|
|
Post by *~Nikkole~* on Nov 24, 2006 23:52:18 GMT
kamen stayed back and out of the way, still holding up any and every shield he could. he watched them and noted everything.
nikky helped where she could but piped into the conversation at hand. ''well thats good... cuz fightin when youre young only leads to trouble.'' she winked at them before sharpening her short sword. ''take it from long time experience... but hey. you had to fight.... can't be too hard you guys.'' she grinned.
kamen couldn't help but roll his eyes and mutter. ''yeah... you sure are the perfect role model nikky... with all that you did in your childhood you should be a hero.'' his tone was highly sarcastic.
nikky glared. ''hey... watch your mouth boy... i still have that doll of yours...'' kamens eyes go wider as nikky grinned. ''yeah.... funny story, eh?''
''shut up.'' he pouted and sulked.
|
|
|
|
Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Nov 25, 2006 0:01:13 GMT
Joey giggled. "What doll? This is a new story..."
"Shouldn't we set up some alarms?" Rude interjected. It was not his nature to interrupt, but this was important.
Joey scoffed. "I AM the alarm, yo. After a year throwing down with these creeps, I can sense them coming a mile away. But I will be setting a few time-released booby traps a little later. Far-seeing can come in handy when it comes to botching suckers."
"And for your information, she was a hero," Annie snapped at Kamen. "Why do you think Xima and the others came after her? She and Dad were among the first to stand up to Shinra Rising Corporation. When we saw how effective direct confrontation was... the movement went underground. But it never would have started without them... and you. You were one of the other early leaders."
Reno wasn't sure whether or not he liked all this information. On one hand, it meant he would eventually go out doing what he believed in... namely, sticking it to the Man. But on the other... it meant both he and Nikky were going to die in twelve years and leave two orphans behind. He bit his lip and got back to the gun he was working on.
Joey made a face at the rifle she was cleaning. "These things are ANCIENT," she sighed. "But it's better than nothing."
|
|
|
|
Post by *~Nikkole~* on Nov 25, 2006 0:12:34 GMT
kamen sent a deadly glare at nikky before silently sighing. he turned and walked off a ways before leaning against a wall and closing his eyes. he hated to admit it but he was starting to think about leaving... this was too much for him.
nikky was going to stick her tongue out but then turned to the girls. she smiled. ''its good to hear good stuff about me sometimes....'' she laughed. ''even if what follows it is death...'' she looked through her bag and tossed a small leather pouch to kamen. ''there.... now stop pouting you baby.''
kamen glared at her before looking in the pouch. a faint smile crossed his face as he saw a small porcelain doll. she had blond hair and bright panted blue eyes. her dress was slightly ratty. he refrained from hugging it before sliding it into his coat pocket. he glared at nikky. ''I'm not a baby....''
nikky rolled her eyes and grinned. ''sure you're not....''
|
|
|
|
Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Nov 25, 2006 0:27:39 GMT
Loz dumped another comatose monster into a pen. "Is three a pen enough?"
Jared nodded. "Sure is, big guy."
Loz beamed. "Thanks. How long before they wake up?"
"About an hour... and no, you cannot keep one." Jared started heading back for the cavern.
Loz blinked. How'd he know I was gonna ask that?
Kadaj had to hold back snickers. Yazoo didn't bother. The boy's actually not all bad... for a Shinra.
Jared halted a few feet from the bottleneck. "You guys feel that?"
"Feel what?" Ami asked.
Jared ignited the Angel Cry. Standing right there in the entrance to the carvern was a rather large female monster, one of the ones the Shadowcreepers had missed, and two of her smalled offspring. The Shadowcreepers' hackles went up, but Yazoo restrained them...
"We can't let that thing into the cavern," Jared hissed. "We have to lure it out."
Ami was frozen... she'd been terrified of monsters ever since the confrontation with the bomb. Her brothers moved backwards slightly, hoping to draw the creature out, but it stayed still... Jared sent a message to Fruxas. Warn the others...
Fruxas heard, but did not obey. Why? I've seen what they are going to do to me. I don't trust them... I'm going back to our mother!
Jared's jaw dropped. "What are you saying?"
The sudden question, spoken in a moment of shock, drew an angry growl from the monsters. Jared halted, not wanting to agitate it further...
Reno heard the growl and saw the creature's tails through the cavern entrance... "Oh, G**..."
The girls turned and looked. "Oh, G**..."
|
|
|
|
Post by *~Nikkole~* on Nov 25, 2006 0:31:08 GMT
nikky looked over, following their line of sight. ''oh sh*t....'' she paled slightly as she stood up fully and set her bag down.
kamen stared but said nothing, figuring the others had taken care of that....
|
|
|
|
Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Nov 25, 2006 0:47:27 GMT
"Watch the language, Mom," Joey said numbly. "It's bad for Annie."
"You should talk," Annie hissed back.
The creature whipped around in the narrow entrance and screeched at them. Reno realized he was sitting on something... Dry grass?
Rude suddenly figured out... the large rocks he had been moving to make room for the supplies... they weren't rocks. Eggs... we've disturbed its nest.
Annie clapped a force field over the bottleneck as the creature hurled itself towards them... the creature slammed into the field, and Annie winced. "Do something! I can't keep this up for long!"
Loz fired a trank at it, but its exoskeleton prevented any effects, and it kept hurling itself into the field... he aimed at the hatchlings, whose shells looked much softer.
Ami saw what he was doing too late. "Wait!"
They were both unconscious before the word left her mouth... and the mother was slowly turning, looking EXTREMELY p**sed.
Loz backed up. "Oh, s**t."
"Watch your mouth," Jared insisted as the animal pounced at the party, scattering it in all directions.
Jared raised the Angel Cry as the creature zeroed in on him, pinning him to the floor... Amnesty struck at it with a wild yell, but it merely batted her aside. Judging by its shell, it was very old... and very powerful. Ami blacked out, hitting a stone wall... Yazoo and Loz attacked as Kadaj tried to get Ami into the cavern...
He heard cracking sounds. "Oh, d**n d**n d**n..."
****
Reno's head whipped around at the noise. He saw the surfaces of what he had until now assumed to be large rocks start to crack... "Oh, greaaat..."
A hatchling emerged, screeching angrily, already the size of a cat. Three more followed, thier talons razor sharp...
"Dad, get over here!" Joey had her sister's head in her lap. "The force field conked her out!"
He joined them and tried sending energy into Annie, but she wasn't responding... Something inside him lurched unnaturally...
Rude grabbed one of the guns and began sniping at the hatchlings, but in the dim light it was difficult to aim accurately and he kept missing... and sometimes when he got a hit, they just rose again and kept coming...
|
|
|
|
Post by *~Nikkole~* on Nov 25, 2006 0:55:02 GMT
nikky kicked and stabbed at the hatchlings as they came near. she guarded reno and their kids as she killed as many as she could.
kamen gasped and sent bolts of energy at them. he looked around for something else he could use....
nikky took off her over shirt and lit it on fire with a match she had. she swiped at the hatchlings but also illuminated the area. she would have broken the bollte of alcohol and lit that but it might be too risky...
kamen cried out as one got him in the leg. he kocked it aside before stabbing it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Nov 25, 2006 1:07:39 GMT
Rude got off several more shots with the sniper rifle, taking down a couple more hatchlings... but there were still at least half a dozen left.
Joey stared into her sister's face, terrified... After all we've been through, you choose NOW to give up on me? She felt a foreign vibration in her sister's mind... She looked up to trace it...
Fruxas, still as solemn-faced as ever, was sitting there, staring at Annie.
He's suppressing her... "What the h**l did I ever see in you, freak?!"
She got into her sister's mind and pushed back, but the boy was stronger than he looked. I'm going back to my mother... while none of you are able to stop me.
He got up and ran from the cavern, passing his older self, still pinned under the monster as Yazoo and Loz tried to penetrate its shell... Kadaj dragging Ami to some cover behind a row of stalagmites... out into the open... He could tell his mother was far away... But I'll be here waiting for you when you come... and I can feel you are coming...
He vanished into the mountain forest.
As he got farther away, his grip on Annie lessened... she began to recover... Joey and Reno sighed with relief, just as a pair of hatchlings jumped them from behind. They started scrabbling to deflect the little monsters, but they clung stubbornly...
|
|
|
|
Post by *~Nikkole~* on Nov 25, 2006 1:12:16 GMT
nikky hissed and pulled out a small refined pistol. she shot and hit the hatchlings. ''serves you right....'' she scoffed before grinning at them.
kamen watched fruxas go... he frowned and looked back. ''we need to go after him....'' nikky you need to go after him...
nikky made a small gasp and turned to the opening. ''fruxas.... '' she sighed before lashing out at a hatchling with surprising speed and viciousness.
|
|
|
|
Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Nov 25, 2006 1:25:10 GMT
Fruxas streaked down the mountain, returning to the woods beyond the Mansion... he recovered his weapon there and saw his mother's petrified form. Why is it I feel you trapped inside... but I also feel you free and alive, so far away?
He didn't stop to ponder the hows and whys. His parents lived... he wasn't an orphan anymore... And he had no intention of throwing away his second chance to be somebody's son.
He looked for a place to hide and wait for his mother's return...
****
Kadaj finally jammed his Souba replica into a gap between the monster's shell joints... The creature screamed in anger and pain, rounding on him and leaping away from Jared...
Jared's memories were beginning to fragment. His head was spinning... What's happening to me...
Loz aimed a punch at the creature's weakened joint, cracking its shell in half. It yowled as Yazoo began opening fire, unloading lead into its exposed flesh... The creature fell to the cave floor and was finally torn to shreds by the waiting Shadowcreepers, thirsty for the taste of monster blood.
****
Annie's eyes opened and her twin embraced her, immensely relieved. "If this had happened back home, you'd'a never lived it down... a five year old handed your a** to you!"
Reno had to laugh... and admit to himself that he was relieved, too. Crazy what can happen to a person when some crazy little chick comes along saying she's his daughter.
He got up, mad as a hornet. "If I get my hands on that little runt, he's going to regret the day he was manufactured, yo."
He ran outside to track down the boy... he could feel the kid's presence in his head... You can't hide from me, sonny.
Fruxas lashed back, sending a mental attack into Reno's head. Wanna bet?
Reno gritted his teeth and kept charging. I'm gonna kill this kid. He's dead meat.
|
|
|
|
Post by *~Nikkole~* on Nov 25, 2006 1:30:03 GMT
nikky grit her teeth before running after reno and tackling him. ''no! killing him won't help anything...'' she pinned him to the ground. ''we'll never find him like this....'' she looked around before looking back. ''we can't afford to loose him reno... let me look for him.''
kamen walked over to the twins. ''you guys alright...??'' he watched everything else as he stood by them. his hand clutched the small doll from within the safety of his coat pocket....
|
|
|
|
Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Nov 25, 2006 1:41:34 GMT
Jared weakly staggered out of the cave and put his hand on Nikky's arm. "Let me help you," he wheezed, getting weaker by the second. His hand slipped straight through her as his form became transparent...
Reno recoiled in shock. The kid's history is altering... I wasn't LITERALLY gonna kill him, I just...
Jared began to fill in slightly, but he was still wavering, caught somewhere between dimensions...
****
The girls stared at each other in disbelief as their forms flickered between eleven and seventeen years of age. "What's happening..."
****
Reno relented. "All right... I'll watch after the kids." He jerked and corrected himself. "Our kids."
He went back into the cave as Jared started heading down the mountain with Nikky in tow... "He went this way... I can remember..."
****
Fruxas felt his older self coming. Get back!
****
Jared shook his head and kept going. "Our parents lied to you..."
****
"Your so-called friends lied to YOU!"
****
"It doesn't matter, Fruxas. We were never meant to be a family. They are going to wipe out everything... doesn't that MEAN anything to you?"
****
"There are other worlds, Jared! Other worlds where we can start over!"
****
"At the expense of this one? You're talking to the wrong Remnant." Jared pressed on. "I know you're sad, lost, confused... please listen to me!"
|
|
|
|
Post by *~Nikkole~* on Nov 25, 2006 1:46:34 GMT
nikky let reno go as she trekked after jared. she bit her lip, looking about.
kamen watched them as they flickered in mild shock. he frowned.
|
|
|
|
Post by Amnesty Lazuli on Nov 25, 2006 2:13:15 GMT
Jared sensed something dark coming, something indescribably evil... He rushed ever faster through the trees. "Fruxas, get back here before it's too late!"
He felt his presence merging with another... it threw Jared off for a few minutes... until he realized the only place Fruxas could do what he was doing...
Jared went to the still form of his mother's pretrified cells. Hiding there, under her folded stone wing, was Fruxas, shaking and on the verge of tears. "Have you forgotten so fast what they did to her?!"
Jared shook his head. "I never forgot. But I still forgave. I didn't want to be turned to stone too."
"So they did threaten us?"
"No," Jared explained forcefully. "They wouldn't have changed us. I was changing myself... inside. And I decided our mother would not have wanted us to die with her." He reached for the trembling child. "Take my hand, Fruxas."
His voice was shrill and panicky. "No!"
The presence came closer and was joined by many... Jared didn't have time to be slow and gentle. He began prying the boy out. "We're going!"
"No, I'M going! Going home!" Fruxas was squirming with all his might, but his older self refused to give in. Jared finally secured him and began to run. "Nikky, get back to the cavern! Before they find us!"
****
The girls stopped flickering and returned to their eleven year old states. About half an hour later, Jared and their mother returned with Fruxas kicking and screaming for release in Jared's arms. "We have to restrain him," Jared said with gritted teeth.
The small boy began to make objects fly around the room... rocks, eggshells, loose weapons... anything his embryonic telepathy could get a grip on.
Reno stood up from where he had been helping mend one of Ami's cuts. That's enough. He put his hands on the kid, and the boy suddenly felt himself become overwhelmingly tired... he slumped into unconsciousness.
Reno pulled back, glaring at the child. "That's my version of time out," he said between gritted teeth. He went back to tending Amnesty.
The boy was suddenly deadweight, and Jared was having trouble managing him. "Nikky, hold onto him for a second, OK?"
He and Annie started to make a stone cell for him out of the stalactites that jutted up from the floor...
The brothers were sitting together in conference. "So HE is back now."
Kadaj nodded somberly. "He's been dispatched to find Fruxas, while Xima and Rufus protect the baby. Jenova's orders. But Xima has always been vengeful and headstrong, and Rufus has always hated HIM... if we are lucky, we can use that to our advantage."
"When do we tell the others?" Yazoo inquired.
Kadaj looked at the battleworn party. "Let's keep this on a need to know basis."
|
|
|
|
Post by *~Nikkole~* on Nov 25, 2006 2:20:41 GMT
nikky nodded and took the boy. she held him close and rocked him slightly before backing and leaning against a wall. she watched him and then watched jared and annie. she turned away and hugged fruxas to her.
kamen stood around silently. his shield just as strong, but he found himself getting tired. he sat down in a corner and watched everyone wearily as he focused his energies. he couldn't help himself as he picked out the Doll. he held it limply before holding it close like a coveted daughter.... the memories it held... good memories of her...
|
|
