Charlie Base and What They Found There [Kenshiko]
[QUOTE=Cleric of Hell’s Brigade;4756713]She nods.
“There are a few paths open. My....distant cousin just came into, or will shortly, possession of a powerful artifact that could help us. Damask is also not entirely whole, and his true form is staggeringly more powerful.”
She gestures to the ruins around them.
“There is also secrets here from humanity’s first great martial powers. But, beyond that I do know something that will please you and the recruits. The President shall be......greatly reduced in effect soon.”[/QUOTE]
The Sergeant stood there listening to what her commander revealed of the paths before them.
Racing blindly toward things the fixed future, as if it were something that assuredly would come to pass. [i]Destiny[/i].
For Grinthorn to finally lose something after all he'd taken, it was almost too good to be true - much less to believe.
[QUOTE]She smiles and looks at Kenshiko.
“Did you know that visions run in my blood line? It’s a latent gift, one not entirely under control so they come and go more often then I can command them. However, they have always shown me truth: there will be a great sundering for the President. Our Kami, our Guardian, will strike a blow against him that will reverberate across the entire planet. And with that blow, his influence over mankind shall...diminish. He’ll be weakened. And one should always strike when the target is at their most vulnerable, yes?”[/QUOTE]
Yet this explicit reveal of the Colonel's visions, however, left her far from standing at ease, and as the sergeant folded her arms before her ,lines creased on the downturned corners of her mouth.
"No, I didn't know," she said, "but the truth seems to be on a need-to-know basis for everyone outside of a very select few, now isn't it?"
Of late, it had been thing for the Major's ears only, and in that respect very little had changed where their leader and the earthen hulk convened their silent understanding. Yet ever since they'd come to this place, a little detail that had vexed Kenshiko. While she fought her way to the inner levels of solitary in that hellhole, Willa had been content to sit there, biding her time.
The Colonel, evidently, could have left whenever she wished while they were in prison. The golem knew it, and bound to her service by that strange connection knew he'd made the rendezvous. Yet Willa, instead of coming back for her comrade...
[i]More secrets.[/i]
"Tell me, was it one of your visions that dragged us down with your father, or was it something else you held close to your chest, [i]your majesty[/i]?" Her hands tightened in the crooks of her arms, restrained.
Trapped.
"Then again, you always had a way. To find [I]just [/I]the right thing to say at [I]just [/I]the right time."
Telling someone exactly what they want to hear. Easy thing for a mind-reader. Offering a way out for those who had lost everything, there'd been no more loyal or eager ears than those in the company of Red Raider Corpsmen.
Even as the entire world turned against them and they in turn sealed themselves away from it.
"That'd be about enough to convince everyone there's still something worth dying for on the horizon." [i]Last time it was for the promise of a wish.[/i] "If you're going to tell them to march under your banner, Colonel, you're going to have to show them more than that. I'm not going to risk their lives on a whim for nothing. [B]Never again.[/B]"
Disciples of the Dragon VII: The Legacy of Zxu'ro [Zaofan]
[QUOTE=Cleric of Hell’s Brigade;4766246]Ro smiles, letting the ball disperse before putting his hand behind his head and chuckling.
“Well, I mean, I kind of sort of started them.”
He drops his hand and looks seriously at Sasheem.
“My nick name is Ro, called Zxu'ro at birth. I am the Grand Master of the Ten Schools, creator of the Chimera Style, Palatine of Earth.”
He grins again, going back to being somewhat....lacking in bearing.
“But I prefer Ro if you please.”[/QUOTE]
Zaofan suddenly found his teeth jammed as they pressed over a section of egg salad, fixed in place as if it had been thicker than toffee. Slave to reflex, the chef found himself caught quite offguard by this reveal.
While it'd be a sheer waste to spite, it was equally quite hard to swallow; moreso if it was a particularly unprocessed bolus.
And yet the signature of the energy, the fineness of the living whispers within that silent bead of power, it was just like the one he'd held in his hands, the very same that superceded each of the Ten Sigils that barred entry to this place.
[I]Unbelievable! It carries the essence of this place![/I] His brow furrowed as he took his mental notes. The ki of this entire place had struck him as completely different from where they had stood outside of it. [i]Wherever this is...[/I]
"I...*gulp*" he started, before the prickle of crusts choked down his gullet, "[B]*COUGH COUGH*[/B]"
So many questions burning at the edge of his throat, now closed off. Before he could say another thing, Zaofan found himself quite...indisposed, as his Majin compatriot stepped up to challenge Ro directly.
As wet crumbs littered the grass beneath his feet, he resigned himself to watch for the moment as the crusts made their way down.
[QUOTE=KingofPie;4759152]"Yeah..." The Majin gritted his teeth, eying the Genki Dama with disdain. "That's basically the gist of what Sasheem was sayin'...so that begs the question, how do you know it?! If ya want him to spell it out further, what are your ties to The Ten Schools?!"[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Cleric of Hell’s Brigade;4796254]It misses.
Ro’s arms lash out faster than Sasheem can follow, a dozen strikes in a single moment.
“Snake School, Striking Cobra technique.”
And Sasheem find’s he cannot access his ki right now.[/QUOTE]
From his vantage point decidedly away from the combat, Zaofan had an unobstructed view, and straining through the twitch of his lungs, he fought to discern the techniques on display from both of them.
[I]If he's not Zxu'ro, then this is a really convincing bluff, that was clean.[/I]
The Snake School's legacy, outside of what Sasheem brought to bear, existed only in artifact figments. [I]It's just like in the manual we found with Master Balon, and yet seeing it in action this way is somehow familiar...[/I]
"...[B]*COUGH*[/B] Sasheem- I...," he sputtered, bits of sesame and farrow seeds lining his reddened face. "...come here for a sec..."
Disciples of the Dragon VII: The Legacy of Zxu'ro [Ochazuke]
[QUOTE=Cleric of Hell’s Brigade;4756832]“I did, but I decided I would rather wait for you then go on. Zaofan decided to stay and make sure Sasheem...behaved. The door once opened lead to a descending staircase into darkness, but once we went down, the world altered and we were walking up a temple staircase, exposed to a beautiful blue sky and surrounding trees.”[/QUOTE]
Slowly unfurling the blood-soaked band upon his brow, as Balon recalled what happened the old blood fell like scales from Ochazuke's eyes. Where there was once heavy wounds sealed in darkness, light had returned, and here in the Guardian's chamber, the smallest glimmer of hope.
[i]Sequestered in the depths of the world, tranquility and illumination,[/i] he mused, [i]That it can hardly be called a secret any longer may not be to our gain.[/i]
"You felt it, didn't you?" Hurriedly, he stood to his feet, but soon Ochazuke felt his body plummet as he fell to his knees. Propping himself up on his hands, ragged breaths came slowly. "A pulse of energy, like a column thrust through the planet's core at a fixed point."
But no matter how drained and wounded he was, the fact remained there remained many things to do. That was enough to push him slowly to stand once more.
"We're not the only ones looking for the legacy. Now that we have opened the way, these others who were watching will no doubt find their way towards it, and we've shown them the shortest path."
Disciples of the Dragon VII: The Legacy of Zxu'ro [Zaofan]
[QUOTE=KingofPie;4797296]Huh?! This human...faster than him?! And what was this...numb feeling? The Majin's face sunk. His ki. Or lack thereof at the moment. Sasheem teeth gritted as he staggered back.
"So you're not just some sort of imitator, huh?" He panted. "Too bad Sasheem doesn't need his ki to wipe the floor with you!" Sasheem shouted, beginning to charge when...
"Argh....can't this wait?!" The Majin grumbled. "Sasheem can still wipe the floor with this brat! ...the grass! ...Whatever!"[/QUOTE]
"Thought[B] ~*COUGH COUGH*~[/B] ...thought you were [B]*HACK*[/B]" The last gob-covered crust left the back of Zaofan's throat.
Young Ro's technique was swift, and even though Sasheem had been nipping at their heels since the Spider's Shrine, the difference between their skill levels had hardly been this pronounced during the trials of the Old Masters.
"...I take it the bits of the Snake School you learned didn't have that one in their repertoire, did they?"
Zaofan paced slowly over to Sasheem's side, looking warily over to Ro. Reaching over to his side, the Martial Chef gently laid his hand on Sasheem's shoulder.
"Sure, you're the expert," he rasped glumly, "The People's Annihilator out to take it all for himself because he's better than all the rest."
Small squeezes pressed upon Sasheem. At first it might have been a small reassurance...but the clinical way he felt the pads of Zaofan's thin fingers inspecting his gummy flesh, it was more like he was back in his kitchen, checking the integrity of a piece of picnic roast.
[I]This technique, I've seen something like it before...[/I] Zaofan mused. [I]Pressure points. There's no mistaking it, the way the energy's flow moves through the matter...[/I]
"Only, did you forget Master Balon's training already...?"
Crisis Overtime!!: Arisen
[QUOTE=Twiliteknite06;4798682]"What in the world...." the female time patrol officer gasped as she flew up behind Hops, who just scowled. "Too bad for you, your time has run out! Time Patrol Officers Hops and..." He looked at the mysterious patrol officer, no one had heard her say her name, and she, slightly embarrassed, whispered, "Uva Vite."
"We are officers Uva Vite and Hops Barrel of the Time Patrol, cease any and all time-related actions and come quietly!" He aimed his blaster at a cable that was attached to the heating plate beneath the vat of quickly boiling liquid.
"I've no idea what your plans are, or where you mysteriously appeared from," Uva began, reading over the digital dossier of her current assignment to simply help an innocent man, Hops, escape the custody of the Galatic patrol, "but your actions have disturbed the peace of the city and you've literally robbed people of their wares, you must be held accountable!"[/QUOTE]
"The Time Patrol..." the old scientist sighed. "I was hoping you'd fight amongst yourselves for a bit longer. But, I suppose your thirst for justice would not allow us to catch you unawares..." he spat bitterly before settling into a calmer tone. "No matter. the plan is already in motion. You cannot stop us. The M-Fighters cannot stop us. We have many champions to our cause. And now our last one arises from a long slumber."
Suddenly a wave of ki, a kiai, a powerful one at that blasted forth from the pool of yellow ooze that they now recognizwd as a torrent of [B]cheese[/B]. The assembled officers were nearly blasted backwards as the old scientist pulled a lever downward and the coils sprung to life, crackling with electricity which suddenly zapped downward towards the cheese.
The Four Loco was next, telekinetically lifted and dumped into the cheese, completing the vile concoction of fondue.
"Granted death far too soon....abandoned by all...even his own curses failed to satiate his vengeance," the old scientist began cackling madly. "Only through dark science was he to be given life anew. A WARRIOR REBORN! ARISE! BIO-JAGAM!"
A humanoid figure began to levitate up among the cheesy muck.
[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49429682393_66295b6dbd_c.jpg[/img]