Aftermath of the Tremors

[3kul]

((I'm writing this up to explain a few changes that I'll be making to my characters. The reasons behind these changes are simply to suit my own personal preferences - for example, at the moment I feel that HollowEyes is a little too strong and Little Sister is a little too predictable, in HE's case it makes RPing with others a little less fun and in LS' case it makes RPing with others much more restrictive, both of which are things I hope to change (hopefully to make them better and not worse ).

For now it'll be written so as not to reveal too much of the outcome of the thread, other than the obvious (that the Dojo is not destroyed ), but I may change that later if I feel it necessary.

As with most of my stuff I'll be splitting it up for easier reading, given that my posting style tends to be a tad on the lengthy side. Please feel free to comment though, any input (provided that you explain why you feel that way) is welcome.))

EDIT: Just for kicks, I've decided to tack on a popularity contest to this as well. It's not really going to influence who I RP as and how often I do it, I'm just curious . The actual stories that belong here will be posted as they're completed.

[3kul]

The small white figure of Little Sister was hurled out of the unstable warp portal into a pile of snow, and before she could do anything about it the warp had collapsed inwards on itself. She felt like screaming and ripping something to shreds over what had just happened, but upon closer observation she found that there was nothing close by to take her anger out on.

~What the hell kind of place have I wound up in?~

She thought to herself - this place was totally devoid of anything, save for large amounts of snow, both in the air and on the ground. It was currently snowing heavily, to the point where she could barely see herself anymore, let alone whatever might have been a few feet in front of her. For all she knew she'd just entered an endless void of white.

~This place is mine. How did you get here?~

Little Sister stepped back a little, weaving herself some weapons to deal with whoever had just addressed her. ~Through a warp portal, what's it to you?~ She switched to her glowing Red Eye, hoping to see who it was that was addressing her. But again all she saw was nothing, there was quite definately nobody here.

~What is a 'warp portal'?~

Little Sister punched the snow beneath her, seriously pissed that she was stuck here talking to the invisible idiot. ~It's a pain in the ass, that's what it is! Who the hell are you?~

~Me? I am Nothing.~

~That doesn't make any sense, moron!~ Little Sister shouted back, wishing that she could strangle this person to shut them up.

~You are an interesting person. Your heart is interesting. What are you?~

Though his previous statements had seemed odd, this question didn't annoy Little Sister as much as they had - if there was one thing that she enjoyed talking about it was her own obvious superiority to everyone else. ~I'm a Parasitian, the greatest species in all of the multiverse.~

~Are all Parasitians like you?~

Little Sister wasn't sure what the voice was getting at here, the question had a bitter-sweet nature to it. ~No, I wouldn't say that.~

~Oh, that's a shame.~

This caught Little Sister off-guard - in her entire life, not one single person that she'd ever met had even come close to suggesting that they enjoyed her company. Maybe talking with this person wouldn't be so bad, if they liked to hear about how great she was. ~Isn't it just?~ She thought, grinning to herself. ~So where are you and why can't I see you?~

~... You should come to my temple. It's easy to understand these things if you are there.~

Temple? This person was rather strange, Little Sister wondered if they were some kind of religious zealot or something. In any case, being in any kind of building would be better than being out here in the middle of nowhere. ~How do I get there exactly?~

~I'll show you.~

The snow suddenly stopped moving in mid-air, sitting perfectly in place as if somebody or something was holding them there, and it suddenly began to part. The snow on the ground began to move aside as well, forming a smooth path for her to walk along. Little Sister was somewhat stunned, this kind of power was not the kind of thing that everyone exhibitted. ~Just what are you exactly?~

~I am a God.~

To Be Continued...

((Slightly different writing style, more broken up to hopefully make it easier to read and emphasize on the voice's words. Feel free to comment if you like, I'll be posting the next part whenever I get it done.))

[3kul]

Little Sister walked along the path that had been made for her, now that the God that she'd been talking to had decided to stop talking back. She found herself irritated with the knowledge that she was doing what somebody else wanted, as since she'd left her cage* she'd become more and more fiercely independant, and had gotten used to doing things her way.

Looking up as she became increasingly irritated with the God's silence, she noticed that her path was descending - the snow now piled up around her, and though the end was in sight it appeared that this path had ultimately led her nowhere. ~I'm not the type to be kept waiting, 'God', where's your temple?~

~Don't move.~

~Keh, it's not like I have any reason-~ Little Sister's thoughts were cut off as she looked down - somewhere along this path the ground had changed from snow to ice, and below the ice was a vast amount of water. This wasn't what had made her stop though, what had made her stop talking to the God was the massive shadow rising up from the murky depths. This wasn't a God, this was some kind of gigantic monstrosity. ~You tricked me! Like hell I'm staying here and letting you eat me, *happy spices*!~

She tried to climb up the walls of snow that now surrounded her, but they simply collapsed every time she tried to get a grip. She took a few seconds to check on the beast swimming beneath her, it's enormous maw was now gaping wide as it prepared to burst through the ice, before she scrambled back up the path that she'd followed to get here.

With a terrific crash the monster's horn shattered the ice behind and around her, it's mouth following closely behind as it totally surrounded her. She now realized how hopeless her efforts to run had been, as the creature's bottom jaw was a long way from where she was, and the top jaw now towered above her. As she watched the jaws continue to extend above her, to the point that they ceased to be even visible in the icy wind, she tried desperately to think of something, anything, that could save her from being eaten alive.

But she couldn't think of anything. This kind of enemy defied everything that she'd ever known, it was too stupidly big for her to even comprehend being able to get away from. She closed her eyes in a pitiful attempt for her to escape the inevitable, for compared to this gargantuan she felt like... nothing.

*Some people may not know this, but Little Sister used to spend most of her time in a small cage. Parasitians are very social creatures by nature, and prolonged time spent away from one's clan can prove to be very damaging. She was pretty much withdrawn from the world around her, however after a while she began to get used to things around her, at least up to the point that she understands herself to be better than them .

[3kul]

~Welcome.~

Little Sister opened her eyes and found that she was no longer out in the snow, nor was she about to be eaten by a giant monster - instead, she was inside a very empty looking room. The room was very plain, the only thing in it was a small pedestal with a torch, which burnt brightly with a white flame. It actually felt like it was the light from this flame that made the room seem empty, as she herself blended in quite well here. ~... Alright, what the hell just happened. Where is the monster?~

~Monster? This is my temple.~

Temple? So the monster had been some kind of test? ~I don't know what you're playing at, but-~

~No, it wasn't a test. This is, and always has been, my temple. There is only one way to enter it, which you yourself have just now passed through.~

Little Sister was a little shocked by the fact that the God could read her thoughts so casually, but pretty much everything that had happened to her since she'd gotten here defied most of what she'd known and understood of the world, so she tried not to let it get to her too badly. ~Alright, so we're here in your temple, which, from the outside, looks like a freakin' gigantic monster - you might want to warn people about that next time by the way, idiot - now, what is it exactly that you wanted to tell me?~

~I wanted to meet you.~

As if the past few minutes hadn't already been weird enough, Little Sister watched on as the fire melted off of the pedestal it had been burning atop. It bounced as it hit the ground, but part of it seemed to stick to the floor, so it stretched upwards. This kind of thing was probably best described as a ghost, though it had no face or any other distinguishing features. ~Could you look any stupider?~ Was all that the Parasitian could think of saying.

~Am I supposed to look differently?~

Little Sister smirked, wondering what kind of God could possibly be so ignorant. ~Whatever, I don't really care. Is there any more point in me being here? Other than meeting you face to total lack of face?~

~Yes. We're very similar, you and I.~

The moment the ghostly figure said that, Little Sister could've sworn that she'd felt the air around them change. She could tell that the God was being serious with this, and wanted to talk about something. She wasn't here on a mere whim, she was here for a specific reason. ~Fine, I'll bite. What is it that makes me similar to you?~

~Think of what you want.~

What she wanted? Little Sister wasn't sure what the God was getting at here, but she decided that she'd best continue to play along. ~I want to become stronger, as a Parasitian I become stronger by eating others. Which of those do you want, to be strong or to eat others?~ She kind of hoped that it was the first of those two, because if it was the second then she probably wasn't going to ever be getting out of here.

~No, your hunger is more than that.~

~What do you mean?~ This was just getting more and more confusing, Little Sister was now mentally kicking herself for ever listening to this voice in the first place.

~You hunger to kill, to destroy. It is more than normal Parasitians, is it not?~

Little Sister felt awkward with this question, as it went against her nature to admit that she was anything less than perfect when it came to her Parasitian self. ~Keh, so what? What's that got to do with you?~

~It's a bit different, but also similar. I desire nothing.~

~That's nothing like what I want!~

~No, I desire the state of nothing. The absense of something.~

Little Sister raised an eyebrow at this, as she'd never ever met anybody who wanted nothing instead of something. ~So that's why we're similar? Because I enjoy killing things and you enjoy things ceasing to exist?~

~Yes and no. It's hard to explain, but that's mostly it.~

~I see...~ This God was very confusing to the Parasitian, nothing like the Gods that she'd ever met or heard of before. Gods like DP tended to prefer to create things to get praise and worship from mortals, not destroy them to get nothing. But going by that line of thinking, maybe Gods liked to create things, places and people that would be under the control of their powers. But if that was true, then that would mean... ~You're the God of Nothing, right?~

~That is correct.~ The figure made a nodding motion, then shrank back down again. ~I haven't always been like this though. Not long ago I was very weak.~

More confusing talk, but Little Sister thought that she knew the answer to this riddle. ~Well, Gods are supposed to be ascended spirits or something, but they're supposed to be stupidly strong before they can become a God... Maybe it's just you thinking of your past self in comparison to your present self?~

~Maybe, but I don't really understand it all. I am not surprised that you understand though. Perhaps you know where to go?~

~Where to go? For what?~

~You and I are similar. In accomplishing some of your goals I shall accomplish my own.~

A wide grin spread itself across Little Sister's face. Was she hearing this voice correctly? Was a God, a being with limitless power, offering her it's assistance? She suddenly felt a lot better about her current predicament, and began to ponder over the things that she could do with this being's power.

It didn't take long for her to make a decision.

~We're going to visit Byule.~

[Chronos]

Extremely good story, 3kul. Excellent way to start a plot. Oh, and by the way, I voted for Little sister.

[3kul]

((Looks like you're the only one so far Chronos Thanks again for the compliments, it's cool to know that people are reading this

Switching across to HollowEyes now, who's wound up in a totally different location. Hard to end this one on a note that doesn't make it sound like some lame TV soap, but I can stand to read it the way it is now so I'm not changing it .

I suppose that it seems kind of stupid that I like to end pretty much every part of this story on some kind of dramatic twist or revelation, but for the few people that do read this, I like to keep them guessing .))

HollowEyes felt a chill go down his spine at that moment, though he didn't really know why. There were plenty of reasons that he could choose from though - the fact that he'd wound up here, of all places, would probably be the main one. This was a realm that he'd visited once as a child, and one that he'd run away from as a child. The warp works in mysterious ways, for he truly had never intended to return here, and yet now he'd be lucky if he could ever find a way to leave.

A cold breeze blew past him, and he looked up at the sky. The swirling blue murkiness was quite calming, and the tree that he was sitting against contrasted it nicely with pink blossoms that seemed to glow in the moonlight. It was always night time here, he'd never known it to be otherwise himself. Comforting yet eerily unpleasant, those two sensations summed up his feelings for this place.

"Fancy meeting you here."

He looked back up into the tree to see a familiar figure. "Ah, I wasn't expecting to see you here." He felt somewhat awkward, HollowEyes hadn't really want to bump into this person just yet. "Well I do live here." Damn, thought HollowEyes, he should've remembered at least that if he'd hoped to avoid her. She hopped down from the tree, almost floating before landing gracefully next to him.

She was a little bit shorter than him, her head only reaching his armblades, and her long hair covered her eyes. Thinking back, he didn't recall having ever seen her eyes actually, which now struck him as kind of weird, but really hadn't bothered him back then. Her skin was dark like the night sky here, with the occassional blood red streak running through it - HollowEyes had been quite jealous of her for that when he was younger, since he was mostly a dull greyish colour.

"So... It's been a while." He said, awkwardly sitting down. "It must have been if you've forgotten that we don't keep time here." She replied, smiling slightly. Damn, something else he could've avoided. "Ahah, well, I... It's just strange, being back here." She frowned a little, and he could tell that he'd just said the wrong sort of thing. "Did you not intend to come back?" Yet another blunder, thought HollowEyes, detecting the obvious tones of hurt in her voice - this could fast go from bad to worse if he didn't change the topic fast.

"No, it's nothing like that. It's just that I've been to a lot of different places, with so many different things, none of them are anything like here." Good recovery, she was now smiling again. "Really? That's amazing - I'm not sure if I'll understand it all but please tell me about it some time." 'Some time'?... HollowEyes wasn't quite sure that he liked where this line of conversation was going either. "Oh, it's no trouble, I could tell you all about it right now if you'd like." "It's ok, there's no rush," She replied, still smiling. "After all, you've come back to stay this time, right?"

Damn it, she had him pinned with this question. Somehow she'd always been able to hone in on exactly what he'd hoped to avoid in a conversation, and it seemed that this part of her hadn't changed a bit. He knew that he could no longer avoid it, so he gave in and decided to come clean with her. "I didn't come here intentionally, Ayame." Was how he started, but the moment the words had left his lips he realized his incredibly stupid mistake - the coldest, most distant way you can speak to anyone here is by using their real name. He flinched and closed his eyes, as if he expected her to explode at him, but when he opened his eyes moments later, she was gone.

"Wow, that was very cruel of you, Hollow Eyes." Another familiar figure had decided to appear, now that she had left. "Shut up Nyx, I'm not in the mood to talk to you." The creature grinned at him, showing large white fangs. "Oho, your soul must be feeling icy tonight, I didn't even think that you knew my real name." He sat down next to HollowEyes, though to compensate for their difference in height, Nix floated in a sitting position. "But really Hollow Eyes, you have to treat her a little better than that." His smile now disappeared, because whilst it was good to see HollowEyes again, he felt bad for Ayame - the poor girl was undoubtedly expecting a much warmer meeting with him.

"After all, she is your wife."

[Panther385]

((DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN. ))

[3kul]

"It's not a black and white situation Ny, don't go acting like it is." HollowEyes stood up and began walking back to the tree. "Pah, you won't go winning my favour just by switching back to my old nickname, Hollow Eyes." Nyx spun around, but remained seated in mid-air. "Only reason it's not black and white is because you act like it isn't. To us it's pretty clear." He was smiling in his usual smug way, Nyx had a rather nasty habit of thinking that he was always right (which was encouraged by the fact that he almost always was).

"Come on Ny, how is it my fault?" HollowEyes couldn't help but sound tired whilst he said this, for he already knew that he'd never convince these people otherwise. "Look, she taught me how to use charms, and in exchange, I gave her exactly what she asked for-" "Even though you have no idea what it means?" Nyx interrupted, quickly seeing through HollowEyes shallow attempt at playing the victim. "How are you able to give someone something that you yourself can't even see Hollow Eyes?"

Nyx floated across to HollowEyes, preventing him from walking away - he wanted to make sure that the Parasitian got this message loud and clear. "Listen Hollow Eyes, I can't try to guess what's going on inside your head, and neither can Aya, you have to understand that. As far as we know, you were here, then you left for a while, and now you're back. It's just weird to see you change like this, you know?" Nyx floated back to his previous position, feeling a little better having gotten that off of his chest. "So, what do you think you should do?"

HollowEyes sighed, knowing full well that he was wrong. "I guess I'd better go apologize and sort things out..." He wandered over to the bottom of the tree and leaned against it. "It's been a while since I've done this though Ny, I'm probably really bad at it now." He said, laughing somewhat nervously. Nyx frowned, only just now remembering how HollowEyes and Ayame said sorry to each other. It was the kind of thing that he preferred to avoid, he couldn't stand the racket that they made. "If you ask me you were always bad at it..." "Heh, just as well it's not for you then."

HollowEyes closed his eyes, leaned back and took a deep breath. Opening his mouth, he let loose a deep wailing sound. The sound was the kind that echoed throughout one's body, such that even though nobody here could understand the words that went with it all, they could understand exactly what the person was feeling. There were words that accompanied the cry, words that expressed the deepest sorrows and regrets, but they intermingled with the sound in such a way that they became a part of it, and the words were lost the moment you heard them.

And then, the noise suddenly quietened down - a lone string was plucked, and the solo became a duet. The strings plucked one at a time, and between each string this sound echoed, piercing through HollowEyes' song but at the same time becoming intermingled with it. Ayame too was deeply saddened by HollowEyes' actions, though her song also reflected her own feelings of lonliness from being without him.

Eventually, they both finished - Ayame's song sped up towards the end, as her mood was now changing for the better, whilst HollowEyes' song slowed right down before he simply faded it out, as there was no need to finish it. They now both understood each other's feelings perfectly, something that amazed Nyx as much as it annoyed him - he'd tried it at least once himself with each one of his various girlfriends, though their responses were not so encouraging.

Ayame came out from the branches above HollowEyes, though neither of them were quite sure of how to follow up now. "It's great to see you again, Aoiame." HollowEyes said, deciding to try breaking the silence by saying what he should have said the first time he saw her here. Ayame's face brightened at his use of the pet name that he'd given her, and she floated down next to him. "I'm really glad that you've decided to come back to me, Hollao." She leaned against him as she said this, tears had begun to flow down her face. "I know I said that I didn't mean to come back here," he replied, looking down at her with a slight smile on his face, "but I didn't mean to leave here either."

"Oho, my sincerest apologies for breaking up this touching reunion, but we've got a little unfinished business to deal with here!"

A shrill voice cried out, heavily laced with a disturbing mixture of venom and glee. This was a voice that had been silent for 20 years, a voice that HollowEyes had never expected to hear out in the open. He quickly leapt up, placing himself in front of Ayame and drawing out several charms. This was the one person that he now hated more than anything else, he'd been determined to cut all ties with her, and yet it seemed that she wanted to do otherwise.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME NOW, LIYAO?"

((Oh em gee, another attempted cliffhanger ending! I think I'm addicted to them, I can't stop putting them into every single part of this story .

This part was actually really hard to write though, because I had to write about sounds and songs and stuff. I probably failed, because unlike familiar sights and smells and things like that, it's kind of hard to convey exactly how something sounds if it's unfamiliar. I guess for HollowEyes' song, if you could imagine a whale's crying sound, and for Ayame's strings, if you could imagine... I don't know, I guess a biwa (Japanese guitar instrument thing) might be kinda close.

Oh, and to those of you who think that I just had Little Sister appear out of nowhere to break up whatever was about to happen between Ayame and HollowEyes, congratulations, you were right . As for HollowEyes and Little Sister's 'current' relationship, he's obviously found out about how she worked with the Jaws of Despair Parasitians to take down the entire Dojo (even if those weren't exactly her intentions), and has finally gotten sick of putting up with her.))

[3kul]

"Nothing that doesn't belong to me, brother Byule!"

The ground began to collapse in front of HollowEyes, making a perfectly circular hole. "Hollow Eyes, what's going on?!" Nyx called out from across the cavernous opening. "Get away from here Ny! Tell everyone to get as far away from here as they-"

HollowEyes was cut off as an enourmous beast burst out of the hole. It's entire body was glowing a brilliant white, instantly lighting the place up like it was the brightest part of the day. "I can't see, it's too bright..." Ayame said, clutching fearfully to HollowEyes' waist. "What's going on, Hollao?" "Please Aoiame, you need to run away too." She didn't reply, but she didn't let go of him either. HollowEyes didn't understand why, but there currently wasn't much that he did so he tried not to let it get to him.

A not-too-distant thud let him know that something had leapt off of it. "Well, well, well, isn't this all just too easy? Me, with the powers of a God, and you, cringing in fear like the pitiful whelp that you are." The cockiness of Little Sister's voice sickened him, but seemed to immensly entertain herself. "Nice place you've wound up on here though Byule. It's the homeworld of the Baba Gungas, if I'm not mistaken? Perhaps one of the only planets better hidden than the Parasitian homeworld in the multiverse?"

"How? How did you find me here?" HollowEyes said, closing his eyes as he finally managed to speak. "Oh, it wasn't too hard brother, all I had to do was look." She was practically oozing with arrogance, moreso than usual. "It's a little bright here though, don't you think?" As if she'd commanded it to, it suddenly stopped emitting light, and the eternal night returned, and with it, HollowEyes felt his own confidence return to himself a little, and he was able to move again. "You're the same as always Liyao, letting yourself get drunk on power. That thing behind you isn't a God, it's not even alive."

"But I am."

HollowEyes' eyes widened as the being manifested itself in front of him, it's pure white body emitting the same kind of light that the beast above them had. There was no denying the truth of it's words, it's mere presense appeared to be burning away at the atmosphere around it. "Do not concern yourself with me. I am only here because the divine one wanted to be." "The divine one?" HollowEyes turned angrily towards Little Sister. "You've got to be kidding me."

Little Sister smirked at HollowEyes' impudence, holding up a woven hand to stop her God from doing anything (not that it would have ever done anything, she just felt like showing off once again). "No brother, in this kind of situation you'd best believe what you're seeing. Noten here is the God of Nothing, and I am the mortal embodiment of his will... Or something like that, I don't really get it myself." She now grinned widely, having been ready for this moment since she'd announced her intentions to the God.

"Long story short, I've come to devour you Byule, and there is absolutely no way that I can possibly lose."

[3kul]

HollowEyes suddenly felt Ayame's arms fade away from around his waist, and she appeared next to his face as she turned to face him. "I don't quite understand what's going on Hollao, but please let me-"

"NO." HollowEyes cut her off quickly and turned away, hoping to get rid of such a ridiculous idea as quickly as possible. "I'll say it again Aoiame, please run away from here! This is the kind of problem I need to sort out by myself..." "You're always like that!" Ayame yelled, bringing her face as close to HollowEyes' as she could so that he could see the tears streaming down her face. "I'm helping you Hollao, whether you like it or not."

Before he could stop her, she shoved her arms into his face. They went right through though, in a manner that greatly creeped HollowEyes out, and were shortly followed by the rest of her body. It was really weird, but HollowEyes could... feel her moving around through his skull. He wanted to ask her what she was doing, but he didn't know how to - all he could do was wait and see what she had planned.

Little Sister was not so pleased by this however - originally she had intended to snort at the sappy sentimental dialogue that was going on between the two and laugh at their weakness, but now she had no idea as to what they were doing. "What the hell are you doing to my body, Gungas *JUMPING PEPPERS!*!" She screamed at Ayame, not really considering the fact that she might not be able to hear her. She looked at Noten, hoping for some kind of explaination, but the white figure leaned to one side, as if it too had no idea.

~Please don't worry Hollao, it might seem strange but I am helping you like this.~

HollowEyes suddenly felt the back of his head extend, as if he was growing a second horn. This wasn't like his usual way of growing though, it was really odd, like his head was made of something soft, and somebody was just stretching and remoulding it. He couldn't actually feel what was happening back there, so he had no idea what she was doing.

~Alright, I'll accept your help Aoiame.~ Though HollowEyes couldn't see it, Ayame was now smiling. ~Okay, just let me get ready first. Who were your favourites again?~ He cringed a little as she dipped her hands into his memories, it was actually quite painful. HollowEyes had no doubt that she remembered the spirits that he had contracts with, she most likely just wanted to know what he'd been up to since he last saw her. ~... Ah, that's right, the fox, the squid and the beetle.~ She smiled as she explored these memories, as it was with the help of these three spirits that she taught HollowEyes about magic. As she continued to delve into his memories though, she began to frown a little. ~You've got some new ones too, the cicada, the jellyfish, the vine...~ The more she looked, the less she liked what she was seeing. ~...The locust... Hollao, how could you side with some of these? They're terrible spirits!~

HollowEyes rolled his eyes, Ayame had always been very involved when it came to spirits, whilst he had always tried to keep the spirit-medium relationship as an impersonal one. ~We don't have to use the locust's help if you don't want to Aoiame, but we do need to focus on the problem at hand.~ Ayame felt like pouting from her position inside of his head. ~Fine, but don't think I'll let you keep dealing with such dangerous spirits.~ HollowEyes felt something drape down the back of his neck as she said this. ~What's that?~ ~They're leaves.~ She blushed a little as she continued explaining. ~This is our tree.~ HollowEyes knew that this was probably meant to be something significant, but he couldn't quite think of what it was. ~Alright, how does it help us?~

Little Sister's eyes widened as the extra horn that had sprouted out of the back of HollowEyes' head now grew leaves. "What the hell!?! Why is there a tree there?!" Receiving another apparent shrug from Noten, she turned back to HollowEyes. "If you think I'm going to just sit here and watch you screw up that body then YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!!"

Noten suddenly straightened up as Little Sister hurtled herself towards HollowEyes. The God didn't know why, but she'd changed her style with this opponent - it was as if her weapons couldn't move fast enough for her.

[3kul]

HollowEyes reached for his charms, only to realize that he had none - whatever he'd had left on Blackstar must have blown away in the warp tunnel that he'd travelled through to get here.

~Here, squid.~

One of the leaves to his left shivered slightly as it grew outwards into a square shape, after which a dark ink began to flow through the leaf's veins, filling out the correct markings. The leaf then extended to the ground, the demonic squid charm attaching itself as it touched the surface. HollowEyes was amazed at the speed of Ayame's work - even with this strange new form she was as skilled as ever.

A thick smog billowed out of the demon squid leaf charm, totally enveloping the combatants. Little Sister wouldn't be deterred by this however, quickly switching to her glowing Red Eye and moving in closer to Holloweyes. ~Another squid please Aoiame.~ ~Sure.~ A second demonic squid charm grew from one of the leaves, though this one then stuck itself onto HollowEyes' neck. His mouth was soon swelling with ink, and he spat one glob after another at Little Sister, knowing that she wouldn't be able to see non-living matter like this coming.

Little Sister screamed with rage as she suddenly found herself blinded by the sticky black mess. HollowEyes smirked a little at the sound of her frustration - now she wouldn't be able to tell where anything was in these kind of conditions.

"Noten! Get rid of this smog!"

HollowEyes quickly skirted away from where he last remembered the God to have been standing, having almost forgotten that it was still there. Several white circles appeared around the fog as Noten stared onwards, and in the blink of an eye the smokescreen was gone. Little Sister was still charging at him, and HollowEyes ducked as a large woven harpoon soared over his head. Quickly spinning his woven arms, he sliced through the tendril that connected it to Little Sister.

~Aoiame, beetle, then four foxes.~ ~Ok.~ A beetle leaf charm shot out in front of him, whilst a fox leaf charm waited behind him - HollowEyes hadn't realized it before, but it seemed as though Ayame could read his thoughts too. Leaping above the woven spikes that now burst out of the ground below him, HollowEyes flipped over, bringing his leg down first on the beetle charm and then onto Little Sister's head.

Little Sister hit the ground as the solid rock pylon that was now HollowEyes' leg connected with her skull, it felt like that kick had split her head in two. She shook herself off as she got back up again, blood streaming from her forehead as her Parasitian cells worked frantically to repair the terrific amount of damage. HollowEyes noticed this, wondering how her body was able to work so fast - he'd expected that kick to knock her out cold, yet she was now up and ready to fight again. He leapt back whilst spinning his armblades around, each arm connecting with a fox charm, which drastically extending and sharpening his claws.

"Keh, don't think that such a light kick is going to phase me..."

Little Sister looked across to Noten, who nodded and faded into the ground. HollowEyes raised his other leg so that he was balanced on his petrified leg, continuing to spin his arms but cautiously watching - he didn't like the idea of letting the God help her, but he definately didn't want to get caught out with some kind of Godly attack heading his way. The glowing silhouette of Noten shot along the ground towards Little Sister, leaving a short trail of glowing white behind it.

~Hollao, look! The grass...~

HollowEyes looked, and found himself growing even more fearful of this God. Everything that it touched was simply... dissolving into nothing. Without a doubt, this kind being could destroy this entire world, and yet it hung on every word that came out of Little Sister's mouth. HollowEyes had no idea why, but he was sure to keep his distance.

"Relax Byule, he's not going to touch you because you're currently borrowing my body."

The silhouette began to circle around Little Sister as she looked up grinning, a glowing white limb extended from the silhouette and made the ink covering her glowing red eye vanish. Looking carefully at her, HollowEyes noticed that all of her eyes were now active.

"But once you're out, who's to say what's going to happen to what's left of you?"

~Aoiame, this is going to be very difficult, and I'll be asking a lot of you to keep up with her.~ ~Please don't worry about me, Hollao. I can do it.~ ~Alright...~ HollowEyes took a deep breath - his brain was working overtime to come up with a strategy for this. "As long as you're playing with your eyes Liyao, I may as well play with mine." HollowEyes emitted a pulse of energy from himself as he opened his third eye, focusing it on Little Sister.

~Aoiame, reflecting waters.~

[3kul]

HollowEyes and twenty clones suddenly leapt towards Little Sister, armblades whirring furiously as they exploded around her - HollowEyes quickly noted that Noten was working with her now, for whenver it struck a clone the water disappeared completely.

"Hahaha! This kind of strategy is pointless Byule, I can already see which one is the real you!"

~Aoiame, three ensnaring vines.~

Three vines burst out of the ground as the leaf charms hit, their growth accellerated with the help of the water left from the HollowEyes clones, which acted as an appropriate sacrifice to secure the power boost. Each vine whipped towards Little Sister, grabbing her and hurling her upwards. Oddly enough, Noten left the vines alone, continuing to circle around where Little Sister would be if she were still on the ground.

~Leave them Noten, I can handle this myself.~

Little Sister spun about in mid-air, slashing the vines to shreds with finely woven tendrils. She noticed that HollowEyes was using this opportunity to attack her, and quickly moved about to counter. His armblades easily slashed through her hastily woven defenses, and his kick struck her like a shotgun, sending her flying backwards. The sheer force behind it caused a couple of her internal organs a great deal of pain, but she grinned and bore it. Landing roughly, she pulled hard on the rock solid leg that she'd wrapped her tendrils around, bringing HollowEyes hurtling to the ground. As he flew past her, several thin tendrils skewered into his unpetrified leg, piercing the bone quickly and then pulling themselves out just as quickly.

"Don't go putting too much pressure on that leg, Byule."

HollowEyes could tell what she'd done, and dragged himself upright by placing all of his weight on his petrified leg. ~Hollao, what's wrong?~ ~The Minuteman's eye... I should've been more careful...~ ~What is it?~ HollowEyes carefully raised his other leg off of the ground, keeping his eyes fixed on Little Sister. ~It's an eye that processes visual information much faster than any regular eye. When you add that in with her other eyes, it makes it a very useful ability for her.~ ~I'm not sure I understand.~

~Basically it means that to someone as great as me, that *happy spices*'s moving in slow motion.~ Little Sister usually found Noten's constant questioning to be really irritating, but in a fight like this she didn't care - if appeasing him with a few short explainations was all power like his cost her, she didn't mind. ~I see.~ The God replied. ~Very useful.~ Little Sister grinned as she turned back to HollowEyes.

"And just think, I've got another four eyes left after that one! I hardly even need Noten's help for this fight."

~Four eyes?~ ~Yeah, she's got seven in total, but only six have special abilities like that. The one that glows red sees through organic matter, the one that flickers copies physical motion that she sees, the one that we just saw closes for a few minutes after intense focusing like that, so we don't have to worry about it for a little while...~ HollowEyes wobbled to one side as Little Sister launched another assault at him - her woven harpoons were harder to dodge and cut through when he was standing like this, and he felt a few slice past his body.

Little Sister knew an opportunity when she saw one, and the way HollowEyes was now he couldn't move from that spot. ~Now?~ ~Not yet Noten, I've got a good eye for this sort of thing.~ The Parasitian female lunged forward, two massive woven claws grabbing HollowEyes' arms. "No escaping this one Byule." She sneered, leaning forward to focus on him with a different eye.

~Aoiame, jellyfish.~

HollowEyes knew how important it was to avoid this eye and was willing to sacrifice his leg for it. Spinning as he swung his leg outwards, the limb connected with the jellyfish leaf charm before smacking Little Sister in the face. The limb was now boneless, and even weaker than before, but he'd broken the eye contact between them, and clumsily leapt back a little as he shredded the woven claws that were holding him.

"The Memory Eye. Nice try Liyao, but I'm not about to succomb to that one."

[Chronos]

Excellent fight, 3kul! The ability blending is seamless

[Embri]

I object to that poll! What am I supposed to vote if I like Holloweyes and LS equally?

On a less whiny note, amazing story writing, as always 3kul~!

[3kul]

((Hahaha, that's my bad Embri, I honestly didn't think that anybody could like them both .

As for the ability blending Chronos, I'm really pleased that you find it to be seamless - half of them are abilities that I've never even had my characters use before .

Thanks very much for the kind words to the both of you, it's great to know that there are people who enjoy reading this stuff ))

"Keh, we'll just see about that."

That kick had barely fazed Little Sister, but it had been enough to break the visual contact that she'd had with HollowEyes, and break the spell of the Memory Eye. Not that it mattered, she still had plenty of other tricks up her sleeve. Holloweyes as he was now only had a very limited choice of moves, and this was something that she could effortlessly exploit. But it was time for a deadlier choice of weapon.

Her tongue snaked it's way out of her mouth, splitting open four ways as she grinned. "I think it's about time I finished things up here, don't you Byule?" She'd been waiting for this moment for 20 years and it showed - Little Sister's secondary jaw was drooling all over the place.

HollowEyes' eyes widened, as he knew exactly what Little Sister now intended to do. The way she was standing, the position of her tongue, the fact that she activated all of her eyes, the current organization of her emotions... Little Sister had been practising this specific technique for most of her life, and though she thought she'd managed to do so in secret, there had been various instances that HollowEyes had been warned about it, by both his spirits and allies alike. He didn't know everything about what she intended to do, but he knew enough to stop it.

At least, he hoped that he did.

~Aoiame, cicada!~ ~Alright.~ The leaf charm quickly whipped outwards, striking HollowEyes on the throat. The Parasitian male attempted to bring himself as low down to the ground as he could before giving Ayame the next command. ~Get a liquid flames charm ready, but don't use it just yet.~ He slipped his own tongue out of his mouth, revealing the Ruby Dagger still skewered through it.

"Heh, that useless toy isn't going to help you get away from this one!"

Little Sister's hair suddenly burst outwards, hundreds upon thousands of tendrils weaving themselves at an incredible rate. This was something that HollowEyes had never achieved as a Parasitian, and it was incredibly satisfying to Little Sister to know that she'd reached it with such a weak body. Burst-shifting was usually an incredibly difficult process for Parasitians that caused them immense pain and terrible instability in their forms, but for Little Sister's specialty of hair form-shifting, it was a perfect technique.

The tendrils had woven themselves into an almost infinite amount of snakes, and they suddenly shot out around the two of them, totally surrounding both HollowEyes and Little Sister. For the first time since HollowEyes remembered, Little Sister was now back down to two eyes, meaning that the other five were now somewhere else... Now he had no way of knowing how or when to avoid her optical abilities, and to make matters worse, her tongue had also extended into the mess - it would be impossible for him to know where she planned to strike from.

"Welcome to the Medusa's Hell, Byule."