The Enemy

As Nayomi left his room Duke collapsed onto his bed. "Whoa, I can't believe I just did that." He was trying to sleep when he heard Nayomi's voice again, this time calling for the team for aid. Duke jumped out of bed and slid his 'gear' into his pockets. heading outside Nayomi gave the group their instructions and, as he would prefer, she said he was sticking with her. He met his first opponent instantly as Nayomi charged in Duke had to be careful, avoiding the swords while also drawing blood from himself. The cloaked man was tall but oddly skinny, he quickly drew a long rapier style sword. Duke glanced at the skinny man's form and it was obvious he was skilled. "Why do you fight to keep us from Eden?" the cloaked man questioned Duke as they circled each other for a moment. "Cuz you guys are wrong about how to get there." Duke answered with a strong tone "Besides, if it even exists you cloaked nut cases don't deserve Eden!" His explanation angered the skinny man greatly, causing him to lunge forth with the rapier. Duke parried smoothly and reached into his pockets, taking out two X-acto knives. Looking at the man's own sword, then at Duke's fine knives, the man said "I do hope you are very skilled with those. I would hate to kill you too quickly." Duke just chuckled at the idea. He pulled back his sleeve and put one of the knives to his right wrist, then proceeded to slowly pull it up his forearm to his elbow. The blade was extremely sharp and easily sliced through Dukes skin. Even with the man's experiences killing women and children, he still had some trouble watching Duke cut open his own arms. After putting the X-acto knives back in his pockets, Duke let the large gashes along his arms bleed for a few seconds. Blood flowed down his palms and dripped from his fingers, pooling in the ground by his feet. "This will do." The robed man just stared, questioning Dukes actions. Duke then flung his arms up toward the cloaked man, his blood followed swiftly. As the robed man slashed through the blood avidly it continued to bash him around violently. Duke had noticed the man wielded his rapier in his left hand and always kept his right firmly behind him. Knowing this Duke made a punching motion towards the man, though instead of a regular fist Duke extended his index and middle finger as he punched. While not close enough to hit him with his hand, the levitating blood jutted forth with extreme force, actually punching a hole in the man's left shoulder. The man groaned loudly in agony as he fell to one knee, dropping his sword and clutching his shoulder with his opposite hand. "How did you...?" "Poke a hole in your arm?" Duke finished the question "simple, I just concentrated the blood into a fine stream then shot it at you in a stream. You know, like the water-jets some car companies use to cut through sheet metal." The man just clutched his bloody shoulder breathing deeply. "Well done with you." Duke held his hands up one elbow down, one up with both hands palm out. Blood flowed around the man's head and before he began struggling, Duke made a quick spinning motion. Spiralling his hands around one another. The blood followed suit, creating a powerful current twisting the mans head and cracking his neck in about a second. Duke looked for who was next but his search was interrupted when he heard Nayomi yelping in pain. Immediately he channel his blood in the direction of the cry and forced apart several cloaked men. Nayomi continued to fight her adversary and the often flash of fire or scream of pain signified the others were hard at work as well. Duke ran over and stopped roughly 10 feet from Nayomi, as to not accidentally get in her way while also covering her back. Duke grinned cruelly as he stood in a more sturdy position and raised his hands. His thumbs were up and his index and middle fingers were pointed out, as when children pretend they have guns. Duke closed one eye and spun around the group of cloaked men. He made successive 'shooting' motions with his hands, pulling them back as if there were recoil to his shots. As he did a narrow jet stream punched a hole for every 'recoil' Duke preformed. This was the, soon to be infamous, [I]wild west[/I] technique Duke had been perfecting the past few weeks before the final exam. Usable efficiently only against a large group, he didn't feel the need to use it one on one against the bomber girl he faced earlier. Both the blood already flying about and more blood from the slits up his forearms flew out as Duke repeatedly 'shot' at his seemingly endless opponents. One man got behind Nayomi as she finished off a cultist, and prepared to chop her down the back as she leapt toward another man. Duke gave him a dirty snare, before the man's blade fell Duke cleared easily 10 or more holes in the man's body. His main focus was on protecting Nayomi's back but if anyone got too close to himself, he would put a quarter sized tunnel through one or both of their knees. As the body count rose, Dukes vision began to blur. His eyesight was shaded only in varying reds and no matter what he did they just became redder, nearly blinding him. [I]'A magic spell?'[/I] Duke thought quickly [I]'No that couldn't be it. Louis would have sensed and stopped it in seconds.'[/I] No this was something much harder to simply stop...[I]'My powers!'[/I] Duke realised the problem he had now was one he had faced before. Whenever Duke got a little eccentric with his abilities, his eyes would soon glaze over appearing to be solid orbs of red, which was what Duke got to see through, or at least attempt seeing through. He knew it was just a barrier to a new branch in his powers but he had yet to learn the focus he needed to maintain in order to utilise it. Duke dropped to his knees breathing deeply, his knees mad a feint splash as they hit puddles of red blood. He was surrounded by either dead or dying cultists. Though from what he could still make out there were somehow more cultists to be taken down. As the sea of red, that wasn't his, continued producing opponents for his allies, Duke stumbled to his feet. And for fear of becoming temporarily blind, as he had done before, Duke decided to take up one of the cultists styles. He reached down to one of the groaning men crumpled around him and picked up twin short blades, they were curved like sickles and had the unnerving glint of some dark green liquid when held to the light. Duke began cutting through more cultists, blinking often to quicken the regain of his sight, and trying to be careful to avoid the blades of his enemies. He cursed himself for not being able to control the extent of his powers...yet. OOC: Sorry for the huge post, love the fight scene's and got a really good idea to advance Duke's powers while keeping him from being too overpowered.

Duke shook his head silently, not even facing Nayomi. "What's wrong Duke?" She asked him kindly waling around to meet his eyes. He shifted his glance trying to avoid eye contact as much as he could. "Duke! what is it?" Nayomi demanded growling slightly and grabbing Duke by the shoulders to get his attention. Duke looked at her for a moment just staring into her eyes. She could smell his pheromones, and hear his heart beat speeding up rapidly. "Duke???" she asked again, almost worried now. "Are you ok???" Thousands of thoughts rushed through Duke's mind. Nayomi laying on his bed, Her oh so attractive 'puppy-dog' look, how she was still a little wet from the fountain earlier. Duke mumbled to Nayomi "I'm sorry. I can't hold back anymore." Before Nayomi could respond Duke had his hands on her hips, pulling her closer, and his lips on hers. When he pulled her by her hips her hands slipped off his shoulders and slid behind his neck. Duke forgot himself in the moment and prayed Nayomi wouldn't resist his advances.

Duke watched Nayomi playing around in the fountain for a while, getting a little frisky as she got wet. Their fun was cut short however as a small paper airplane flew over and landed on the ground in front of Duke. He bent over and picked it up reading over it. "Duke, you need to get back to the mansion immediately. We have company." the paper read. "Hmm that's weird." Duke mumbled to himself while crumpling up the paper. "what is?" Nayomi asked, before Duke could answer however another airplane landed in front of her. Duke just chuckled a little "See for yourself." Nayomi bent down to grab the paper, and Duke took his opportunity to check out her ass. Grinning to himself as she stood again. Her letter said the same as his, with a name change. "We should probably get going" Nayomi said with a hint of regret on her voice. Duke just shrugged and gave a 'should have seen this coming' sort of look as they began making their way back to the mansion. Duke gently took Nayomi's hand in his as they walked and held it the entire way back. Eventually they were back and both let go of each other to avoid weird looks or teasing. As they entered the main room They were met with an odd site. Jinx, Damo, Sin, Reiku, and not Louis were all sitting in the room with serious looks on their faces. Looking at the situation Duke decided the newcomer, whoever he or she may be, was probably talking one on one with Louis. Most likely in his room. "We were called back to join in on the sitting party?" Duke asked, frustrated. "I guess Louis wanted us here in case the newcomer tried anything." Nayomi justified. "Yo where is Louis and new folk?" Duke asked the room. Sin answered "Louis and this mysterious lass both went into his room to talk one on one about their powers I believe." the young man explained as best could. "And those powers would be...?" Duke asked, gesturing for Sin to continue, which he did. "She didn't display any real abilities, she was just closely accompanied by a black dog and a little dragon. I..I think they were demons." Sin had a note of worry in his breath, but Duke ignored it. "Demons eh? What exactly do demons have to do with Louis? I thought he practiced arcana or some shit. If anyone should talk to someone about demons it should be you kid" Duke argued pointing to Sin "Your powers originate from demonic blood don't they?" before Sin could answer Duke continued "Or even Jinx with that seal thing she's got." Duke stopped to take a few breaths. "When they're done having their secret bloody club meeting or whatever, I'm in my room." Duke walked off angrily mumbling to himself "stupid fuckin?...over confident...self absorbed..." Duke was always frustrated when Louis acted like he knew everything, or even if he seemed like he waned to know everything. "egocentric prick...probably wants to study her for his journal or something..." Duke continued mumbling as he entered his room.

Nayomi dragged Duke out of the building quickly by his arm. Once they were about a block away the hold she had on his arm changed, not so much a 'dragging/ hurry up' hold, but now more of just holding hands...kind of. They walked around the huge city for maybe ten to fifteen minutes, before finding the tourist area. [I]"There's got to be some kind of ice cream shop around here."[/I] Duke thought to himself looking around. He failed to find an ice cream shop before Nayomi, mainly because he couldn't keep his eyes off her. And he couldn't think very straight with her wrapped around his arm. He kept his cool on the outside, to anyone just glancing over he seemed as if he'd been on thousands of dates with the cute girl and this was just another night out. Too bad for Duke Nayomi wasn't 'anyone just glancing over' she was Nayomi! No doubt she could feel/ hear his hears beat speeding up, smell his pheromones going wild, hear the normally inaudible small cracks in his voice. Whatever else she could sense, Duke would never know. But he did know she found all those hidden nervous signs to be at least somewhat enjoyable, because she would smile more every time his heart beat increased noticeably, or he blushed even in the slightest. Both of which she could cause by hugging his arm more . Duke wasn't very use to physical contact. He learned of his powers slightly after his first crush, who he scared into never looking him in the eye ever again. Near every girl in his old school then feared him. Along with everyone else, even his parents. This caused a devastating lack of personal contact for years. Of coarse the team wasn't afraid of him, so to speak, but he'd never given any of them a reason to touch him in any way. This all formulated into having absolutely no idea how to react to Nayomi's harmless physical advances. (Anyways where was I...oh yah) Nayomi found the first ice cream shop. It was clearly popular as the line was rather large. But the menu was enormous so they decided the line was probably worth it. Duke Turned to Nayomi, or rather kept his eyes on Nayomi, and asked "So what's your favourite flavour?"

Duke was struggling to contain himself. He built up the courage in his mind as much as possible, pried his eyes off of Nayomi an while turning away and closing his eyes he said "Well I was just curious, would you maybe go on like, a date or something, with me, sometime ,like for coffee or something?" Duke immediately regretted his poor attempt. "[I]Oh my god"[/I] he thought [I] "what the hell was that?! 'maybe go on like, a date or something' god I suck!"[/I] Duke scolded himself mentally. This was the first time in many years Duke had asked anyone out. He was as nervous as a young boy asking for extra candy. He couldn't believe how stupid he sounded when he asked, and was also feeling guilty about how hard it was to take his eyes of Nayomi. Even through the shower curtain the silhouette of her body was amazing. He waited patiently for her response. Seconds turned to hours as his hands fidgeted in his pockets. He could only prey his lack of mental concentration would not go wild with his powers.

Duke greeted Reiku, with a stern nod, and he acknowledged him back in the same manor. Though that was the only real conversation they had Duke kept an eye on him. Something about the sound wielder didn't rub him the right way. Always put Duke on edge when he was around. Almost as if he knew something awful was going to happen. It was only a feeling, but Duke was a strong believer in gut feelings, and so he watched Reiku like a hawk. While not giving attention to Nayomi. Duke checked his room first thing after arriving at the hotel. Just as his room back home, there were random splatters of blood on the black walls. Lit by four floor lights, one in each corner. Though here it was dark red paint, back home the sprayed designs were the actual result of him experimenting with his powers. After dropping his bag abruptly in the floor Duke went to check on the others, namely Nayomi. He knew this was the time, this time he was really going to ask her. He had it all planned out. Having gone over his 'line' about 3 dozen times in his mind Duke sought out Nayomi. He walked into her "mountain camp room" as he called it. Though before he could say anything Nayomi asked him about his room. Answering truthfully he said it was as he expected and it made him more comfortable in the new place. After a moment of awkward silence Duke began nervously scratching the back of his neck. A moment later Nayomi turned to him with a small smile. It was small, but it was truthful. Nayomi rarely showed anyone a real smile. And despite his reputation as a hard ass, Duke returned the gesture. The both sort of sat there smiling a each other slightly, looking into each others eyes for a while, before Duke finally broke he silence. "Umm so yah." he rambled nervously [I]"would you like to go out for coffee with me sometime? would you like to go out for coffee with me sometime? would you like to go out for coffee with me sometime?"[/I] he thought the question over and over [I]"Why can't I just say it?!"[/I] he demanded of himself. "Yes?" Nayomi asked playfully, obviously sensing how nervous Duke was, contrary to how much he tried to hide it. "I uhh" Duke tried to focus his thoughts. Nayomi smiled a bit more, showing her fangs slightly. For some reason Duke hadn't explained to himself yet, Duke found fangs a huge turn on. Might be some sort of blood thing with vampires or something. He mentioned to himself once, but he still wasn't quite sure. Duke wasn't sure if Nayomi knew how he felt about her, but at the very least h figured she knew about his fang 'fetish' as she always seemed to smile or yawn in his immediate vicinity. Not that he would prefer it way other way however. Before he knew it almost 5 minutes of total silence had passed yet again. "Never mind" Duke said quietly [I]"Why the fuck can't you just ask damn it?!"[/I] he thought to himself harshly as he turned to walk away. H was interrupted and shocked by what he heard next. "Don't worry about it, you'll have plenty of opportunities to ask me you know." Nayomi said kindly as Duke walked out. Dukes eyes widened, but only for a moment as he quickly hid his thoughts. [I]"She knows?!"[/I] he thought. Duke was happy, nervous, confused, happy, excited, and happy. It was almost unnatural for someone like Duke to be as happy as he was. OOC: Kuckles' girl if you had some grand master plan that I contredicted just pm me k? lol

Duke gave Nayomi a curious look when she got back with a bright red hand, he knew precisely what cold cause that sort of damage, but asked anyway "What happened?" Nayomi replied with a confused look. So Duke got more specific "Your hand is burnt. Is there a creative reason? Or did you rub Jinx the wrong way, literally?" "It's nothing." Nayomi said calmly sticking her hand into her pocket. "I just-" she was cut off by an announcement. *ch-shhh-ck* "Hello, this is your pilot speaking, we are now coming into the Roman airport. Please do up your seat belts and put your trey?s and seats into their upright positions. Please stay seated until the plane comes to a complete stop. We may be feeling some minor turbulence as we land, this is normal, try to stay calm." The pilot was cued off my another click of the PA system. Everyone took to their seats and buckled up. After a few rough shakes the plane slid to a stop. Within moments the doors opened and the team filed out. Duke looked around the crowded airport then over to his group , and finally rested on Nayomi "So, Rome is pretty big, where do we start?"

Duke noticed Jinx and Damo 'passing notes' but the fact that his crush was sort of laying on his lap had him a little more than preoccupied. "Where the hell did this come from?!" he thought nervously. He looked over to catch Nayomi wagging her tail a little "Oh this is awkward on so many levels." Duke was trying his hardest to hide his nervousness. Fortunately he succeeded, in his mind he was flipping out, but on the outside he was just sitting there in his seat. Casually glancing off into the distance with his usual 'whatever' look. He was most focussed on trying to contain his 'excitement' if he were to get frisky it would start a whole chain reaction of awkward moments. It didn't help that Nayomi kept moving her paws and head on his lap trying to get comfy, but he did his best to look like nothing was going on and he even started to pet her a little. Well she was a wolf, and it was mostly reflex. If he avoided looking down at her (very hard) and kept petting her it almost fooled his mind into believing there was just a normal puppy or something. Specifically not his crush turned animal form resting on his lap. Duke reached into his backpack and pulled out his classic disk-man. It seemed like he was the only one who didn't use an Ipod or mp3 player of some sort. He'd been meaning to buy one, but just never got around to it. Looking a bit more he found a small CD holder with about 15 CD's in it. After flipping through a few he found one labelled 'Duke's pump up songs #2'. Clicking the CD into place Duke lowered his disk-man's lid and yet again delved into his backpack, this time for headphones. After a few seconds Duke unveiled his nexXtech headphones. Virtually the opposite of the Ipod's 'earplugs' the headphones covered Dukes whole ears. Though he usually had them hanging around his neck. Clicking through the first few songs Duke made it to When worlds collide- Powerman5000. Once everything was set, Duke leaned back in his chair and went back to petting Nayomi's soft back fur.

Duke wasn't very good at hiding his feelings, but he hid his embarrassment quite well when Nayomi caught him staring at her not once, but twice. Another thing Duke was good at, was multi-tasking his attention. While observing Nayomi from across the plane, he had also made note of the new kid sitting beside him. The new kid's shadow ability had run through his mind about 100 times, wondering exactly what the boy could do. Or even more curiously, what Jinx was having a minor spaz attack for over in the corner. Duke liked testing his skills of deduction and so went at it "OK the facts are: she was deep in thought, or so it seemed, she appeared to be drawing something absentmindedly, and once she saw what she had accidentally drew she hurriedly erased it...Hmm all very suspicious" Duke thought to himself, while of coarse making routine check ups on what Nayomi was up to. "That means there are 3 possibilities- first she was having a bad memory and drew instinctively about what she was thinking, second she was trying to draw something from memory on purpose and was frustrated when she realised she couldn't do it, or the third possibility, that I haven't figured out." Duke had learned very quickly, there was always a possibility you never thought of. Having discussed What Jinx' problem might be with her picture...with himself, Duke decided he should talk to her about it. Many people seemed to confide in her, but over the years he'd noticed she rarely confides in others. And it might be personal so he figured he'd be smart to ask when they were alone. And thus Duke had his plan. Somewhere between stopping the evil cult guys and tying to impress Nayomi yet again, Duke would have a heart to heart chat with the fire girl, on some level or another. As a matter of fact Duke had a fair amount of respect for Jinx, in spite of her childish antics and such she was the only other member to have a true 'rebel' attitude to them. On top of which, though it may or may not have freaked her out as much as Dukes ability did for him the first time. He was sure getting the hang of pyrokinesis was quite the accomplishment.

[I]OOC: Hey all, really sorry for the absence. And also, the entire briefing is kind of perfectly explained in the underground thread, so I'm gunna skip most of the actual sitting around listening to a guy explain it part. Knuckles' Girl you can pm me for a change if you would prefer I included it or if you want me to change up the plane thing.[/I] Duke always took forever to get ready for anything, all those piercing and hair gel didn't cover him on it's own now did it? Once he was finally ready he followed closely behind everyone into the briefing room. After checking the pizza box for a slice, though unfortunately his slow preparations had left him pizza-less yet again. "God damn it." he muttered to himself, Duke hadn't eaten anything all day and thought the briefing would be the perfect place to gab a snack. As everyone funnelled through the door, Duke struggled to reach in his bag and walk at the same time, though he managed to successfully fish out a small bag of jalapeno cheddar Doritos. As the briefing progressed he could see some new kid in the group. New guy looked to be the youngest now, by at least a couple years. [I]'Wonder how Damo's gunna take the competition heh heh. Now there's even more pressure on him to finally grow up.'[/I] Duke tended to be a little straight forward about things, Which usually led most people to think he was just rude, though he did have a kind side. As the briefing continued the speaker would often be interrupted by a large crunching noise or two as Duke wolfed down his chips. No one really complained though. Duke was the stereotypical 'punk' of the group, and quite frankly wasn?t at all afraid of Nayomi. This mostly was contributed by his crush on her, which he had since he joined her team. It was true he'd often do what she wanted, but it wasn't out of fear, more of a desire to either impress her or make her pleased with him. Most of Duke's violence in battle also came fro his emulation of the gore Nayomi's fights often produced, in a pale attempt to make her realise he wasn?t like the "other little kids around here" as he explained it to himself months ago. This was because besides Louis, who was 4 years his elder, Duke was the oldest of the group, and didn't want to be classified as immature. This goal usually caused him to refrain from bursts of laughter or practical joking with his powers. After the briefing was over the speaker directed them to the plane which was to take them to Rome. The all boarded and either put their bags in the luggage area near the back of the plane, or above their heads. Duke was careful to get a seat parallel to Nayomi so he could admire her from afar. He had yet to build up enough courage to actually sit next to her, and after that whole shower ordeal it was unlikely he'd be able to look her in the eye for a good while. Though he as bursting with sarcastic excitement as to how the plane ride would go. (who doesn't like crazy antics at 30,000 ft right?)

Nayomi and the others watched their remaining comrades do battle. Terra had stood by this point, though barely, and was making her was over to Duke slowly. She picked up one of Dennis' daggers and planned to just kill Duke up close and personal. Duke stayed on his knees, waiting patiently. As Terra closed the gap Duke raised an arm towards her. The blood soon obeyed, it flowed swiftly toward Duke's target. In this case, it was Terra's throat. The red river poured around her head, gushing into her mouth and down her throat. Soon Terra's lungs flooded with Duke's blood. She flailed violently, scrambling to get air. The group who was finished quickly turned toward Duke's opponent when they heard her gurgled screams for help. The rest of her team was dead or preoccupied with their own fight. Terra's flailing became more frenzied then gradually died down to a mere flinch every 3 or 4 seconds. Soon she was completely limp. Duke lessened the grip of his fist, and matching his motion the blood surrounding Terra's face fell away. Duke forced himself to stand and slowly stumbled over to his team mates. "Yo," he greeted them as a group "We done already?" he asked slowly and fatigue could be heard on his breath. "Almost" Nayomi answered, "JB is still going at it" The group became an audience as they casually observed their team member, confident he would not fail. "You go dude!!" Duke yelled out horsely "Kick her ass man!!" Duke very blatantly continued cheering as his friend was locked in combat.

Duke stood grinning madly as his comrades darted into battle. Only he and another girl from the opposing team were not locked in combat. The girl had short blue hair and a pair of jean short-shorts, with a t-shirt missing it's sleeves, and to complete the outfit, a large backpack. "I am Terra." the girl stated matter of factly. "Uhhh your point?" Duke taunted. "Look I'm going to win this ok? Doesn't matter who you are or what you do, I will win, that's just the way it is. Sorry babe." Duke got into what looked like a professional martial arts stance. Little did Terra know Duke had just made up this stance as he got into it. "So you just gunna give up, or will you waste our time and energy dragging this out?" Terra had an [I]explosive[/I] temper and wasn't ready to back down any time soon. She quickly reached into her backpack and threw 5 golf ball sized silver orbs. The spheres flew past Duke, each missing him by maybe an inch or so. Still angry she began circling him in a quick sprint, still throwing the mysterious orbs and still missing Duke every time. Finally she stopped circling and took a couple short jumps backward, distancing herself from Duke. Looking around at the scattered silver balls around him Duke gave the odd girl a disappointed look "Well damn, I knew I was gunna win, but I thought you'd put up some kind of a fight." He casually walked forward preparing to just pin the girl and be done with it. But e was rudely interrupted when the girl took a large remote out of her backpack and pressed a button, causing a few of the silver balls in front of Duke to explode suddenly. "Ha Ha you [B]fool[/B]!!" Terra shouted. "You let yourself become completely encompassed by my bombs! You can't even touch me now." her remote looked like something for a remote control car..a very complicated remote control car. As Duke stood she pressed another few buttons on it and some of the bombs to his left exploded. A spray of blood lined his right as they went off. Terra knew there was a chance of shrapnel but just the explosion shouldn't have drawn so much blood. She figured she just got lucky with a spare piece of flying metal. As Duke flew to the right, Terra triggered another couple of explosives just before he landed. Duke was suspended by the blast and even more blood spattered the area. His team mates glanced over to see the large smears of blood paint his battle sigh but knowing his powers, they weren't worried. After a solid 20 seconds of suspension. Terra finally let Duke to the floor. He was beaten and bloody as was the entire battle sight around him and Terra. "Ready to give up yet? Or do I need to drain you dry?" She mocked, looking around the large amount of blood strewn throughout the area. Her suspension trick expended all of her silver sphere explosives and she began digging through her backpack for something to finish Duke off. As she dug Duke struggled o his feet and answered her question. "I doubt you need to bleed me dry," glancing around the area "this should be more than enough." He limped a bit, walking toward his explosive opponent again. By now Terra found the took of Duke's destruction. It was in no way similar to the small silver orbs she used prior, which Duke quickly found out were just remote triggers, within balls of C4, coated in metal. Terra took out the new bomb, it was much larger, maybe 10 times as large as the other bombs, and looked much more like the traditional bomb, wires, beeping, even a large digital timer. "This is perfect." Terra said setting the timer for 5 seconds and tossing it over to Duke. The bomb slid slightly as it came across the blood soaked floor. *beep...beep...beep* the timer ticked on. Terra's smirk was quickly lost when Duke made a swift action of his hands as if lifting something above his head. As if o cue the blood at his feet began to raise up. Carrying the bomb. "What the?!" Terra exclaimed as Duke made more motions and the blood flowed forward, in a strange flying river. The rd river carried the bomb *beep... beep, beep, beep!!!* the bomb detonated nearly a foot in front of Terra. She shielded herself with her arms but flew back in the terrible shockwave. Blood poured past her making a flat wall behind just before she crashed through it. It felt like she fell into a pool flat on her back from over a mile high. Duke grinned yet again. "I told you there was no use fighting. " Duke said calmly. The blood floated in orbit around his chest. After writhing in pain for a few moments Terra finally climbed to her feet. She reached into her backpack and got out more of the silver bombs that worked before. As soon as she threw them however Duke created a bloody jet-stream it easily knocked back the silver-ish orbs and hammered against Terra's chest. After carrying her several feet backward Duke made a fluid thrust up, then down with his palm. Synchronized, the blood stream carried Terra higher then, after wide arc, drove her straight into the ground. The blood covered girl let out a slight whelp of pain as she hit the ground. Between coughing up the blood Duke had forced into her lungs (a tactic in combat that earned Duke his nickname) Terra asked "How can you even be standing after losing al this blood?!" Duke chuckled "I'm a Hemokinesist, I can control my blood, in every aspect. Including how quickly my blood cells duplicate. That means I can use my blood for offence while keeping my body at it's full. Though it does take allot of energy, that's why I'm not much f an acrobatic fighter. But as I'm sure you know," Duke paused to let Terra cough up some more blood "my lack of acrobatics doesn't really inhibit how well I fight." Duke encompassed the girl's backpack in a globe of blood and slowly picked it up. Terra was carried a foot or 2 into the air before her arms limply fell out of the straps and let her drop to the floor, moaning in pain upon impact. Duke threw the bag behind him, as far away from Terra as possible, as he also did with her remote. Duke fell to his knees and the blood around him (that was his at least) began to yet again loop his chest as Saturn?s rings orbit it.

[B]Name:[/B] Duke Manson, also known as 'Vampire' or Vamp' [B]Age:[/B] 24 [B]Ability:[/B] Hemokinesis (control over [his] blood) Duke got out of the club pretty late, when he finally got back to the school, the first thing he noticed was how virtually everyone was asleep. [I]Better get some sleep myself'[/I] he thought as he quietly opened his door and got toward the bed. [I]'Grad exam thing is really hard, from the rumours I hear anyway. Best be at full power if I want to contribute to the group. Damn I hope it's a field exercise'[/I] Duke chuckled as he took one last leap to his bed. Duke's floor was something of a labyrinth of book stacks and tall CD holders, the only way he got to his bed without the light on was based on his gone through the room dozens of times. [B]Appearance:[/B] [URL="http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs24/i/2008/010/4/b/Zinx_by_Tairud.jpg"]Duke[/URL]

[B]Name:[/B] Toshiro Umenokouji "The Golden Dragon" [B]Age:[/B] 21 [B]Personality:[/B] Toshi believes that everything has balance, but sometimes the world requires help to get back to it's medium. He is not very violent but if someone important to him or himself are in danger he won't hesitate for a heart beat to take down the threat. Aside from that he is always calm and seems to be at peace with his surroundings. [B]Appearance:[/B] [URL="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Lei-Fei.png"]Toshi[/URL] [B]Weapon:[/B] His fore-arms, shins, hands, feet, knees, and elbows, he can wield all of them as dangerous weapons with lethal efficiency. [B]Clan:[/B] Eastern [B]Main Spell:[/B] Searing soul- Infusing his heart with fire magic increases the temperature of it, and thus also his blood and skin, allowing his touch to deal 3rd degree burns. This spell also gives him the chance to use his 'explosive strike' move, in which he directs all of the heat and fire magic flowing in his veins into one single strike that makes contact with an explosive bust of heat and flame, a direct hit from this attack often results in 6th degree burns. (note: his clothing is specially made to withstand heat and through years of monistic training Toshi has trained his body to do the same.) [B]Bio:[/B] Toshi was raised in a monistic temple, learning the ways of being a monk. He excelled in combat and philosophy, as well as magic. Being the head disciple in the temple, Toshi was appointed as a head representative of the eastern clan. On top of that role when the position is not needed, Toshi will fill in as the best combatant, for situations when the eastern dragons put forth a classical proposition of "My best warrior verses your best" to avoid the needless bloodshed of an army-on-army battle, knowing "the golden dragon" is quite capable of handling himself and then some in virtually any one-on-one fight.

Dante was no genius at math but he knew two on one was bad odds, for him at least. With Chal'kath temporarily distracted by a large stone hand Dante had his chance to get off a quick trick. Which was of coarse the trick he was known for, dark summoning. He punched at Dactrast with a demonic right hook and though he defended with his dagger the warlock was knocked back considerably. There was a single moment where Dante had freedom to act without being attacked, and he took the opportunity by the throat. He scratched his human palm with the claws on his demon fingers and clapped. Choking blood red smoke lashed forth from his hands in long gaseous tentacles, soon engulfing Dante. Dante emerged from the blood red smoke soon after , accompanied by a strange creation. This was no demon, The creature was clad in a long flowing black robe. Over shadowed heavily by it's dark hood, the creatures face appeared to be a skull made of obsidian which gleamed brightly if any light caught a glimpse of it. though the rob was torn in several places no clear form could be seen through the openings. The creature brandished a large scythe with a dark red blade that seemed to be carved of ruby. By the way in which the creatures skeletal hands of obsidian grasped the weapon, it could be easily deducted the being would wield the weapon with great experience. Dante looked up and down at the creature, examining his creation, then he spoke "You should consider yourself privileged bug boy" Chal'kath did his equivalent of frowning at Dante's ignorant comment in terms of his race. But he was shocked by what Dante said in continuation. "Even though you Thri-kreen are usually agile and often psionic, you are no match for this beauty, though with your half draconic blood you might out up a decent show, even if you are up against my rare gem wraith. I haven't felt the urge to call one forth in over two dozen years." Dante not only pinned Chal'kaths base race, he was observant enough to recognise his dragon characteristics too, clearly Dante was an individual with more knowledge than meets the eye. Dante leapt towards the now recovered warlock dagger drawn, and as if on cue the creature revealed as a 'gem wraith' cascaded toward Chal'kath. The being moved swiftly, almost floating on the ground, which it very well cold have been seeing at it stood on no clear legs or feet. Dante assumed his precious wraith could handle the insectoid, so he diverted most of his attention t the powerful spell shaper before him. They clashed blades yet again but this time Dactrast launched a trade mark eldritch blast through his free hand. Dante was forced to pull off in order to use his demon arm as a shield. The blast created a large burst of debris to fly up from the not so solid stone beneath them. When the smoke and rubble cleared Dante's arm was still smoking from dark magic, but was otherwise unscathed. This resilience, the strength he showed moments ago, and the ability to bring forth dark and damned creatures made it more than obvious, Dante was an opponent to be recognized. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Briar heard a common down stairs and hurried to find out it's source. When he arrived h saw the newest guests had clearly started some sort of scrap with the guest who arrived not long after himself. Briar preferred not to get into a fight, but wouldn't pass up the chance to see a new creature or attribute he might be able to duplicate next time he was in a tight spot. And so he found a nice chair, carried it slowly over to the fight scene and began taking mental notes. To anyone else he seemed a little strange, having not seen his changing ability and not knowing why he would watch or rather 'study' the match in such a way.

Briar appeared at the outpost a little earlier than he'd anticipated. True to form he immediately began studying the area, shadows, holes, common objects. He memorized them all as he slowly wondered through the outpost for the first time. He had been used to finding quick escapes and hiding places nearly his entire life, so whenever h found somewhere new he most often remembered anything that could be used to his advantage. The area was a strange one, 'the outpost' as most seemed to call it, resembled nothing more special than a large military camp. Tents were the most common site, though not your average 2 or 4 man sheet held up by some sticks, and maybe a close line. No these tents, if they could be still called that, were enormous, huge tarps and leather covers suspended an entire story into the air. Each one could hold 10-15 men and they were more common that clouds in the sky. Within his counting there were probably about 80 to 90 residents of the outpost, though there was no telling how many were warriors, spell casters, builders or anything else. The focal point of the area was clearly the large building in, or very close to, the center. It was the only real building in the area, about 3 stories high and made of solid stone bricks, with a large wooden door. Briar walked up to the door and knocked lightly, he was met with a large clank as a heavily armoured man opened the door. "Greetings" he spoke in a low billowing tone, almost as f he were coughing and talking at the same time, albeit very well. There was an awkward pause as Briar and the man exchanged glances, Briar broke the stare first o he could examine the rest of the room. "I am Briar" he said kindly in a soft voice. Beginning to walk into the building. The armoured man took a mere instant to step in Briar's path once more. "May I help you?" Briar asked defensively. The Man just stood there with his hand firmly rested on the hilt of a mighty broad sword hanging by the man's waist. "How can I be sure you are really Briar?" Briar raised an elfish eye-brow, and almost chuckled to himself thinking of how to prove his identity. The large armoured man continued "The [I]being[/I] known as Briar, is a Phasm, he has the power to change hs shape and appearance at will. He is also known, by the few privy to his existence, as an extremely skilled acrobat. If you do not change your form or dazzle me with some form of impressive acrobatics, I suggest you leave before I am inclined to make you." Briar turned toward the door then took a couple steps away from the large man, who smirked at his apparent foiling of an impostor. In an instant Briar turned back toward the large man and took one well measured step before leaping into the air and leap-frogging the armoured man at least a clear foot taller than him. The Man didn't even have time to draw his blade before Briar was over him and several meters into the room he was just guarded from. "You aren't very good at guarding things, but as a gatekeeper you do a grand job of being suspicious of those who wish to enter." Briar wore a snide smirk. The man turned around quickly, and proceeded to bow to the obviously true Briar. "My apologies good sir, with this operation being as delicate as it is one cannot be too careful about intruders. The large door man signalled o one of the smaller guards within the main room, who instantly welcomed Briar and guided him to his personal room. He was to wait there for the full briefing, once the remaining guests arrived, or once time was up, which ever came first. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dante arrived at the outpost roughly on time, not too early. He was abruptly met just outside the military camp-like region. "Who might you be?" the stranger greeted him. He was an older looking man with a distinct aura of darkness about him, though nothing as sinister or intense as the omnificent sense of doom that lingered around Dante. The man wore a strange clothing made in varying hues of red, dark purple shaded runic markings could be seen scattered throughout his visage. Clearly a man of magic. "I might be Dante." Dante replied hellishly with a grin of excitement. He slowly pulled his hands together, and with his left h pulled up his right sleeve, revealing the mysterious and potently evil appendage in place of a human's right hand and forearm. The men stared at each other intently, each waiting for the other to make a move. Each waiting for the slightest reason to attack the other. In the blink of an eye the men both flashed daggers into view simultaneously. The blades clashed with a flash of sparks and dark magical force. The mystery man had been focussing some variation of mystical energy through his blade to increase it's damage and push back, by the make of the blade and the barely visible runes that caught Dante's eyes for a fraction of a second, he assumed the man was just boosting the energy of am already powerful magic weapon. Dante's blade was that passed down from the darker powers that be, and with Date's demon arm reinforcing hi attack, even the stranger's magical potency was pushed to it's limits. They both stood in stale mate for seconds that passed like days. To the average peasant they were simply standing flat-footed holding their daggers barely together, to the seasoned dark wizard it was more than obvious this was an epic bout of horrendous magic’s, with either side ready to explode with even more terrible power. They simply stood, unwilling to back down, unwilling to admit they are the weaker. Their blades locked almost as tightly as their cruel gaze. The first to pull off was unknown, as the difference was to miniscule to measure without precise equipment, but clear to both of them they broke their gaze a moment before releasing the locked blades. The gaze was obscured by both of them jutting their focus to the right. What mysterious force had caught their attention was obvious to all. He, stood in a strange cloak made from a material neither Dante nor Dactrast had ever seen before. The most interesting part of his appearence was his pale purple eyes. Both spell casters stood looking at the new man, as Malvok stood still studying them. "Who are you?" Dante finally asked, after what seemed like an eternity. Malvok answered truthfully. They measured each other's power for a moment of suspence you would need more tha a knife t cut through. Eventually Dactrast introduced himself second "I am Dactrast." he said solidly. He focussed most of his attention on the men arund him, but none the less he always had a fraction of his concentration on how much eldrich energy infuse in his dagger. Figuring they were all going to the same place, Dante was the first to suggest they get going. Dactract ad Malvok agreed. Though Dante and Dacrast ecxchanged a very distinct [I]'this isn't over'[/I] glare. They headed inside as one omnipotent entity of power. Ignoring the Armoured man's questions of their identity. Dante revealed his devilish arm caiming "I am Dante, and they are with me, that is all you need to know." The man insisted on the identities of the other two men, dante simply repeated "They are with me!" regardless of the man's inquistions. "Sir I'm afraid-" That is all the armourd man got out before Dante unleashed an unearthly punch,shaking dust into the air from the surrounding foundations, and nailing a hole through the large man's chest plate. "Well you should be." Dante proclaimed pulling his demonic fist from the man's rib cage. The man collapsed to his knees, speachless. Witin seconds several of the other guards rushed to their lader's side, pleading to see if he was alright. Dante commented "He will live, he had good armour." while examining his devil arm, now barig a few scratches from the sharper parts of the mans broken iron shell. "I assume not all are present, yet, until they arive I will rest o one of these rooms." Dante continued walking toward the bedrooms some of which still had open doors. Picking one with a closed door Dante called bac to the guards "This one should be fine." One of the soldiers warned Dante once he noticed which door he was standing at. "Uhh Sir? Dante? You mustn't go in there. That room is already occupied, by another warrior." Dante smilled insanely before swinging the door open as to make a large clang as it hit the inner wall. What met him inside was intrieging. It was not a man, more of an insect. The insectoid leapt to his feet in an attack posture with impressive agility. It was Chal'kath. "My apologies bug boy," Dante taunted insultingly "I'm afraid you're in my room."

Briar, appearing as a young elven man, way on his way too the outpost. He went over his memories of creatures in his mind, making sure he could recall anything very useful quickly if needed. Once he was within about a mile of the outpost Briar refrained from using his ability to 'shift' he wanted his skills to be a secret, even to his companions, until it was absolutely necessary to show them. It was late by now, the moon was high in the sky and the outpost was in view. "so this is where it starts eh?" Briar spoke softly to himself. Across the land in the forlorn kingdom of Argrim. Dante strolled down the streets of a small hamlet. He was actually planning what or who he would call from the abyss to kill the residents, when a large group of soldiers road toward the village from across the plains. [I]"A worthy adversary?"[/I] Dante contemplated. As they approached the soldier in lead passed his left leg over his horse and dismounted, walking boldly toward Dante with a long scroll in his hand. The soldier opened the scroll ad began to speak "Under order of the high counsel of the realm, you are here by requested to join a small group of men ad women, to attack the sand shapers before their attack is immanent." Dante just answered with a weird stare "Right" he said in a long and sarcastic tone "an what makes you think I won't cut you and your little posse into itty-bitty pieces right here?" The comment caught the soldier by surprise, but the soldier ventured here knowing who he was to meet, and why the counsel had required him specifically. So he explained according to the instructions given by his superiors "Me and mine are but petty folk in comparison to your might, the sand shapers are powerful enemies that wield deadly magical abilities. They would surely put up enough of a challenge to even amuse a man with the abilities of yourself." Dante nodded and bore a cruel smirk "Agreed" the notion gave the soldier and his party a wave of relief "you said a group however, where am I to meet my unneeded back up?" The soldier looked threw a parcel bag on his hip then handed Dante a diploma sized scroll with the lord of the land's personal seal in wax upon it. Dante carelessly tore open the seal and studied the parchment. "directions hm?" Dante noted as he read, after about 5 lines he looked up at the soldier with a confused look "Wait just one moment," the soldier began shaking in fear "I-is something the matter sir?" he asked fearfully. Dante continued "Why is this written in aquan?" Upon hearing the question the solider let out a relaxed sigh "The lord simply believes if the stories about you are true, you should be able to make it to the destination indicated within the set time, even though each individual direction is in a different language. And thus if the stories in fact are true, you are worthy of joining the party of attackers." "Sneaky old man isn't he." Dante proclaimed, "very well, I will arrive on schedule" The soldier nodded humbly "Very well I will leave you to your journey" As he turned to leave Dante placed his 'darker' hand on the leaders shoulder "Not so fast" Dante ordered with a harsh grin. Within moments the man's shoulder had been torn into by Dante's demonic arm and Dante had used the blood to infuse a series on ancient markings down his human forearm. The markings were a combination on tattooed and seared flesh depicting a contract Dante had with the Abyss. Demons resembling hairless tigers with metallic fangs tore out of the leaders body, killing him in excruciating agony and quickly tearing apart his entourage. Dante walked down the dirt path out of the small town as the feline monstrosities continues ravaging the civilians "I had some time to kill anyways" he said to himself.

"'Ello" Nero said coming up behind Isa. He replied with "I was wondering when you would present yourself" in his usual serious and know-it-all tune. "Sure you were" Nero replied sarcasticly. Ai giggled a little, and attracted the attention of Nero, well more attention than she had before at least. "Well what do we have here?" nero began "what's a cute girl like you wondering around at night with a wierdo like that guy?" he gestured behind him as he blatently walked passed Isa. "I believe-" Isa retorded partially before being cut off by Nero "Didn't ask you dude." he stated rudely. "anyway," he turned back to Ai "How's your leg doin'?" before she could answer Isa asked "How is it that you witnessed her injury, when you were nowhere to be seen the entire battle?" Nero smirked "It's night." he answered matter of factly. Seeing Isa's reaction, or lack there of, Nero continued "I control darkness" he took a few steps toward the dark sie of a tree opposite the fire and the moonlight, and he grabbed at the air within the darkness. A moment later Nero pulled the shadow around him like a cloak of darkness, shading him from view completely. Seconds passed before Nero's voice was heard from behind Isa once again. "Neat trick isn't it?" Isa replied coldly "Indeed." Nero once again passed by Isa to get into ful view of Ai "So anyway, how is your leg? Not to insult your abilities or resiliance, but are you gunna be ok?" ---------------------------------------- OOC: Sorry I haven't posted in a while, away for march break and stuff.

[B]Name:[/B] Briar is his born name, though he has many others, he'll often call himself Steve. [B]Gender:[/B] Male, usually. [B]Age:[/B] unkown [B]Appearance:[/B] his true form is [URL="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mm2_gallery/88268_620_120.jpg"]'this'[/URL] , his most common form is [URL="http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs6/i/2005/056/2/c/gentleman__by_Werdandi.jpg"]'this' [/URL] [B]Race/Racial traits:[/B] Phasm, Briar has the racial ability to change his form and appearance completely, at will. [B]Personality:[/B] Briar has a very odd personality, mainly due to his race. He enjoys playing jokes on people. The strangeness of Briar appears in his seemingly endless personas. The experts in our world consider him to have multiple, multiple personality disorders, and mild schitzophrenia. This does not, however, mean he is insane. In fact Briar is perfectly sane just..odd. [B]Kingdom:[/B] The majority of Briar's persona's reside in Taledion. So he fights for them. [B]Class:[/B] Spy [B]Abilities: [/B]Briar has avarage close combat skills, and is not very talented at magic per say. Briar is however an expert at espionage, and subterfuge, as well as reconasince mainly thanks to his photographic memory for even the slightest details. While in offencive combat Briar is sub-standard he excel's in defence, not so much blocking attacks, but dodging them. He posseses incredible agility and dodging expertise. When the situation demands it, Briar or one of is counter-parts, have also been known to exhibit awe-inspiring acrobatic feats. He trained himself to be cunningly agile for when / if he was discovered while undercover and needed to escape several blade baring guards. [B]Spells and Spell-like abilities:[/B] Besides his phasm powers to become anyone or anything he isfemiliar with, Briar has also trained his mind to accentuate those powers.More specifically, learning a psionic ability to read and mimic the personalities of others. This further empowers his skills at stealing lives and gaining access to commonly off limits areas. [B]Items:[/B] He almost always appears to be fully clothed, and most of his forms carry around a finely made rapier. [B]Bio: [/B]Briar has always had an interesting life, born a phasm he grew up with the inate power to change his form at the drop of a hat. He was quickly drafted into the the army of his home town Marderia, as head of the espionage division. With his skills he could infiltrate any orginization, military group, gang, or other orginization and take it down from the inside. As he grew older he made several aliases, nt hard at all for a phasm, and situated them around major countries. When Briston, a sand shaper alias, heard word of the attack Briar knew it was trouble. He couldn't confront the sand shapers because they were too powerfull, so Briar did the best he could. He stole as many documents and written down strategies and spells of the sand shapers as he could get his hands on then without a trace Briston vanished, becoming known as a thief and a traitor. Fortunetly for the sandshapers a young man named Kalmesh wanted to help, in the same way that Broston helped the kingdom he worked for. Kalmesh opted to pose as a soldier for the enemy kingdom and bring information back to the shapers, helping them plan their next move. Though they are still completely unaware that both Briston and Kalmesh were and are in fact, Briar. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hope you don't mind me having 2 characters.

[B]Name:[/B] Dante Cordilio Forsanon Almendros Amudaos Graz'zr, son of Corthos (most just call him Dante) [B]Gender:[/B] Male [B]Age:[/B] 665 [B]Appearance:[/B] [URL="http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l142/gooseberry_01/cg_nero.jpg"]Dante[/URL], [URL="http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs25/i/2008/066/c/8/DMC4_Nero_Within_Darkness_by_leodheme.jpg"]Dante again[/URL]. [B]Race/Racial traits:[/B] half-demon (via dark ritual), gives him speed, strength, and longevity noticeably beyond those of a regular human, and far greater access to dark magic. [B]Personality:[/B] Dante is completely insane, is sociopathic, psychotic and down right loopy. He has meddled with demons, undead, and all manor of evil energies far too much for him to be in any sort of right mind. He enjoys staying to himself and often talks to himself about those directly around him. He will often manipulate those close to him into helping him achieve his own ends, aswell as torturing people mentally and on occasion, physically. [B]Kingdom:[/B] Dante isn't directly from any of the major countries, but Argrim is the one with Dante on the pay roll. [B]Class:[/B] Dante is technically a sorcerer, but he could be classified as a necromancer, demonologist, and skilled alchemist. [B]Abilities:[/B] Dante is a thinker not a fighter, he has a wide expanse of knowledge when it comes to religion, arcane magic, planer theology, and languages, but his real forte is with evil rituals, demon summoning, and all around dark magic. [B]Spells and Spell-like abilities:[/B] As noted repeatedly, Dante knows dark magic, this means summoning of undead, from beyond the grave, and summoning demons from...well farther beyond the grave, but that isn't the point. He knows various destructive spells and summoning of dark creatures mostly. In other fields however, such as melee combat, Dante is found extremely lacking. [B]Items:[/B] Dante only carries the clothes on his back and some components for dark spells, ie vials of human or elven tears, humanoid bones etc. As far as weapons go Dante only carries one small decorated ritualistic dagger. He also carries a mysterious gimoire which can call magically on any knwledge from the many hundrends of books in Dante's personal archive, hidden in an undisclosed location. Wuthin Dante's pack healso carries various potions and alchemic items but he never lets other go into his possessions [B]Bio:[/B]Dante was only a young boy when his parents were devoured by demons in front of him. Instead of fear this event instilled fascination with demons. Dante from then on spent nearly all of his time in the local library, eventually sneaking into the "forbidden texts" section. Every week he would come in with something new, a mysterious burn mark on his forearm, a new tattoo on his neck, whatever they were, everyone who looked upon them could feel the evil beginning from within the boy. Though they all cared for him, knowing what had befallen his parents. One day Dante stole a book called 'gifts and curses for the dark gifted' inside were detailed instructions on how to become a demon, not a pure demon, but part demon at the very least. on his twenty-first birthday Dante preformed the spell... The following week when he appeared at the library as usual, he was different, very different. His eyes used to be a welcoming shade of light green, now they were a tormenting ice blue; his hair used to be a sweet shade of dark brown, it had become the co lour of frigid snow; most importantly his arm used to be that of a human, now it was something else, something much more sinister. Everyone in the library began to stare at the dark being they once knew as Forsanon. "Who? What are you?" the librarian asked in a trembling voice. "I was Forsanon Almendros Amudaos, son of Carthos." Dante answered truthfully. Next a woman spoke up "Was? What do you mean? Is that not who you still are?" she asked terrified and confused by the new being. Dante laughed in initial response then explained in his grisly new voice, "I am called Dante Cordilio Graz'zr, I suppose full name would be Dante Cordilio Forsanon Almendros Amudaos Graz'zr, son of Corthos" The librarian, not quite satisfied, decided to drop the issue "So what can I do for you, uh Dante?" A smile appeared on Dante's face, not like that on the librarians, his was kind and giving, Dante had a look of pure miniacle hatred beneath his twisted grin "Give me blood." Dante said quietly. "Uh pardon me?" the librarian asked leaning in closer, not wanting to believe what he'd barely but clearly heard. "I need blood!!" Dante shouted drawing a small dagger from within his coat. "Wait Forsanon please!!" the librarian pleaded, it was too late, a moment later Dante slit his throat in one swift wave of his arm. Blood poured onto the front desk. Just as fast as it had appeared the dagger vanished into Dante's coat. As the library began turning to anarchy, Dante dipped both of his forefingers into the blood before him, he quickly drew strange marks on first his human hand then his other, when finished Dante clapped his hands together above his head and began to chant at black smoke began forming around him from his palms above. "Come forth creatures of blood-lust, devour my kin and give me your strength. Come forth creatures of blood-lust, devour my kin and give me your strength. Come forth..." Dante chanted, once the smoke enveloped him more than just he would come out. Evil beings of all shapes and sizes began flooding from the smoke, slime covered balls sporting all over tentacles, 12 foot tall creatures resembling red men with twisted sharp horns and razor teeth jutting forth from their mouths. Each unique and clearly hungry demon immediately ran towards a citizen and tore him or her to shreds, with no visible discretion between men women or even children. One hour later, Dante strolled out the front of the library with one demon. The other beings had went back to whatever hell they spawned from and the interior of the library was painted with the blood of innocents. "Come now Laila" Dante spoke in a strange tone of anger and endearment "we have much work to do," As Dante casually walked down the street back toward the market place the strange snake-like demon he referred to as Laila, slithered up his leg and into his sleeve "and we mustn't be late." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry about the enormous char, I got inspired by...something.

My first was one called hellsing, was bored at a friends house and started flipping through book one, before I knew it I was half way into it and didn't want to stop. That week I borrowed all the books on it he had.

[B]Name:[/B] Judis [B]Age:[/B] 22 [B]Appearance:[/B] [URL="http://images.wikia.com/devilmaycry/images/9/96/DMC4-Dante_CG_Render.png"]Judis[/URL] [B]Personality:[/B] He is almost as cold as Byakuya, and that is why he was chosen as the new captain of Byakuya's squad. He spends most of his time in the human world and has become very acustomed to their clothing, as such he usually wears his human world clothes even in soul society. He is pretty cocky in battle even though he suffers with hand to hand combat and the most common kido techniques. [B]Squad Number Captain/ Vice Captain:[/B] 6th Division Captain [B]Zanpaktou Name (Released and Bankai attacks and/or abilities):[/B] Sealed- Judis' zanpakuto is named Dunkle Prinz it is unique compaired to most zanpakuto as in sealed form it takes the appearence of aeuropean long sword instead of the usual katana. [URL="http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c256/iarm/DevilMayCry/ForceEdge.jpg"](pic)[/URL] [U]Shikai[/U]- When Dunkle Prinz is released into it's first form, it becomes a larger skeletal themed sword that seems to be able to summon an infinite number of strange thinner swords, which Judis uses as he pleases. To activate his shikai, the command word is "dicipline" [URL="http://images.wikia.com/devilmaycry/images/5/5d/Rebellion_3a.gif"](pic)[/URL] [U]Bankai[/U]- The name of Judis bankai is Erhaben Dunkle Prinz, it changes from a basic blade and becomes a strange skeletal looking backpack over one shoulder his ability to summon blades at will is substantially more powerful as is his control over the blades produced[URL="http://images.wikia.com/devilmaycry/images/5/58/Lucifer.jpg"](Erhaben dunkle Prinz)[/URL][URL="http://images.wikia.com/devilmaycry/images/6/68/Dante-Lucifer.jpg"](Judis wearing Erhaben dunkle Prinz)[/URL] [B]Bio:[/B] Judis was born and raised in Seireitei, viewed as an under-achiever however, failing miserably at hand to hand combat and common kido tecniques, he has however surpassed most of his graduating class in swordsmanship combat, and the shunpo ability. His Zanpakuto matches his abilities turning into several swords to which he excels . His powerfull zanpakuto and reputation as a combat genius has led him quickly up the ranks and he was soon chosen to head squad 6 in stead of Shunsui, who raised him and taught him in squad 6 most of his life, and trusted in his calm attitude as similar to his own. He used to spend most of his time with his twin broher Tidite, they grew older over time and grew apart, even though they have developed nearly identical attitudes, and becoming bitter rivals.

[B]Name:[/B] Dunkin Hennessy [B]Age:[/B] 28 [B]Gender:[/B] Male [B]Personality:[/B] Dunkin is very professional and logical in everything he does, he thinks more with his brain then his heart you could say, though he does have a soft spot. He more often chooses his course of action based on what' most practical, for the good of the group, so on. Unfortunately he has a very "the ends justify the means" attitude, and may do dangerous or cruel things if he believes the end result will be worth the action. [B]Appearance:[/B] [URL="http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs6/i/2005/103/2/4/Irish_Eyes_by_nursethalia.jpg"]Dunkin[/URL] When in uniform Dunkin refuses to actually wear his green baret instead he has it stapled to the back of his shirt. [B]Occupation:[/B] American SOF special operations forces, recently known as United States Army Special Forces or "Green Berets" [B]Skills:[/B] Dunkin has standard combat and medical training, but his true abilities lie with his sniper rifles. He has his standard special ops military [URL="http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs18/f/2007/222/5/b/Ranger_Arms_Sniper_Rifle__SR__by_biometal79.jpg"]*sniper*[/URL] ,and his personal [URL="http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs13/i/2007/063/d/f/automatic_sniper_rifle_by_biometal79.jpg"]*rifle*[/URL] he bought on his own, he has customized both. He also carriesother standard equipment, like ice packs (chemical) and heat packs (obvious) and his trusty side arm his special ops [URL="http://www.pioneer.net/~evhigh/guns/hksocom2.jpg"]*pistol*[/URL] [B]Tick:[/B] Dunkin will often quote video games, narrating his life. Such phrases like "head shot" or "finish him" are very common. [B]Bio:[/B] Dunkin grew up amazed by firearms, since a very young age he immersed himself in shooter games of all kinds, and the occasional one on one fighter game. As he went through high school he dropped out at 18 and joined the military immediately. He excelled in almost every field, but his ultimate skills were long range accuracy. He quickly became a sniper then got accepted into the special ops division. Ever since he has been working in various high profile jobs. He was actually on vacation, visiting his family in New York, when he got called at home for an emergency call to duty. He was stationed within the city itself keeping the viral threat at bay, with no risk of being infected from dozens of yards away. Just yesterday however, because of the evacuation, he was sent to scour the city for stragglers, and get as many out alive as possible. Without hesitation he handed in his rifle and went straight to his own house first, to retrieve his personal B.F.G. from home. The actual weapon is a heckler and Koch silenced automatic sniper rifle, with various modifications, but Dunkin has dubbed it the B.F.G. (Big Fuckin' Gun) as tribute to one of his favourite shooter games as a child, DOOM!

"Stupid, paranoid, delusional." Nero continued to randomly badmouth the group as he made his way slowly down the mountain. "What' wrong with the top of the mountain?" he asked no one in particular. "Besides it's night now, it's a miracle none of them hit something in the dark." he mumbled jumping down a ledge. "We're more likely to be attacked by wolves or whatever at the base of the mountain anyway." he chuckled as he eventually made it to the bottom with the rest of the group. "Alright mister weird, vague, and non-sense." Nero called Isa out "Now we're at the bottom of the damn hill, I hope you're happy." He looked through the group. "OK did any of you stop and think about the situation?" He glared at everyone in turn "I mean come on! We still have no idea what we are doing or where we're going. We know buddy over here is the one who somehow knows even less about what's going on, that's it!" he gestured to Natin. Everyone in the group exchanged glances. "So if you don't mind Mr. non-sense? Nero focussed on Isa again ?I suggest we all sit down for a while and decide where we're going, before we decide how much haste we should get there with. Besides, its not safe for the rest of you if we plan on wondering around all night, with nowhere specific to go. We should probably make camp or something."

"Shit" the group looked over and saw Nero heaving himself up the edge of a large rock. "I hate noon" he explained as he noticed some of the weird looks. He looked around the odd group and noticed Sa walking over. "Is this poor excuse for a fighter supposed to be my reincarnation!?" she said angrily. Nero glared and tightened his metal clad fist. Sa felt threatened which made her even more mad, so she leaned in nearly 2 inches from Nero's face and taunted "What are you gunna do? huh?" Nero replied "Watch it bitch, personal space." Lia whispered to the others "it's like she's arguing with a mirror" The group chuckled. Sa then made a "hmph!" and turned away from Nero stomping off. Now as the rest of the group inspected him, he returned the favour to them. "They all seem pretty strong." he mumbled to himself except..."hey, who's the twig?" He called out gesturing to Ai. Both Ai and Lia replied "Why you..!" almost in perfect unison. "Chill." Nero replied. The group laughed at their similarities and they calmed down a little, still glaring at Nero. After introductions and finding out just what was going on Nero took a deep breath and said "Ooooooh well that explains allot. Wait we're still expecting4 people right?" The original eight nodded each at his or her own pace. "Hmm I wonder what they will be like, if they're anything like the wierdo's we've already got this will be one hell of a party." Nero mumbled to himself. "Hey I heard that!" Sa shouted, after which the etire group, minus Sa and Nero, broke down in laughter.