Persona ~ Shadows of the Soul

[Skillfulness]

OOC: I also caught the Shadow / Zuri connection. Thought something was wrong until your latest post. Yay for bigger Shadows! This RPG is amazing!!! XDD (Page 15!!!)

~ Kat Dyson

- Highland Academy - Commons Room – 7:17 -

Dyne was quick to answer and bring out his gauntlet. He immediately proclaimed he would destroy the Shadow, even if it meant blowing his cover. It was a crazy plan, attacking the Shadow in broad daylight where everyone could see. Still, no one was up to stopping him because no one could think of anything better. Zuri was there and she chanted a spell. The Shadow took note of this and began to float towards them.

"Hey guys," said Hurley, "Um," he brushed a few strands of hair out of his face, "This is my roommate Hikaru Tsukino, he saw my fight with my Shadow." Hikaru simply nodded in affirmation as Hurley continued saying, "on another note, I'm possibly auditioning for the school musical." He turned to show that he had his weapon on him as he said, "Want to hear my possible audition piece and tell me what you think?"

Hurley arrived, hinting at using his mike to harm the shadow. Lucian quickly advised against it. Dyne was close to the Shadow who was menacingly approaching since Zuri cast her spell. Suddenly, the Shadow stopped. I looked frightened, as if it realized the kids could see it. Then it spoke.

“Balzac!” The book in its head flipped open and glowed for a second until the Shadow cried out the single word. The room was engulfed in a red flash no one else saw. Then everyone was fighting. While the commons was calm just seconds ago, now everyone seemed mad about something. People shouted threats and two boys actually started to physically fight.

“Guys, after it!” Warren shouted over the chaos. He sprinted to the door, chasing after the Shadow. After causing the mayhem, the Shadow slipped out almost unnoticed. Lucian followed Warren. Kat was about to follow, but she thought she could use her swords.

”Where are you going!?” Nyx nearly shouted.

”Quite you! I need my swords!” Kat pounded upstairs and dove under her bed. As soon as she had her hands on the swords, they began to change. The blade slowly disappeared and the handle rounded out. Suddenly, Kat had two, perfectly normal looking bracelets in her hands.

That’s really cool, she thought. She quickly put on her weapon and hurried outside to join the rest of the gang. Somehow, they had found two other, identical Shadows. What!?

“Wait, what if these aren’t the Magician. But then, are they like the Mayas back at the bookstore?” Lucian thought out loud. ”Nyx, ‘ow ‘bout it?”

”That’s probably the case. The Maigcian’s more like Loneliness, a big, Greater Shadow.”

”Awright, so where is it?” The three minor Shadows passed through them, rather than attacked them. While they turned around to see where they went, the group saw a bigger problem. Like some large, mutated octopus, a Shadow was attached to the school dorms. It had hands that floated apart from its arms and they were covered in runes. There were tattered clothes along its shoulders and it wore a yellow mask, with a large ornate “I”, smack dab in the middle. The three small Shadows began to chat again. Their words caused even more havoc than the one inside.

“Pulinpa!” The students near this Shadow became scared and confused.

“Evil touch.” These students panicked and ran from the scene, shouting and yelling. On top of the building, the large Shadow waved its hands over the students and this made its finger glow.

“Guys, it’s feeding on them. It’s eating their emotions that the little ones stir up. But what do we do?” Lucian had figured out what was going on, but he wasn’t sure how to stop it. Kat was at a loss too. On one ‘and, we pull out our weapons, end the madness an’ save the day. But then ev’ryone’ll know ‘bout our powers. War an’ Famine advised against it. If we don’t do nufin’, then the Shadow’ll just cause more chaos! Kat paced for a moment and looked around. From her point of view, there was a monster attacking the school that needed to be stopped. Her classmates couldn’t see it, plus they were in complete confusion anyway.

”Hey dummy! Look at the side of the building!” Nyx noticed the metal ladder alongside the building. It was a few feet off the ground, so no one could break in, but low enough that the group could probably reach it.

“There’s a ladder ‘long the wall over there!" Kat announced, "We kin climb up an’ destroy th’ Shadow from the roof! Tha’ way, no one’ll see us an’ we kin beat the Shadow!” Kat started to run back towards the building.

 

[muxiroger]

Dyne ~ Atlas

The shadow had caught Dyne before he could act. He wasn't sure if it was Hurley, Zuri, or himself that had caused the shadow to take notice, and he didn't care. All that mattered was it knew they were after it. It cast a "Balzac" spell, whatever that is, and caused the students to argue amongst themselves. As the group made their way outside, one small boy through a right hook into Dyne's jaw. "Get outta my way, jolly green!"[/color]

"Kid, you picked the wrong day..." He cocked his right arm back and proceeded to deliver a right hook, when Atlas stopped him with his roar of a voice.

"What do you think you're doin, numskull? The enemy is outside, and with that cestus on, you'll kill the kid with one of your punches. So, GET YOUR *** OUTSIDE!" Dyne dropped his fist, slowly, and turned his back on the kid. He made his way outside to see the giant shadow responsible for this mess.

This shadow, Dyne figured it was the Magician, had itself twisted around the dorms. Everyone was already gathered outside when he heard Kat point out a ladder. No one jumped for the chance to attack it, so Dyne thought he could have all the fun to himself.

"Aw, you guys waited for me to start, thank you!" He announced himself as he finally stood with the rest of the group. "I guess I'll lead the charge, thanks for pointing out the ladder. I'd have hated to bust out a window or somethin'."

Dyne sprinted to the ladder and began to climb with haste in mind. It only took about a minute for him to reach the top of the building, which was probably due to a mix of natural strength and adrenaline. Once at the top of the building, he aligned himself perfectly with the creature's massive head before he lept from the top of the building.

It was tough to keep hold once he grabbed the Magician's head. Gravity had a deep hold on his body, and it wanted Dyne on the ground. He wrapped one arm tightly around the Magician's head and began to deliver punch after punch directly into the top of the creature's cranium with his Spartan-mode cestus.

 

[Kiruria]

OOC: Hmm, something tells me Kat and Zuri will play a vital role in this part of the day... So those are Priestesses, eh? Haha, my heart started racing when I read that. Ah, I get how Ysavvryl caught the error.

MAybe now i Shall Kindly contiNUe My BEautiful post about zuRi.

IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--In the Commons--

"Zuri!" Zuri heard in her mind all of a sudden, as the Shadow began to approach her. She knew it was Scathach warning her, but she had no time to acknowledge it. The Shadow was locking eyes with her, those blank eyes behind the mask. For a moment Zuri thought she saw a peculiar kind of soul in whatever eyes it had, something much more meaningful than the sickly yellow eyes Shadow Zuri had and the bright pink eyes Maria had while time was stopped. She also saw the Roman numeral II on its mask, and besides that plus the eyes, for a while she saw nothing else--it was as if those were the only sights to penetrate the magic shield Zuri had just created. It was a strange sensation, but it was similar to the feeling she had when she first felt the spiritual presence in her athame that Monday. All the while, the Shadow was drawing closer, and Zuri half-thought the two were going to fuse or something...

Then it stopped. Dyne had approached it. With what Zuri could tell was disdain, the Shadow began to speak, a strange language that sounded very different, but Zuri thought she recognised it. Had she read about that language in a book or something? Or heard it in a dream? Even if she did recognise it though, the Shadow was speaking in such a rush and misty-overtoned manner that Zuri couldn't possibly understand what it was saying. Guessing it was an incantation of some sort, she smirked. She smirked even more when the book inside the Shadow's crown opened, ancient letters glowing on its pages. It all reminded Zuri of the Otherworldly Grimoire acting on its own, but she doubted the books were similar.

And then the Shadow raised an arm. "Balzac!" it spoke.

Balzac? Zuri thought. Have I heard that bef...

Before Zuri could finish her train of thought, a red light flashed through the room, such an intense shade of red that it threatened to invoke the innate anger in hearts everywhere. And that's just what it did. Everyone (except the Persona users, curiously enough) started fighting, as if they were suddenly angry at whoever was near. Knowing this, Zuri carefully backed away from people who were near her as she headed towards the couch the Grimoire was laying upon... As she did, she glimpsed the Shadow flying away.

Zuri's first thought was to have Scathach follow the Shadow while she use a spell from the Grimoire to calm everyone down. That's probably what the logic-obsessed person would do. But Zuri, not being so logically obsessed, knew three reasons why this wasn't a good idea. One, whether or not the people in this room knew who Scathach was, they would certainly scowl at someone who looked like they were from a different time, especially if they suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Two, Scathach couldn't fly. (If only Nyx was present... never mind.) Three, Zuri felt like she needed to know more about this Shadow before defeating it--therefore she herself would have to be the one to face it. (Neglect for now Igor's mentioning that the Personae "are" their users.)

So instead, Zuri continued over to the couch. Along the way, she spotted Hikaru, the topless new arrival, who was also unaffected by the Shadow's spell for some odd reason. When she was just a few steps away from the couch though, a girl shoved her into the back of another larger girl, who screamed at the impact.

"YOU WITCH!" the first girl shouted at the top of her lungs. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO US?!?"

Zuri was barely able to duck under the punch aimed at her. As she did, she noticed several more eyes glaring at her, having heard the girl's accusation. But Zuri had no time for this. Ducking down into a full squat and spinning around on her heel, she snatched the Grimoire by the cover, quickly shutting it over her athame as usual. As soon as she stood up, she found herself falling forward again--someone had kicked her in the back. After landing on top of the Grimoire, she scuttled forward a bit and made to stand back up, one arm hugging the Grimoire to her chest, the other grabbing the athame closed inside. Then she dropped her head in order to narrowly avoid a low kick aimed at it. Two more people were nearing her, swatting each other in the face as they went.

On Zuri's last attempt to stand up, she glanced at her athame, thinking only of the Shadow now fleeing somewhere, and about the moments when their eyes met. For a second Zuri could see in her peripheral vision someone reaching down to grab her... but in the next instant she felt a mighty gust of wind grazing her back, barely ruffling her hair, and thereafter heard several sounds of surprise. Seeing this as an opportunity, Zuri stood up and glanced behind--she too jumped in surprise. Scathach was standing right there.

The surprise quickly vanished--Scathach was making a small hand gesture to her, as if shooing her away. Immediately and unexplainably, Zuri retreated, turning around and darting out of the room as fast as she could. One final but quick glance behind as she left told her that Scathach was now hiding in a corner outside the commons, and was starting to fade.

Zuri ran to the first place she thought of: outside. Bad mistake. First of all, there were more students out there than there were in the commons. Second, there was a large, almost serpentine creature wrapped around the entire school. It wore a long rippling cloak, and wore a mask with a Roman numeral I on it.

I wish I knew what those numerals mean... Zuri thought as she examined the gigantic Shadow.

Then something else seemed to call from the back of Zuri's mind--whatever it was caused her to glance around, away from the Shadow. The first Shadow, the one that had locked eyes with Zuri, was there, along with two identical ones. All three were chanting something, one finishing with the words "Evil Touch" and the others with more unidentified but still naggingly familiar-seeming words. Zuri caught the word pulinpa, spoken at the end of the chant. Did that mean "evil touch", then?

Zuri heard screams of panic all around her--students were running from the scene, frantically calling for help. Looking up, Zuri could see the large sun-faced Shadow waving its rune-covered hands over the students, clearly glad to be manipulating them. Zuri knew at once that this must have been the Magician the text message was talking about. Then what were the other three doing here? Were they its servants or something?

Something inside her told her that that notion was gravely incorrect. Speaking of which, rather than worrying about the Magician (at this point she could see Dyne on top of the roof, going for the Magician's head), Zuri refocused her attention on the three smaller Shadows who had been chanting.

"What's going on..." she muttered, almost automatically. She didn't want to say much more--she wanted much more, even longed, to listen. Walking gracefully towards the three Shadows, with her athame she traced a circle around the mirror on the front cover of the Grimoire. It was a spell she had read about during the couple of idle days this week, subtle yet curious.

Mirror, mirror, reveal to me
The secrets that I ask from thee.

With this mental incantation, she tilted the cover of the book towards the book resting in the crown of one of the Shadows. According to the Grimoire, this spell should reveal the nature of any spells cast by that which the mirror on the front cover points at. But what she didn't see was that the second she finished the incantation, the mirror fogged up, then turned a dull grey, refusing to reflect or show anything. Zuri did feel the book get a bit heavier, an odd air about it as it sank a couple of inches in her arms.

What the... Zuri thought, evidently surprised, growing a bit fearful even. Slowly Zuri was realising what had happened, and remembered the warning presented on the first page:

Yet each page also holds a consequence for using the invocation in a matter-of-fact fashion. We seek to consume the obsessed, to torture the naive and unworthy until their clouded minds rot away and become part of the Cycle once more.

She also remembered the description of the Grimoire in the store in Paulownia Mall:

"Despite its many spells, often tailored to specific Shadows, it bears a warning: when used in the wrong way with the wrong intent, it shuts tight, preventing further use until forgiveness is obtained."

Was that the wrong intent, then? Was the Grimoire now useless to her? Fear began to mount in Zuri, and she wondered what the Shadows would think of this... The Shadows. Shadows, Shadow, Shadowy... Ah, then Zuri remembered something Scathach said on Monday night, and answer to Hurley's question about the Velvet Keys:

"Some things in this world are not meant to be explained. The realm of existence holds many Mysteries, and some people devote their lives to pursuing them."

Like reading an entire book? Zuri finally thought, though clearly to herself. Dropping the Grimoire (which landed rigidly on the grass, its pages failing to even flutter), Zuri faced the three Shadows with a calm expression on her face, athame in hand. She nodded.

"Hmm, it seems that we are all shrouded in Mysteries. Mysteries which hold their power in the unexplained."

On the last word, Zuri held the dull-bladed dagger closer to her heart, her hands gently clasped over it as in a sort of prayer position. She watched for the Shadows approaching her as the first one was apparently inclined to do, ready to lash at them with her athame if they got too close, knowing that no spell in the Grimoire could aid her now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OOC: Erm, I hope the brief appearance of Zuri's Persona was okay... Although I don't know if the other students would even be able to see her. So yeah, I guess now the whole school's gonna think Zuri was the one who caused everyone to become angry.

 

[Manaphy Mare]

~*~Hurley O'Keefe~*~

Hurley watched as the students began to fight among themselves. He was petrified with fear. A raven-haired girl charged at him and raised her hand to punch him ans screamed. Hurley turned to see what was happening, only to see her wrist gripped by Hikaru who soon grabbed him and began running.
"There's a monster attacking the students outside, and we need to get to the roof." He explained as they rounded a corner and raced for their dorm.

Realizing what Hikaru was implying Hurley said, "You take the bike." Hikaru simply nodded in response as the entered the dorm. Hurley instantly grabbed the hoverboard and put on a pair of goggles. Hikaru, on the other hand, grabbed a collapsed, bike-like object and a a motorcycle helmet. The two darted out of the room and made their way outside where they activated their rides. Soon the two were off towards the large shadow. As Hikaru approached the building he pulled back into a wheelie and flipped a switch on the handlebars. When he was at the building he began riding up the wall itself.
Hurley, meanwhile made his way to Zuri and pulled her onto the board as he said, "Hold on tight, Zuri! We're about to really defy gravity." With that he maneuvered towards the wall and, with a leap they were riding up the wall towards the shadow.

Hurley arrived first and summoned his persona as he helped Zuri dismount the hoverboard. Hurley was close behind as he said, "Activate Offensive melody: Defying Gravity!" As he sang his voice caused all the shadows on the ground writhe in pain while the magician was wincing from the effect of the sound waves.

Hikaru arrived as Hurley started his song and immediately dismounted the bike. He saw the magician move his hand to crush Hurley and stop his song from causing more pain. Hikaru rushed in and kicked the shadow's hand away while Mary boosted his strength with a prayer. The Shadow pulled it's hand back as Hikaru shouted, "Anybody who Makes Hurley cry in any way has to answer to me!"

 

[Ysavvryl]

Polaris, elsewhere

After several rings, Polaris only got Lucien’s voicemail. “This is Polaris,” he said. “I’m just calling you back on last night. I’ve got to be at work most of today; I’ll be done around five. I’m not at school right now, so call me if something comes up.” He then hung up and went back inside.

For a moment, he worried that something might be happening. But then, the message had said the ‘Magician’ would start stalking. Stalking wasn’t an outright attack, so maybe things would be okay. And maybe they would know more things by the time he was able to join back up with them.

He went back into the house and started up some bleach water in the sink. They had to clean all the toys of kid slobber and sticky finger goo, which he’d long since gotten sued to. As this was life as normal, it was comfortable, actually. But that still didn’t mean everything was all right. He still remembered what his Shadow had taunted him with. That was his whole reason for coming here today, right?

“I heard on the news that some kids at your school came down with Apathy Syndrome,” his mother said, getting up from cleaning the dollhouse.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I hadn’t known them. But it happened suddenly, I heard. They just got strangely sick or something.”

She grabbed a basket and started picking up toys for cleaning, so he joined her. “I looked it up online,” she went on. “But there isn’t much information about it. It showed up a couple years back in Japan.”

“Japan?” Where they had been taken, or somewhere else in Japan?

His mother nodded. “Yes, it was strange. The victims just stopped doing or caring about anything, which is why it has that name. If you left them alone, they would just sit there, staring blankly ahead until they died. The color would drain from them and they couldn’t respond much.”

“That sounds awful. What happened?”

“Well it came and went in waves for some time, while getting progressively worse.” She shrugged. “Then it just stopped altogether and the victims recovered.”

“It just stopped?” Polaris asked, puzzled.

“Right. Nobody could figure out why it had come, and then nobody could figure out why it had gone. It might be the same way here, so they should take care of the victims and wait for it to pass. Or maybe find out why it behaves that way.” She patted him on the shoulder. “I’d tell you to be careful, but since no one knows what causes it…”

“I’ll be careful anyhow,” he told her.

He was nervous, though. How did he tell his mom that his dad was cheating on her? He didn’t want to make her upset. That, and his dad had made some threats to keep his silence. But it was better to tell the truth….

Polaris felt Roland’s presence then. Even unseen, his Persona was quietly watching him until he did something. If he didn’t, well, that Shadow might come back. He shut off the sink water while ignoring the sharp scent of the bleach. “Mom, I have to talk to you, about Dad.”

 

[greywolf123]

OOC: Know that I'm not going to be here from thursday on, until around the sixth. Sorry.

Warren frowned as he saw two other shadows come out, and shook his head. Well, that was interesting. He wasn’t expecting that much at all. The three shadows seemed intent on causing mayhem, but the thing was, the text didn’t talk about multiple shadows. Indeed, it talked about only one. “I was sure it was only one. Seems like that was true, considering that he checked it himself. So, the question was, what were these things? They probably weren’t the magician. “I suddenly have a bad feeling.” He said looking over then seeing the real big shadow.

That explained a whole lot. The biggest shadow, the one that most likely was indeed what they were chasing, was attached to the dorm, looking down at them, and then the three shadows. They were busy stirring up the crowd, casting what he assumed to be spells of some sort, which were stirring the students up into a panic. Well, that was interesting. Lucian came out with a good theory of course, immediately thinking that it was likely that the thing was eating the emotions the others stirred up, but then there was the problem of the others thinking they were crazy.

This would be interesting. Then someone had the idea to point out the large ladder, that they could use to get up the roof, and do something to fight against it. Dyne took only a few moments to climb up it, but Warren was not far behind. He had to go do something instead of just standing around. There had to be something he could do, and he figured getting closer to the shadow was probably the best idea in general. Climbing up the thing, he arrived on top to see Dyne leap out and attack the thing. Thinking that was well, rather foolish, he sighed, and looked around.

Was there anything up here he could do? He wasn’t sure. Indeed, maybe he couldn’t do anything without his weapon. But he figured that he could at least get a feel for the situation. If there was something he could do, he would find it out up here. If nothing else, it would give him a view of the battlefield, so he could hopefully help the others somewhat. Healing would be easier if he could see the people that he was supposed to be healing. Better than just sitting back and doing nothing.

 

[TheSequelReturns]

OOC@greywolf123: Did you want me to do a bit of minor bunnying to keep Warren in the action of things till you get back?

OOC@Kiruria: Clever message there...

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

- August 13 (Sat), 2011 - 7:19 AM ~ School Grounds -

The Magician reeled for just a moment at Dyne's blows, trying to decide if it should really give up a practical buffet of emotions over a single annoyance. Dyne however was far from a simple annoyance, and the Magician was forced to swat him off with a swipe from one of its huge hands. Dyne fell to the ground, where he nearly landed on another student. Unfortunately, he had landed in the group that was already scared and confused, and now they started to think that Dyne had fallen off of the roof or something, which only made them panic more.

Meanwhile, one of the smaller Shadows was making its way over towards Zuri, its interest sparked by her attempted use of the Grimoire. For a moment, it just stared. It seemed oddly interested in her. It raised its tin arms to chant and found Zuri getting lifted up onto Hurley's special ride. The two sped off, leaving the Shadow staring after them. It spoke something, and the other two turned and gathered with it, together, the three of them made for the roof of the dorms.

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

Now the Magician was starting to feel the effects of Hurley's song, and it finally moved from its resting place. Like a giant serpent, it uncoiled itself from around the building before twisting itself around and placing its head at the top, where it looked over the roof top as its massive floating hands hovered to either side, it was ready for battle.

It snapped its fingers and a burst of flame erupted near Hikaru, right after his speech. The heat nearly singed his face.

The Magician laughed as fired several more bursts with each snap of its fingers, merely toying with the humans rather than attacking them outright. It was nothing if not confidant in its powers.

Back on the ground, Lucian was busy trying to get the students to safety, but he had his hands full. Luckily, he had a bit of help from a familiar face. Miss Mia had showed up on the scene, and while she had no idea what was really going on, she was eager to help Lucian quell the panic.

With the Shadow's attention turned to the roof, their job wasn't as hard as it could have been.

 

[Kiruria]

OOC: Let's see if this will attract the Priestesses.
IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"HEY!" Zuri shouted as Hurley lifted her onto the hoverboard. "My... Grimoire..."

For a few seconds Zuri stood on the hoverboard with her arm outstretched towards where the Otherworldly Grimoire lay on the grass--the three little Shadows seemed to be eyeing it for a moment after Zuri left. Spraking of Zuri, she was in a panic. The device she was on seemed most unnatural to her, which became especially apparent as she looked down. Here she was on a strange machine of some sort, one which somehow defied gravity... it was a very alien experience. Zuri had never been on any flying vehicle before--not a helicopter, not a balloon, not even an airplane. Nor had she ever been on any carnival ride more "intense" than a merry-go-round. Were it not for Hurley keeping a secure grip on her hand, Zuri would have definitely thought she was going to fall off and break something or even die.

The hoverboard landed on the roof of the school, where Zuri teetered sideways a bit after dismounting. She saw Hurley summon his Persona and start singing into his microphone again. For a moment the Magician recoiled as if in pain, but in the next instant its hand was about to crush Hurley. Fortunately Hikaru was able to stop it with a kick right into the palm.

Zuri couldn't look any more--she was shaking all over from the sudden ride, and had to shut her eyes and sit down on the hot concrete in order to avoid getting dizzy. What was probably more jumbled was her mind--she didn't know quite what to think of the brief scene with the three smaller Shadows. She had no idea whether they were trying to help or harm her, whether they were interested in or obsessed with her.

That's just as well, I should have been expecting confusion, Zuri thought, the cards all said it the other day. She was referring to a tarot reading she had done for herself last night, which was meant to be a general "forecast" for this day. Zuri had made a mental note to use the results of this reading to determine whether it would be a good idea to visit her parents' house today, but since two out of the three cards definitely indicated confusion, Zuri had decided this was not a good idea. That was all well of course, for early that morning Scathach had woken her up, informing her of this very attack. Then there was the third card in the spread, none other than the High Priestess. That card had also come up in a reading she did on the evening before her first day of school. Why in the world did it keep showing up?

When Zuri finally opened her eyes, she caught a glimpse of three shapes moving upward on the side of the school. These weird crowned Shadows with the II on their foreheads really liked her, didn't they?

All of a sudden, something clicked in Zuri's mind... could it be? She needed a glance at the Magician to confirm this... Turning her head, she did just that, lifting her gaze to the gigantic Shadow's sunny mask. But as she did so, she instead squinted as a fireball flew right at her. Jumping in surprise once more, Zuri instinctively took a few steps backward, but she knew there was no way she could dodge the fireball being hurled at her. On her way backward, she held her athame close to her once more, fell to her knees, and shut her eyes once more, and put all her energy forward, as if calling forward the shadows to her aid...

A great fizzling noise threw Zuri's eyes open once more. Right there in front of her was Scathach, who was blocking the fireball with a shield. After pushing at the shield a bit, the fireball burst into several small fiery wisps, which fizzled away into nothingness. Once the fireball had been obliterated, Scathach tossed the shield upward a slight bit, waving her hand over it--the shield disappeared. Seconds later, in its place she drew her sword, exactly as she had done on Monday night.

With a mighty leap toward the climbing sun, Scathach reached to the sky with her sword, thereafter swinging it back and forth in a criss-crossed motion--two arc-shaped beams formed into an X emerged from it. With a bit of her usual magic-infused wind blast keeping her afloat a slight bit longer, she thrust her other palm at the centre of the X, causing it to fly forward, right at the middle of the Magician's chest. For a moment Zuri thought it was going to either paralyze the Magician or cause it to recoil, thus distracting it from firing the fireballs. But Zuri didn't have time to see, for she once again took a glance behind at the approaching smaller Shadows, as if her intuition told her to do so.

 

[Skillfulness]

~ Kat Dyson

- Highland Academy – School Grounds – 7:18 -

Kat was caught in a rush of confusion. While joining Dyne in running to the ladder, a panicking boy rammed into her and their heads collided. Everything went black for a split second and Kat lost her breath. On the ground, she saw people scurrying everywhere. Kat leapt to her feet and tried to find the ladder again. Bodies flew past her and more than one bumped into her. She sidestepped and spun around until she was out of the fray, seeing the ladder was only a few feet away. Kat recklessly climbed the ladder in a hurry. Topside, the Magician had shifted position so its head rested on top where it could see the things attacking it.

“Look out!” Kat instinctively shouted to Zuri. A great ball of fire was headed straight towards her. Kat quickly summoned Nyx who came out ready to fight, but they couldn’t get there soon enough. Scathach had appeared in the nick of time to shield Zuri from the flames.

“Alright,” Kat said, her bracelets glowing. They quickly formed into her twin blades. “Let’s go!” While the Magician was firing off large fireballs, Nyx was small and agile. She fluttered around them until she reached the Shadow. Kat also made her way forward, but slower. The Magician sent bursts of flames her way. Meanwhile, Nyx got a hoard of arrows and started circling the Shadow. She fired them off in rapid succession, adding to Zuri’s attack of a giant X. ’Ope we kin do this while keepin’ our cover! she thought, closing her eyes as a ball of fire exploded beside her.

 

[GalladeX]

OOC: I'm so, so, so SORRY.
x_x

Evan would be really helpful using Onibi as a shield, in case anyone needs cover...


-Evan Couer-

The others gradually joined the group. Zuri casted a spell, which Evan figured would create a truckloud of rumours.

Hurley said he wanted to try out an act, but Evan figured it was just an excuse to have brought his weapon.
The Book in the Shadow's crown flipped open and the strange runes glowed. It said "Balzac!" and a strange thing happened. Everyone started fighting, either verbally, or, in the case of two guys, physically.
"Guys, after it!" Warren said.
Evan followed him, slinging his backpack over one shoulder.

At the grounds, The Shadows seemed to cast some spells, causing the other students to panic and run.
Dyne decided to go right out and punch the crap out of the Shadow, while Warren followed after.
Hurley's friend was getting toyed with by the Magician, Zuri was trying to ride a hoverbaord and almost got hit by a fireball, and then did some crazy move involving a beam of "X"s.

Meanwhile, Evan was trying to get everyone to safety, along with some help.
As people kept bumping into him, he lost his temper. "GET THE **** IN THE BUILDING." He snapped at a boy that crashed into him.
The boy flailed a bit and ran off.
Evan kept up his crowd control act, ready to help if needed.

 

[TheSequelReturns]

OOC: Gah, I'm really sorry for the delay guys.

It seems like many of our members were busy this past week or so. I hope we can jump right back into the RP.

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- August 13 (Sat), 2011 - 7:21 AM ~ School Dorms Rooftop -

As the X-shaped blast flew towards the Magician, the Shadow moved one of its huge hands up to block the attack, but a sudden pain caused it to pull its hand back. It spotted the tiny arrows embedded in its palm and cast a hate-filled glance at Nyx before the X-shaped blast struck it right in the chest.

The Magician reeled back, stunned momentarily by the powerful attack. It grinned and dislodged itself from the building. Now free of an anchor, it floated in the air. Its body stayed aloft like a levitating snake, the tapering form lacking any arms or legs. It hands, unconnected to its body, continued to float around the group, where it continued its assault. The hand with the arrows in the palm was noticeably slower though as the two hands took swipes at the group on the roof.

Meanwhile, the three smaller Shadows made their way up to Zuri. One of them quietly floated towards her, as if naturally curious. It reached out its tattered cloak-covered arm as though to touch her...

One of the other Priestesses spoke up and actually attacked the first one, knocking it back with a small burst of ice.

The red cloaked one turned and attacked back with a burst of fire. The two Shadows seemed to be fighting over something, over Zuri.

The third Shadow simply sat back, as though thinking. Then, it quickly dashed forward, and reached its arm out to touch Zuri...

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- August 13 (Sat), 2011 - 7:21 AM ~ School Grounds -

"Alright, everyone calm down and tell me what happened." Miss Mia said loudly over the dying din of the gathered students. Most of the students were now back in the room, but when Mia asked the question they all started talking at once.

"Please, one at a time!" Miss Mia said.

Lucian felt sorry for her, as this whole situation really wasn't her fault. But right now, the others needed his help. He rushed up stairs and headed into his room. He had to find his weapon. He locked under the bed where he had left it and was surprised not to see his Discarmor. He nearly got back up and looked elsewhere when he noticed the faint glimmer of something metallic. He reached out and took hold of the object, bringing it into the light. It was a little red and silver ring.

At first he was confused, but then he noticed the logo on the rings front, a Manticore. The part-lion part scorpion beast was outlined in silver on the face of the ring, and Lucian was reminded of what the mysterious shop owner had said about the Discarmor's origin.

He slipped the ring on his finger, and wasn't too surprised to find it a perfect fit. He was sure that his weapon had found a more convenient way to go unnoticed. Rushing, he made his way back out to the outside.

"Hey, where are you..." Miss Mia started.

"Got to find my friends." Lucian told her. Without waiting for a response, he headed outside.

 

[Manaphy Mare]

~*~Hurley O'Keefe~*~

Hurley and Hikaru kept dodging the Magician's fireballs. There were several moments when either of the two would be burned, had it not been for the intervention of the other. This pattern of dodging continued on for several minutes until Nyx and Scathach attacked the Magician. The creature uncoiled itself from around the building and began floating around the battlefield. Hurley stopped, about to attack with his mic again. The Magician notice this and focused it's attention on the young man from Dublin. With a snap of it's fingers Hurley was bound in chains and hanging from what was probably the shadow's left hand. As the personae attacked the Magician it maneuvered Hurley to intercept every blow. With each strike Hurley cried out in pain.

Hikaru's eyes grew wide as he saw this, "hey, quit attacking that thing, it's using Hurley-kun as a-uwah!" Before Hikaru could finish he was pulled through a familiar blue door that closed and disappeared as soon as he was through.

~*~Hikaru Tsukino~*~

Hikaru was pushed through a similar door and landed before an antique shop. *"Ore wa doko ni imasu...?" Muttered the young man as he looked around before something on the ground caught his eye. On the ground was a coupon similar to the one Hurley and the others had been given, albeit a slightly paler color. He picked it up and read the note attached, "For a courageous friend. Use it in this shop, the shopkeeper will explain more." Hikaru shrugged it off and walked into the store and said, "Um, hello?" he saw a woman behind the counter and walked up to her saying, "Could you please explain what's going on, and what's with this coupon, ticket-thing?"

In the shadows behind Hikaru, thought still within the woman's sight stood a girl clad in grey and red. Her rusty pigtails moved silently as she gave a nod before entering into a Velvet Door that vanished behind her. As she stepped in she said, "Iggy, the new Moon is about to be armed. What do you want to bet it's something anime-related?"

Translation:

Ore wa doko ni imasu...? - Where am I...?

 

[Kiruria]

OOC: Hooray, this RPG continues! I assume the hand with the arrows in it is NOT the one holding Hurley.
IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After making her attack, Scathach backed away from the Magician, out of reach of further spells it cast. She had successfully dislodged the Magician's body from the school, leaving it floating helplessly out there. However, its hands were still floating around and attacking people. Immediately Scathach knew that the way to defeat this Magician was to attack its hands, not its body.

But then there was another problem: the Priestesses, which were now going after Zuri. Two of them started fighting each other, leaving Zuri both confused and amused. For a while Zuri gazed at the third, who seemed to be thinking about something. Then, all of a sudden it dashed towards her, as if to grab her or something. Surprised, Zuri ran backwards to avoid its grasp, but she tripped and fell backward. For a while she wondered what would happen when the Priestess touched her, whether the outcome would be good or bad. It was a Shadow, after all--the mask told all.

Once again, Scathach saved Zuri from her demise--this time with a kick to the Priestess's throat. By then she no longer had her sword--instead she was holding her usual bronze-encrusted rod, as if ready to draw out a different weapon. She cracked a smile upon seeing the other Priestesses still fighting each other, a battle of fire and ice. At one point a stray ice blast flew at her, and she summoned her shield again (the rod became its handle) to block it. Rather than attacking them, she watched them attack each other, though ready for battle should they avert their gaze.

Zuri, meanwhile, took another look at the suspended Magician. Though it was quite far away, she could still make out the large Roman numeral I on its mask. Finally it all made sense.

Aha! It's just like it is in the tarot! These Shadows must represent the Major Arcana--that explains the number one on the Magician! So that makes those Shadows over there... and here Zuri took a glance at the kicked Shadow, at the numeral II on its mask, ...High Priestesses. Uhh, well, actually, there can only be one High Priestess, so I guess they would just be Priestesses, or Priests, whichever. I hope my assumption is correct... but they do look like they could be priests, don't they? And that explains their use of magic, if anything.

Then Zuri remembered what Igor had said about the Shadows, how they represented negative qualities of things. So were these the Shadows of the major arcana of the tarot? It seemed very bizarre--why would the tarot be so important in this? Yet it did make sense...

That Magician there... Zuri thought, It's manipulating people, toying with them, taking advantage of them...
Just as Zuri thought this, she saw a chained-up Hurley hanging from the Magician's left hand, being used to intercept the attacks of the Personae that attacked it.
Using people as tools... That Magician is a sorcerer! In other words, it's a Black Magician--a Shadow Magician! This makes perfect sense!

Then she looked at the Priestesses again.
And the Priests there... look at those two pathetic ones, fighting each other. Good priests never compete against one another. I guess the knowledge and wisdom they sought has corrupted them... kind of like Saruman I suppose.
She remembered the story of the Lord of the Rings, where there was a wizard named Saruman who got so obsessed with his magical studies that he became conceited and greedy, then seeking to control and manipulate others. The Priestess back in the commons was a good example of this, using that spell to make people start fighting each other. Perhaps in their reading about all their spells and whatnot, they got this wicked idea that they could use this powerful magic to rule the world. Yup, these were Shadows all right. How foolish Zuri was to try and ask for their help--that had cost her the Otherworldly Grimoire, which was still lying on the ground and useless.

But Zuri did not have a lot of time to stop and think, as much as she wanted to. Hurley was shouting in pain as he suffered attacks meant for the Magician. Zuri knew she had to help him out, but how? With no Grimoire, what was she to do? Noticing a little shed on top of the roof, Zuri wandered over to it, thankful that the Priestesses were either dazed or fighting each other for the time being. After a bit of rummaging, she eventually found a garden hose, apparently left over from a greenhouse that used to be on the roof. Okay, that would do. Unwinding the hose a bit, she began tying knots in it every few feet or so, hoping they would hold. It was a pretty old hose, but that only made it more flexible, and that's what counted.

Zuri took another look at the Magician's left hand--there was no way Zuri could reach the hand easily even if she did make it to Hurley. For a while she watched as an attack came for the hand, and the Magician swung Hurley upwards to block it. After this happened, Hikaru started shouting at the Personae, telling them to stop attacking, before he disappeared through a doorway. Zuri's mind was racing... she remembered something Scathach had said to her, part of an answer to her question about her athame (the same one she unsuccessfully posed to Igor a few days ago):

"That athame holds a special connection to me--you can say it is infused with my essence. Weapons like that, especially magical ones, often have such a special magical bond, and too frequently one discovered what it is far too late. For that reason, you call upon me using that sacred blade. However, that also means you must hold on to it securely, for any Shadow who steals it can use it to cut right through my attacks."

For the last part of her plan Zuri needed Scathach's help. Looking in her Persona's direction, she saw her with her shield out, watching the Priestesses carefully. After walking up to her, she began to explain her plan....

"...and when I give that signal, attack the hand, okay? And then I'll need... something to... attack with..."

Zuri's voice trailed off in a mumble; Scathach said nothing in response. But she did hand Zuri an arrow--apparently it had fallen out of the Magician's right hand. But shortly after accepting the arrow, Zuri felt a sharp pain running right up her left arm--Scathach had pinched her hand, right at the meaty part between her thumb and index finger. Apparently it wasn't a very hard pinch, but it hurt a lot.

"What was that for?!?" Zuri complained. All Scathach did in response was point towards where Hurley was, which annoyed her slightly. Still, she forced her gaze toward her chained-up friend, and the Magician's hand holding him. She looked thoughtfully at the hand for a while... and then she knew exactly what she must do. Running towards the edge of the roof with the hose and the arrow, she called out to Hurley.

"Hurley! Catch!"

She threw the end of the hose at Hurley, who held out an arm to catch it. But the Magician moved him and he missed. Swearing quietly, Zuri reeled in the hose and tried again... After about three unsuccessful attempts, Hurley finally caught the hose. Grabbing firmly onto one of the knots and holding the arrow in her mouth, she leapt right off the edge of the school, swinging around on the hose for a while. Then she started climbing up the hose, using the knots she had tied for support. It was a slow climb though, since the Magician's hand was moving around so much. Finally the Magician noticed her, and tried to shake her off. Here Zuri had to hold on very tight to the rope to keep from falling, and shut her eyes to keep from looking down. This was a real predicament, a flaw in the plan she had not considered. And what if Hurley let go? She wanted to call for help, but couldn't... otherwise she would drop the arrow.

 

[Skillfulness]

OOC: I gotcher back-up riot 'ere! (Hopefully, everyone, you know when I type 'riot', I mean 'right'... I really wish I just had a Cockney accent so I could type it how I would say it! Fooey...)

~ Kat Dyson

- Highland Academy – School Grounds – 7:21 -

The attack was a success! It hit the Magician square in the chest and knocked it off the building. Now the Shadow floated eerily above the building with its hands continuing to attack. Kat held up her twin blades to protect herself and glanced at Nyx. The fairy was flying as fast as she could to also avoid being hit, yet she still managed to fire off arrows.

“Gahh!” Kat tried to find the source of the cry and saw Hurley, dangling from the Magicians left hand. Blast! Nyx kept shooting arrows, only to be blocked by Hurley who was looking worse and worse as each attack was directed to him. Kat considered having Nyx stop, but she was still landing some hits. Wot else kin I do anyway? Kat thought. She looked for the others and spotted Zuri. Holding a knotted hose in one hand, and an arrow from Nyx in the other, she was just pinched by Scathach.

“What was that for!?” she whined. Kat couldn’t help but ponder this. Now why would Zuri’s Persona pinch ‘er? She watched Zuri run off with the hose and try to throw it to Hurley. Suddenly, Kat knew what she was trying to do. She wants t’ git on top o’ the ‘and an’ attack it at its weak spot! That’s wot Scathach was gittin at! For a moment, Kat considered trying to join her and double their attack power, but the Magician took notice of Zuri and tried to shake her off.

”’urry Nyx! Attack the Magicians riot ‘and, b‘tween the fingers!” Kat saw a flurry of movement above the Magicians hand and then saw several small arrows fly through the air. The result was very satisfying, and hopefully gave Zuri the chance to finish climbing her makeshift rope.

 

[Kiruria]

OOC: (@Skillfulness) As I finished my last post, I kept thinking, "Hmm, if Kat's clever enough to figure out Zuri's plan, she's definitely worthy of the Magician Arcana." Riot on!
IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a long while of worrying and hearing Hurley's own little complaints, Zuri heard the whooshing of arrows overhead. Finally opening her eyes and looking up, she saw Nyx circling above the Magician's hand, shooting arrows right at it.

Hmm! Zuri thought. That little faery might actually do the job for me!

But now that the hose wasn't swinging around as much (the Magician's hand had slowed down in response to the arrows), Zuri was finally able to finish climbing it, for she didn't want Hurley hanging onto it much longer. After a while she was holding not onto the hose, but onto the same chains that bound Hurley. Holding onto the chains with her feet and one hand (which she also transferred the arrow to), she drew out her athame, handing it to Hurley.

"You might need this," she said to him, lowering her voice. "Don't tell the Magician, but this can block Scathach's attacks."

Zuri had heard that magic wands, at least, lose their power when held by someone other than their owner. But was it the same way with all magically charged objects? Even if it was, at least Zuri wasn't giving it to a near stranger, like Maria or something. She trusted Hurley, and knew that because it was her choice to hand the athame to him (rather than it being taken by force), it would still work.

There was no time to worry about such things anyway. Zuri still had to reach the Magician's hand... Positioning herself on the place where Hurley's chains were all linked together (a place just above the back of his neck), she wobbled around from side to side a bit, then looked down. Never before had she quite imagined how tall the school was. Exaggerating her panic a bit, she glanced around and then screamed.

This was Scathach's cue. Still watching the Priestess she had kicked earlier and blocking the attacks of the other two, she dropped her shield momentarily when she heard the scream. Then she took of her hat and threw it at one of the fighting Priestesses, which covered its face and caught on its crown. The other one got covered by her cape, so that it looked much like a spiky, blood-covered ghost. Having bought herself a bit of time, she pointed both palms at the Magician's hand and sent a spiraling gale of wind infused with shadowy wisps right at it. Seeing the attack, the Magician as usual swung Hurley up to intercept the attack. Using the momentum of the swinging action, Zuri jumped up onto the Magician's hand, barely able to grab onto one of its thumb for support.

Fumbling around with her feet for a while, Zuri eventually found some arrows to hold onto with them for support. Bending over the space inbetween the Magician's thumb and index finger, holding onto the latter for more support, she held the arrow in her right hand, positioning herself in process. Of course, the Magician noticed this too, and resumed its attempts to shake her off again. Zuri's feet slid up the arrows, which bent forward and pulled annoyingly at the flesh they were embedded in. With only the feathery ends of the arrows for support now, and her whole body from the waist upwards hanging from the edge of the hand, she reached out with the arrow, but couldn't quite reach far enough to the spot she wanted to stick the arrow in. If only Scathach had given her her spear instead of this short little arrow... but that would have been easier to drop anyway, not to mention impossible to hold in her mouth.

Then one of Nyx's flying arrows shot the hand somewhere to Zuri's left--in response it twitched and brought its fingers together as if trying to pinch something. Meanwhile, the two arrows Zuri's feet were caught on snapped, and Zuri slid forward, hanging only onto the Magician's index finger at this point. Quickly shifting the arrow to her left hand and gripping the finger as tightly as she could with her now free arm, she pushed with her foot off the chain holding Hurley up, then plunged the arrow right into the same spot on the Magician's hand where Scathach had pinched her own hand earlier. It must have been a pressure point or something.

Unfortunately, this act caused Zuri to lose her balance completely. Soon she was falling right next to Hurley. As she passed Hurley she held her hand out, hoping that she could grab onto something--a chain, Hurley's hand, something...

 

[Manaphy Mare]

~*~Hurley O'Keefe~*~

Hurley cringed as he felt the arrows that had pierced his skin rub against his chains. He let out a yelp as the hand jerked and caused the chains to dig the arrows in deeper. He looked up to see what had caused the hand to jerk like that only to see Zuri falling. He ignored the pain and swung himself up towards Zuri who grabbed onto his ankles. He cringed as the chains that bound him began to dig into his wrists because of the extra weight. He hoped that someone would save them soon.

(( Hikaru Tsukino ))

Hikaru stumbled through another door. He looked like he was a little disheveled but other than than he didn't show many changes; save for a bracelet with a pair of charms that resembled teal, six-petaled flowers that now adorned his left wrist. He looked for the building that the others were on and sprinted for it. Within a few minutes he was back on the roof and ready to fight. Looking around he spotted the hoverbike and dashed towards it. He knew exactly what to do, he would cut the chain with his new weapon and catch Hurley as he fell with the bike. Hikaru searched the battlefield for the hand holding Hurley, when he saw it he thought, 'Ok, make that Hurley and Zuri.'

Waving his right hand over his bracelet he called out, "Tsubaki!" With that two of the petals on one of his charms detached and formed a two-winged pixie no taller than Nyx. He was dressed like a ninja, complete with face mask and scarf. Wasting no time Hikaru pointed towards the chains that connected Hurley, and by extension Zuri, to the Magician's hand and called out, "Koten Zashun, I reject!" with that the pixie raced for the chains while forming a barrier of energy that sliced through the chain's weakest link. Hikaru started the bike and followed close behind; using a piece of plywood as a ramp he launched the bike into the air and towards the two, now plummeting students. Fortunately he had timed the jump right and caught both of them with Hurley's still-chained arms falling around Hikaru's shoulders.

"My, Hurley-chan. I thought you weren't interested in me like that." Said Hikaru in a playful tone. Even from behind Zuri could see that Hurley's face was starting to match his hair until Hikaru turned around and gave his trademark "just kidding" wink. As he turned his attention forward he slid his arms through Hurley's still chained ones so that he would be holding onto his waist, as he did this he said, "Zuri-san, wrap your arms around Hurley's waist and hold on tight, the landing is going to be bumpy." He gestured towards a grassy patch with a book of some kind just laying there.