Sly's Lost Leg
So it began with a She-wolf dressed in scanty white clothing wandering about the countryside, looking for potential victims. She had a plan, that she did. She would gather hostages to ransom for Sly's deck. She would grab two people Sly was friendly with and two that were merely schmucks to increase the threat value.
She also knew that one of the pathetic woodland creatures around her was Proteus Fox, Sly's shape shifting buddy. She knew that the moment that she made her move on two of Sly's friends he'd run tell Sly her demands. Then she'd have that deck of Sly's in the palm of her hand! She was Luna, controller of the white deck of Knights and loyal minion of the Card Master, Argos.
So it was that she found her schmucks and began to track a pair of Sly's friends. Going by the names of Resa Masary and Siegfried Trouble, Luna found them drinking in a tavern. Well at least the lady, Resa, was drinking. Sieg being intangible couldn't consume or even so much as touch anything.
"How like friends of Sly to spend their nights drinking." Luna thought to herself as she approached them.
The spies hidden throughout Furcadia had told her much about these two. Resa was an escaped slave, who, using the powers contained within Sieg, had literally collapsed the entire underground slave market in a well-known city. The casualties in that incident where numerous, numbering in the thousands! Sieg was a Geist, a spirit of a infant who died the night it was born, had the ability to tap into an almost limitless void of power within the spirit world. Geists apparently can only possess physical powers if they are in contact with their "Advocate".
"If only I didn't already possess powers like that I might be impressed," Luna thought as she sat down and ordered a fine vodka, "But being that he needs the girl to use his powers, Sieg shouldn't be a problem."
Luna finished her wine and reached for her deck. The two where arguing over some trivial matter.
"Good..." Luna almost giggled at how well the plan was going. "They won't even see me cast this!"
A warmth spread over Luna as he focused her mind on drawing white mana out of the rural fields surrounding the tavern. The warmth felt like the afternoon sun on her skin as her sigils began to glow as she gathered the mana within them, storing it until it was enough.Then, feeling the mana build to required amount, she released it from her arm and mentally forced it into the card.
As the card began to glow, she tossed it into the air. As Luna ran towards Sieg and Resa, the world looked to have been put into slow motion. The tavern patrons all looked up to stare at her card as it traveled through the air. Resa was staring directly at Luna in shock. Sieg was moving to intercept Luna. Then the card activated and the entire room was engulfed in prismatic explosion of colors. The effects were instant to all but Luna who was facing away from the card, as people started writhing on the ground, clutching their faces as their eyes involuntarily leaked tears. Resa was attempting to wipe away her own tears so she could she, and thereby making a terrible mistake, Resa couldn't touch Sieg while her hands were busy rubbing her eyes!
Luna ran directly through Sieg and grabbed Resa. She held the Lapine by both wrists and twisted them behind her back with one hand, making her crane her spine sideward. With the other hand she pulled out a card and began to channel mana. The ghostly form of Sieg stood before them knowing that if he attempted anything the Card Mage would kill Resa, so all he could do was bat his squirrel tail about and glare at Luna.
"Good little ghost...Now...Move over there away from the bar." Luna gestured with the card.
"What in Lord's name is happening, Sieg?" As usual Resa was clueless, not that you can fault her for that considering the situation.
"What do you think, you silly girl!" Growled Sieg as he moved to the spot Luna indicated, "You've been taken hostage and now we're boned!"
"Nice way to put it, Ghost." Luna laughter a vicious little chuckle, "Boned...I rather like it. Now turn you back to me."
"Don't call me "Ghost" I've go..." Said Sieg as he turned his back to her. But he never got to finish his sentence before Luna tossed her card into his back.
Barbed chains of blackened steel pierced though Sieg spiritual form and bound themselves around him.
"They're called "Spirit Shackles"...I was saving them for Sly's kami monsters but I think this purpose serves them far better."
Then Luna glanced about looking for a flash of orange. She spotted it in the exact center on the far wall.
"I can see you Proteus! Come out, I got a message for your boss!"
Proteus leaped from his vertical position on the wall where he had been watching the scene as a gecko. Proteus concentrated on his original form and felt his bones liquefy and expand as his skin rippled and stretched. His clothing was shredded and reconfigured into his favorite outfit. The process took only moment and then Proteus stood before Luna, a grey tiger furre in orange trench coat and jeans.
"Run to your friend Sly and tell him that Luna has 4 hostages. If he wants them back he'll have hand over his deck! If he doesn't...well..." Luna twisted Resa's wrist until she groaned from the pain "He should get the idea...Tell him to come to the abandoned manor just south of this tavern."
"Has anyone ever told you you're a sick, corrupted bitch Luna?" Proteus barked.
"Fine! I'll deliver your worthless ultimatum...Then I'll laugh when Sly hands you your ass on a patter!"
Then he padded over a window, glaring at Luna all the while, and opened it. Turning into a eagle he flew off. Time was off the essence in Hostage situations, Proteus knew that. Every moment of delay raises the danger for the hostages.
Still Proteus couldn't help feeling he was making the wrong decision.
As Proteus entered the Dragon's Flame Club it was as it always was; the customers were drinking and talking, Dragon Flame was daydreaming, the staff conversing with the customers, Sly waiting for an antagonist to boot out.
However, something was different about Sly, Proteus was sure of it! Then Sly looked up, sighed,and said "Somehow I knew it, that I did..." Sly looked troubled, "Something's happened hasn't it?"
"Yeah!" Proteus panted, exhausted from the flight over "Luna...She taken some people hostage! She wants your deck in exchange!"
"Then I'll just have to deal with it, that I will..."
Sly stood up and flicked his wrist and a bottle of beer flew into it as though it had suddenly decided to jump off the shelf into Sly's hand. Proteus jumped slightly at this, no matter how many times he saw Sly use that trick it always surprised him. Sly walked forward and tossed Proteus the beer as he pasted, then he was through the doors and outside. Proteus followed, twisting off the cap of the beer as he strode outside. Sly was staring up at the sky as he smoked a cigar.
He commented as Proteus neared "Don't tell Fox I'm smoking...She doesn't like it..." Then he chuckled
"Sly...We gotta get going! She has Resa and Sieg!"
"Drink that beer, Proteus. I'll tell you something about Luna, that I will" Sly took a long draft of his cigar
"Luna isn't really the murdering type. She's a manipulator, and she's also an Egotist, that she is..." Sly paused to make sure Proteus was drinking, which he was.
"Luna is obsessed with her appearance, that she is. She won't kill someone in front of others because she's afraid it'll destroy her carefully planned image."
Sly chuckled "So those hostages are safe so long as I cooperate..." then Sly leaned toward Proteus
"But I have no intention of doing that, and that's were you come in, my friend!"
Then for the next hour Sly told Proteus of his plan, then they set off. Along the way Proteus could contain his curiosity no longer and asked
"Sly? How'd you know something was wrong in the Bar?"
To this Sly just chuckled, his eyes simmering knowingly, and said, "Remember my friend, I don't see like everyone else, that I don't."
When they arrived at the building where Luna had instructed Proteus to bring Sly. Sly stopped for a moment. "Something wrong Sly?"
"Just got an odd feeling, that I did."
"Odd feeling?"
"It's nothing...Let's go!"
The pair entered the building and could immediately hear Luna's voice echoing from upstairs. They could also hear Resa's arguing with her. Sly chuckled at this "Leave it to Resa to antagonize her hostage taker..." The two strolled down a hallway and came to a pair of Stairways. They were positioned about 3 feet apart and both ran straight up to the level with the hostages.
Sly gestured to Proteus to go up one as he heard Luna say "Ahh...Here he comes...I can already smell the scent of that worthless vixen on him..." Proteus noticed Sly's lips twist into a snarl breifly at the words "Worthless vixen".
Proteus walked confidently up the stairs. Then Sly heard "Proteus Fox! Where's Sly!" Then the answer "Ohh...He'll be along shortly..." That was Sly cue. Sly bounded up the opposite Staircase and stood confidently at the top of them. The room was a small study, that much was certain from the books lining the walls. The Hostages were seated around a table. Resa and Sieg were seated at the head of the table like trophies. There were also two others; a young male Ferret and a dark-furred male wolf.
There was a hallway that led to another pair of stairs, and Sly nodded to Proteus toward it. Proteus nodded back understanding. It was apparent that Sly was right, Luna hadn't picked out a location by how defendable it was. She had picked it out so it complemented her ego! Luna was stunned. She hadn't thought about Sly taking her by surprise, but she quickly regained her composure and strode towards Sly with an exaggerated swing to her hips. She stood before him, her hand resting on her hip right next to her card deck. She was oblivious to the fact Proteus was moving toward the wolf as she said,
"So Sly, I take it your spy informed you of my demands?"
"That he did"
"So You've come prepared to give up your deck?"
"Not exactly..." Sly watched through the corner of his eyes as Proteus pulled out a switchblade from his jacket.
It opened silently as it was designed to and Proteus cut the wolf's bonds and directed him to escape down the hallway behind them.
"What do you mean "not exactly"? Your not planning on sacrificing these people are you?"
"No...I mean I'd like answer first, answer them correctly and maybe I'll let you have my deck."
"Fine then!" Luna let out a feminine snort at Sly "What are your Questions!"
"What will Argos do with my deck?" Sly smiled seeing Proteus reach the second hostage and begin to cut.
These bonds didn't come as easily as the first and Sly tensed as Proteus had to saw to get them free.
Sly channeled mana out of the ground and into his legs just in case.
"How should I know, you silly coyote!" Luna sighed "The boss's business is his own!"
"Whatever...Will you leave me alone and not disturb me or my friends again?"
Sly knew that if Proteus kept having to make those loud movements Luna would see him.
"Hahaha! Sly you could almost make me laugh." Luna smile a sickly-sweet, Well-practiced smile at him
"You know what we're planning. You're bound to come into the cross-fire eventually, Deck or none!"
Then the ferret was free and began to walk to down the hall. But unsteady from blood-lost he stumbled and hit Resa's chair!
Resa tried to keep balance but tied to the chair as she was in was no surprise she tumbled to the floor with a loud echoing THUDD! The ferret squeaked mouse-like and ran for the hallway.
Luna turned on her heel and stared down Proteus, her sigils flaring brilliant white as she drew mana rapidly.
"I SEE WHAT YOUR DOING SHAPESHIFTER!" She pulled a card and Sly leaped to grab her. But it was too late the card flew through the air and struck Proteus.
There was an unbearably loud "TSKSEEKK" as pure sonic energy exploded in all directions. Proteus was blown back as the force of the sound slammed him like a rag-doll into the wall.Sly thrust his arm upwards under Luna's underarm and around her neck, grabbing his own shoulder for support. Then he bent his knees, arched his back and doubled over backwards as he performed a textbook suplex!
Before the throw was even completed Sly began to slide out from under Luna. When it was finished Sly didn't look to see if Luna was incapacitated, he pulled his knees to his chest and bounced up off the ground running over to Sieg and grabbed the chains binding him. He summoned the Mana he had stored in his legs and clawed a kanji over the surface of the chains. Sly felt the Mana resist being channeled into kanji spell but it functioned all the same. The chains shattered into thousands of brightly glowing shards, the shards began to merge as they freefell to the floor, becoming a torn card on the ground.
Sly glanced at Luna, and seeing her trying to rise, spoke only two words to Sieg "Free Resa..." then Sly charged Luna and delivered a devastating drop kick that sent Luna tumbling down the stairs. Sly jumped forward and, grabbing the lip of the stairwell, swung himself over to where Luna lay. As Luna regained consciousness, Sly shouted "LUNA! Want to kill me!" Sly leaped over her, planting a foot into her arched back to increase the distance of his long-jump, "Then come catch me, you bitch, that you will!"
Then Sly dashed outside full speed, Luna pursuing. Sly kept running until Luna was sweating bullets, every few seconds concentrating on gauging the mana around him to find a spot where white mana was rare.
Then he found it, it was a small traveler's destination at the end on a mountainous trail about a half-mile from the building where the hostages were held. It was made of cedar floor broads and had a pair of mountain spring pools. Seats lined the wooden platform and the cloth they where made of was the only source of white mana, providing only enough for a single mediocre creature. Sly stopped suddenly and turned watching Luna increase her speed to ram him.
Sly smiled broadly as, at the last minute, he dropped to one knee and thrust a leg out into Luna's path. He chuckled as she ran headlong into it and literally flew head-over-heels into the icy cold mountain spring. Sly stood confidant knowing he had won this fight. You see while Luna was an expert at playing people against one another, Sly was an expert at playing someone against themselves. He had manipulated Luna into following him from a high white mana area to a low, He angered her into a rage where she didn't care to notice her environment, and he'd tired her out, all while distracting her so her hostages could escape!
Luna rose coughing and spitting from the spring. She tossed a card and it became a foot-knight in brilliant white armor. Luna shouted out with seething anger "KILL SLY...NOW!" The knight charged, it's armor clinking and it's footsteps heavy in its armor. It raised its lance to strike and a triumphant smile spread across Luna's face. Then that smile turn instantly into a frown as Sly stepped aside and lashed the middle of his Nagaika around the Knight's neck. The thin leather cord easily slid under the Knight's helmet then whipped back around several times forming a neat Glass-studded noose. Then Sly whipped around and pulled the Nagaika taunt around the Knights neck.
here was a rush of blood from under the knight's helmet and the knight gurgled sickeningly. Then Sly dropped the end of his weapon letting the Knight's helmet keep it the Nagaika glass shards pinned into his neck.
As the knight fell writhing to the ground, Sly advanced on Luna. She was desperately trying to gather enough mana for another Creature, her eyes widened as she found all the mana tapped into the dying knight.
"What's wrong Luna?" Sly chuckled "Forgot how to summon, that you have?" Sly crouched crow-like at the edge of the pool, staring at the helpless Luna.
"Sly...You certainly pride your speed and agility don't you?" Luna gave Sly a vengeful grin
"Yes...that I do" Sly was caught slightly off guard by her reaction.
"Then you'll suffer that much more when it's taken away!" Luna sigils flared black as she stabbed a card directly into Sly's left leg.
Luna laughed maliciously as Sly screamed in pain holding his leg at the knee.
"You bitch! What thehell did you do to me!" Sly scream over the pain as several pus-filled boils grew on his leg. They continued to swell at an alarming rate.
"Just a little sorcery called "Necrotic Burst" Luna said with mock sweetness,
"Pretty soon Sly, the magical infection will spread through out your shin then it will explode and force the infectious pus into your next limb..." Luna continued after a brief silence to build false suspense, "on and on, limb to limb until it reaches your heart and then..."
Luna made a slicing motion across her throat "I'll take your body and your deck to Argos! I always win Sly...No matter what I have to do!"
"Beat this, you pathetic underling!" Sly's eyes became lost in the red glow coming from his Shades. His body was similarly covered in a haze smoke of "mana-glow".
Sly stood a gripped his leg which was swelling with pus, then he dug his claws into it and, using the enhanced strength caused by channeling large amounts of red mana, torn his shin out by the knee joint!
Sly screamed in rage and pain. It echoed across the mountainside, causing animals to flee and people to lock their doors in fear.
"You want someone angry! Well you got it, that you do!" Sly drew a card and forced it into his chest, then Sly burst into hungry red flames. The flames billowed outwards and formed into a monster. It was looked like a dragon with a snake-like tail and gigantic wings.It had six arms, each ending in hand with three blade-like claws and a sickle-like sting erupting from the tail. Then the flames cleared leaving only a great red wyrm and a very scare little she-wolf.
"Meet the embodiment of Rage...The Avatar of Fury!" Sly spoke from within the great wyrm.
Then it moved, it's clawed hand becoming a blur, stabbing it's middle claw through the soft palate under Luna's chin and lifting her by it to stare into the Avatar's heartless eyes "You wanted anger, Luna, now you have more than you can handle!"
The Avatar-Sly tossed Luna into the pool and dove after her, dragging her deeper into its depths, and Sly's mind became a rush of instantly executed commands, stabbing and tearing. Sly's mind clouded more than the bloody water around them, then became dedicated to a single desire; "Hurt her as much as possible! Then maim the corpse!".
After what seemed like hours of violence and gore, Sly surfaced, unable to hold on to Luna's disfigured, maimed form. With a great roar of triumph, the Avatar-Sly opened its great wings and flew to the DFC.
There would be some explaining to do...But Sly was far too angry and in far too much pain to answer questions. He merely needed a safe place to calm himself and to heal. But strangely another thought floated about in Sly's head, "I wish Fox was here...She could make me feel better..."