RP #1 - Newtype06. Posted on 6-16-06

Kratos and Deadin stood, watching their pupil mimic the odd gestures and utter the strange incantations Aaron was showing her. Nearly a half hour passed without any spectacle. Deadin was starting to worry. Finally, he could take no more, and called Aaron's magic training session to a halt.

"Time for us to work, Terra," Deadin said, reaching into his trusty rucksack for another miscellaneous item. This time, Deadin produced a single bell, not unlike the type you would put on a sleigh. Deadin shook it once, testing it's quality. The bell rang true, producing a clear ring through the forest. "Perfect," Deadin said.

Kratos stepped forward. "Terra, the purpose of this exercise is to eliminate unnecessary movements in your strike, and to further improve your balance and coordination. For now, though, I want you to use this…" Kratos produced a simple wooden sword, and tossed it into Terra's hands.

Deadin stepped forward, a thin cord and the bell in his hands. "Excuse me, Terra," Deadin said, extending his arms and wrapping the cord around her waist. Deadin tied the makeshift belt together, and secured the bell at the knot.

"Okay," Kratos said. "Now swing at me." Terra did as she was instructed, easily missing Kratos. However, that was accompanied by a shrill ringing. As Terra moved, she disturbed the bell.

"Again," Deadin said, hands clasped behind his back. "This time do not disturb the bell. Try moving slowly…Like this" Deadin slowly and smoothly executed a simple horizontal strike. "You must be fluid, like water. Think of yourself as water…"

Terra tried again, still ringing the bell. "Not quite," Kratos said, crossing his arms in front of him. "So give me five push ups." Terra grunted as she sunk to the ground. "A warrior must be at his best at all times. You should be able to do fifty push ups and still swing that sword. Remember, every drop of sweat in training is one less drop of blood in battle."

Yeah, Terra thought, but...pushups? Terra slumped down, starting her first push up. "One…Two…"

RP #2 - Sekhmet. Posted on 6-16-06

At the door outside Lloyd's house, while waiting for an answer, Purrti and Anna talked about the training, Purrti decided she would lay off the magic and teach strickly the weapons. Anna remained confused so shrugged, then it hit her, elven magic as what the mermaid was speaking about. Purrti's ears pricked as she heard movement within the house, she carefully knocked on the door once more as not to harm her claws. Anna stood wondering why the mermaid say that her mistress would be the one to teach her elven magic

RP #3 - AngelicAura. Posted on 6-17-06

Fields about 1.5 kms. from Palmacosta

"Sir, have we located the burial site yet?" one soldier asked.

"Bohem's coordinates say it's somewhere near that lake over there." the second soldier replied.

"Men, get ready. We're going diving! Remember to use the technology that the science lab provided us! Hopefully they do end up letting us see and breathe underwater!" the secondary general of the Palmacostan general shouted.

Let's just hope this doesn't end up killing us. We lost a lot of men over in Iselia, the btards. the general thought to himself.

The small army hustled to the lake, and a handful put small machines over their faces.

Let's hope the Amphibian Replicators work. Those scientists over in R & D aren't exactly the best. the general thought.

The handful of soldiers with Amphibian Replicators dove into the water. The lights on the masks flicked on and illuminated the waters surrounding them. Theylooked down and saw a destroyed ruin about 45 feet below them.

"Why didn't anybody ever find this before?" a soldier asked through his mask.

"We figured there wouldn't be anything in the lake. Besides, we'd never have known what it was even if we did find it," the general replied, "Anyway, the Governor said to shoot that device at the center of the ruin."

The soldier with the device shot out a torpedo-like projectile at the ruin. It made contact quickly, and the ruin exploded, revealing a hole in the surface. It was bubbling violently.

"Quick, back to the surface. The rest of them are there, ready to fire." the general told.

The group resurfaced, sopping wet. A spellcaster ran over and cast a fire spell to dry them quickly. The top of the lake was beginning to bubble just as violently as the hole was just a minute ago. Then, like a giant Spread spell, a creature flew out of the water.

The gigantic creature was a beautiful color of blue. It's body was covered in scales. It was spinning, shaking the water off of its body. It opened its eyes, which were bright blue in color. It had webbed toes and fingers. It flapped its bright, glimmering aquamarine wings strongly, blowing gusts of wind at the people who had just awoken it from it's long slumber.

"Fire, spellcasters!" the general shouted.

The angelic creature dove back down into the water to dodge the attacks. It created a gigantic wave to sweep it adversaries into its element. The spellcasters quickly put up shields to protect the others. The angel spiraled out of the water, creating a water spout, which quickly died back down into the lake. It swept over the army and picked up 10 soldiers with each hand. It dove back down underwater to drown them. Their bodies slowly surfaced, and the bright blue eyes shone from under the surface. It unleashed another typhoon at the army, and managed to sweep about 7 into the water. It drug them down with a violent undertoe of water, and drowned them as well. At last, it jumped out of the water again, and hovered above the army.

A bright ball of light appeared in the Archangel's right hand. The ball of light quickly turned into a glowing double-sided arched pendulum (AN: Much like Yuan's weapon). It launched to the ground. The army ran to avoid the weapon flying at them. The Archangel simply swept down, taking the weapon with him. Then, the spellcasters all casted Lightning on the Archangel. It hit the ground, but quickly flew back into the air. The monstrosity swept its weapon violently to the army. It took out another 20 of them. The others were beginning to worry. There were only about 100 left. This thing could easily take them out if it wanted.

"THUNDER BLADE!" the general shouted loudly.

A large blade of electricity struck the Archangel on the arm, pinning it to the ground, then electrocuted it. The general demanded a full on charge on the beast. Everybody knew what to do.

"LIGHTNING BLADE!" the ones closest to the Archangel shouted.

"LIGHTNING!" the ones in the back roared.

The assault of Lightning struck the Archangel. It appeared to be paralyzed.

"Let me finish it off!" the general shouted.

The small amount remaining looked at him apprehensively.

"That was an order!"

The group backed off.

"INDIGNATION!" the general chanted.

A large cone appeared around the Archangel. Its eyes opened, glimmering in the sun. It let out a whimper, and a tear fell from the beast's eyes. A godly bolt of lightning struck down on the Archangel, killing it.

"We did it!" the general exclaimed.

Then, a bright flash of blue light emitted from the corpse of the Archangel. It broke into 6 pieces, and surrounded the general. They circled him, slowly coming together just above his head. They then combined into one again, and dove into his body. The Archangel's body then disappeared with a cloud of haze. All of a sudden, another bright flash emitted from nowhere, and a gargantuan group of Tarivians appeared. They all bowed to the general. They were covered in blue scales over their torsos, with arms and legs of green scales. The heads had no scales, but fish-like ears. Their fingers and toes were webbed, long, and slender, like a frog's.

"General, it worked! Just like the War-General said it would!" a soldier cheered.

A large cheer followed the soldier's, and clapping to boot. Then, the Tarivians slowly faded away.

"Wait, where'd they go?" another soldier questioned.

"I told them to return to what they were doing before. I can summon them whenever we need to. Before we attack Iselia with these almighty creatures, though, we need to do some research. If we can increase the numbers, we tip the scale even more in our favor. We need to find out as much as we can about these things. Let's go, men. Back to Palmacosta." the general said.

The men didn't want to return to their home. It was in ruins, with memories of dead loved ones waiting for them. The Tarivians attacked it, demanding to know where the Necronomicon was located. The people had no idea what it was, but the Tarivians wouldn't take it. They devastated the land. Luckily, some of the buildings stood strong. The Church of Martel, the Academy, the Mayor's Building, and the Military Headquarters had scars, but were still there. It was still like walking into a funeral to go home though. Silence. Dreadful silence.

RP #4 – Dragoon Taryn. Posted on 6-17-06

Ellyria and Yuan landed their Rheairds outside of the small patch of trees that surrounded Lloyd's house.

"Hopefully Kratos hasn't left here yet, right?" Ellyria said, shooting a glance at Yuan.

Yuan nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, I am rather tired of this chase he's giving us."

"Right, but... he's your friend and ally, and he's really stong, right? I've heard stories..."

"Right, Kratos the great swordsman and hero," Yuan mumbled.

"Pardon?" Ellyria asked, giving Yuan a puzzled look.

Yuan stood up straight and started walking. "Nothing at all. Let's move forward."

"R-right!"

The pair walked through the small thicket of trees, reaching the small house. Outside the door, a pair of felines were waiting, one slightly knocking on the door.

"Yikes!" Ellyria shrieked, jumping behind Yuan and hugging his waist. "Werewolves!"

Yuan sighed. "Are you really a mercenary? You jump at everything."

"Um, of course I am! There are... so many strange things... y'know, that I... haven't seen," Ellyria replied as she started turning red, focused more on the fact that she was hugging Yuan again.

"Well, I've never seen a savage beast knock on a door, so I think you can go ahead and approach them."

"Right! I'll do that!" Ellyria jumped back in the lead and headed forward, hoping Yuan wouldn't notice that she was blushing.

Ellyria approached the felines quickly. "Hi there! You guys have business here too?" she asked in an overly cheerful voice, "We do as well! Hope someone's home!"

Without giving the pair a chance to reply, Ellyria started banging loudly on the door. "Yoo-hoo! Anybody home?"

RP #5 – Kevin1292. Posted on 6-17-06

As Kyoshi was heading to Lloyds house to ask if he needed anything, he heard loud banging on Lloyd's door. He started walking a little faster, eventually running, just because he wondered who was there before they went in. "Wow there are a lot of people at Lloyd's today, is he throwing a party?" Kyoshi asked to no one in particular.

"I don't know, but who are you?" one of the women asked.

"My name's Kyoshi, I'm a local mercenary, just came to see if Lloyd needed anything, and to say hi."

"I see. I'm Ellyria, I too am a mercenary."

"Who are the cat people?"

"Who knows, but I'm Yuan by the way."

"How long have you been waiting here?"

"Not long, but we're not sure about the cat people." Ellyria said turning her head toward them.

"So you two are here together?"

"Yup."

"Well I guess we should wait for Lloyd then. He usually doesn't take this long."

RP #6 –Newtype06. Posted on 6-17-06

Deadin stooped down, almost to eye level with Terra. She certainly had gotten better over the past few hours. She was finishing the last of her latest slew of pushups, sweat dripping off her brow. Digging into his rucksack, Deadin produced the last of his obscure training implements: a small clay bowl.

"I'll be right back," Deadin said, as Terra finished her pushups. "You just keep practicing with Kratos." Terra nodded, and picked up her wooden sword.

Deadin wandered off a little, looking for a pond or stream. It took him about fifteen minutes, but finally the Elf found a small brook, with clear, pure water trickling through. Deadin quickly filled the clay bowl, and was careful not to spill any water as he carried it back to the training area. The clear ringing of a bell and the loud, exasperated sigh of a young girl were music to Deadin's ears.

Approaching the group, Deadin saw Terra on the ground doing another slew of pushups. Deadin knelt down, showing the bowl of water to Terra.

"Oh…Thank you…" Terra gasped between pushups. She leaned over, inching ever closer to Deadin's hand and the bowl. But before her lips could touch the water, Deadin yanked the bowl away.

"Up," Deadin yelled, holding the bowl at shoulder height. "A swordsman fights to protect that which he cares for. Should he fail, it dies. Do you want this water?" Terra stood, nodding. "Then, fight for it."

Terra grabbed her sword, looking for an opponent. Deadin smiled, shaking his finger at her. "One last thing. A swordsman will feel the weight of his duty." Deadin stepped forward, placing the bowl on Terra's head. "Now, attack me."

Terra swung, and immediately the bowl tipped over, dumping most of the water onto the ground below her. Growling in frustration, Terra picked up the bowl. Deadin nodded to Kratos, who began showing Terra some more sword basics, as Deadin refilled the bowl. It had been a long day, and was only gonna get longer…

RP #7 – Sekhmet. Posted on 6-18-06

While at the door, Anna ear twitched as she overheard a female voice exclaim "WEREWOLVES!", rolling her eyes with disgust, she turned seeing a small group of people walking toward the house, she heard the man repremand the female as they come forward, Purrti merely glanced over saying in a saractic tone in her own language with a roll of her eyes "Humans..." and snorted with disgust.

Anna: agreeing with Purrti as she turns to speak You speak as if we don't understand you or have no sence of the common tongue of humans, just because, we don't have humanoid form. roll eyes Typical humans. I was with Lloyd's group before they left the other town on the other side of the forest. I fought the alien creatures as well. turns to speak with Yuan and nods Thank you for the defence, for what it was. My name is Anna, I am a half elf and this is my mentor, Purrti of the Purrdi Clan.

Purrti merely glares at Ellyria then turns to look at Yuan but speaks to Anna in her own language.

Purrti: As you would say "cat people" Anna had a hard time keeping from laughing

RP #8 – Newtype06. Posted on 6-19-06

Hours passed, and Terra, despite being totally soaked, was getting better, Deadin noticed. Though he probably would never tell her, she'd made more progress in one day under his and Kratos' direction than Deadin ever had in a similar amount of time. She had a fire in her eyes that Deadin could only admire. Shrugging microscopically, Deadin realized finally just why Terra was so gifted. She had the lineage going for her.

Terra had managed roughly eleven swings without tipping the bowl before Deadin finally spoke. "I guess that's…acceptable, Terra." Deadin said, stepping forward and relieving Terra's head of the bowl. "Now, you will learn the most important lesson for today. A long time ago, before I ever trained with Kratos, an elf named Niten showed me how to handle a sword. As we would train, he'd shout out his principles, something he called 'The Way of Walking Alone'" Deadin sat down on the grass, indicating to Terra that she should do so as well.

"Now, I'm sharing them with you, my pupil." Deadin said, drawing his broadsword. "I want you to hold your weapon as you consider these principles. I want you to mimic every movement I make. Understand?" Terra nodded. Deadin contemplated trying to draw Excalibur, but put the thought aside. "Now, 'The Way of Walking Alone'…" Deadin started, eyes drifting into the past, drifting to those days in the rain, repeating sword strike after sword strike, perfecting his technique with the harsh, but talented master.

"Consider yourself lightly; consider the world deeply." Deadin started, laying hand and sword on the ground. "Respect the gods and Spirits, but do not depend on them…." With this, Deadin stood up, sword in hand. "Do not turn your back on the various Ways of this world." Deadin spun, bringing his sword about in salute to the falling sun. Terra slowly and carefully mirrored the move. Kratos stood by, admiring the truth in old Niten's words. "Do not lament parting on any road!" Deadin said, his voice mounting as he completed a flourishing strike, dipping the sword tip low and spinning it back upright. "Though you give up your life, do not give up your honour!" Deadin's voice reached its greatest intensity, as he planted the sword tip into the ground in front of him. Hearing the thud of Terra's sword as well, Deadin continued. "Do not intend to rely on anything!" Yanking the sword out of the ground, Deadin thrusted the blade into the air in front of him, arms fully extended. He waited a moment for Terra to finish her movement.

"While on the Way, do not begrudge death!" Deadin said, slowly turning himself and his sword towards the moon's path. Deadin lowered his sword. "And never depart from the Way of the Sword." Deadin slid his blade into it's scabbard with a resounding ring.

"Congratulations, Terra Irving," Deadin said, "You have begun what will be the greatest test in your life."

"Um, thanks" Terra said, a little nervous.

"My Master insisted that I walk alone through life. The same does not have to be for you. But take these words to heart, for they can and will help you."

"Whatever happened to Niten?" Kratos said.

"He died." Deadin answered. "He was killed in the night by a Wolf."

"Oh…" Terra said, not willing to continue the subject.

"Anyways," Deadin said, crossing his arms, "You might as well get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be just as hard."

Kratos and Deadin exchanged a knowing look, as they slowly set up camp.