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~chapter 3~ Rift In The Clouds |
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mad Xx:
The Grove (a.k.a Devil’s Living Place)
mad Xx:
The sun shined brightly on this animal inhabited grove in the middle of a desolate but beautiful forest in A-Country. Only one humanoid being lived near this area. A Gear. Testament reigned over this spot as its caretaker with the original owner off living with the rest of the world. Not that the paled skinned Gear with charcoal black hair minded, too much. After what was dubbed as the “I-No Incident”, life for the select few who were witness to the event had their lives returning slowly back to normal. Testament tried to keep his faith in his charge’s caretaker, but the pirate captain failed once, and the trust was hard to build up again. He sat by the small stream that cut into the middle of the small safe haven that was surrounded by bits of empty stone ruins and wilderness. Testament had a feeling it would be another quiet and uneventful day. His raven, actually a succubus in disguise, flew down from a tree to perch on his right shoulder. The steel collar on her neck jingled slightly with her small movements. Testament patted the large bird on the head. She soon flew off as something walked into the clearing, startling her. Testament soon saw the largest dog he had ever laid eyes on. It stood panting, its tongue sticking out of its mouth. Its brown fur was course and thick. Most interesting to note was the strange head mask strapped to its head and pixilated red lens of the mask it wore over its eyes as well. It had a cute face, but the sheer size seemed intimidating enough to a normal person. Testament stood at full height, dusting off the black leather skirt he wore. The dog backed up, then ran back into the forest.
‘That was...strange.’
Testament thought to himself as he felt the Raven perch on his shoulder again. He soon heard the dog’s yelp of pain, and since the original owner’s sympathetic demeanor rubbed off on him slightly, he began crossing the small stream to search for the dog. He stopped short, his feet in the water. His crimson eyes narrowed as he saw a large shadow cast over his own. He looked swiftly into the stream, but the water only reflected a murky reflection that he couldn’t make out what to be. Testament dodged forward before he could be struck in the back and turned swiftly to engage his opponent. What he saw was nothing he had ever encountered before. The massive white beast stared down at him, parts of the body singed by numerous burns. Yet it was otherwise unharmed.
“What...are you?”
Testament had to ask, sensing nothing out of the ordinary about the power of this creature save for it’s immense size. Leopaldon remained unmoving, continuing to stare down the Gear. Testament looked on coldly, a crimson bladed scythe appearing within his right hand, the shaft tapping lightly against his shoulder as he too remained unmoving. His raven hovered gently above him.
“You are trespassing, fiend. Be gone now.”
Testament said firmly. Leopaldon’s mouth opened slightly.
“ERRR...”
Leopaldon bared some of his teeth, looking more and more ready to pounce. Testament remained calm and detatched, letting the Raven fly slightly overhead.
“Did you not understand me the first time?”
Testament’s tone still held authority as his eyes narrowed.
“I suppose not. Your only an animal after all.”
Testament said offhandedly. The beast growled, angered.
“...we’ll...see...who...is...the...animal...”
Testament was slightly surprised when he heard the low, throaty response. Before he could say more, Leopaldon lashed out with a fierce thrust of his claws. The attack came out faster than Testament first expected, and he narrowly brought his scythe blade down to guard against the attack.
‘Strong.’
Testament could feel the force behind that blow as it sent him skidding back slightly, but his feet still planted in the ground firmly. Leopaldon followed with a right cross attackto Testament’s side, but he jumped over it.
“Grave Digger!”
Testament flew towards Leopaldon, slashing the beast across the temple as his blade had a phantom attached in it to make the blade transform to liquid metal and solidify into a jagged blade to add damage. Leopaldon made a small grunt of surprise, but was otherwise fine, with only a small scrape in his tough scaly skin.
‘Damn...his skin is too tough to penetrate.’
Testament thought, but saw the gums almost hidden under Leopaldon’s lips. Thinking it would be a soft spot to aim for, Testament came forward to swing his scythe down at that point, but Leopaldon expected this and opened his mouth to even allow Testament to strike at them, however it was only a small trickle of blood that ran down from his lips, and his mouth soon clamped down on Testament’s scythe. The beast was now laughing at him with the deep throaty voice, though it’s mouth never moved. Testament tried to break the weapon free, but it was proving useless as Leopaldon’s biting grip held. Leopaldon finally struck Testament, his claws cutting off Testament’s black top and leaving three vicious cuts along Testament’s muscular chest. The Gear grunted in pain as he was forced back from the attack, leaving his scythe in Leopaldon’s mouth. His right hand went to his chest, as blood ran down the large claw marks that ran from his collar bone to his waist. He was soon struck against the head, falling on his back. Testament gritted his teeth to prevent screaming from the intense pain as his chest nearly caved in with the beast bringing a massive foot down on it. Leopaldon Spit the scythe out behind him, where it clattered to the ground uselessly.
“...admit...defeat...”
Leopaldon stated lowly, his foot grinding into Testament’s chest. The Gear simply glared at the giant.
“Don’t think...I’ll go down so easily.”
Testament said firmly, a smirk gracing his lips. Leopaldon growled, bringing his foot up. He brought it down with extreme force, but only hit ground as Testament went under, covered by red liquid. The Gear arose to grab his scythe. Leopaldon’s foot sank deep into the soft soil and was having trouble pulling it out. Leopaldon gave Testament a sideway’s glance. Testament smirked as his wounds regenerated, blood seeping back into the closing wounds.
“Get ready, monster. EXE Beast!”
A giant red glob demon arose from the ground, opening it’s enormous mouth to devour Leopaldon, but he proved too big a meal for it, so it merely bit into his arm, holding the appendage in place. Testament had been riding the demon and then jumped up to Leopaldon’s snout.
“Not all of you is impenetrable. Like those eyes of your’s for instance.”
Testament declared, raising his scythe up overhead, before bringing it down on Leopaldon’s back left eye. Leopaldon roared in anger, almost knocking Testament off had his scythe blade not been imbedded in the damaged eye socket. Testament repeated the process on the other eye in the back, and Leopaldon tried to stop him, but Testament summoned another Exe Beast to hold the other arm. Leopaldon bucked so much that Testament had no choice but to leap off the massive head. The demons hold on Leopaldon’s arms were beginning to weaken, and Testament did not want to waste time. He quickly looked up towards his raven.
“Succubus, hurry! Take out his other eyes!”
He commanded. The raven’s shape changed as it teleported above Leopaldon’s head, the raven transporting into a strange young women with an unearthly appearance. A black scythe appeared in her hand as she slashed down with it, damaging Leopaldon’s front left eye. Leopaldon squirmed and writhed, the pain making him angrier and angrier. The Succubus finally slashed the final eye, and Leopaldon went berserk, his arms ripping through the demons that held him, his arms flailing wildly. Blood ran freely from his damaged eyes. He struck the surprised Succubus as his movements became erratic and uncontrolled. She fell against a tree knocked out cold for the moment. Testament rushed to her, but had to back up as Leopaldon’s mad swinging cut him off from getting to her. It was almost too sudden that Leopaldon’s body went still and calm.
“You are definitely a strong opponent, pale one, but we’ll put a stop to you.”
A voice different from the one he heard earlier from Leopaldon caught Testament’s undivided attention. Leopaldon’s mouth opened impossibly wide, and to Testament’s disgust, the beast regurgitated a bongo drum from his belly that simply remained in his giant mouth. A strange armored figure soon emerged underneath to sit besides the drums, his crimson eyes glowing under the strange metal helmet on his head.
“Your in for a world of hurt, stranger. Leopaldon seal level one, unlock!”
The strange figure that sat in Leopaldon’s mouth began pounding on the drum with his hands.
“Super Shake!”
The armored figure beat the drum with his left hand, making Leopaldon mimic the motion. When his fist hit the ground, however, large runic sheets inlaid with a ruby at the top of them rose from the ground in a wave. They struck Testament hard repeatedly, lifting him in the air.
“Super Hi-Touch!”
The armored figure lifted his arm way up before it fell slowly on the drum. Leopaldon once again mimicked, lifting his arm up high to deliver a crushing back fist to Testament’s face.
‘This man is controlling the beast with his drum. I must take him out.’
Testament told himself, recovering in mid air and quickly dashing through the air to land on Leopaldon’s mouth to stare down at the strange man within.
“Die.”
Testament said, bringing his scythe forward with great speed as it horizontally went to clip the armored figure’s head off his shoulders, but the strange man lifted his arms up swiftly and leaned forward, pounding both hands on the drums.
“Perfect Rainbow!”
The man along with his drum were quickly swallowed, right before Testament’s swing could connect. Blue light collected at Leopaldon’s mouth while Testament stayed on the jaws. Knowing another attack was coming, Testament jumped off, but was soon struck head on by a powerful beam breath attack. Testament fell to the ground, injured quite badly.
‘This will take time to heal.’
Testament saw the beast come forward. The two began to fight again, but it was clear who had the upper hand. Testament fell after a long desperate fight, his body too weakened to fully regenerate quickly. He lifted his head slightly from laying on his back to look up at the beast and it’s master who resided in it’s mouth.
“Who are you...?”
He asked weakly. The crimson glowing eyes of his enemy continued shine eerily.
“We may be different in mind and body, yet we are both truly one and the same. We are Leopaldon.”
With those words spoken from the armored man, Testament’s eyes closed as his head hit the ground in exhaustion. Leopaldon closed it’s enormous mouth after swallowing the man and the drum. His eyes were unusable for now, and he used his other senses to head in another direction, grabbing a fistful of Testament’s hair and dragging him off. It had been nearly an hour since Leopaldon had abducted Testament and ran off. Sol burst on the scene prepared for a battle, but was greeted with nothing.
‘Damn, I’m too late. Looks like it got into a scuffle with Testament and beat him down. I doubt that tough b*****d got killed though. His Succubus is unconscious over there, but where is he?’
Sol looked towards the unconscious female, not really caring to wake her up. Sol lifted his head up, sniffing the air.
‘That b*****d’s scent isn’t even here anywhere like it was with that robot. It was also slightly detectable in that lab. This creature may not be associated with him after all. But I’ll be ******** damned if I let this slim opportunity slip through my grasp. Better get going.’
Sol thought to himself. He hefted his blade over his shoulder and ran off, tracking Leopaldon’s scent and hoping for a chance to end That Man’s life. It had been only twenty minutes afterwards that a battle ready Ky came into the clearing, adrenaline kicking in. He was met with nothing as well.
‘Seems I’m too late. But this is where Testament now resides, correct? Where is he?’
Ky crouched to the ground seeing signs of a fight. He could make out the distinct foot prints of the creature he was after. He looked about hoping to see Testament somewhere or even Sol, since Ky had been tracking the bounty hunter’s trail. Sol was usually attentive to hiding his trail to prevent being followed when he wanted to be left alone, but in his haste to try and find both That Man and the creature that escaped from the Bureau’s lab, he didn’t care. Ky capitalized on the opportunity, knowing this would be the best way to lead him towards both Sol and the beast he thought to be a possible free willed Megadeath classed Gear. Ky noticed the Succubus that remained unconscious against a tree. Chivalry now kicking in, Ky rushed to the downed ethereal girl.
“Miss, are you okay? Please, wake up.”
Ky said, gently patting his hand against her face to rouse her from unconsciousness. The Succubus began to react, her eyes opening slightly.
“Good, you seem to be awake. You are Testament’s servant, right? What happened here?”
He asked her. The Succubus got up into a sitting position. Though she was not too fond of humans, many she could tolerate to a certain extent. Testament would rarely admit that he actually trusted Ky, and so his Succubus did, too.
‘We were attacked by this...thing...I’m not sure what it was. I had attacked its eyes but was then knocked into this tree.’
She relayed to him, Ky had been surprised when he heard her voice but did not see her mouth move, but soon realized it to be telepathy.
“It wasn’t a Megadeath classed Gear of some sort?”
Ky asked. The Succubus shook her head.
‘No...something completely different, but its power was enormous. I must find my master.’
The Succubus declared, standing up. Ky rose with her.
“Let me follow you. You’ll need help anyway. If I do become a burden, leave me behind and I’ll figure out another way.”
Ky proposed to do. The Succubus thought briefly before nodding.
‘Fine. Keep up as best you can.’
She said to him. Her form became that of a raven again, and she took off, Ky not to far behind her. Ky briefly noticed they were also going in the direction of Sol, who had a decent head start from the Succubus and Ky.
mad Xx:
Sky, May-Ship
mad Xx:
It had been a lazy day out on the endless sea of clouds the airship flew through. Various female pirate crew members lounged about on deck, having nothing to do since they had all done their choirs around the ship quickly out of excitement that they would all be returning to their home at May Beach this day. One particular girl sat near the back, playing with a black furred cat with a mini captain hat on its head and a small bandana around its neck. The beautiful girl playing with the cat had light blue hair that was tied in pigtails with yellow ribbons, the same color as the bandana tied over her head. Her sailor shirt was rather short and showed off her slim waist and her small shorts hung rather loosely to her hips. The strangest thing that separated this girl from the others was that she had two small wings, one white and the other black, protruding from under her shirt, and a tail with a yellow ribbon tied at the end.
“Well, Janice, are you glad that we’ll be going home today?”
The young girl asked the cat, stroking its ear gently. She only got a meow for her response, but she smiled anyway.
“Yeah, me too. I wonder if Testament will visit us soon as well?”
She said looking at the perfect blue sky. Janice stiffened, her fur bristling as if she were afraid. The girl looked down in surprise.
“Janice? What’s the matter?”
Her crimson eyes followed the cat’s stare, only to rest upon a massive brown dog with a strange black leather mask over the top of its face, a large chain gripped in it’s mouth, that linked to something behind it, though it was too big to see much of the object behind the dog. The girl’s eyes widened in shock.
“Wow, what a cute dog you are...but your so big.”
The girl soon became a little scared, not of the dog in general, but because she knew dogs seemed to have a thing about chasing cats and that was exactly what Janice was. She could not tell if the dog had seen Janice, since his eyes were covered by the red lens, but if he had he made no threatening movements towards the cat. The girl put Janice down and stood up, walking towards the dog.
“How did you get up here in the airship?”
She said to herself. The dog backed up as if he were afraid. His tail was also between his legs, indicating he was scared.
“It’s okay, Mr. Dog. I won’t hurt you. I’m Dizzy. Do you have a real name?”
She said gently, but despite her affinity with animals in general, her sympathetic demeanor did not change him from even tentatively coming towards her. Dizzy’s eyes swelled with sadness.
“You must have been hurt badly. Please...you can trust me.”
She said, holding out her arm. Just before reaching to touch his big nose, the dog bolted off towards the front of the ship. The chained object behind it followed loudly, but Dizzy could not tell what it was because it had been covered in a thick cloth. Excited shouts from the crew in front was all that could be heard, as the dog surprised them all when he ran there, Dizzy not too far behind. She had been too preoccupied with the dog’s presence to notice a thin trail of red that had followed with the object the dog was dragging around.
:* We will continue on*:
 Mariah_Silvermane · Thu Apr 26, 2007 @ 07:49pm · 0 Comments |
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