OOC: Wow Kate, another awesome post. I loved the dialogue between Julien and Jacob, very intriquing and menacing stuff at the same time. Poor Kenneth. You're right that hopefully the whole experience will help show Kenneth some humility, but we all know how likely that is... XD
Poor Mordie. :c Julien what have you got planned you sinister git >=O
Also, your description of RBC is amazing as always. The details about her, and her face always continues to really gross me out. She's got to be one of the most disgusting villains I've ever read. Freaky stuff! And I can't wait to see her battle with Wren... two monsters duking it out isn't going to be pretty...!
Shy, feel free to use your imagination for villains like this and don't be afraid to come up with capabilities for your opponents themselves! I'm sure if Kate actually had any real, predetermined abilities that she'd want the enemy to have then she'd have described them. But where's the fun in that? I always like to see what other people can do with a simple template, as it can lead to some very exciting and fun stuff. n___n But I think for my post I'll do a little thing with the snake, maybe that'll give you guys' creative juices flowing haha.
Also, Kate, don't feel like you stepped on anyone's shoes! oAo I thought RBC's taunts were fantastic. I mean, I know a little bit about Glitch's story, not the whole thing, so even then when it was mentioning about how one of them is a child beater I was like "wait, really?!?!" XD I mean if it almost actually fooled your audience, then that says something about the wonderful writing on display, and I'm sure it could help create some tension and drama for the characters later. That said, I still appreciate K's clarification because for a moment there I actually almost believed it! orz XD
Brilliant stuff guys. Really good n____n
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IC:
Jack looked away from the Scrying Network's visualisations on the battle, and down towards the almost ant-sized forms of the Raven Blood Child and her approachment to his old colleague in creating the Scrying Network, Wren himself. He was far more interested now in what Wren's activities were going to be, but from this distance it was almost impossible to tell.
A part of him was unbelievably curious in Wren's activities, and therefore to throw a spanner in the works, was tempted to go about in fixing the Network. But that was something that would take a great deal of time that was ill afforded to him, especially considering his involvement in the upcoming Second Circle... well, naturally that was, if anyone managed to survive the First Trial to proceed onwards. Even then, he was sure that if he was to try and repair the Scrying Network, it would not please Julien himself, who had wagered on Wren being the last one standing out of all of the Trial Runners. It would in fact end up removing one of Wren's advantages, which in a way seemed ironic.
But of course, all the more interesting and exciting. Julien's confidence that no matter how powerful Wren could become, he was of inconsequent threat to him. And Wren's own devious trickery... both of them had a brilliant mind. And such a thrilling subplot...
Well, that all depended on whether or not Wren would survive his battle against the Raven Blood Child. Jack was willing to place his bets on it being so, but the particular outcome still interested Jack. Wren would most likely prevail, but what would be the extent of his injuries...?
Jack looked back towards the viewing screen that showed the rest of the Trial Runners battles against the giant snake that had appeared from the Raven Blood Child's scythe. He was deeply vested in that his own chosen warrior, Hikari Takeshi, was to prevail. Naturally he was curious about the other's fates, but none moreso than Hikari and Wren's.
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The giant snake recoiled violently from the discard sand that had been thrown into its face by Serenity. It's face lunged and danced wildly in anger and irritation by the small particles, and its tail began thrashing violently in response. The tail pounded against the arena floor four times, each one creating a deep, forceful impression on the flooring and creating a small localised tremor that threw everyone off balance and collapsing to the floor. Serenity, mid pace, tripped up over herself and skidded across the floor in pain. She had a cut across one of her knees.
'Geez, Ren, maybe not the best idea...' she mentally scolded herself.
As she lifted her body up from the ground, she startled backwards to find a giant, ominous face directly in her vision. The snake opened its mouth impossibly wide, its slithering tounge writhing madly, and it hissed sinisterly at Serenity. Serenity threw her arms in front of her face, trying to block the sinister odor thrown her way.
"Euuuwwww! That stinks! Never heard of a breath mint, pal?!" Reni shouted, before panicking and noticing the snake's tounge slither towards her.
"Serenity!" bellowed a noble voice, and from behind the snake came a familiar lunging form of the swordswoman, Lani. Striking the center of the tail's mass, her blade was either lucky enough, or fortunately skilled enough considering Lani's wearisome injuries to pierce through the joints of two of the snake's armour strong scales and dig deep into the snake's insides. The Snake reacted violently again, recoiling its face away from Serenity and shifting its body in a semi circle, the violent turn of force throwing Lani off the snake and colliding straight into Serenity.
At the same time, from the snake's mouth shot forth a purple stream of liquid, aimed towards where Xell, Hikari and Glitch still stood.
As Lani was sent flying, her precious sword was ripped from her hands. She swiftly untangled herself from Serenity, but now was presented with a problem. She had no weapon! -- or did she? Her headache worsened as she held out one hand, following some unknown instinct, and focused intensely on her sword. Where it stuck out from the snake's side, the blade started to hum, and the smooth gemstone in the hilt turned blue-white, glowing brightly. "Illiachen, santi!" she called aloud, her focus narrowed to one thing only. "Illiachen, b'ya li!" She had no idea where the words came from, nor did she know their full meaning. But one thing she was certain of, and so she was only partially surprised as the sword vanished from where it was buried in the giant snake's flesh and reappeared before her with a flash of power.
As her fingers wrapped around the hilt once more, several red flags went went off in her head. How had she known the summons? Was that strange language one she had known? Perhaps the language she had grown up using? "An impressive seal...but it's breaking now....Piece by piece." Her double's words passed through her mind suddenly. Could it be that skills she had lost were now returning? The lady knight grimaced as the ache in the back of her head throbbed momentarily. She couldn't think on that safely, especially not at the moment. Instead, she readied her sword and prepared for the snake's next attack.
OOC: Thank you Ash for giving your input and diffusing matters and clarifying things. It was a case of wrong time wrong place when I wrote that so I apologise in advance. Almost like having a cold when you're doing your job, then when you come back to look at it when you're feeling better, you wonder why you pursued it in that state of mind.
I was tired and had a bit of tunnel vision and it looked to me like I wrote a 7 pg post and then it looked like there was a bit of stalling and my reaction, it being 4AM and me being achey from an 7 hour walk was like 'Oh great, now what?' Now that I am awake I can see where everyone is coming from with their piece.
Really superb follow up of posts there 🙂 I'm impressed. No IC for now.
IC:
With a sinking feeling, Hikari watched from her position next to Xell and Glitch as the monstrous serpent turned its attention on them, its eyes narrowing with hatred. The beast reared back, hood flaring menacingly, before its throat muscles could be seen tensing and bulging. Kari had no idea what it was doing but guess, rightly so, that it was not going to be pleasant.
Seconds before the snake spat a stream of purple liquid from its mouth, instincts screaming at her, the Siamese yelled, "Get out of the way!" She then shoved Glitch to the side, grabbing Xell's arm and dodging in the opposite direction with the dragon just in time.
With a violent hiss, the foul-looking fluid splashed against the rough flooring of the arena, sending up plumes of acrid smoke. A few droplets flung themselves upon Xell's right leg, eliciting a startled and pained yelp from the dragon. "What the heck!?" He grunted, bending down along with Hikari to examine his leg. As seen with acid, the little purple drops had burned tiny circular patches into Xell's scaled hide which, while not fatal, still stung like crazy.
The two looked up to notice that the patch of ground the liquid had come into contact with had been eaten away almost entirely, resulting in an ugly mini-crater in the ground.
"It's acid," Hikari murmured, alarmed. Her fist clenched around her light-saber; of course the damned beast would be able to spit acid. Resisting the urge to growl in frustration, the she-cat moved to help her teammate stand up so that they could put more distance between themselves and the snake, who could be seen lunging at Glitch on the far side of the arena.
"Since when do cobras spit $%^*#&$ acid?" Xell muttered in annoyance, supporting himself on Kari's shoulder and testing out his burned leg. The moment the dragon decided it could still bear his weight, however, a loud and enraged roar shattered the air in the arena. Both Xell and Hikari looked up to see the familiar bulging and rippling of the serpent's throat muscles, tensing in alarm as they saw it would be aiming for Glitch this time. With no cover to shelter behind, the hedgehog had no way of dodging the acidic spray, and they were all too far away to help him. Unless...
"Xell, your tiger claws...!" Kari began, only to see the dragon perk up and nod.
"I'm on it!" He replied. "TIGER CLAWS!" And, with a downward slash of the aforementioned weapon, Xell was leaping through the swirling vortex it created. In no time at all another vortex materialized behind Glitch, with Xell's arm snaking out (no pun intended) to snatch the hedgehog backwards. The portal closed just as another of the monster-serpent's acidic spray met the ground with a hiss.
Before she could see where the other two trial runners emerged from, Hikari was dashing forward with her light-saber to exploit the wound already created by Illiachen and Lani. She felt much less daunted when the swordswoman herself appeared just behind her, returning the Siamese's glance with a determined nod.
Kari picked up her speed, yelling over her shoulder, "Since you have wounded it once already, see if you can do so again, Lani! I will distract the creature so you can make your move!"
And, hoping she hadn't just signed her own death certificate, Hikari took a running leap and skidded to a stop a few feet from the snake's massive maw, light-saber waving around erratically to catch the beast's attention.
OOC: Will edit with more later. Or if anyone wants to post something in the meantime, that's cool. Just wanted to show I'm not dead. 
