

“What is it Dolly?” Seipher enquired, flicking various switches from the makeshift materials he had used to construct the vehicle.

“What FUEL does the CHOPPER run on… huh?!?”

Fuel. Fuel…..

Oh crap. I didn’t load it with the crude oil I found in the mines earlier…

It was then by sheer coincidence that a few sparks were given off by the chopper blades, and the vehicle suddenly began to plummet downwards. Unfortunately the passengers were well out of reach from their original start position which was on the cliff top.

“Uhm… don’t worry Dolly… nothing to panic about… heh…” Seipher sweat dropped frantically flicking switches to somehow preserve what remaining fuel there was to at least glide the chopper towards the ground safely.

“Oh uncle Seipher… you didn’t fill her up… did you?” she face palmed, before looking out again over the lands down below that were coming into view.

“Guide it towards that landing over there… I dun think we’ll crash if go that way…” Dolly smiled naively, pointing towards the roads that Nathan, Reni and Hikari were.

As they gradually descended to the location, with the helicopter beginning to shake somewhat in an unstable manner with every passing moment, Dolly could make out some riding figures on horses.

________________________

Down below, with Nathan, Reni and Kari

Hikari was focused as she tightened the reigns upon the horse she was riding. Galloping so valiantly in the knight with Reni and Nathan by her side with their respective horses.

‘We’ll get their soon. We’ll get through this trial. We’ll get there…’ she thought so engrossed in her mission, that she did not notice an spiralling vessel flying out of the control coming from the skies above.
“Holy cow…!” Nathan said as his eyes widened at the unknown flying object.

“What?” Reni shouted above the sounds of the cantering and galloping. As she turned her face towards the huge crude, rudimentary machine she gasped.

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP…! LOOOOK OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!”

With the cry of from the violet hedgehog, all the riders instinctively yanked back the reins on their respective horses, causing them to skid to a stop. Their hooves digging track long grooves in the earth.

It was at that narrow second that the machine swiped right past in front of them and crashed into a nearby tree. A commotion of dissembling metal chinks, bolts, screws and snapped wood shards was heard as the vehicle disintegrated.

The horse riders looked on at the crash mass. Lost for words as they watched what remained of the broken machine.

“Ooooohhh…” Seipher jumped out suddenly, swiping the cracked goggles off his eyes which snapped haphazardly across his helmet.

“Silly SILLY Seipher!” Dolly giggled, jumping out of the crumbled mess unharmed. She placed a finger in her mouth inquisitively, before turning to look at the riders in front of them.

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh!! It’s Kari it’s Kari!!!” she jumped up and down jubilantly “me and uncle Seipher thought you died in that last trial… we thought we were the only survivors….!!!!”

She ran over with her arms open, before skidding to a halt as she noted that firstly, the siamese was sitting on a horse and her height only fell below that of the horses legs. Secondly, she cast her gaze upon the two other individuals. Nathan, the hooded Salamander and Reni, a violet hedgehog.

“Oh… uhm…” she took a couple of shy steps back.

“Oh oh… well WHAT a surprise!!!” Seipher said, finally gathering his bearings as he stomped over to look at Kari with a cranky look on his face.

“All this time I thought you had DIED and now you’re here prancing on ponies!!!” Seipher ranted “what’s up with that then?!?”

OOC: Pretty sure I was giggling the entire time I read this, Kate. xD I love Seipher, poor guy! (Kari must feel a migraine coming on...) Btw are we indeed going to rescue both Xell and Zach, or just Xell? Just wondering.

IC:

"...the heck!?" Serenity yelled, looking back and forth between Hikari and the two newcomers. Anything else she might have wanted to say was cut off, as her horse (along with the other two) was still spooked from the helicopter's crash-landing. She appeared frustrated and a little overwhelmed, though she covered it well by throwing herself into the task of calming her mount as the mare side-stepped skittishly back and forth. Nathan, on the other hand, merely looked lost, if not a little bit panicked, as his own horse fidgeted nervously. Had he forgotten these two people as well...??

While Reni dealt with her horse and Nathan frantically checked his phone, Kari looked upon the newcomers with wide eyes. Abruptly she dismounted and ran the last few steps to Dolly, picking the little rabbit up and hugging her hard. Dolly squeaked in protest but desisted, and after a while she began beaming and giggling. The she-cat let her down and smiled herself, obviously relieved that her former companions were alright (she would have hugged Seipher too, but thought twice about that course of action). Then what Seipher had said caught up to her.

Hikari frowned. "'Prancing on ponies'? I will have you know that I am not simply prancing on ponies, as you put it, sir. I was lending my aid to these two," here she nodded toward her new companions, "so that they might retrieve some of their companions from the hands of the princess. They, too, are playing Julien's game, sir." Seipher looked to be on the verge of making a retort when the Siamese added, "And as for me dying, I very nearly did. I had to play dead for the sake of those wretched rhinos after our last encounter. I meant to return to you and Dolly, but I came across the Patriarch's new pawns here and decided to help out before bringing them back to our hideout."

Kari looked over at the wreckage of the fox's helicopter with a raised eyebrow and muttered, "I did not expect you to actually try to fly that monstrosity, however... You probably forgot to fuel it up before takeoff, yes?"

Seipher sputtered indignantly while Dolly giggled again.

"Now you see here, Takeshi, I would never-" Seipher growled, only to be interrupted by Serenity. The purple hedgehog had her reins gripped tightly, annoyance clearly written across her face. "Will someone please explain what's going on?!" She demanded. Nathan nodded rapidly in agreement.

Seipher glared, still miffed about the dig Hikari had made at his expense. The she-cat sighed, "We were comrades in life, Serenity, that is all. Anything more will have to come later, after we have saved your friends." She moved back to her horse and swiftly re-mounted, clearly uncomfortable talking about her life with Seipher and Dolly present. The fox scoffed at her evasion.

"Well?" Kari asked, looking down at Seipher and Dolly. "We might have to go two to a horse, but you are welcome to come with us, if you like..." Uncertainty clouded her eyes as she waited for their reply.

(OOC: Wheee....time to see how Reni deals with a spooking horse...)

IC: Serenity quickly had to switch her attention from the newcomers back to her horse, as the animal, frightened by the large piece of formerly-flying metal, reared up. Serenity had not had much experience with horses, and so all she could do was hang on. "Whoaaa!" Reflexively, she grabbed the flying mane, trying to keep from falling off until the horse had gotten all four of it's feet back on the ground. It was all she could do to calm it down and keep it from bolting. Eventually, the horse calmed down somewhat, still tossing it's head vigorously in fear.

TBC

(OOC: Edit: Oh dangit...I got post-ninja'd. We''l just assume that this post happens in the middle of LadyFoxfire's, I guess...)

OOC: Lol ninja-posted xD Whoopsy daisy!
Thanks Kim! I had lots of fun writing it. And loved your receptive post back. Poor Kari, she’s in for a loooong headache alright > D

IC:

Margay Princess’ castle, Prison Tower

Help me out of here she says. That cannot be right.
That cannot be true
It is a trap.
I am tired of lies, deceit and traps.
And I won’t take any more from that purple demonic monster.

Those were the first thoughts that surfaced to the dragon’s mind. The past events had left him bitten several times, and god knows how shy by now.

He hadn’t had a chance to reflect at the events that happened in the present. By the time he had had a chance, the ordeal-fuelled meeting found his past demons dug from the grave and it motioned him so deadly still. Almost a rendered crushed will to survive.

He continued to sit there on the cold cobble-stoned floor. The light that shone through the natty side window streaked his hunched form in shadow and light from the cell bars.

“Gud lord. Lahd. Speak. Ah’m beginnin’ ta think you’ve nawt gawt a voice,” Mordie implored “yu’d be wantin’ ta survive, core-rect?”

Xell cast his gaze at the black furred mouse. The shroud of depression and dejection still weighed heavily on his mind.

For what it was worth, listening to a sympathetic tone of voice was not exacerbating his current pained state.

“How would you react, if I were to tell you…” Xell began in a childish murmur, hiding his mouth within his folded arms across his knees.

“Beggin’ ya par-don wee dragon. Ya mutterin’ there,” the female mouse giggled “ah can’t hear yoo when ya mumblin’.”

“I said…” Xell started again, this time picking himself up with one painful step at a time as he pushed up with one hind leg followed by the other.

“I said how would you react if…” he trailed off again.

“Ah’m listenin’ pet. You cah-ree on thar…” she encouraged him with a smile.
Xell frowned dubiously, before opening his eyes with a great deal of sadness shining through his blue irises.

“There’s a reason why I fell to the Underworld…” Xell began to confess bleakly, swaying his arms back and forth which dangled the chains of his handcuffs that had split in the middle.

“You’re wrong I’m afraid miss, I do deserve to be here. If you knew what it was I did that was so bad…” he said, biting his lower lip and shook his head.

“Won’t be takin’ the-aht nonesehnse for a minute lahd!” Mordie insisted, tilting her head to one side “per-haps you’re bein’ a wee bit harsh on yerself thar?”

“I’m not being harsh to myself!” Xell shot back “I was a lieutenant back before the world ended! I was responsible for a battalion of 1000 lives! Thanks to my stubbornness to withdraw from a losing battle…. 980 people died. Because.Of.ME!!” he spoke rapidly, his lower lip quivering as he quickly reached out to wipe a fresh tear from one of his eyes.

“Julien is right! I should’ve been burnt to cinders a long time ago… he is so right…” Xell said, his eyes suddenly fading out as if he was losing sight of his surroundings.

“Please… do me a favour and ask him to cease my existence. I don’t want to live anymore…” the dragon said in a subdued and almost silent tone, as he kneeled back down upon the cold floor again. Even though he didn’t realise ending his life in the trial would by no means mean an escape from hell again. In his current state of mind however, emotion had dominated his sense of logic.

Road to the Margay Princess’ castle

Seipher shook his head, extremely annoyed that the Takeshi girl had called his bluff in correctly assuming that he had indeed, forgotten to load his flying machine with fuel.

“Well Wing commander, sir. Are you with us?” Kari asked, steadying her horse who seemed pretty keen to canter off again “we don’t have all night. Besides, if we free Nathan and Serenity’s friends…” the Siamese explained nodding to the salamander and hedgehog respectively.

“…then we’ll be doing a good deed and we’ll be more likely to survive the trials if we all work together!”
Just as Seipher started to raise a finger to protest…

“Yeah uncle Seipher! Com’on! We lost all our other friends in the trial… we gotta save other people whilst they’re still alive…” Dolly reasoned as she opened her palms out honestly.

“We could do with your help wing commander… though I’d stick to your day job of flying machines…. NOT building them,” Kari suggested, holding back the need to giggle again. She really didn’t want to push her luck.

“You’re a good gunman too wing commander… though I haven’t seen any around in this realm…” Kari trailed off “maybe we’ll come across some finer crafts in the upcoming circles and trials as such?”

“Pft…” Seipher screwed up his face and shook his head, annoyed at the prospect of being defied and buttered up by girls “ok fine!!!”

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!” Dolly cheered jubilantly. She instantly jumped high off the ground and landed on the horse behind Nathan.

“I’m riding with him! This Gecko guy…” she said smiling, before resuming a curious expression followed by a gentle tap on Nathan’s shoulder.

“Hi Mr. Gecko guy! My name is Dolly! I’m 6 years old. Can I ride on your horse with you? That horse over there looks scary to me…” she said pointing at Reni’s horse, which appeared to be huffing and puffing and giving the purple hedgehog a hard time.

“I agree with Dolly… about that horse…” the Siamese frowned dubiously at the rearing horse Serenity was on “sooooo… I guess you’ll be stuck riding my horse with me. Is that ok with you wing commander? Hmmm?”

Seipher thrust his fists down stubbornly at either side, before calming down and simply climbed up the horse without answering. He took the front seat, or saddle as it were, whilst Hikari found herself sitting behind Seipher.

“Don’t trust girls and their directions… don’t get me wrong…” Seipher reasoned with his eyes closed as if lecturing Kari. Kari simply sighed with exasperation, before turning to look at everyone else.

“Are we all ready to go?” Kari asked.

“Er… Kari… Kari… Seipher…” Dolly whined, before Nathan had a chance to answer her.

Everyone stood very still. So silent that the sound of a pin dropping to the floor would’ve been heard.

What resounded next was a chorus of whining, barking, and snapping- followed by the siren of a long howl.

“Oh oh! Dammit…!” Seipher cried out wide-eyed as he looked over his shoulder “Dobermans… there’s 5 of them…” the beige fox noted as he narrowed his eyes in a scrutinising manner.

Indeed, black silhouettes of 5 Dobermans came chasing down the pathways, with ferocious snapping teeth, lolling tongues and persistent barking and snapping. Their red pupiless eyes flared and pierced through the darkness as they set their preying eyes upon the protagonists in front of them.

“Come on! Get going… get!!!” Seipher commanded with his teeth gritted in sheer frustration. He gave a firm kick of the stirrups against the horse and eased the reigns which caused the horse to bolt forwards.

He had only hoped the other two horses with its 3 riders would make haste and follow suite.
As it was the dobermans were indeed gaining on the group, their gnashing white jagged teeth glinting in the dark as well as their ferocious eyes.

Prison Tower

Mordie rolled her eyes at this, attempting to keep her smile. “Hun… ya know where yer at, right? Yer—we’re all already dead. And ah mean… ya can’t just give up like this. The Patriarch—he ain’t gonna jast kill ya off like ya want. He’s gonna keep makin ya suffer, yaknow, especially if ya make it easy like this.”

She squatted, now on the same level as Xell. “Hey—lookit me real quick.” Some time had passed before Xell slowly lifted his head, his face still mostly blocked from Mordie’s view with his disarrayed hair. She smiled at him, her eyes still promising as ever. “Ain’t the point o’ these trials is ta try to redeem ourselves of our sins? Ah really think ya deserve a second chance—everyone deserves a second chance. Everyone makes mistakes. No one’s perfect, hun. Ah mean… ah know my sins that dragged me to this dump ain’t nowhere near what you did… but that don’ mean ah don’ understand where yer getting at. Ah know what ah do is wrong, but yaknow, ah’m stubborn like you. Ah continue on regardless…”

Xell’s head dropped back down again. Mordie rose to her feet and moved towards the lock. “If ya end up dyin here… then… that’ll defeat the whole purpose of the trial, wonnit?”

Xell said nothing. Mordie continued, “Ah’m tryin ta help ya out here! I ain’t gonna leave ya alone until ya listen to me.”

“It’s useless…” Xell’s voice trailed off again.

“Jast listen ta me! Stop it with yer self-blamin. Ah mean—okay, fine, everyone deserves ta be down here, then. You, me, everyone. How ‘bout that?” Xell’s eyes widened at this, his face still hidden from Mordie’s view. “Everyone messed up. Everyone did something wrong in their life. But yaknow what? Ah ain’t lettin that git to me. Ah know there’s a way outta here – and these trials will bring us one step closer ta that, don’cha think? To redemption too. Ah know… ah know yer still gon’ feel guilty over what happened… and ah’m sorry to hear ‘bout it… but ya can’t keep dwellin on the past like this. …and this place ain’t gonna help ya feel any better ‘bout it.”

The lock cracked open. Mordie waltzed inside, once again twirling the ring of keys on her finger. Once she stood by Xell, she gripped them firmly in her palm. She knelt down slightly and extended her free hand towards him. “Come on now… ah can help ya outta here. …please?”

Margay Princess' castle, Prison Tower

He had found himself drawn to this place via his own investigations. Inquiring with the many locals within the peasant town had all given direction and way towards this place, a castle near the outskirts of the peasants' dwellings. It had taken him a while to arrive, but at any rate he was now here, and a good time before the rest of his companions too.

Kenneth Lay had been seeking an exit out of this trial and this ridiculous game for redemption since the very beginning. He couldn't deny he wasn't a team player, and his own abilities meant it would be easier for him to go about it alone. He was sure the rest of the people he was with when entering the portal would arrive at the castle eventually, but he had to admit he was surprised when he saw him arrive.

Roughly an hour ago, at the same time as when Kenneth had reached the entrance to the castle, a procession of horses and carriages had all returned towards the castle. Within the back of what he assumed was supposed to be the royal carriage, he caught a quick glimpse of the dragon, Xell, of which he had past dealings with, all tied up and bound. He couldn't believe his eyes at first, but further investigation within the compounds of the castle proved the case to be true. Xell had gotten caught.

In the last hour, whilst Xell had met with Julian and the rest of his companions were either busy travelling along the road to the Margay Princess' castle or being busy in the rampaging fight in the Bard and Troll Inn, Kenneth had been investigating the interior of the castle, searching for any way out of this trial, and falling short. He had also been searching for Xell the entire time. Although he wouldn't admit to needing help, even he had to admit that the Castle was simply that big... it would take him days just to search everywhere. Even if, at the same time, he was able to walk freely.

For the guardsmen and people of the castle could not see Kenneth Lay as he strode along the many grand halls of the Castle. Not unless he wanted to be seen. And of course, it wouldn't be much of a stealth mission if he did.

Kenneth had a curious ability, which benefited his role as a conman. He had the uncanny ability to make people believe what he wanted them to believe, within limits. And right now, he wanted everyone else within the castle to believe they couldn't see him. With that, Kenneth was able to walk freely and unhindered. He had already put this talent of his to great use within the trial so far; making the doberman believe his punches were harder than they actually were, or that the stone he had threw was a deliciously bone treat. Or later at the pub, for the barowner to believe the pebble was a valuable gold stone, or for the bounty hunters who had attacked him to believe that another patron was him instead. It allowed him to escape the entire conflict within the pub without even having to lift a finger. And, at the same time, enjoy a nice drink.

But he was beginning to get tired now, and the keeping up of the illusion was beginning to become a strain. And so far he had found nothing.

He did appropriate a sword, though. Kenneth wasn't much of a fighter in any regard, he'd be the first to say he was a lover, not a fighter. He had no exemplary fighting skills or talents and his strength was mediocre. But considering his talent he rarely found himself having to be involved in a fight, and even if he was, he could use his talent to help him take care of himself. Even so, a proper weapon would go some distance to protecting himself, even if he would refuse to kill anyone. He was no murderer. He still had the earlier bounty hunter's knife, but that could only go so far.

Other than that though, there was nothing.

He had continued to wander throughout the castle, aimlessly searching for any clues at all, until he found Xell's body being dragged from who knows where, his mind seemingly broken, towards the Castle's prison cells. Kenneth had followed, confident in his own abilities, even if they were beginning to wane, although he had to admit he was cautious and more than a little concerned as Scar passed him back by. He was a frightening individual, and it definitely seemed as though he had sensed something not right with the situation, as though he had sensed Kenneth's prescence. Luckily, however, Scar had passed on by.

Now at the feet of the tower's stairs, Kenneth walked forwards, towards Xell's cell, and looked down at the dragon, behind Mordie's shoulder. Using the remainder of his power, he had made her believe she couldn't see or hear him. He was like a ghost, nonexistant. And although Kenneth didn't extend that belief to Xell, the dragon still didn't seem to notice him. He didn't seem to notice much of anything at this point, consumed in his own self guilt.

"Pathetic, and here I came expecting to find a soldier," Kenneth said aloud. Xell heard him, but again, Mordie didn't. "I thought you were made of sterner stuff then this, boy."

"W-what are you doing here?!" Xell exclaimed. Mordie became instantly confused by Xell's reaction. Even coming from someone who seemed to have given up on life, the dragon's reaction seemed unnatural.

"I came here looking for redemption. Isn't that why you're here, as well?" Kenneth asked. "Whatever. Get over the pity party for yourself."

"You don't know anything about me!" Xell cried out defiantly.

"I know much more than you think I do, boy. We've got a history, don't we?" Kenneth shrugged, pulling another cigarette out and lighting it, taking a drag. "I know you hate me, at least. Almost as much as I hate myself. And hate's quite the powerful emotion, believe me. Whether you like it or not, I need you and you need me to get out of this hellhole. If hating me, and wanting to get even with me is what it takes for you to keep on going, then so be it."

Xell gritted his teeth. Mordie was still completely confused by what was going on. She could tell that Xell was speaking to someone, but she couldn't even see anyone else here.

Kenneth walked closer to Xell, moving past Mordie and pressing his face up against the dragon's. "So get up and lets go, otherwise we'll never have our reckoning. And all those other people we came with? They'll all simply die again. If you can't live for yourself, live for them and live for hating me."

"By the way," Kenneth added, standing back up straight again, and pointing to Mordie who he was now standing next to. "Who's the hot chick? Been making new play friends?"

Lani, who up until now has been missing, stepped out from behind the wreckage of the helicopter, and walked towards Reni's rearing horse. It'd been a while, but she still remembered how to handle horses, though briefly in front of her eyes flickered an image of a different sort of mount, with long horns like an antelope, and a split hooves like a deer. By then Reni had managed to calm the horse somewhat.

Lani approached calmly but confidently, blowing gently into the animal's nostrils so it can get used to her scent, speaking quietly to the beast the entire time in a soothing voice. When she was confident that the horse had calmed down, she swung herself up in front of Reni. "Nothing personal, you understand, but I think we'll both be more comfortable this way. Hold onto my waist if you need to." She eased the reins from Reni's hands, and just in time, too. Dobermen? She squeezed the horse with her legs firmly, giving the horse its head. Herd instinct meant that the horse carrying herself and Serenity would want to follow Seipher and Kari's mount. It's unfortunate, but she has no opportunity to share her discoveries with Nathan and Serenity. That would have to wait for a later time.

The Bard and Troll – Interior

“You can’t fall now.” Wren spoke aloud, in a delirious manner to himself as he slowly walked around the room.

“Not now, it’s far too soon.”

Blood dripped down from his previously transformed arm as it swayed uselessly alongside his beaten body. The seam along which the jaw had formed had not properly sealed something he immediately identified as a sign of an impending collapse. But he couldn’t stop now, not when there was danger about.

The hedgehogs continued to fight, though Wren couldn’t make any sense out of it. Where did the cerulean one’s demonic second wind come from? Was it possible that this being was possessed by two separate entities, and that Wren had only managed to barely fight back one? The divide of power came as a shock to him; he had never felt as weak as he did now, not since the incident.

And what of this other character, the one the cerulean hedgehog called ‘Glitch’? Clearly this white hedgehog was a fighter, and a very capable one at that. To be able to go toe-to-toe with such a beast without the use of any kind of otherworldly power... it was enough to make Wren feel something inside. Jealousy? Respect? Hatred? The sentiment wasn’t clear; there was far too much blood being lost to dedicate much thought to the subject.

Like a carrion bird surveying an abandoned battlefield, Wren scanned the expanse of chaos and debris in search of some much needed revitalization; a free-floating soul.

Everything was spinning by this point; every sound reverberating inside of his head. If Wren was not able to obtain some form of energy, something to boost his power to temporarily allow himself to regain even the slightest bit of fighting composure, then he would run the risk of leaving himself at the mercy of whichever of the two hedgehogs emerges the victor. Neither option seemed pleasant, both characters seemed to have something against him already and both had certainly displayed a level of bloodlust that had Wren convinced that they would kill him if he were in a vulnerable state.

So tired.

So very, very tired.

Just as his eyelids began to lower, Wren caught sight of something that gave him a glimmer of hope; a glowing, wispy spirit, meandering about aimlessly through the air, weaving glimmering arcs in a haphazard flight pattern.

Wren approached the incandescent light and noticed the decapitated head of a somewhat familiar rhino laying underneath the dancing soul. The spirit wandered about with a somewhat perplexed appearance, wondering just where the rest of its mortal coils had gotten to. Wren had always found it remarkable the way stupidity, of all forces, could find its way into the spirit world between worlds.

As a lion would stalk an unsuspecting gazelle, Wren approached the spirit with caution, before lashing out with his hands and securing it within his bloodied claws. The frightened soul wrestled nervously to escape, like a fish drawn out of water. It took every last drop of Wren’s energy to morph his jaw to absorb it.

As he swallowed the wailing life essence and reverted his jaw, Wren’s eyes sank into the back of his head and he fell to the ground. The elements of the world blurred together, and then all was consumed by darkness.

---

Waking up in a cold sweat, Wren bolted upright and hastily surveyed his surroundings. He had fallen unconscious, something he had wanted to avoid, but he was still alive and still within the confines of the squalor that was the ruined mess hall. But who knew how much time had passed?

The panic didn’t die down until Wren found what he was so rampantly searching for, the collapsed forms of both of the combatants from earlier. He could feel life essence of some sort still pulsing from each of them; they were still alive but unconscious and looking quite worse for wear.

As the initial adrenaline rush began to wear off, the tiredness began to settle in again. The situation wasn’t as dire now nor were the energy requirements, but the act of falling asleep again for a more complete recovery was still an undesirable option, as either of these two hedgehogs could awaken before him and cause trouble.

A plan. An immediate course of action was needed.

Wren approached the nearest window and peered out onto the cobblestone street. There was no-one else to be seen. This didn’t bode well. More than ever, he needed to find some of the others undergoing the trial. He needed to find safety in numbers and he needed the protection it would bring.

Most of all, he needed to start building trust.

His arm still hurt, his body still ached and his head still spun. Desperate measures were called for.

Wren took careful steps toward the motionless hedgehogs, choosing to try awakening the white one, for he seemed the less likely to kill him on sight, and the least likely to suddenly leap into an unstoppable frenzy. Or at least, Wren hoped.

Placing his hands on the hedgehogs shoulders, Wren began shaking the white hedgehog quite roughly, trying to awaken him for at least long enough to form some kind of truce; a mutual trust that they could each gain some much needed rest without the fear of being killed by one-another.

“Glitch... was it? Wake up, Glitch. I need to speak with you.”

---

OOC:
Will update with Jacob talking to Julien, soon. Stay tuned!

(OOC: I have figured out something for my necromancer...but I have a party to go to in an hour, so I don't think I can intro him just yet...can you leave the bodies of whatever rhinos were slain lying around, though? Mr. Necromancer wants them. XP Wren can have the souls... all the necromancer really needs is the bodies. For now...I continue with Reni...)

IC:

Road to the castle:

"Why do I get the fractious one..." Serenity mumbled to herself, trying to control the horse. But then...a familiar face appeared from behind the copter wreckage. "Where'd you come from?! You know horses? Oh good...Cuz I sure don't. I'm...kinda used to traveling by foot." The purple hedgehog laughed nervously and scooted backwards, allowing Lani to take the reins.'By the way...I don't think I ever caught your name..."

TBC

OOC: No probs James, awesome posts as always
Kim, you can try and rescue Zach but you won't succeed > D
No glaswegian accents then? 😛
Necromancer. Sherbert. Sounds scary... who is he? o.o Bring him in by all means though ^^

IC:

Margay Princess Tower only

“Kiiii…” Xell spluttered at the illusion fox’s mention of Mordie. He shook his head in disbelief and wariness, before turning his frazzled expression to glance at Mordie- whose expression was growing all the more concerned, but more impatient and suspicious.

‘I see. Somehow she can’t see him…’ he thought calming down- but gritting his teeth nonetheless. His eyebrows creasing with frustration ‘god dammit am I going insane?!’

“What is this, one of Julien’s tricks…” he muttered below Mordie’s hearing range.

“You’re letting yourself get agitated again Rhinestone, heh. And no, this is not one of Julien’s tricks,” Kenneth continued “now the chick is really going to think you’re insane. Talking to yourself like that…”

“What do you want?!” Xell lashed out, standing up tall to the optical illusion that was in fact not there. Mordie instantly got up and tried to calm him down.

“Ah know you be havin’ a hard time there lahd… but…” Mordie trailed off as she pulled him back by the arm.

“I told you already. Don’t blow your chances again. I won’t extend my arm out to you much longer,” Kenneth growled somewhat, before pacing up and down and taking drags of his cigarette “our redemption is our future. What is the future? The future is hope. And without hope your life is empty, waiting, a standstill. And what hope do you have beyond your trial if you won’t even accept the chance to survive with what the chick is offering? Everything will continue as it is and we'll die over and over again in those scum pits of hell.”

Xell stood up and glowered at Kenneth with contempt.

He didn’t like him. He had had a pathological hate towards him for years. Yet somehow what he was saying was making him think. The blunt revelation that the only way to survive was to team up with the beings that had the same aims and objectives in this trial- even if they did not deserve a chance of redemption.

And even though Xell had deduced that his earlier motive had all but dissipated, the new resolve would be to aid those who at least deserved it.

“So be it,” Xell said coldly “I look forward to when you can reveal yourself so that the ‘chick’ doesn’t think I’m ma-…”

With that a cold slap was delivered to Xell’s face which left him wide-eyed and stunned. He guarded his cheek in shock, before staring at an angry looking femme fatale in the form of Mordie.

“Don’t EVAH call me chick!” she said irritated, before smiling again “talkin' to yahself was getten' me worried, at least yah sound positive though. Would we be git'in away then?”

“Er… yeah…” Xell said, continuing to clutch his throbbing cheek “sounds good.”

‘Bastard Ken.’ He thought.

Margay Princess Tower

Kenneth laughed loudly as Xell was slapped across his cheeks. If that wasn't the kind of wakeup call that the dragon needed then Kenneth didn't know what would be. As he laughed more and more loudly howevr, he began to sputter quite quickly, almost swallowing his cigarette in the process.

"Damnit," The suited fox bemoaned as the cigarette fell to the ground. He was beginning to run out of smokes.

Xell smirked at this. He sure as hell knew he deserved that.

"So, soldier boy. What do you think of her?" Kenneth asked, pointing towards Mordie. "Do you think we trust her enough that I can reveal myself, here? I'm getting a bit tired at the moment..."

Road to Margay Princess' Castle

Nathan was again being caught up in events beyond his control. He had been wondering who on earth these newcomers had been, who had suddenly appeared all at once from a flying wreck. Checking his phone he had discovered no prior entries of them. In the downtime they had, however, he had taken photos of them and what limited notes he could of them.

After Seipher and Dolly had finished speaking to Kari, Dolly, the small and energetic little girl had come up to Nathan.

“Hi Mr. Gecko guy! My name is Dolly! I’m 6 years old. Can I ride on your horse with you? That horse over there looks scary to me…” The pink rabbit child had said as she pointed to Serenity's horse, which was being more than a little out of control.

"Of course," Nathan was going to eagerly reply, before things again got out of control. From the distance, five pairs of ferocious eyes began pacing towards them. Dobermans again, pursuing them. They had little time to react, they needed to leave now.

Lani had returned and taken seat upon the horse with Serenity, calming it down and beginning to follow Seipher and Kari's lead. Nathan's tail slinked down, wrapping itself around Dolly's waist gently and lifting her up onto the horse, in front of his lap. "Alley oop!" he said.

Dolly giggled. "Heehee that's feels funny!"

Nathan smiled, despite the absurdity of his situation. It wasn't fair for a child who seemed so full of life to be a part of this miserable trial. What on earth could a girl like this have done to deserve being put in hell in the first place? At any regard, Nathan would make sure she was protected, no matter what.

The salamander and young rabbit quickly began following behind the rest of the group, desperately hoping to outpace the chsin dobermen.

OOC Slightly ooc for Mordie there, Bentley. She would’ve definitely slapped him for scaring her like that and/or to slap him out of it XD, but she actually wouldn’t mind the “chick” thing; she likes those kind of nicknames lol. My fault for not bringing it up earlier XD, sorry about that. But everything else is on the spot though <333. You’ve got a really good grasp on her personality/speech pattern!

Just a short IC here for now.
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Bard and Troll Inn Interior

Glitch’s head lolled to the side as his eyes fluttered open, weakly. “Oh. It’s you.” He still managed to crack a smirk, even in his exhausted state. “What do you want?” He lifted his hand to Wren’s and tugged at it, barely, causing the rabbit to let go. Using the wall as his balance, the hedgehog stood himself, and spat to the side. He nearly toppled back down once on his feet, but caught himself in time. His eyes moved to Wraith, whose head turned to the side and let out a moan, but otherwise made no other movements. Glitch returned his attention to the rabbit standing before him, his vision still partially blurred from drowsiness. “I’m surprised… you didn’t kill me while I was down. So… what is it.”

(OOC: Whereas...Reni WOULD smack him for the 'chick' comment. XP But she's not there (yet), so....XP ...Slight gross/creepy warning in this.)

IC:

Bard and Troll Inn:

From the shadows slunk a cloaked figure, silently picking up the body of the fallen rhino and piling it onto a handcart that already had a few other bodies slumped upon it...a couple of headless rats the figure had found festering in an alley. Unobtrusively he wheeled the cart around back the way he had come and out a back door of the inn.

The figure was a common enough sight in the village whenever someone died. People gave him a wide berth, but other than that, paid him no mind. After all, SOMEONE had to be the undertaker. The only distinguishing features visible from under the cloak was a pale, hooked beak, curiously with a pair of buck teeth protruding slightly from it that was only visible to those that looked closely - and no one ever did - a long, fleshy sinuous tail that protruded from under the hem of the figure's cloak and dragged limply on the ground, and, when the he walked, an occasional glimpse of pale, bird-like talons. All other features were obscured.

The cloaked figure plodded through the town with his grisly burden and out toward the graveyard beyond it. No one got in his way. He plodded through the graveyard, the stench of death following him into a hut at the far end of the graveyard. The figure hefted the body of the rhino Gavin onto a table, where he began to reattach the severed head, chanting.

The figure pushed back the hood of his cloak, revealing a bald head on a long, crooked neck that appeared to be a mixture of both rat and vulture features. His head and neck were completely devoid of fur or feathers up to his shoulders. Beyond that, a mixture of mangy white fur and feathers covered his shoulders and presumably the rest of him. His beady eyes were blood red...and not from possession. They had always been that way.

He kept up the ruse of being the village undertaker so that no one would ask questions. In reality, he was a necromancer and a poisoner. His name was Strychnyne. He also was not originally even FROM the village. Many years ago, he had come as part of a previous redemption trial, but had decided instead to stay here. It was far easier to acquire bodies in a time without proper medical procedures or preventative care...not to mention all the warlike rhino guards. In order to escape the slavers, he had used his necromancy to fake his own death...in a remarkably realistic fashion. In the dead of night, he had regained his faculties and left town...laying low in the graveyard until his original trial ended and all his companions were dead. He had acquired their bodies when he could, but it wasn't always possible. Years later, everyone, even the rhinos, had forgotten his existance, and he had assumed the guise of the undertaker. And they had all gone along with it. Nieve fools.

The albino rat-vulture chuckled to himself, and continued to chant. Gavin's body gave a lurch and sat up.

TBC

(OOC: Hope I spelled his name right. XD;)

OOC: Well now, was that a good read or what VW? xD Your post proper creeped me out and the character is fitting into the RP. Very thought provoking. I'll have to do some nasty scheming with him (not against him ). I'll have a think at the gym today.
...and I'm with Reni. I might be tempted to slap someone calling me chick > D. Or maybe not. Really depends who is saying it
Had a good chuckle writing the post anyhow.

Will advance certain plots later. Namely tower scene, and the horse riding one. Unless Kim wants to input on horse riding scene before I get back then fire away

(OOC: Heehee...glad you liked it...I don't have much experience writing creepy stuff, oddly enough...it felt a little...odd. XP)

OOC: Wow, Violet... I have to second Kate's sentiments. That was an excellent post. Gave me goosebumps. Really really enthralled in it all, great stuff. Also, gotta love the old necromancer characters <3 (Faust VIII <3 <3 <3)

OOC: Will write a quick blurb for Kari in the morning... It's late and I've been walking around my soon-to-be college's campus all day which, with temps being what they are lately, has been utterly exhausting, lol. =D

(Ooh...college touring. That takes me back. If I could spend my life as a perpetual student, I would...but, alas, I would not be able to afford that. XP )