Dolor: Stigma Vitae (Pain: Stigma of Life) - RP Thread

[Zup]

"Attention, staff! We have a rogue patient escaped from the holding cellar! Anthony Birdson! Repeat: Anthony Birdson has escape the holding cellar! Detain immediately! He is hostile!" the intercom system in the hospital echoed. Bird leaned up against a wall in a supply closet, and breathed a sigh of relief as two aides ran straight by the door, having not seen him duck into it.

They know I'm out...Chasing after me...Gotta find...What's this?...Hm?...Are there more coming?...Wait...

Bird poked his head out the doorway, peering into the hallway. It was empty, but he could hear footsteps echoing in the distance. More aides were rousing up to chase after him.

He had to get out of here.

The robot-turned man quickly stormed through the hallway, racing towards a door he had not gone through before. To his left, the door burst open, and two more aides chased after him.

Bird slammed the door open and sprinted off to his right. He was no longer in the detention area of the facility, but he had no idea where he currently was.

Bird bolted into what appeared to be a cafeteria, leaping over several tables as he tried to avoid the six aides that were also in the room.

Think! Think! Think!...How do I...Three doors...three doors...That one leads to the detention-

Bird's thoughts were interrupted as an aide swung his electric baton out, forcing Bird to duck underneath it, falling onto the cafeteria table on his back. He quickly kicked his foot out, pushing the aide away, before leaping off of the table and sprinting in evasion.

Two more doors...This...This is a cafeteria, so...That door must lead to the kitchen...That means that that door there is the way out...

The robot-turned man rushed straight forward, eyes set on the door on the other end of the room. He had to dodge roll on the ground to avoid another electrocution, and even punched at an aide who tried to physically attack him first.

The door led to another hallway, this time with a janitor mopping the floor. Bird dashed for the cleaner, who dropped the mop in fear, fleeing. Bird quickly jumped over the mop, twisting his body so that he could grab it as his feet struck the ground. He had lifted the mop just in time to deflect the baton of a rather fast aide. Another jab of the mop pushed the aide to his rear.

Bird took the mop with him as he opened another door, though it was only a bathroom.

He quickly ran to the next door he could, but had to shut the door as soon as he saw a rather large aide inside the room. The robot-turned-man then dashed off to another door, desperately searching for a way out.

Bird suddenly skidded to a stop as he passed by an open door. He nearly tipped over in surprise.

Inside were Clarissa and Raul.

But the monitor next to Raul's bed showed that the boy was dead.

"Raul?" Bird asked. He took a few steps into the room, but was attacked by aides hiding by the door. He fended off their first electric baton attacks, but could not stop the one that stabbed into his back. He fell to the floor, unable to move, but was still conscious.

"A-Anthony?" Clarissa asked, surprised. Her hand was over her chest. "What are you doing here?"

Bird felt the aides tug on him, lifting him to his knees. He was unable to resist.

"Dr. Neel he escaped the holding cellar," said one of the aides, panting. "He went on a violent spree, attacking innocent patients and aides!"

"Anthony is this true?"

No...No...What are you talking about?...What is wrong?...What's going on?

Bird glanced over at the monitor beside Raul.

No...He can't...he can't be dead...How can Raul be dead?...This isn't fair...No...No...Our powers were taken away...We...We're defenseless...We can't...

Bird suddenly turned his gaze to Clarissa, who was brandishing a needle she had removed from a nearby medicine cabinet. "Anthony, please, just sit still. This won't hurt...I need you to stay calm and..."

"How is...Raul...." Bird tried to ask, but the pain of the electric shock had hurt his ability to speak.

"Anthony...He's...He's dead..."

I can see that...But how? Why?...How could Ujanmunt...

"H....H....How?"

Clarissa brushed some of her hair from her face, kneeling beside Bird, the needle pointing upward towards the ceiling. "He...he had a heart attack. I guess he couldn't handle hearing about...about his friend Rojas dying-"

Rojas? Rojas?...No...Red?...Wait a minute...

"Ro....jas?"

Clarissa weakly smiled before rolling up Bird's left sleeve, preparing the needle for injection. "He was Raul's friend."

Red...

"Another patient here. He also went on about that tournament thing..."

So I'm...we're not crazy...Ujanmunt...

"Anthony, keep still, I promise this won't hurt-"

We have to die to get out of here...

Bird suddenly whipped out with all of his remaining strength, surprising the aides that were carelessly holding him. Clarissa fell onto her back, dropping the needle. The aides called after him, demanding he return to the room.

Bird said nothing as he sprinted into the hallway. He was aware of what he had to do and where he had to go - he remembered the layout of the parts of the facility that he had been through.

The robot-turned-man ran through a thick green door that was reserved for fire escapes. The alarms sounded as he opened it.

Bird still ran in silence as he spiraled up and up the stairway outside the facility, ascending towards the roof. He finally made it, staring at the black sky and the moon.

Bird glanced over the edge of the hospital, seeing the ground far, far below. "Gotta jump..."

Bird rolled his neck and clenched his hands before glancing over his shoulder at the incoming group of aides ascending the stairway towards him.

In a desperate move, Bird leaped over the edge of the building, his hands spreading outward like wings until they were parallel with his back in a dive. He plunged down to the cold, hard cement below with a heavy th-

















Scanning...hostile detected...

Bird opened his eyes, his HUD loading up on the screen that was his vision. He stood up on his feet, removing the pike from his back, twirling it in front of him, flipping the switch to release the plasma blade on the end.

The robot looked up above him, as if staring Ujanmunt straight in the eye.

The Overlord of Life chuckled as he saw the robot's gesture.

"You are certainly entertaining, robot...Let the action recommence..."

[Redhollowlives999]

"See Raiji? Was that so hard?"

Raiji sat down, annoyed. "Whatever. Lets keep this moving."

Ryuenjin started to laugh. "Send more Golems! Water Golems! Fire! Send them all!"

"Shut up." Raiji started to look over to Ujanmunt. "What about Red?"

Ujanmunt looked over to Raiji. "Kid has guts, he would waste time out of his life just to yell at me. Perhaps Ryuenjin has the right idea. You getting itchy over there Ryuenjin?"

"Meh."

"What do you think about the loud one?"

"You mean Rojas?" Chuckled Nys.

"I think he's all bark and no bite. Take away the water and the time control, and all you have is a loud far away guy."

Raiji opened his eyes, "Are you implying my pupil is useless?"

"I admit he knows what he's doing, but he relies on too much fancy tricks."

"You haven't even begun to see his power. I didn't raise a weakling."

"Thats enough," Ujanmunt grunted. "Ryuenjin, go play with them until the Bird, the black Camas, and the brick of meat get out of the arena."

"What if I don't want to?"

Raiji crossed his arms and rested his feet on the table. "Raul has gone through enough."

"On the contrary," Nesster said, intervening after a long pause, "None of these people know what TRUE Dolor is. What that boy went through is only an ounce of true pain."

Nys stood up and leaned in close to the orb that showed the players. "They make a mighty fine pair; quite some kids you raised Raiji."

"Sit down idiot."

Galhurst also leaned in to the Orb. "A team with Time controller and one with the power of True Neutralization.... Fascinating."

Cericis tried to pull Galhurst back, but failed. "What are you talking about? Bird alone could defeat them."

"Lets not jump to conclusion." Nesster said, still gazing at Bird from his side. "Bird may have a superior mind, but even he can't survive those two without a well planned out strategy. With the speed between those 2, Red's Stop, Rewind, Consumption, and haste, along with Raul's Fire abilities and his magic, They could easy overwhelm Bird. But of course that also requires patience and a well thought out plan."

Nys looked at Nesster with an irritated face. "You done with your random jargon you clay for bones?"

"I'm not gonna tell you to shut up again Nys." Raiji stated with anger in his eyes.

"Whatever."

"Ryuenjin, perhaps you should go in there." Raiji said with a sigh. "Its best for them."

Ryuenjin thought about it, then decided to go do it. "Alright. So do I kill'em or just knock them out?"

"Obviously don't kill them," Ujanmunt said, "Yet."

"Alright, I'll be back in 40 minutes exactly."

Nys started waving as Ryuenjin left the room. "I'll be counting.

"Mhmmmm."

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





"Red?"

Red stumbled when running up the stairs. "Raul?" Red ran back down to the previous floor. It was a big room, dark, but even with just moonlight, Red could tell it was fairly big. He saw 10 beds on the spot. But his eyes rested on one figure in the shadow. "Raul?"

"Thank goodness its you." Raul took the sheets that previously banded him to the bed. He threw it on the floor and lite it on fire. "Red!"

"Raul!"

The two exchanged a quick hug. "Where you been?"

Raul explained everything to Red, the hospital, the Clarissa thing; everything. Red's jaw fell in astonishment. "And then I found you."

"Just in time, Ujanmunt sent Rock Golems after me, bastard gave me a full moon and no water. If it weren't for Kors, I'd still be hittin-"

"Whoa whoa? Kors is here with you?"

"Yeah, but he saved my life, so I really lost any hatred for him. Still don't like him though."

"Doesn't matter; you couldn't take them on by yourself?"

"They have a new weak spot. Big bulge on their side."

The two were interrupted by a loud voice. "Eenie meanie minei mo, I pick this very ugly floor." A sudden blast could be heard from the floor above.

Red and Raul recognized the voice. "Lets get out of here!" Red yelled in panic.



"And who is this?" Raul said.

"Names Ryuenjin; you know that already."

Raul looked towards Red for any info. "Well Red?"

Red initated a sensory scan. "Story checks out. Has alot of HP. And that is Ryu."


"So this is the Golden pair?" Ryuenjin teased as he floated down. "Haven't seen you since you were," Ryu lowered his arm to his knee. "This small."

"Ugh I remember now. What do you want?"

"Came to play; Can't get a visit from Uncle Ryuenjin and expect to NOT to spar."

Red rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

Raul ran towards Ryu with a downward slash. Ryu dodged the attack with ease and simply stood in wait, for the next attack. Raul continued to slash at Ryu, but every attack was either parried or dodged.

"Yamamoto was right, you are very arrogant when you battle." Ryuenjin switched to the offensive. Raul struggled to defend.

Red ran towards the battle. "I see what they mean Raul."

"Shut up."

Red and Raul both slashed at the enemy, but each attack was evaded. "Red you change your strength level with every slash too quickly."

"Nobody asked you."

"Why don't you try using that Dagger? I'll even let it affect me. This once."

"No!" Red swung downward, but he attack was dodged, Ryuenjin jumped on top of a lamp post.

"What if I made it Rain? Raul, you wanna a sun? I'll give you 7 if it'll make you fight better." Ryuenjin snapped his fingers and it started to pour rain.

"Enough. What do you want?"

"A challenge. Go all out. I will give you immunity to death just for a challenge. Go ahead, go all out."

Red tapped the jewel twice and watched as time stopped. He kicked the frozen overlord and slashed him 4 times. When time started moving again the overlord flew several meters up due to the impact(s), Raul used fire bending to boost his jump. He kicked the overlord 4 times before he slashed downwards; tossing the overlord back to the ground. Red took the water around him to push the overlord back up towards Raul, who was already preparing a lightning shot. When Ryu got close, Raul jabbed his 2 fingers through the man; who felt the full force of the attack. "Red! You ready?"

Red tapped on the jewel and ran under the overlord with his haste. "Yup!" Raul shot fire from his arms and legs to boost himself higher. Red focused on the energy of the sword and swung it like a bat at the Overlord's back. Sending him back up. Raul started to focus his energy. When the overlord finally reached Raul's level he started to yell.

"Lost!" Red made a barrier of ice to protect him in case the attack some how fail. "Fon!"
Red started to count down from 20. "DRIVE!"

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20.

Red melted the ice surrounding him, in time to watch Raul land gracefully and Ryu land on his back.

"Red! How much health did he lose?"

Red quickly sensed the man. "Only....5? What the the the the the?"

Raul crouched down, panting. "How much HP does he have in total?"

"320,347,295."

"We're screwed."

"That was fun. But you can do much better than that."

"My gosh, he survived a beta offensive?" Red said, walking backwards in intimidation. "Only think that could even remotely damage him is an Alpha offense."

"No way in the the the the am I gonna do a Alpha; for now."

Ryuenjin dusted himself off. "Try again. I have another 29 minutes to kill."








-- Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:46 pm --







~~~~~Part 2~~~~~

"Perhaps," Ryuenjin began, "All you guys need is motivation." Ryuenjin unsheathed a second blade and dashed at his first opponent, Raul.

"You knew the name Yamamoto, then you must know why this attack won't work." Raul jumped back, he landed on a handstand, timing his movements carefully. After about a second, he jumped back to his former position, shotting a fire ball towards Ryu with his legs right before landing. "Taste that."

Ryu chuckled. Raul and Red watched, in shock, as the flame disappeared before it made contact. Ryuenjin slashed at the flame 100 times, quickly sheathing and unsheathing all his blades in order to slash. Within 2 seconds, the flame vanished from the air. Red and Raul could feel their jaws drop as Ryu stretched his right arm, holding it with his left. "Wasn't expecting that. You guys have more abilities don't you? Use them. I will replenish them after; assuming you survive." He pointed at Red. "Why don't you try to control with me with that... what did you call it earlier? Blood bending, yeah that was it."

Raul quickly turned to Red. "You blood bended? Thought you said you wouldn't do that anymore."

"I only did it once; to Kors."

Ryuenjin snapped his fingers and the rain slowly started to disappear. "Try that again. This time, try to remember its raining and the terrain is wet."

"Shu-" Raul barely had time to finish the statement as he felt a violent stab in his abs. He coughed up blood as he tried to look up. Ryuenjin kicked Raul off his blade; wiping it against a wooden post.

"There, I left you with 10% health. Use that attack you used with Yamamoto to stop his 'bankai'."

Raul glanced at Red in pain; who was running right to Raul. "Red, Stand behind me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



"Oh? What's this?" Nesster said, switching his gaze from Bird to Red and Raul. "This is getting interesting." Nesster slowly listen to their thoughts. His gaze fell on Raul.

As much smack as he talks, he knows much our stuff hurts. Looks like... okay.... He's only seen 1 halve of Alpha offense. Hope Red is ready.

He then looked at Red.

What could I do? Okay, Might need to use Alpha. I hate this; I feel so weak. Worst of all, I expected this to happen. Okay, looks like he uses mind-tricks to attack his enemies. Raul, please stay alive.

"Looks like the next attack will be all out. Lets see what you have shown them Raiji."

"That first attack would have killed any of those competitors."

"Ha!" Laughed Ujanmunt. "With the damage it gave to Ryuenjin, I doubt that greatly." Ujanmunt continued to laugh. "5 points. Genius Ryuenjin. That'll show them despai-"

"15,000... 14,999... 14,998..." Nys interrupted.

"Shut up!" Raiji screamed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





"Raul, should we?"

"Might as well. Haste!" Raul yelled as he casted haste on Red. Red tapped on the jewel of the Dagger and entered his super haste mode. Red ran towards Ryu and began to attack. His slashes moved so fast, Raul's weak eyes couldn't follow Red's movements.

"Finally a challenge!" Ryu ran towards Red and retaliated with slashes of his own. Each of their attacks never missing. "Yes, faster!"

"Raulyouneedtomovequicklybeforeheoverpowersme!"

"Too slow." Ryuenjin's slashes started to move faster. Causing Red to trip alittle.

"Raul!"

"I'm on it! Come on Lorelei, help me out." Raul took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Tue rei ze croa riou tue ze
Croa riou ze tue riou rei neu riou ze
Va rei ze tue neu tue riou tue croa-"

Red started to slowly lose his speed. Ryu started to laugh. "Come on!"

"Riou rei croa riou ze rei va ze rei
Va neu va rei va neu va ze rei
Croa riou croa neu tue rei croa riou ze rei va
Rei va neu croa tue rei rei."

Red released his sword to uppercut Ryu, right before he was thrown too high, Red rathered water and froze Ryuenjin in the position he was in. "Oh, whats this? Alright. Lets see what you have up your sleeves."

Red looked at his dagger. 3 uses left. Red tapped on the Jewel twice and abused of the temporary time stop to freeze his blade and hack away to Ryu. Red ended his combo by jabbing Ryu in the eye. Red started running as soon as time started moving again bringing as much water as he can for protection. Ryu wiped the blood of his eyes and blinked off whatever pain or injury the eye had, the looked brand new within a few seconds. "Running? Quite some strategy."

"PAY ATTENTION!" Raul shouted from the sky. Most his visible wounds were gone, but his eyes showed the strain it was costing him just to yell so loudly. Raul started to completely focus all his energy into a small ball infront of him.

"Quite some power you have there." Ryuenjin said.

"Taste the power of-" Raul didn't have time to finish, as the Hyperresonance had already came into contact with Ryu.





Nys, Galhurst, and Cericis stood and watched as Raul's hyperresonance began to destroy everything in sight. The other overlord simply watched in silence.

"It was a great idea to sending Ryuenjin!" Ujanmunt said with pleasure. "Look at that! He destroyed 85% the arena as if it never existed in the first place! It would have destroyed more if I hadn't protected the area where the other competitors will arrive."

Raiji relaxed himself. This was it; Alpha. "If this manages to inflict at least 10 hp, then they have passed my expectations. Even remotely hurting one of us is a hard task to accomplish. Nesster?"

"I'm busy with Bird. Raul and Red were foolish for not putting Bird into their equation. That attack will attract his attention; Kors too."

"That boy never ceases to amaze me. Red too."

"Shut up Nys. This isn't over." Raiji said.





Red slowly limped back to the battle field, even he felt the force of the blow; despite being enclosed in a barrier of ice. Raul slowly made his way towards Red. "Please tell me you saved water for healing!"

Red extended his blade and shot about a pint of water into Raul's mouth. Raul could feel his muscles being restored to full health. "I saved some from the pool when we were at the forest; remember?"

Raul raised his right arm; towards Red. "Heal!" A green light surrounded Red. "Thought we were saving that."

"We have about 1 1/2 quarts left. And it appears 1 pint is required for a full heal, so that's about 3 more healing blasts. But I'm saving it for a life or death situati-"

"Now that was power!" Ryu said, emerging from the rubble. "Where was that 15 minutes ago?"

"Red."

"On it. He only lost 20 health. What happened to giving us a fight chance?"

Ryu shrugged. "Meh." He looked up to the moon; changing his face as if he were arguing with somebody. "Alright, alright." He snapped his fingers, and as soon as Red blinked his eyes, the landscape had return to how it was left. "And thats my cue. Here." Ryuenjin extended his arm, an orb of light appeared from his arm, as soon as his arm was aimed at Red, he shot the orb towards him. Red raised his arms and legs to block as much of his body as he could from an impact that could have been deadly. "There. Full dagger. Thanks for the warm up."

Before Red and Raul could processed what just happened, Ryuenjin disappear. "That bastard." Red said as he spat at the floor.

"Why do they always have to tease us?"

A voice could be heard echoing. "Because its fun."

"Shut up Nys!"

"Master?" Red shouted.



"Its gone Red."

"Oh well, lets go find Kors."

"Ehhh. Alright, fine. An eye for an eye and a life for a life I suppose. But once that dept is repaid, I'm gonna hack him to meat chunks. That's what he gets for killing Clarissa and making her a puppet of the Overlords."

"Mhmm."








Nys continued his countdown. "8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1-"

"I'm back. Right on time apparently." Ryu interrupted, attracting the attention of the Overlords.

"Impressive." Nys stated. "Thought you wouldn't make it this time."

Ujanmunt turned his attention back to the arena. "Quite some light show. Completely decimated all the Rock Golems in the area."

"And it looks like it caught some attention," Nesster said as he pointed his bony fingers to the big orb. He was mainly pointing at Kors.

"And what about the big bag on muscles?" Cericis added.

Galhurst sat back down. "He'll never get out with all those aides constantly drugging him."

"Never know," Ujanmunt said with a chuckle, "There is such a thing as drug overdose."

Raiji leaned closer to Nesster. "Lemme listen in to their thoughts."

Nesster, took his gaze off the orb to look at Raiji. "The boys?"

"Yes."

Nesster thought carefully about it. He didn't like the idea, but the connection is really one-way when he lets other tune in. "Alright."

Wonder how Bird's doing? Can he support that hospital for much longer?

Master.... I'm not gonna die anytime soon. Wonder if Kors is still alive... Man I envy that power Raul has. Darn his creative mind.





"Red! Isn't that Bird?"

Red squinted his eyes to focus on said target. "I don't know, only 1 way to figure it out. Hey BIRD! IS THAT YOU?!"

Raul chuckled. "You're an idiot."

[Rammerrush]

"So tell me how we can all win." Camas asked, the open mouthed Kors.

"How are you still alive?" He asked, ignoring Camas's question. "Ujanmunt said he'd killed you."

Camas lowered Essie to his side, close enough to attack, but not extremely intimidating. "Yeah well Ujanmunt says a lot of stuff aparently. However, I can't help but realize that you dodged my question, so how about you answer my question first," Camas raised his blade, a dark flame still heating the air around it, and threatened Kors. "Or I chop you down here and now."

Kors looked down and grunted before looking back into Camas's eyes with a new look of arrogance. "I could easily take you right now, I drew from the golems." Camas shrugged his shoulders and gave him an I don't care look. In response, Kors pushed his glasses up his nose and scoffed. "But fine, I'll tell you."

"Do you know Ujanmunt's title?" Kors asked.

Camas shrugged his shoulders again, he didn't. "Should I?"

Kors rolled his eyes to the response. "His title is Overlord of Life." Kors pocketed his hands and made his way back and forth across the room. "People have died in this tournament. People that didn't deserve to die; people like Clarissa." Something about Kors seemed different. Before, Camas had only seen Kors as this おはよございます～ who only cared about himself, but now he seemed to honestly care.

Still a おはよございます～ though. Camas couldn't help but think.

"If we're smart about this we can get Ujanmunt to bring everyone back."

"Why do you even care Kors?" Camas asked, steadily lowering Essie now that he didn't seem like such a threat.

Kors took a deep breath before looking back to the swordsman. "Because I killed Clarissa!" Kors was clearly upset, and if Camas didn't know better he'd say he had tears in his eyes. "I killed her, and now it's killing me..."

Clarissa... the innocent girl he had protected in the first fight. This guy killed her, this bastard that he didn't even like, but for some reason he felt more sorry than angry. Maybe it was the fact that he said there was a way to bring her back, or if it was because he looked so destroyed about it, Camas had no idea.

"I have to win this tournament, I have to survive, and I have to outsmart Ujanmunt and bring everyone back." Kors looked at Camas with soft eyes' a sharp contrast to his usual pompous eyes. "Will you help me save everyone Camas?"

Clarissa had reminded Camas so much of Essie; this guy had killed her. He should want to kill him, but he knew that if he did there was a chance Clarissa and everyone else who had died would stay that way... Camas was amazed he wasn't crushing Kors neck under his boot. Maybe he had gained more control in this tournament.

CRASHCROUSDNOWFSLNS DFEOMNFONSDPND:(Sound of Raul):OFNKDCJDVBIRNDL!!!!!

[Zup]

"Pin him down! Pin him down! He's getting up!" an aide roared at the others as he pulled out several electric batons from a hallway closet.

Vulres hopped to his knees, the darts in his back keeping him from fully standing up. Nevertheless he swiped at the first aide that tried to detain him, likely knocking him unconscious.

"You...c-cannot...def...defeat....Vulres Hellscream!"

The orc-turned-human slammed his fist into the stomach of the next aide, though he noticed that his punches were getting weaker and weaker. His vision was blurring. His jaw was slacking.

Another dart in his chest. Another stab from an electric baton.

He could barely make out what the aides were yelling at that point. "...ore...dle...et...ow...'s...out...ooooooo!"

He blacked out moments after.



============================= PART ONE: BOOM TIME =========================

Bird flexed his hands opened and closed, glad to see and feel that they were returned to their metal, inorganic state. His HUD booted up rapidly, quickly scanning the area to give him a bare-bones minimap, charts keeping track of his body and suit's physical and energy state, along with the incoming hostiles and Red and Raul standing not too far away. He continued his walk through the streets, his night vision giving him perfect sight of the barren city around him.

The robot had heard Red's call clearly, as if the boy was standing right beside him. However, the hostiles that were slowly beginning to creep into the edges of his minimap were of far more interest to Bird than the boy.

The first one that Bird picked up in his line of sight was a giant, stone golem arising from the ground a bit a ways behind Red and Raul, who were oblivious to the creature's existence, it seemed.

Boom time...

Bird's suit quickly rose through his metallic plating, forming around his body in its gold-and-maroon colors, shining even in the faint moonlight. The robot's thrusters kicked into gear and he spiraled straight past the two boys, who whipped around to see where the robot was going.

Hostile targeted.

Bird's palms shot out in front of him and they slammed against the torso of the golem, lifting it straight from the ground, carrying the monster with him. The robot continued to fly forward, smashing into the window of a building.

"What just happened?" Raul asked. Red shrugged.

Bird pierced through the window on the other side of the building, changing his direction to go upwards. His scanners picked up on the golem dying out inside the building. The robot barrel rolled as he soared higher and higher, feeling a sort of...happiness that he was able to return to this condition, rather than be human.

Bird hovered just above the roof of the building, glancing left and right as more golems began to creep their way into his minimap. He cracked his knuckles in front of him and opened his hands out beside him. He dived downward, swooping straight for Red and Raul, arms still extended to his sides.

"Down!" the robot commanded the two boys, who obliged after a brief moment of hesitation.

Two golems stomped their way into the scene, a few yards behind Red and Raul. Slits on the top of Bird's wrists opened and out poked a small gun barrel in each one. In a flash, a red laser erupted from each one, and Bird flew the beams straight through the torsos of the monsters, forcing them to crumble and die out.

Bird's hands suddenly whipped around in front of him, and he activated their thrusters, shooting him backwards to land in between Red and Raul. He held his hands out to both of them, and the three of them bumped fists.

"That was awesome!" Red commented, staring at the piles of cement in front of them.

"Man we're glad you're here, Bird," said Raul, exhaling. "Those golems are pretty tough."

Bird looked left and right again, taking note of the incoming golems.

He also picked up on Kors and Camas...

"Kors...Camas..." the robot said, not looking at his two companions. "Have they...*chirp*...allied themselves?"

"Wait, what?" said Raul. "Where are they?"

Bird's minimap detected them coming in not too far from here. "Arriving in...*click*...approximately one minute, forty-four seconds..."

Hostile incoming...hostile incoming...hostile incoming.

Suddenly the robot turned around to see a sight that completely puzzled him. A golem was stalking towards the three of them, only it was moving much faster.

And it was no longer made of rock...It appeared to be made of the same material used in Bird's suit.

"Whoa, what the the the the the is that?" Red asked, pointing to the incoming golem. "Bird it kinda looks like-"

Bird did not hear the end of the boy's statement as two more golems rose from the ground beside this peculiar one. What shocked him even more was that with a simple touch of their hand, they were suddenly coated in the same material as the original golem.

"Scan golem." Bird ordered his computer.

Scanning...material transmuted to that of current armor...scanning... suit functions not found.

Bird turned back to Red and Raul. "They only...*click*...copied the material. Don't...*chirp*...worry."

"But how do we cut them?" asked Red. "Your armor is-"

Bird lifted a hand to silence him. "Just charge my...*chirp*...battery with your fire...*click*...Raul."

Raul looked down to his hands, then nodded. "Uh...okay."

Bird opened his hands out wide to his sides before clamping them together. The armor melded to form a rather large gun barrel before him. The three could hear the sounds of the energy inside revving up, ready to shoot.

"As soon as I...*chirp*...launch this attack..." Bird began.

Raul turned to Bird, awaiting his command.

"...shoot fire above me, but...*click*...do not hit me directly with...*chirp*...it."

"Gotcha."

"Oh, and...*click*...hold off Kors and Camas...*chirp*...I'll smack them around after."











============================== PART TWO: BIRD GOES APESH*T ==================

Bird could feel the energy in the gun barrel loading up, ready to detonate. He hadn't been able to release this amount of power in a long, long time, and knew this was the perfect opportunity.

Target reticle loading...target locked on...Second target reticle loading...target locked on...Third target reticle loading...target locked on.

Bird nodded his head in confirmation of his computer's read-off. He held the rifle steady in front of him before finally firing a massive beam of blue energy that had enough force behind it that his feet skidded back a few inches after blasting. Raul stumbled back a bit as well.

The beam zoomed straight for the incoming golems, and there was not enough room or time for them to avoid it. The wave struck them in an instant, completely covering them so that an onlooker could not see them in the blue-and-white light. In a few seconds, the beam died out, and all that remained were dust and ashes.

"Fire!" Bird ordered. He noted that his battery level had dropped to a low 40%.

Raul nodded and punched the air above him, shooting a wave of orange flame into the empty space. Bird's power cells picked up the heat emitted from the flames and quickly converted it to battery energy.

"Need more?" the boy asked, but the robot shook his head. His rifle was disassembled and returned to Bird's two hands. He clenched them both in front of him before rising a few inches into the air.

The robot looked over his shoulder at Red and Raul before glancing off into the distance. "Here come...*chirp*...Camas and...Kors..."

Red looked over his shoulder at the two running towards them. One in all black, one in all white; including their hair.

Bird's scanners had quickly picked up on a third being with them, though. It was that strange life force inside Camas's sword that Bird had detected earlier. Was there someone inside the weapon? Was it just some sort of disguise or alternate form?

Bird didn't have time to dwell on it, however. Instead he locked on to the incoming golems, each spreading their replica skin copied from Bird's armor. The robot removed the pike from his back, activating the blade.

The robot zoomed forward to the closest one, the pike slashing across the monster's chest. Bird followed through with three more swipes before using his thrusters to get behind the golem, finally breaking through the armor-skin and killing the beast.

While delivering the finishing blow, Bird simultaneous fired off a smart missile into the skull of another golem. As the first fell to his pike slashes, his thrusters shot him off towards the target, and he stabbed the blade into the golem's skull a single second after the smart missile impacted.

Two more golems were quickly detected, and Bird decided to finish them off in style. The robot planted his feet solidly in the ground, waiting for just the perfect time. When it finally came, he hurled his saber pike horizontally, and it spun through the air like an incredibly long and thin boomerang.

Just as his grip on the pike loosened, Bird used the inert energy inside of him - not his thrusters - to leap high into the air, slowly turning the jump into a flip as he gained altitude. The plasma blade of the pike cut the first golem clean in half, killing it instantly.

Bird's hand shot out, his palm beckoning towards the weapon. It altered its trajectory at his will, firing upwards into his waiting grip.

The robot clenched the pike with both hands, aiming the plasma blade downwards. His leap had reached its peak and he now dropped straight down, impaling the blade into the skull of the remaining golem, shooting right through its armored head.

[Rammerrush]

"Now THAT is action!" Galhurst was jumping around the room in pure excitement at the show Bird was performing for the Overlords. "We need more of this Ujanmunt!"

"I agree, but we must change channels and check on poor Vulres." Amidst a cacophony of grunts and growls of disapointment, Ujanmunt lifted his hand and the picture swirled into a new scene.

It was the hospital, standing still like an intricate picture; the aides and patients were frozen in mid motion, paused in the infinite void. "Looks like our Orc Cheiftain has overdosed. He'll be joining the others shortly."

"It's about time," Alphen said, arms crossed in his chair. "I thought he'd be in there til the end of the tourney."

Ujanmunt flipped through all the rooms of the hospital, removing each aide and patient he had placed in his created world. However, when he came across the room Raul had died in he saw something that stopped him.

"What is it Ujanmunt?" Nesster asked from across the table.

"What do the rest of you see in this room?"

The other Overlords looked into the orb, seeing the room. "An unfeeling hospital room with a few former losers in it." Came the first response from Zyereon.

"That girl's crying!" Cercis shouted out, pointing at Clarissa.

"Shut up," Galhurst scolded, hitting his sister on the head. "That's not important enough to make Ujanmunt stop."

Raiji raised his voice over the squabbling twins. "There are a few aides in the corner of the room, Clarissa is at the foot of the bed, sobbing; good job with her mind by the way Ujanmunt,"

"Thank you Raiji."

Raiji continued. "The bed is rumpled from where Raul was laying, an electric baton is on the floor by the chair in where Camas is-"

"Exactly!" Ujanmunt declared, cutting Raiji off mid-sentence. "Camas is sitting in that chair."

"So?" Cercis asked, still in her brother's headlock.

"So we just saw him in the other world, how can he be in the hospital and the city at once? Can anyone answer me that?"

"Hehehehehehe," came a dark laugh from the corner of the room. Everyone looked toward the source of the laugh and saw Nys leaning nonchalantly, with a smirk on his face. "What's everyone looking at me for?"

Ujanmunt's eyes filled with anger. "Nys, what did you do?"

Calmly, Nys made his way to the table, he placed both hands on the back of Nesster's chair and stared at Ujanmunt through the light blue essence of the orb. "I released Camas."

"What do you mean?" Alphen asked, the conversation instantly piqueing his interest.

"I mean, Ujy here was never planning on putting Camas back into the fights. He had him trapped in one of his Life Pods in the cells. I found him and threw him back in."

"I thought the Camas in the hospital was acting a little odd." Raiji said from his chair. "I just never thought too much of it."

"These are my games, I can do what I want Nys! You had no right to tamper with my contestants."

Nys laughed his cold mischievous laugh again. "Well you lied, so I fixed it no harm, no foul." Nys moved back to his seat, suffice with how his big reveal had played out, and, suddenly no longer seeking a conflict with the Overlord of Life. "Let's get these games going!"

With a smile, Nys sat back in his seat and ignored the rest of the room. "Fool." Ujanmunt muttered as he continued to vanquish the remainder of his created world.

"I hope we didn't miss anything good!" Galhurst squeled excitedly

[Zup]

Ryuenjin strolled into the room, whistling a rather merry tune. He stepped into his chair, plopping down into it with an exhalation, placing his hands behind his head. Though the lower half of his face was covered by a mask, he still let out a rather loud yawn.

"Where've you been?" asked Galhurst, clearly a bit antsy after watching Bird in action. "You missed the part where the robot guy actually did some fighting!"

"Yeah Mr. Ryuenjin," chipped in Cercis. "He did this really cool thing where he-"

"Shut up!" spat her older brother, smacking her across the back of the head. "You suck at explaining!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Sheesh, relax," replied Ryuenjin, shutting his eyes for a bit. "Annoying brat."

"Where have you been?" inquired Raiji, entering the conversation from across the table.

Nesster chuckled for an instant. Raiji turned to the Overlord of Thought, beginning to ask what was so funny.

He had no reason to ask, for Woray slowly stepped into the room, adding a bounce to her light steps. Nys, the twins, Raiji, and Alphen all turned their attention to the demonic woman, all understanding what had been keeping Ryuenjin for the past few minutes.

The woman slowly dragged the tips of her fingers across Ryuenjin's chest, though it didn't seem to affect him much, as he kept his composure and posture the same. He did, however, turn to Nesster. "You readin' my thoughts again?"

Nesster opened his hand ever so slightly as if to say "and what of it?" before chuckling again and returning his attention to the tournament below.

Woray returned to her own seat at the far end of the table, folding one leg over the other, making quite the show out of it. Nys couldn't help but stare, his tongue just about ready to flap out in a pant and a wolf whistle.

"Tch," said Raiji, shaking his head. "You two are always at it."

"More than you think," replied Nesster, folding his hands together. "Perhaps more than I think."

Ujanmunt laughed.

"D'awww, jealous Nessie?" whispered Woray, tracing a circle on the table in front of her. She giggled.

"Actually," came Nesster's response. The rest of the overlords were now fixated on this dispute between the two. "Based on what I have seen in Ryuenjin's rather...dull mind, I'd say not."

Woray licked her lips. "And why is that?"

"Nothing but swords in his thoughts."

Nys and Galhurst burst into laughter, going so far as to slam the table with their hands. Ujanmunt, Raiji, and Alphen even got a few chuckles in. Woray pouted and folded her arms over her chest, but quickly recovered, her slight smile returning to her lips.

Ryuenjin simply sat there, humming "mhmmmmmm" over the ruckus from Nys and Galhurst.

[Redhollowlives999]

"Ugh," Red said with a loud sigh, "What are you doing to us Ujamarmar?"

"Shut up Red. Bird!" Raul prepared lightning. "Get ready for a quick boost!"

Bird gave Raul a thumbs up. 2 small antennas slowly came out of Bird's shoulder, Bird signaled Raul to aim towards them; who followed the signal. The burst of energy rushed out of Raul's finger tips and rushed to Bird's shoulders; which completely absorbed the attack. "Thanks *click*" Bird continued with his attack(s).

"I hate this." Red surveyed the area; there was plenty of water still around. 5 more Golems appeared infront of Bird. Red took as much water as he could; forming a big wave of water which he jumped on.

"That...*chirp* won't work with *click* that armor of theirs..."

Red tapped on his dagger's jewel a few times and watched as time came to a complete halt. He quickly rode his wave over the Golems; freezing the water as he moved over them. He jumped back to the spot where he originally stood before time began to move once again.



To Bird's shock, the golems have been completely trapped in ice; almost simultaneously. Bird tried to scan what had happened; his computers didn't pick up anything useful.

"I have them on hold for you Bird! Finish them!"

Bird did not hesitate in powering up his Unibeam to its highest potential and completely destroying the Golems; along with their icy tomb.

Red turned to see Raul approaching Kors and Camas. Red looked around; the Golems were gone for now. Red ran up to Raul; stopping half way to turn towards Bird. "Are you coming? Or are you-" Red was interrupted by Bird practically zooming at high speeds straight at Kors. "Bird wait!"

Raul turned and jumped aside. "Uh oh."





"And.... he's in." Nesster said.

"Who?" Galhurst asked.

"Vulres."

Ryuenjin jumped from his seat, stretching his arms; which gave off thunderous cracks. "Lets get this battle started then."

Raiji chuckled, "I see that little session didn't tire you out."

"Please."

"Lets see how far this will go first." Ujanmunt said, repeatedly tapping the table with all his fingers.





Bird was within killing distance before a voice boomed that made everybody cover their ears; even Bird had to stop and lower his volume perception.

"Save it for later champ."




Ujanmunt looked up with anger. "Ryuenjin!"

"Not yet. I want to see those 2 in action during the arena battle."

Nesster nodded in agreement. "Include Raul in there too. He seems mellow but his hate for the boy has increased; if anything."

Ujanmunt clapped his hands. "Excellent! We have a plan. 2 seperate battles; I like that."

Nys leaned in to the Orb, "Listen up! You have 3 hours to prepare for battle. Make it count!"


Red sighed. Raul leaned towards a nearby wall.

Camas turned and walked the other way from the group.

Bird and Kors exchanged a glare.

"Expect no mercy *chirp*.

Kors lifted his glasses back into its position, then walked after Camas.

[Rammerrush]

Camas and Kors walked away from Red, Bird and Raul. Camas had nothing against them but they had something against Kors, and Kors was the guy with the plan, so Camas went with him.

"So, what are we going to do about them?" Kors asked from behind Camas.

"Well, do they know about your plan Kors?" Camas responded. He didn't understand why they would be so quick to kill him if they knew he could bring victory to everyone.

"I started to tell Red but we got interrupted by a bunch of Golems."

"Well then we'll just have to talk to him, then won't we." Camas declared starting to turn around.

Kors stopped him. "Raul and Bird are with him," He said. "They'd both probably rather kill us."

"Us?" Camas asked. Why would they want him dead?

"You're with me so I assume they'd want you dead too." Camas hated to admit it, but Kors was probably right.

But that wasn't about to stop him; always best to be direct. "Well, they'll just have to listen anyway. Camas grabbed Kors in a playful headlock and started walking them both over to the other three contestants.

[Zup]

Bird stomped through the sidewalk of the dark street, his computer never losing track of where Kors was and what he was doing. He had to anticipate some sort of attack, should it come.

He wanted so badly to turn around and destroy the boy's body...but he couldn't...Not yet.

But when the opportunity was his, he would take it in a nanosecond.

"Bird, wait up!" came Raul's call seconds before he and Red jogged to catch up with the robot, who didn't even turn to acknowledge them.

The three walked in silence before Bird suddenly remembered that little scene in the battle with the golems earlier. He recalled a certain instance in which he could remember nothing, yet it seemed as if time had continued naturally. It was as if the scene had bits of the reel completely erased.

The robot halted his walk and turned around to face Red. "You."

Red quickly raised his hands in front of his face for protection. "DON'T SHOOT ME! PLEASE!"

Bird shook his head, scanners already at work. His computer calculated that it was impossible for the missing "frames" to be credited to something as simple as Bird getting something in his eyes or the entire scene blackening. No, it was something else. It had to be.

"The ice...*chirp*...How did you encase the golems so...*chirp*...quickly?"

Red's hands slowly dropped down while the boy raised an eyebrow. "Uh...what?"

"In one moment the golems were advancing...*chirp*...towards us and in the next they were frozen in...*click* *click*...ice. How were you able to...*chirp*...do so so quickly?"

"Oh, that," replied Red, chuckling, hand scratching the back of his head. He fished out the dagger from his belt, showing it to the robot. "I used this."

Bird's computer was already scanning the weapon. It didn't seem out of the ordinary, really. No, it came up as nothing more than a dagger. The robot looked back to the boy, cocking his head to the side in curiosity and confusion. "It is...*click*...just a dagger."

Raul and Red laughed. "Not really."

"What do you...*chirp*...mean?"

"If I tap this," replied Red, pointing at the jewel on the end opposite the blade. "I can...control time, kinda. It's like-"

Bird's head dropped down as close to the dagger as he could. His computer whirred at high speed to record every bit of detail Red had said while simultaneously searching his databases for questions and possible uses for such an ability. Meanwhile, his mouth fired off questions at a speed in which neither Red nor Raul could comprehend.

"Timecontrol?Manipulation?How...*click*...so?Simplespeedingandslowing...*click*...orperhapsthecapabilityof...*chirp*...haltingandcontinuing?Allinthejewel...*chirp**chirp**chirp*...onthehilt?Howdoyouindicatewhich...*click*...functionyouwish?Multiplepresses?Changein...*chirp*...pressure?Differentgestures?Whatabout-"

Red and Raul both clutched their foreheads in their palms, closing their eyes. "I...whuh...uh...."

Bird shook his head and straightened his back. He bowed forward, hand behind his own head, imitating what he believed to be the appropriate body language to utilize in this situation. "My...*chirp*...apologies."

[Redhollowlives999]

Raul chuckled. "Its fine."

Red turned and started tugging at Raul's arm. "Dude, company."

Bird looked up and saw the white haired boy who he vowed to kill. Bird jumped up and took out his saber, he would have attacked if it weren't for Red and Raul blocking his path with their swords; calming him down. Bird first looked at Camas, who was headlocking Kors. Bird's computers started creating strategies incase Camas and Kors were allies.

Red sheathed his sword away as soon as Bird calmed down. "Something wrong?"

Raul didn't remove his eyes from Kors for 2 seconds, "What the the the the the do you want you little rat?"