Leo_G

Hello Devious, I'm glad you noticed me .

Sorry if I came off as a repetative whiner(I'm sure there's a word for that but my vocabulary ain't great) but I felt it had to be said and I just wanted to add it to the compilation of other thread etiquette stuff.

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I know people often don't bother reading the beginning pages of some of the threads here that have become huge over time and thought a short reference to the old-school...um, 'school' threads might let people know their concept was already established, had participants, and that they had the option of joining those, which would likely get them more of a response than starting the same thing over again.

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I realize that but, commenting on the specific post of yours in question, that comment shouldn't have happened in the thread. It was better to have PM'ed the guy with that information rather than posting it in a snippity manner(which I'm sure was unintentional) which passed off as rude and possibly humiliating.

Another thing I'd like to add to this: If you're not going to actually put effort forward to help others then you don't really have much right to make comments like "Your grammar sucks" or "GTflipO". Either point them to the right thread or person to seek assistance(like this thread) or try and help improve their abilities through criticism(through PMs of course).

...lastly, are you gonna respond to what happened in SH101 or did I forget something? ^^;[EDIT]Heh, screwed up the last sentence and right after a post about grammar

Haha, I effectively derailed this thread ^^. Sorry.

Anyways, by recommendation from another poster, I'm pulling this thread up so others can see and understand and comment on some of the golden rules of this board that we all try to follow.

I'll go ahead and add the snipit I brought this thread up for: relating to the part near the end of Burning's posts - Watch what you say in OOCs and don't clutter up other's threads with your OOC comments.

To elaborate and simplify(oxymoron I know), if you're not participating in the thread, you don't want to participate in the thread or your comment is completely off topic and does not belong in the thread then don't post it. Ignore the thread, PM the poster, whatever just do everything in your power *NOT* to ruin someone else's thread or fun out right.

-Someone creates a new thread that is a carbon copy of another thread that is still going. Doesn't matter, ignore it or try and direct them to those threads via PMs.

-Someone steals your name. Um, well if it was intentional then yeah, that sucks. If you got a copyright on it then you can call an admin on it but otherwise you need to just suck it up. I've seen someone's forum name as 'Essex' so I guess the real Essex had to settle for '_Essex_'. I wonder if she had a hissy fit over that...

-If you're just going to post some negative crap then it was even said by Burning in the first post ("This is just a thread to outline some of the rules or suggestions of what to do (or not do) to avoid annoying or alienating people in the threads here, or really anywhere on a forum.") then you don't belong on this board. I'm not naming names but I can say there are two posters, one I'm quite disappointed in and the other that will not see any respect from me and other posters should follow suit because trash(like the particular poster I'm thinking of) should be put in its place otherwise it grows a spiteful/superiority complex.

I cannot emphasize it more clearly: Do Not Ruin Other Poster's Fun! As long as something isn't against the forum rules, they are allowed to do it if it's what they want. No one here is more entitled to do(or not do) something on these forums, we're all equals here so treat others how you want to be treated.

((...and my next post...))

Ian quickly recoiled when Ella slid closer in her chair. He quirked an eyebrow at the girl’s odd mannerisms. Hmm, she seems the same age as me but…she’s like a little kid… “Umm…you have a little……..” he said to her in a low voice and motioned to the tip of his nose with his index finger. An emotion began to surge in him, one that he was familiar with. It was similar to a big brother wanting to protect his little sister but he quickly shook it off.

“Heh, so you know of me?” he smiled and scratched the back of his head to occupy his hand. “I guess I’m kind of popular. Just call me and I’ll help you in any way I can,” he ended in a beaming grin.

[ QUOTE ]
“I’m Ella. Do something cool!” She sat up on her knees in the chair setting the cupcake off to the side. She watched him excitedly full of anticipation.

[/ QUOTE ]

His grin faded a bit to the point it looked forced and tried to play it off with laughter. “Ah, something cool? Do you mean a feat of physical prowess?” Ian crossed his arms and his face changed to a sort of pout and he looked toward the door. “…well. I guess since you asked so nicely.”

Ian turned and looked about the room to find something to do. He pulled a chair closer and stood in the seat. He drew his bokken and stood it up with the handle pointing to the ceiling balancing it on the top tip of the back of the chair. He then placed his index and middle finger on the handle end and started to push himself up on it until his legs were in the air and his feet nearly touching the ceiling tiles. The chair began to shutter and the fore legs of the chair were coming off the floor in short instances.

His balance wobbled a bit so he pulled his free hand up to his chest in a hand sign of focus to concentrate his chakra and balance. In truth, he hadn't done any balancing exercises like this in the past few months so he was very rusty. The chair and his body stopped wobbling for a few seconds (which is all he could manage at the time) and he was completely still until he released his focus and let himself fall, landing on the floor in a crouch. Ian’s bokken balanced for a moment more before falling and bonking him on the head, which looked unintentional but was part of his comedy routine he had recently thought up.

“Youch! My head ends up hurting every time I play with my wood,” he hissed and rubbed his head.

He replaced his bokken in his belt and rose to his feet, still rubbing the spot on his head. “So, Ella, tell me about yourself. Why are you here at the clinic?”

“Perhaps…perhaps not,” the middle age man grumbled as he rubbed the black stubble on his chin. He was seemingly sitting on a purple blob of haze before a game board in the courtyard of the clinic. The day was bright and sunny with a cool breeze that tickled the foliage of the tree he was sitting under.

He was one of the first few to be abducted by the Rikti although he managed to escape. His name is Edward Jacob Timbers, dubbed Seismic Psywave during the Rikti War by Statesman himself for amazing physical strength and powerful psychokenisis used to aid Statesman’s unit to push back the invaders. After the grueling war, Edward dedicated all his efforts to fighting the remaining Rikti but in the past years his body seemed to begin to deteriorate or change. Call it nature’s balancing act but it was plain as day that his abilities of the mind were growing stronger day by day while his body began to shrivel.

“Even if you could defeat them all, your best alternative is to force them back toward their portal,” Edward continued. He paused and examined the board before moving his xiang piece or elephant forward, boxing in his opponent’s ma piece(or horse) on the side of the board. Apparently he was playing a game of Xiangqi which is the Chinese version of Chess.

His opponent, a boy in a wheel chair, grinned manically. “But if the Rikti are so numerous, then pushing them back can be impossible, right?” Taking advantage of the elephant’s inability to cross the river, the boy sat his pao piece or cannon waiting for his enemy to move in close. Now that the elephant right next to his horse, he used the cannon to capture the elephant. Pleased with his move, the boy tightened the blue headband around his head (which he did after every successful move) and leaned back in his wheel chair.

Although he was in his mid to late teens, he seemed to be a boy in comparison to his middle aged opponent. His figure was thin but very athletic which made him seem even smaller compared to Edward’s muscular frame. A stick, actually bokken (a wooden sword), hung at his hip which was permitted on the premises because it wasn’t considered dangerous but if seen in battle anyone would soon change their mind. Ian Kelly examined the board smugly as he planned out the next few moves.

“So it would seem,” Edward answered. Without pause or batting an eye, he moved his ju piece or chariot forward and captured Ian’s cannon. “But their numbers can also be a disadvantage. If they’re all lining up to get through a portal then pushing them back eliminates their growing numbers.”

Another wide grin crossed Ian’s face as he saw Edward fall for his ploy. He moved his horse and took out Edward’s advisor piece (shi) and had his opponent’s general in check. “Ha, I knew that. But if you simply push forward and eliminate the key enemy they would have no choice but to admit defeat.”

As Ian adjusted the tightness of his headband again, Edward simply moved his chariot forward and captured Ian’s general who was left open after he moved his cannon forward. “Once again, so it would seem. You can never be quite sure with the Rikti because you could be falling into a trap.”

“Bah, you got me again,” Ian huffed good-naturedly.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to try and protect your general with cannons.”

“Hey! My cannon strategy may have holes but it works! You’re just mad because I beat you with it those four other times,” Ian laughed.

Edward laughed along with him and began cleaning up the board. “Maybe so but when it comes to Chess or Shogi, you don’t stand a chance.”

Just then, one of the clinic nurses came up behind them with crossed arms and a disappointed expression. “How many times do I have to tell you to keep your power usage to a minimum, Ed?” she asked with a sigh.

“Hehe, sorry Nurse Cisneros. We couldn’t find another chair so he let me borrow his,” Ian explained with a nervous grin which didn’t seem to help. Ian quickly hopped out of the wheel chair and pushed it up behind Edward. Ed let the purple hazy telekinetic energy dissipate so he fell gently into the chair.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been taking care of myself,” Edward dismissed and wheeled his way to the nurse.

“Okay, well it’s time for your check-up so let’s get moving,” she said and moved behind the man to push him toward the nearby building. “Thanks for your time, Ian. You can take your lunch now,” she told Ian from over her shoulder.

Ian just nodded and smiled until the two were out of sight. “-Sigh- Lunch in this place? Uhg….” He lazily shuffled into the cafeteria and sat at a table by himself. Lately, Ian had taken up some volunteer work around Paragon when he wasn’t rigorously training with his teacher. He had been here at the Somerdale Lake Hero Clinic for two weekends now but was seriously thinking about finding other work that was less passive and more engaging. He had to do everything in his power not to start jumping around off the walls hyperactively, at times. Not to mention the lunches weren’t so great for those not attending the clinic for medical reasons.

Something behind him sparked his senses but he did not take action as he knew it wasn’t dangerous. A light tap on his shoulder made him turn his head around to find a shapely woman with long light brown hair wearing street clothes. She smiled and leaned down to kiss Ian on the cheek.

“Cut it out, mom,” he blushed and rubbed his cheek vigorously. “What are you doing here?”

“Just checking on you,” Sandra said as she sat across from him. “I also though you’d like some lunch. I didn’t know what you’d like so I just got you a caterer.”

As if on cue, a woman and a man dressed in white wheeled in a cart next to Ian’s table. Ian placed his face in his palm and prayed no one was paying attention to his table. Roast duck, grilled chicken fillet, stuffed roast, Caesar salad, mandarin salad and many more dishes were placed before him although he just looked past them.

“Mother, you know I hate being pampered like this,” he gruffed and hid his face.

“I know, that’s exactly why I did it,” Sandra smiled back. “Stop being self conscious and just eat. I only have a few minutes left before I have to go. Important meeting and all that rot.”

Ian didn’t protest further and obeyed. He silently nibbled as Sandra watched him intently with her head propped up on her hands. Ian put down his fork and tapped his finger on the table. “What!?” he whined and waved a finger at his mother, “…and why are you going to a meeting dressed like that?”

"I'm the boss, I can wear what I want," Sandra laughed then looked deeply into her son's eyes. “...and I’m just so proud of you, taking time out of your busy life to help people….how many super heroes do that?” Sandra beamed at Ian even more happily.

“I’m not a super hero…I just do what I can…”

“Well, you’re my super hero,” she said proudly while rising from the table and walking up behind him and embracing him once more. “I’ve got an appointment to keep. Make sure you call your mother more than once a week.” Sandra began to exit quickly but waited near the exit for Ian to say his goodbyes.

“You know I call more than once a week,” he called back and waved. Ian pushed his plate away and waved for the caterers to leave. He bowed his head to them slightly before leaving the table.

Dusting off his uniform to make sure no food particles would stain it (by the way, he’s dressed like a member of the staff at the clinic), Ian slowly walked to his destination, a sort of gathering to meet more people that he could assist. As he walked, patients of the clinic were all greeting him with “Hey, Ian! What’s up?” or “How’s it going, Ian?”. He just nodded and smiled back. A lot of people there knew him because he was constantly helping or entertaining anyone that asked but he still felt he should be out fighting crime instead.

He absently walked into the meeting room which was furnished with decorations and food which he easily ignored and plopped in a chair. “Gah, how long do I have to stay here?!” he sighed loudly, ignorant to the fact anyone else was in the room. It was only a matter of time before his senses grasped his surroundings and he quickly turned his head in Ella’s direction.

“Opps…I mean, hello there. I’m Ian. What’s your name?” He made sure his voice was full of excitement and enthusiasm to establish an aura of cheeriness. He pushed himself up from his chair and bowed in her direction as if she were his opponent and they were going to spar (another little way he entertains the patients and brings about laughter).

((Okay, 3 pages is my limit. My main character is going to be a non-patient, Ian, while I keep an NPC that I’ll probably develop into a main character to take Ian’s place, Edward.))

((With permission, reposting Halo's post from the other thread.))

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Ella swiveled her chair in Ian’s direction. She was halfway through the frosting on the cupcake and had a tiny bit on the end of her nose. Her eyes narrowed only slightly at the edges as she quickly sized Ian up, taking in the uniform and bokken. Her expression immediately brightened.

“YOU’RE Ian!!!”

Ella had heard of the boy hero that has been volunteering at the Clinic, but somehow had kept missing meeting him. Ella’s chair rolled over to be closer to Ian’s, plowing through some of the unoccupied chairs in the process.

“I’m Ella. Do something cool!” She sat up on her knees in the chair setting the cupcake off to the side. She watched him excitedly full of anticipation.

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I'm sure several threads like this have popped up explaining etiquette in a thread or on these boards. Heck, I've probably posted in them, giving my opinion or adding to it(although I'm pretty sure I've broken a few of those golden rules lately) but I want to add something.

If you don't want to participate in a thread then don't post in it. At the very least DON'T POST SOMETHING NEVATIVE/STUPID OR WITH SOME SORT OF ATTITUDE AS IF SOMEONE OWES YOU SOMETHING because you just ruin other's fun.

Someone creates a new thread that is a carbon copy of another thread that is still going. Doesn't matter, ignore it or try and direct them to those threads via PMs.

Someone steals your name. Um, well if it was intentional then yeah, that sucks. If you got a copyright on it then you can call an admin on it but otherwise you need to just suck it up. I've seen someone's forum name as 'Essex' so I guess the real Essex had to settle for '_Essex_'. I wonder if she had a hissy fit over that...

Lastly, if you're going to post nothing but a huge negative post calling someone a Thief or leeches on the backs of blah blah blah then I'll just report the post to an admin because that crap shouldn't touch this forum(yes, I'm talking to you Mr. name-starts-with-an-L-ends-in-a-v-with-a-dD-in-the-middle). I don't know who you think you are or why you feel obligated to talk down on other posters but you should be ashamed.

Sorry, I didn't want to clutter up anyone's threads anymore with this so I made this.

((Hmmm, when you say ‘Non-Combat’ you give the impression of ‘Non-Conflict’ which is equal to ‘Boring’. Maybe not say ‘Non-Combat’ but ‘Limited Combat’ in the sense that long drawn out battles won’t happen. I could see two-three step battles(not really battles but maybe accidental loss of control or villains that try to attack vulnerable heroes or assassination attempts, etc.) happening for various reasons but I don’t care to fight or not. I’ll give it a shot even though I’ve been very busy so can’t keep up with the boards as much.))

“Perhaps…perhaps not,” the middle age man grumbled as he rubbed the black stubble on his chin. He was seemingly sitting on a purple blob of haze before a game board in the courtyard of the clinic. The day was bright and sunny with a cool breeze that tickled the foliage of the tree he was sitting under.

He was one of the first few to be abducted by the Rikti although he managed to escape. His name is Edward Jacob Timbers, dubbed Seismic Psywave during the Rikti War by Statesman himself for amazing physical strength and powerful psychokenisis used to aid Statesman’s unit to push back the invaders. After the grueling war, Edward dedicated all his efforts to fighting the remaining Rikti but in the past years his body seemed to begin to deteriorate or change. Call it nature’s balancing act but it was plain as day that his abilities of the mind were growing stronger day by day while his body began to shrivel.

“Even if you could defeat them all, your best alternative is to force them back toward their portal,” Edward continued. He paused and examined the board before moving his xiang piece or elephant forward, boxing in his opponent’s ma piece(or horse) on the side of the board. Apparently he was playing a game of Xiangqi which is the Chinese version of Chess.

His opponent, a boy in a wheel chair, grinned manically. “But if the Rikti are so numerous, then pushing them back can be impossible, right?” Taking advantage of the elephant’s inability to cross the river, the boy sat his pao piece or cannon waiting for his enemy to move in close. Now that the elephant right next to his horse, he used the cannon to capture the elephant. Pleased with his move, the boy tightened the blue headband around his head (which he did after every successful move) and leaned back in his wheel chair.

Although he was in his mid to late teens, he seemed to be a boy in comparison to his middle aged opponent. His figure was thin but very athletic which made him seem even smaller compared to Edward’s muscular frame. A stick, actually bokken (a wooden sword), hung at his hip which was permitted on the premises because it wasn’t considered dangerous but if seen in battle anyone would soon change their mind. Ian Kelly examined the board smugly as he planned out the next few moves.

“So it would seem,” Edward answered. Without pause or batting an eye, he moved his ju piece or chariot forward and captured Ian’s cannon. “But their numbers can also be a disadvantage. If they’re all lining up to get through a portal then pushing them back eliminates their growing numbers.”

Another wide grin crossed Ian’s face as he saw Edward fall for his ploy. He moved his horse and took out Edward’s advisor piece (shi) and had his opponent’s general in check. “Ha, I knew that. But if you simply push forward and eliminate the key enemy they would have no choice but to admit defeat.”

As Ian adjusted the tightness of his headband again, Edward simply moved his chariot forward and captured Ian’s general who was left open after he moved his cannon forward. “Once again, so it would seem. You can never be quite sure with the Rikti because you could be falling into a trap.”

“Bah, you got me again,” Ian huffed good-naturedly.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to try and protect your general with cannons.”

“Hey! My cannon strategy may have holes but it works! You’re just mad because I beat you with it those four other times,” Ian laughed.

Edward laughed along with him and began cleaning up the board. “Maybe so but when it comes to Chess or Shogi, you don’t stand a chance.”

Just then, one of the clinic nurses came up behind them with crossed arms and a disappointed expression. “How many times do I have to tell you to keep your power usage to a minimum, Ed?” she asked with a sigh.

“Hehe, sorry Nurse Cisneros. We couldn’t find another chair so he let me borrow his,” Ian explained with a nervous grin which didn’t seem to help. Ian quickly hopped out of the wheel chair and pushed it up behind Edward. Ed let the purple hazy telekinetic energy dissipate so he fell gently into the chair.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been taking care of myself,” Edward dismissed and wheeled his way to the nurse.

“Okay, well it’s time for your check-up so let’s get moving,” she said and moved behind the man to push him toward the nearby building. “Thanks for your time, Ian. You can take your lunch now,” she told Ian from over her shoulder.

Ian just nodded and smiled until the two were out of sight. “-Sigh- Lunch in this place? Uhg….” He lazily shuffled into the cafeteria and sat at a table by himself. Lately, Ian had taken up some volunteer work around Paragon when he wasn’t rigorously training with his teacher. He had been here at the Somerdale Lake Hero Clinic for two weekends now but was seriously thinking about finding other work that was less passive and more engaging. He had to do everything in his power not to start jumping around off the walls hyperactively, at times. Not to mention the lunches weren’t so great for those not attending the clinic for medical reasons.

Something behind him sparked his senses but he did not take action as he knew it wasn’t dangerous. A light tap on his shoulder made him turn his head around to find a shapely woman with long light brown hair wearing street clothes. She smiled and leaned down to kiss Ian on the cheek.

“Cut it out, mom,” he blushed and rubbed his cheek vigorously. “What are you doing here?”

“Just checking on you,” Sandra said as she sat across from him. “I also though you’d like some lunch. I didn’t know what you’d like so I just got you a caterer.”

As if on cue, a woman and a man dressed in white wheeled in a cart next to Ian’s table. Ian placed his face in his palm and prayed no one was paying attention to his table. Roast duck, grilled chicken fillet, stuffed roast, Caesar salad, mandarin salad and many more dishes were placed before him although he just looked past them.

“Mother, you know I hate being pampered like this,” he gruffed and hid his face.

“I know, that’s exactly why I did it,” Sandra smiled back. “Stop being self conscious and just eat. I only have a few minutes left before I have to go. Important meeting and all that rot.”

Ian didn’t protest further and obeyed. He silently nibbled as Sandra watched him intently with her head propped up on her hands. Ian put down his fork and tapped his finger on the table. “What!?” he whined and waved a finger at his mother, “…and why are you going to a meeting dressed like that?”

"I'm the boss, I can wear what I want," Sandra laughed then looked deeply into her son's eyes. “...and I’m just so proud of you, taking time out of your busy life to help people….how many super heroes do that?” Sandra beamed at Ian even more happily.

“I’m not a super hero…I just do what I can…”

“Well, you’re my super hero,” she said proudly while rising from the table and walking up behind him and embracing him once more. “I’ve got an appointment to keep. Make sure you call your mother more than once a week.” Sandra began to exit quickly but waited near the exit for Ian to say his goodbyes.

“You know I call more than once a week,” he called back and waved. Ian pushed his plate away and waved for the caterers to leave. He bowed his head to them slightly before leaving the table.

Dusting off his uniform to make sure no food particles would stain it (by the way, he’s dressed like a member of the staff at the clinic), Ian slowly walked to his destination, a sort of gathering to meet more people that he could assist. As he walked, patients of the clinic were all greeting him with “Hey, Ian! What’s up?” or “How’s it going, Ian?”. He just nodded and smiled back. A lot of people there knew him because he was constantly helping or entertaining anyone that asked but he still felt he should be out fighting crime instead.

He absently walked into the meeting room which was furnished with decorations and food which he easily ignored and plopped in a chair. “Gah, how long do I have to stay here?!” he sighed loudly, ignorant to the fact anyone else was in the room. It was only a matter of time before his senses grasped his surroundings and he quickly turned his head in Ella’s direction.

“Opps…I mean, hello there. I’m Ian. What’s your name?” He made sure his voice was full of excitement and enthusiasm to establish an aura of cheeriness. He pushed himself up from his chair and bowed in her direction as if she were his opponent and they were going to spar (another little way he entertains the patients and brings about laughter).

((Okay, 3 pages is my limit. My main character is going to be a non-patient, Ian, while I keep an NPC that I’ll probably develop into a main character to take Ian’s place, Edward.))

((Okay, this is my personal opinion but I think it’s valid. You made that situation *OVERLY ELABORATE*! I mean, I had to reread the layout of the outside of the building about four times just to make sure I understood it but I'm slow . Also, I don’t really care much for all of the other obstacles because they’re so strict. Compared to the first situation, this one has too much of a rigid structure for freedom of RP. Not being able to use travel powers on the captive? That stinks! Reason: Some characters are mainly about that travel power and not completely overpowered like some characters that have all travel powers and can stop time while baking a cake using gamma rays not to mention it doesn’t make sense. Maybe you could have two situations, one with simple ‘obstacle A, B, C, D’ and then the second situation just elaborated on those obstacles.

I’m simply going to extract the obstacles from your explanation and write with that:

Mission: Save a captive from an enemy stronghold who cannot escape themselves.
-They’re located on a floor somewhere between 20th and 40th but you don’t know where.
-The building is heavily guarded outside by means of your choosing.
-There are only several entry ways(3) which are all guarded by separate means of security. To gain access, there are 3 special guards located around the secured perimeter that have the means to open those entry ways.
-The prisoner is being held in a cell wired to trigger if you break it open.
-Two keys exist, one that simply opens the cell possessed by one boss that is patrolling around and the universal key that can open everything possessed by the elite boss on the top floor.
-Once the prisoner is freed, the enemy will immediately attempt to kill him if sighted.
-You must lead the captive out of the situation alive and unharmed.

Now, the reason I suggest something more generic is because I feel you should be able to meld the situation how you see fit. If you want to face yourself with highly organized thugs it’s your choice. If you want to face yourself with mad geneticists with crazed abominations of nature it’s your choice. If you want to face yourself with powerful magic users that use barriers and seals to hinder you it’s your choice. Also, if you want to run gung-ho and use brute force, its your choice if you think its possible within the guidelines.

I’ll write my version later when I have more time and after I decide which character to use.))

((I like this idea! So round 1 is retrieve an item from a guarded and locked safe? Hope round two will be more difficult…maybe even impossible.))

Although it was still the early evening, the dreary clouds that hung in the sky veiled the scene in a gloomy grey. Jase looked down upon the warehouse from a lamp post across the block with a determined eye. “Well, this is the place. Doesn’t seem well guarded…”

With a single hand sign, shadows engulfed his form and he disappeared in darkness. Soon, he emerged at a side door to the warehouse. “I’d rather not fall asleep on a mission so I’d better make this fun.” With that, Jase performed a series of handsigns, ending on an odd unique sign that made the shadows in the small area around him stretch and fade. If you were watching him now, he would have become transparent for a short instant. “All right! Let’s do this!” he shouted and pulled out a handful of projectile weapons.

The guard within several dozen yards were alerted by the shouting and began reporting a disturbance in their sector before investigating. They turned their backs to the wall as they neared a corner. Just before they could quickly and cautiously round the corner with drawn weapons, a crazed teen in black and yellow ninja garb leapt out of a shadow on the wall. Without a pause, Jase bombarded the surprised group with a shower of poisoned blades.

He continued running through the slowly assembling guards, managing to elude their fire while dropping a few with well aimed shuriken. “Don’t let that [censored] through! Shoot him! Shoot him!” shouted one of the Lieutenants while firing round after round at the intruding ninja.

Jase was grazed by a few of the bullets but managed to get past them without much other injury. With a gang of guards on his tail, Jase finally ran into the boss, a tall muscular guy with a deadly looking assault rifle that seemed to be a combination of a flamethrower, gatling gun, grenade launcher and a lance-like bayonet. The boss was standing on the catwalk, talking over his comlink to give orders to the others before he took notice of the intruder. The boss quickly pulled up his gun defensively, narrowly deflecting a kunai knife that was hurled at his head. “You’ll have to do better than that, [censored]!”

The boss turned his gun on Jase and pulled the trigger. A hail of bullets rained on the assassin, managing to pierce Jase in one of his arms and shoulder. Although it was a slight struggle, Jase managed to dodge the majority of the bullets and flipped up to a support beam and down to the catwalk. “Now you die!” Jase quickly rushed the boss, drawing the oversized kunai swords from his back to impale the leader.

The boss pulled up his bayonet and smacked one of Jase’s blades away but Jase quickly lunged forward with the second. Just then, a flurry of gunfire from the minions below caused Jase to leap back for his life which interrupted his assault. The boss just smirked and flipped a switch on his gun. A few clicks and a pull of the trigger launched a flashbang grenade that knocked Jase down on his back. Just as he was getting to his feet the boss flipped another switch and fired a blaze of bullets at the assassin. Dozens of rounds pierced his body and he fell back, his limbs lifeless. “So this is the famed Nightmare-Strike? Bull-[censored]. Get this trash out of here and return to your posts.”

As the minions drug the dead assassin away to be disposed of and gathering up their dead comrades, they didn’t take notice of the shadowy figure sneering in the dark corners of the area. That worked too perfectly, my little shadow. With a distraction like that I was easily able to read the hunk’s mind….now for the fun.

The guards that were keeping an eye on the safe finally returned to their post with a shock. The safe was open and the contents were stolen. Immediately, they reported to the boss who quickly came to investigate. “Damn! It must have been a trick or something…our contact’ll have my head for this…” the boss groaned, slinging his large gun on his back.

“Don’t worry. When he first got in and you gave me the order, I managed to get a tracker on the device. We’ll catch him, sir,” said one of the lieutenants from behind the boss. Soon, the boss and lieutenant were both hot on the assassin’s trail.

Jase was leisurely jumping from rooftop to rooftop while tossing the strange device from hand to hand. “Hehe, I bet Cain’ll be really pleased I finished the mission in only an hour. I hope he asks me to do more for him,” he grinned to himself as he through of the attractive young scientist that was paying him for this mission. His mind was on his blonde contact, replaying the young man’s voice as he smiled gleefully.

A single shot rang through the gloomy sky and Jase was quickly dropped to one knee. Blood poured down his left arm and Jase quickly grasped his chest in agony. “Thought ya got away, eh?” the boss laughed as he closed in on his prey. Jase just looked at the man with cold angry eyes before being stabbed in the stomach by his lance-like bayonet. With a pained croak, Jase fell in a pool of his own blood.

“Good work, sir,” the lieutenant cheered behind his leader.

“Good thing I thought to put that tracker on it before he stole it,” the boss laughed as he leaned over and retrieved the device from the thief.

“Did you?” replied the lieutenant from behind the boss. A silence overcame the two before the rain started. The boss didn’t understand what the lieutenant meant until he felt a shuriken dig deep into his back.

“Ack! Cack!....Wh..what the?”

“Feeling the poison already? Heh, it’ll paralyze you pretty good,” the lieutenant laughed before his form became hazy and altered back to the original form. “You didn’t think of putting a tracker on it. I did and implanted the thought into your head to make you believe you did. It was a ploy to lure you to a secluded place,” Jase grinned.

The dead body of Jase lying on the roof was set ablaze in black fire and disappeared and the real Jase was engulfed in the same dark fire and reached back to draw one of the large kunai swords from his back. “I’ll enjoy hearing a hottie like you scream for mercy…Unsho!”

(([EDIT] Too much? ))

Just to nitpick...

I thought Burning Brawler's last name was Warren...I know that's Rachel's name at least.

I enjoy sharing, especially if people are willing to listen. I really like my main character’s weapons even if its cliché.

Ian, like several good swordsmen, has (or had) two swords. The first is a traditional katana custom made for him so the size, weight, curvature, etc. is perfect for his stature. The composition is not special, just a well made katana constructed through traditional methods. What makes the sword special is what the swordsman puts into the sword. Just as his teacher taught him, Ian created an emotional bond with his sword (which he calls Tiger Fang) so the sword is almost alive and apart of him.

All that is needed to be done is find an emotion you want to share with the sword and the bond can be formed through meditation. Ryjuta, Ian’s teacher, left it up to him to decide what emotion to choose so he naively chose fierce anger. As Ian becomes more angry, the sword feeds on that anger and grows sharper, assuring that his mind isn’t overcome by that anger. Also, if the sword draws blood, even of the wielder, the blade grows hotter which makes it easier to cut through things. Not to mention the sword is as strong as the will and spirit of the person its bonded to, allowing the blade to seem extremely impervious to bending, breaking, dulling or chipping although its still vulnerable.

Ian’s second sword is not really even a sword. His bokken, or wooden sword, has many abilities all its own. Carved from an ancient tree with an arrow in it, the wood has strange properties to feed off of prevalent energies. Having trained with the bokken for years to learn Ryjuta’s techniques, Ian’s chakra is infused with every fiber of the wood so that the bokken looks like wood but is literally solidified spirit energy. It can never be broken unless faced with a foe with stronger spirit energy than himself although he himself could break it easily with two hands. Having focused so long to learn Ryjuta’s elemental techniques, the sword tends to absorb fire, lightning, energy, negative energy, spirit energy, radiation, etc. but ineffective vs. cold, telekinetic and/or sound. With practice, Ian can focus his chakra through the sword to make his sword strike stunningly powerful and capable of cutting through material more cleanly than a traditional sword (far more than what would be expected from a sword of wood).

As far as techniques, all my characters have some kind of ‘technique’ that I simply adore the idea of which is why I keep the characters as concept.

Ian has a lot of techniques and combination techniques but my favorite, although not his most powerful, is the combination technique Hidden Dragon Strike. First performed in a thread was in 24 Hour Virus, it combines Gambler’s Cut and [/i]Soaring Dragon[/i]. Gambler’s Cut creates spirit projections of Ian, completely indistinguishable by any sensory instruments or senses but smell, touch or taste(not even telethapy could distinguish them) although they cannot affect anything, around the target. It’s a gamble because you only have time to attack or block one or two of them(as an AoE attack would be too slow to execute and trying to escape would simply leave you open from all sides) if you pick the right one, the attack is thwarted but if you fail the attack will hit dead on. Ian then performs a Soaring Dragon which is a powerful upward slash that knocks the enemy into the air.

Then Magitech Maiden MKI has an interesting technique that I haven’t posted but will be her signature attack. The Super Pinball Blast Zone technique combines her barrier creating capabilities and her energy orbs. She starts off by making an enormous orb of energy, about 10x the size of her body, then throws it up. Just as the orb leaves her hands, she crouches down and barriers of elastic energy surround and entrap her enemy or enemies(usually about 20 yards around the enemy). After enclosing the enemy, she then begins creating tubes and walls to bounce the orb she threw up into the contained area. When the orb finally enters the contained area and explodes, the barriers stretch to contain the blast. They stretch and stretch and stretch and stretch until finally the force is bounced back, causing something like an implosion which then reverberates through the ground which pretty much does away with the force barrier and uplifts the ground in huge chunks.

Then Jase has…oh and Hyun-ki has…don’t forget about MSMKII and Ian still has like three other really cool ones and and and….

Not bad, not bad...

Can't wait to read the rest of it although I'm interested in finding out who the three beings are...and if there's a version of Tiny Tim somewhere.

You can use any of my characters if you wish. I even have lists of characters I was meaning to insert into some RP thread but never got around to it...

Anyways, if by some insignificant chance you do use my characters, don't make them look like dorks. I don't like dorks.

[ QUOTE ]
Well screw you too.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's my line...anyways, I hope you at least read through some posts while you're not posting so you're not lost when you come back.

I almost forgot another obvious Con to Jin Lei's powers.

Cons: They are pretty much all close ranged attacks. She really has no ranged attacks and her debuffs must be applied in melee range which is dangerous for a fighter that has no potent means of protection. Her buffs must also be applied in close melee range. It would be difficult for her to buff all her allies at the same time and/or keep them buffed as she must focus to keep herself in the fight in melee and her allies too.

----

...a fifth to the list. I wasn't planning to reveal his powers until he was introduced in another thread of mine but now I don't see a reason to keep it in the dark.

Linn (Illusion/Energy Dominator)

This combination may appear in the furture but currently it's impossible. When it's available though, I have his costumes all planned out and everything...

Linn was a mutant human who was born a few hundred years ago. His powers were potent spiritual presence and an ability to predict the future due to hosting an unborn spirit from the future who would later exist as William Kelly. In an attempt to separate himself and free the spirit, Linn was thrown into the realm of banished demons where his spirit grew in power and size to the point he could affect anything everywhere in the realm. Due to unstability, William found a way to escape the realm of banished demons to present day Paragon city. Although Linn is not as powerful as he was in the demon realm, his spirit is still large (expanding 80yards in every direction from his body) and he can use that 'Spirit Field' in various ways. The 'Spirit Field' is always invisible (chakra cannot be seen or detected without skills specifically tailored to see spirit. Even the ability to see or detect ghost and apparitions does not grant the ability to see or detect Linn's Spirit field. In the least, it may be sensed by someone who is spiritually powerful) unless Linn converts a portion of the field into energy.

--Illusion Control: Linn's 'Spirit Field' can be manipulated in various ways. From swirling about him to mask his and his allies' presence to transforming into any scene he sees fit to decieve his enemies. He can also cause his enemies to feel pain by attacking their spirit with his own spirit which gives the illusion that it harms the body. Linn's signature power is creating duplicates of any person he's met to do his bidding. These duplicates have every ability of the original *IF* Linn has witnessed the original using that power, otherwise the duplicates just use assault powers similar to Linn's. Of course, these duplicates don't actually cause the same damage as the original as the duplicates' attacks assault the spirit which only causing momentary damage to the body.

--Energy Assault: Sometimes, Linn can focus his 'Spirit Field' so that his duplicates do cause physical harm rather than spiritual harm due to the ability for Linn to charge his spirit into energy. This spirit to kinetic energy conversion is very simple for Linn to perform and he can shoot beams of chakra converted energy at his enemies and charge his fist and feet with concentrated chakra energy. There is also a certain attack where he converts his entire spirit field into energy to use for one attack.

--Other: Umm...he can super jump....that's about the only pool I can figure out that fits his concept but his powers give him other advantages. >>Anyone that treads in range of his spirit field (within 80 yards of him) is sensed by him unless they have their presence masked, although any communicating with others will often reveal your presence. >>Any attacks launched from nearby he has a slight 'Spirit Sense' so he can attempt to protect himself, often times using the Spirit Field around him to deflect attacks.

[EDIT]>>Oh yeah, and under the right circumstances, Linn can merge his essence with another person to the point that he can use that person's powers to a weaker degree or simply control the body of that person to use the person's powers as he sees fit. The circumstances of such a merge is difficult and rare. He rarely uses this power as it is his most powerful and useful skill.

The next day, Yuri and Ian were alone on the far side of the training ground sparring. Ian was vigorously striking at Yuri with many punches and kicks at quite a fast speed. Yuri simply blocked and deflected his blows.

Slightly steamed that he couldn’t land a blow, Ian feigned a punch only to quickly drop and perform a sweep at Yuri’s feet. She jumped up to dodge which is when Ian followed up with a swift side kick. Yuri caught the foot and seemingly without effort, she tossed it back which caused Ian to backflip. He landed on his feet but had to skid to a stop by the force of the deflection.

Yuri audibly yawn and patted her mouth with a palm which caused Ian to growl with annoyance and charged in to make a strong tackle to pin her. Uhg, look at him…he thinks he has a chance or something…I’ll put him in his place, she scowled inwardly. With much skill, Yuri stepped to the side and grabbed at Ian’s bicep. This is what Ian wanted, to get close enough to her because he could react far more quickly than her…or at least that’s what he first though. In any case, Ian grabbed her arm in return and began pulling her to the ground.

Yuri only had to squeeze at a point in his arm faintly to cause him to hesitate. Ian didn’t know what hit him when a foot came flying at his face and nearly knocked his face in. Ian was thrown back by the kick and moaned in pain as he hit the ground. When he pushed himself up, he pressed some fingers to his nose and blood dripped from his hand.

With an angry glare, Ian turned to Yuri. “What’s wrong with you!? This is suppose to be a spar, we don’t hurt each other!”

“Whatever…” Yuri dismissed with a roll of her eyes.

This got Ian’s temper burning like no other and he balled his fists tightly. “You think you’re so much better than me? You don’t have a clue, if this was a real fight you’d be crying for mercy.” He crossed his arms and looked absently out into the surrounding forest, “…but I couldn’t do that because I’d be hitting a girl.”

Returning Ian’s glare, Yuri grit her teeth with an equally heated temper. “You don’t stand a chance. You never have and you never will,” she said defiantly, pushing the hair from her eyes and letting it rest behind her ear. Without another word, Ian marched away but not to retreat. He rustled in the duffle back that they both kept their supplies and equipment in and took out his bokken. “What are you doing?” she asked but already knew what he was going to say.

“A real fight…you and me…until you surrender in defeat. I could use my sword but I’d rather not kill you.” He stepped back before her, leaving a decently large space between them for defense. He readied his bokken to begin.

Yuri audibly growled and took a powerful stance with her legs far apart so she was low to the ground and one palm facing forward and the other down. “Idiot…Thunder Kick!”

Ian had seen Yuri use this so this did not intimidate him. Yuri charged and to his surprise, her feet had electricity jumping up and around to her legs. Yuri kicked with her charged left, which Ian dodged by jumping back, and followed up with a quick and powerful right as she turned from the other kick. Ian had to duck under this one because she had moved in to close. This is when Yuri pulled her leg up and let it come crashing down in a crippling axe kick.

Ian rolled to the side, expecting to evade the attack without penalty but when Yuri’s foot hit the ground, it exploded in a surge of force and rubble. Ian was thrown away, landing hard on his stomach. When he tried to recover from the attack and get on his feet, the girl martial artist was on him again with her charged kicks. Ian stepped to the side and Yuri’s foot was intercepted by a tree which was smashed down by the force of her kick. Ian jumped away and turned back to his opponent. With little more than a gesture of his eyes, Ian prepared his own technique. “Sting of the Wasp!”

With barely enough chance to turn, Yuri ducked to the side and the tree that she knocked down was knocked away by the force if Ian’s bokken. With a loud crash, the tree flew and knocked over another tree.

Yuri quickly followed up with a quick charged heel kick but Ian blocked it with his own attack. “Sting of the Wasp!” The two attacks collided and the electric charge of Yuri’s foot and the flashing white chakra from Ian’s blade forced them apart.

“When did you learn that? I’ve never seen you use a wasp bite technique,” Yuri snarled, narrowing her eye on her opponent.

“It’s Sting of the Wasp! And I’ve been doing a little training on my own…besides, you don’t see me fighting with my sword very often. We’ve been training in unarmed combat,” Ian snapped back.

So that’s what they were doing…that Aya woman was teaching him to use sword techniques? Is that what the spirit blade is then? Yuri was thinking for a moment and Ian began tapping his foot impatiently.

“What’s wrong? You chicken or somethin’?” Ian teased which caused Yuri to break her pondering.

Yuri took the stance she had before and steadied her breathing. “Storm Kick!” She only had to run a few steps to close the distance between the two before she was in range for her attack. She began kicking at Ian with blinding speed. Ian had not seen her use this technique before but he still smirked deviously when she started her attack. He gripped his bokken with both hands and pulled it in to make his attack.

Dodging the first few kicks, Ian began pushing toward his opponent. “Flashing Steel!” blinding speed, Ian was instantly on the other side of Yuri who continued to kick a few more times before stopping completely. She collapsed to her knees, holding her abdomen in pain. “Heh, if I were using a real sword you’d be half a girl,” he sneered at Yuri.

Still in pain, she rubbed the area that Ian managed to hit. He’s trying to match me or something…power for power and speed for speed….He thinks he can match me? Not a chance, all this Yuri though while taking a tall pose, balancing on one leg and raising one arm straight up. “Ling Hun Shou fourth technique: Wolf’s Fang-” Yuri said all this while charging at Ian who moved to the side.

Yuri struck at Ian with a rigid hand, aiming to grab his arm but he had moved. He quickly turned and was prepared to bring his bokken up in another technique. “Soaring Dra-”

“-to Storm Strike!” Yuri one upped Ian by combining a wushu attack with her soul fist techniques. Storm Kick/Strike sped up Yuri’s attack and Ian was bombarded with a flurry of rigid palm strikes.

Before Ian could get off his technique, he felt his arms go numb…actually, he couldn’t even feel he had arms at all and could not move them as Yuri had forced her chakra to travel to the nerves in his limbs to stop further electric currents to travel to them, making his arm muscles useless.

“AAAUUUUH!” Ian shouted as he fell to the ground and tried as hard as he could to move his arms but all he managed to do was release his sword. When Ian looked to Yuri to ask what she had done, she was already walking away. “Wait! Get back here! I’m not done!!!!!”

Stupid Ian…I hate him…he never…he’s just an immature boy and he’ll never amount to anything…. Yuri could only think of what she saw and heard during Ian and Aya’s meeting and only became angrier as she stomped away, leaving Ian behind, helpless.

Another five months of training, totaling fourteen, Yuri and Ian endured many more harsh training sessions with the two teachers but both were becoming quite dejected. Specifically, Yuri was still angry at the odd methods of Ryjuta. He claimed it was to surpass human limitations but she could not truly tell that she had moved pass the maximum potential of her body four months into the training. She couldn’t tell because there was little opportunity to test their new speed because Ryjuta remained insanely faster than them while Master Cheng never showed his true speed, only veiling it by his masterful fighting skill. The only others to gauge their speed was versus eachother but both were making progress in speed. Ian’s martial arts skills seemed to rival hers but for some reason, he never followed through with the fervor of skill along with power that Yuri pursued but he seemed distracted in that respect.

After an eight hour physical tempering session, Ryjuta granted the two the rest of the day off to relax and rest. Yuri and Ian were rejuvenating in a hot spring isolated on the outskirts of the training grounds. Ian, now fourteen after recently having a birthday, slowly slid into the water only wearing his underwear, sinking down so his chin rested at the surface. Yuri, still thirteen, just reclined back on the edge of the hot spring in her red one piece bathing suit.

“Ah…finally, a break. When was the last time we got a chance to just lie back and relax?” Yuri said with a self relieving sigh.

“Two months, I believe,” Ian answered before ducking his head under and coming back up to recline opposite of Yuri. “It was on my birthday. Too bad we didn’t have a party or anything but I guess not training was good enough.” Ian leaned back his head and closed his eyes, letting the steam completely relax all the muscles in his body.

Yuri began unbraiding her hair so she could soak it in the steaming hot water. This is when she noticed Ian leaving. “Hey! Where are you going? We just got here…”

Ian looked back over at Yuri, still dripping wet as he pulled his remaining leg out of the water. “Um…sorry, but I have to take care of something. I’ll be right back,” Ian replied then quickly ran off.

Yuri was a bit surprised at this and became slightly curious. I wonder what he’s up to…Boy stuff again? she thought to herself. This wasn’t the first time Ian had done this. On various occasions, Ian would cut off their sparring session short to go do ‘boy stuff’ but never when they were both eating, sleeping or resting. …maybe I should…

Yuri slipped out of the hotspring, and followed after Ian. She was still only in her bathing suit while Ian was still in his underwear but Ian had taken the only towel. “Rich little selfish ingrate…” Yuri commented under her breath after finding she had no way to dry off.

Staying a good distance behind, Yuri followed Ian through the forest of the training ground until Ian was in a clearing. I wonder what he’s up to now…

“Aya? Hey! Can I talk with you?” Ian shouted out into the open air.

Yuri was bewildered, Who is Aya? And why has he not said anything- Her thoughts were interrupted when a cloak of some dark gassy substance began to collect around Ian. Yuri did a double-take when a female figure appeared leaning down with her arms draped around Ian’s neck.

Aya gave Ian a light squeeze then released him with a smile. “Hello, Ian. You wanted to talk with me?” she asked in her sweet voice.

Ian grinned and accepted the hug. He pulled the towel he had draped over his shoulders and began drying off his hair. “Yeah…I don’t know but…I’ve just been thinking about you more and more lately,” he began, hesitating slightly between his phrases.

Moving behind him, Aya smiled and took over drying his hair. “You have? Well, how long has this been happening.”

Ian didn’t answer and let Aya finish with the brown shag that now dropped over his eyes a bit. “It doesn’t matter…I just wanted to tell you.” He took of his blue headband and wrung it out. “I also wanted to thank you for helping me discover a lot about myself and my capabilities. I’m definitely stronger now, thanks to your help.”

“I am pleased to help you become the strong man you are meant to be,” Aya replied with a bow of her head. “But you must continue to practice your spirit blade to perfect your technique.”

Ian nervously tied his headband and pulled it tight. He was quiet and stared at his feet for a while before he looked up to Aya and blurted out, “Aya, I love you!” Quickly, Ian’s face turned red, Aya jumped slightly in surprise and Yuri pulled away from the tree she was hiding behind in shock, literally falling back into the grass. “I want to be with you and protect you with my life…just don’t leave me, ever.” Ian’s voice calmed but his words were still full of passion.

Aya was slightly surprised at this but kept her senses about her. She heard a rustling of grass a ways from the clearing and figured someone was watching. Aya beamed a smile to Ian and leaned close to him and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re sweet,” she said, returning his affection with her sweet voice. “I accept your love and your vow of protection…but maybe you should finish your training before you do.”

With a sigh of slight disappointment, Ian nodded at her answer. “You should go and find your friend, Yuri. She might be worried about where you are.”

“That’s right!” he gasped, “I’ve got to go. Thanks for coming to talk with me,” Ian smiled and hugged Aya tightly. She just lightly patted his back and smiled down on him before he let go and ran off, waving goodbye as he left.

Ian ran back to the hotspring but could not find Yuri. He searched in the usual spots the two would be at but he could not find her…because she didn’t want to be found. Yuri was sitting up in a tree, tears running down her cheeks. When Ian ran nearby, she moved behind a thick limb so she was unseen. I thought…I didn’t know he… Yuri could barely finish her own thoughts.

There are costume options for Samurai Armor? If you could post a pic of your character or some SG mates, I'd really appreciate it.

“This *gasp* *gasp* is ridiculous!” Yuri wheezed. She desperately extended an arm up and grasped at another small nook on the side of the vertical wall of the canyon. “I can’t believe *gasp* *wheeze* that insane teacher of yours *gasp* has us climbing mountains *gasp* *cough*! How does this teach *wheeze* us wushu?” Ian didn’t answer and continued climbing silently beside her. Yuri has climbed her share of mountains on her travels but this was different.

Instead of climbing up the easiest or shortest path, Ryjuta deliberately told them to climb up a chasm that had a nearly negative slop. Not to mention all of the loose rocks on the way up and the fact Ryjuta had several hundred pounds of weights tied to their legs and arms.

For the past nine months, both teachers, Cheng and Ryjuta, have been intensifying the student’s training. Cheng focused on technique, skill and form of a plethora of fighting styles with a liberal side of sparing with the teacher and each other. Ryjuta on the other hand, had many other types of tasks for the two. Swimming against the swift current of a raging river, sparring blindfolded, retrieving stones from the bottom of a lake that was over a hundred feet deep and now climbing mountains with hundreds of pounds tied to their limbs with a good helping of meditation on the side.

It took them from early morning (around 6am) to late afternoon (2pm) to finally make it close to the top. “Al…most…there.” Yuri struggled to grab the last ledge to finally reach the plateau but the edge cracked under her weight and fell helplessly back. Ian quickly reacted by jumping up top and reaching down to grab Yuri’s wrist. Ian pulled her hand back so she could finish climbing the rest of the way and collapsed on his back.

“Thanks…I would have been a goner without you,” Yuri gasped after finally pulling herself up.

“We have to look out for each other…that’s why we’re training together, right?” Ian replied, his arms sprawled out to the side and looking up at the sky.

“That’s correct,” said a voice from further in on the ledge. Ryjuta stepped up to them and looked down at his students. “Some of these exercises are dangerous so you must help one another out. When one of you falls down the other picks him up and you both must keep going.”

“…but why are we doing all these strange exercises? How will any of this help us in the future?” Yuri asked, panting on all fours.

Ian pulled himself up into a sitting position, with a determined look at Yuri. He was about to say something when Ryjuta interrupted. “You must surpass human limitations,” Ryjuta began. “If you are bound to the limitations of your bodies, you won’t stand a chance against most enemies in this world. They are capable of destroying mountains, flying higher than the heavens, or even invade the inner confines of your mind. I am your teacher and I could never forgive myself if I did not give you all the tools you needed to face any opponent no matter how powerful.”

There was silence among them for a minute or two before a strong wind picked up to break the quiet. “Now, I have your lunch here.” Ryjuta pulled a sack from his back and smiled. “If you want to eat, it will be waiting for you at the bottom.”

“What!? But…can we get some rope at least?” Yuri complained.

“No. And I don’t want you to climb down. I want you to jump.” Yuri was at a loss of words when he said this and her mouth hung open when Ryjuta leapt off the ledge. It had to be a 100+ story fall, it was impossible to survive that.

She quickly looked over the edge to see Ryjuta leaping down from small stones on the side of the canyon wall, not disturbing a single stone. “…this is unbelievable…” Yuri gasped just before Ian leapt off after Ryjuta. Ian skid, almost falling, before finally leaping to a more sturdy rock.

Miraculously, both Ian and Yuri made it to the bottom, covered in dirt and blood. They could barely enjoy their meal with all of their aching muscles. As they both ate their fish and bread and washed it down with a cup of odd sparkling water that they scooped from a bowl Ryjuta rested infront of them, Ryjuta told them their next task. “Okay, just tie those weights back on and climb up again. This time you’d better get up there within two hours or else I’ll start dropping the boulders down on you.” With that said, Ryjuta leapt back up the ledge, rock by rock, getting to the top in under a minute.

~~

“I have to admit…you’re getting better,” Yuri complemented to Ian as she blocked several of his punches and palm strikes. “But you’ll have to work on making your style less restricted by technique…to make it harder to predict and block.” Yuri knocked away one fist and blocked Ian’s other palm and countered with a palm strike to Ian’s chest who easily deflected it away. Yuri followed up by using the motion of her deflected attack to turn and jab her elbow hard into Ian’s rib.

Ian grunted slightly, and was forced down to his knee when Yuri followed down with a leg on his shoulder. Ian gripped her ankle and quickly knocked Yuri’s other leg from under her with a leg sweep. Without a pause, Ian moved to pin Yuri but she easily reversed it, pressing his face into the dirt and forcing an elbow in his back.

She could have used a different hold but she preferred to use a certain pressure point in his back to stop any retaliation. “Gah! Why can’t I move!?” Ian angrily asked while struggling under her weight which was lighter than his own.

“Don’t feel bad, I could probably hold down a man ten times your size with this. It’s just another physical point of the body that I can manipulate,” she said with a grin and leaned harder on the boy.

“Why…why don’t you just show me all your moves so you can’t surprise me anymore?” Ian told the girl who began to ease up on him.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” Yuri said before finally letting Ian up. Yuri looked up at the sky and shook her head. “Sorry, it’s time for my pressure point study session with Master Cheng. You can go practice with the training dummies for an hour or two and then Master Cheng will be ready to spar with you.”

Without another word, Yuri ran off to study with her teacher, leaving Ian alone in the lightly forested area around the training grounds. He didn’t try the practice dummies but instead leaned back on a tree and let out a long sigh. He didn’t mean to, but after a few minutes, he began to doze off. Something was making him a bit drowsy but he figured it was the long days of training day after day.

When he awoke, he heard the beautiful voice of a woman singing. Ian slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He brushed off his grey gi and looked around for the voice. No one should be around the training grounds as they were about 10 miles from the city Yuri lived in so they were out in the middle of nowhere. The tune he could hear was almost like a lullaby but a bit more dreary as if it was in a minor key that just made you want to sigh in depression…but it was still a very beautiful voice.

Ian looked around the trunk of a tree to find a woman who looked about eighteen to twenty years old, wearing a black gown. She had long black hair and her skin was a dark tan. Under the gown, you could tell she had a slender figure and was well endowed. Her dark brown eyes sparkled as she picked around the base of a tree.

At first, Ian didn’t want to surprise or disturb her but he felt as if he was being drawn in by the song. Slowly, Ian stepped out from behind the tree, his hands held behind his back. “Umm…hi,” he said, fixating his gaze downward.

The woman looked over at the boy with a warm smile. “Hello….you’re that man that has been doing all that training here?” the woman asked as she stood up from picking herbs.

Ian scratched his head at first before he finally answered. The months of their training, Ian and Yuri did have a birthday but they were only thirteen now. “Man? Umm, yeah. That’s me.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. He could think of something but nothing that was adequate to say.

“Ian is your name, right?” she asked and he simply just nodded.

“How did you know? Who are you and what are you doing here?” he finally said after getting his mind together.

“I’m Aya, and I was just picking up a few herbs. None of these grow where I’m from,” she answered then went back to picking.

It didn’t take much for him to get comfortable around her, so now he seated himself next to her and smiled up at her. “They don’t? You must live far away then. Where are you from?”

“North, very far. It’s very cold there so I have to make trips south quite often.”

Ian blinked with surprise, “Really!? It must be hundreds of miles north then. How long does it take you to get here?”

Aya giggled at the curious boy. “Only a few minutes, maybe ten.”

“Wow! How do you do that? Do you know how to fly or something?” Ian asked again with wide eyed curiosity.

“Kind of,” Aya answered and returned to scavenging for plants. Ian blushed a little, figuring he was being a pest and said nothing more. After a moments pause, she looked back to him and smiled. “I like you, Ian. I’m glad I finally have someone to talk to.” Aya put down her satchel of leaves and roots and stared upon Ian again. “I have a special way to move long distances in an instant…it’s an ability that I learned a while back. Anyone can learn how but it was easier for me for some reason because of something inside me.” Aya leaned closer to Ian and Ian tried to lean away to compensate. “You have a special skill, like me, that you can learn and master too. You just have to discover what it is.”

“I do?” Ian asked after Aya finally opened the space between them. “How can you tell? How do I discover it?”

Aya rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder who quickly tensed up from the contact. “Everyone does. On many levels, people are more affiliated with certain aspects of life. Some are skilled artists, some are intelligent or imaginative thinkers and on other levels, some people can sense things easier or connect with the minds of animals. It’s just the way we are.”

Ian smiled. He tried not to so he could seem more grown up but the more he tried not to the broader his smile. “Would you like to meet with me so you can discover where your special skills lie?” she asked after picking up her satchel again and looking down at the boy.

Ian nodded enthusiastically as he jumped to his feet. “Yes! The time when Yuri meets with Master Cheng is when I’m not training. Maybe if you speak with my instructors they can…”

“No!” Aya said in a loud intimidating voice which caused Ian to recoil back a bit. “…I mean, you cannot tell the others about me. You see….I’m not suppose to be down south this far and my parents would get angry if they found out.”

Ian just nodded to this explanation and relaxed again. “If you come here and call my name, I will come for you. Okay?” Ian nodded again with a wide grin.

Aya then picked up a stick and began rubbing it with another. “Well, I must be off but I need to make a little smoke to do it.”

Ian moved closer and extended a hand toward the two sticks she was rubbing. “I’ll help you,” he said and the heat between the sticks grew more intense until a small wisp of smoke rose from it.

“Thank you, Ian. I can’t wait until we get a chance to talk again.” The wisp of smoke grew darker and when Aya touched it, her form changed to that of smoke and flew upward to the sky where it slowly faded from view.

Ian stared on for at least half an hour, thinking about what she said. He could only wonder what else was in store for their next meeting.

Have you tried allakhazam? That's where I got anything FFXI related when I played. You can create a free account there too.

I sort of feel the same way. It reinforces set cliques and really restricts new posters from joining into the fun(or those that want to break away from using the same old characters over and over). I know I'm not the only one that notices theres several groups that tend to stick with eachother and don't mingle with the other groups.

I tend to ignore those threads now. It's just really repetative and I know its either going to die or seemingly never come to a conclusion in the near future. I learned my lesson with the failure of my thread although it was an important story I wanted to tell. I'll just leave such story telling to (Story) threads instead.

Yes I'm bitter and I don't feel the need to hide it. As if I ever do try to hide it...

Linn reclined on a bench in the middle of the crowd, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his business suit. The Asian man kept his eye on Ian and Yuri as they walked about the booths. He didn’t really notice that Yuri was deep in thought but even if he did he wouldn’t be able to guess why. He let out a long sigh and closed his eyes while he cleaned the rectangular lenses of his wireframe glasses. This is when he felt his ‘spirit field’ being invaded.

Linn quickly replaced his glasses and shot to his feet. He found he was no longer in the crowd of cheerful people but surrounded by darkness. The only thing visible now was the bench he was sitting on and the lamp post hanging over it. “What is the meaning of this?” Linn called out in the darkness. He turned to peer into the shadows but he did not show fear or desperation.

“You are not truly from the east, correct?” came a female voice from everywhere. Her voice echoed off of the darkness itself which made the place even more vast. “You want to return home?”

“Show yourself otherwise I have no further words to exchange with you,” Linn commanded.

Silence echoed for a moment before an old woman materialized out of a cloud of smoke; the oracle. “You are not native to this realm are you?” she asked with a gentle yet eerie voice.

“It is of no concern to an old woman where I was born,” Linn replied, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

The old woman smiled then a cloud of smoke engulfed her. When the cloud cleared, a beautiful woman with dark tan skin and a green ‘X’ symbol crossing over her eyes replaced the oracle. She had the same robes and smile as she examined Linn from a distance. “You should feel privileged. I do not show my true form to anyone unless I am prepared to kill them.”

“What form you take is of no interest to me, witch. Leave me be or I will be forced to destroy you,” Linn said with an angry tone but his face remained indifferent.

“You do not wish to return to the realm where your power ravaged untamed? I can help you,” the woman smiled with fangs unveiled.

After a long pause, Linn finally spoke up. “And who is offering me such a benevolent contribution?” Linn asked dryly.

“I am Hannyaa, a demon capable of helping you return to your home in the realm of demons. Is that not where your power is at its strongest?” Hannyaa asked.

“I was all powerful! Nothing could escape the grip of my power!” Linn argued, slightly narrowing his brow in anger.

“Yes, even more powerful than my master, Ryuu Daimao. But the realm of demons is not a place one should long to be in. It is a prison which holds my master just as it held you and all those within,” Hannyaa said with a serious tone. “It is my masters wish to return to this realm but the only way to do that is…merge this realm with that demon prison.”

Something that doesn’t happen very often, Linn showed an expression of curiosity. “I understand…but will I have my power returned to me?” he asked curiously.

“Of course, and instead of ruling over imprisoned demons, that world and this will be under our control! But I will need you to help me.” Hannyaa grinned with anticipation, “You’ve shown me a glimpse into your past…you were born into this realm hundreds of years ago as an oracle and doctor yourself? But how did you end up in the realm of demons?”

“It is not important but I somehow manifested a strange power….I don’t want to go into it right now…” There was much about Linn that he was still trying to discover but he wanted to keep it to himself until he could sort through it fully. “So how am I suppose to help you with your plan?”

Hannyaa just continued smiling her evil demonic smirk and answered. “The fates work mysteriously. The boy you keep watch over is the key to your destiny, for he manifests the Spirit Blade technique within him. With such an ability, he can cut through the barriers separating the realms themselves. With such a blade, he can breech through so that magic can bind this world and the next together.”

Although Linn was surprised, he did not express it. “So you want me to hand over Ian?”

“No, that will not work,” she said with a shake of her head. “Although the ability is within him, he must learn to focus it to its maximum potential. It will take much time but I have a plan to speed up the process….but while the boy is the key, the girl is the lock. I don’t understand it myself but the barrier created to imprison my master was created by a man with his vile powers and now those powers lie within her.”

The area began to return to normal, the festival grounds reappearing while Hannyaa faded away. “I will return when it is time to move the plan into action. In the meantime, keep this meeting a secret.” Linn couldn’t believe all this had happened yet he was so glad it did. More knowledge was always good and a chance to gain his lost power again could not be resisted.

Linn eyed the son of the man he had protected in the demon realm. The spirit manifestation that he expunged, William Kelly, who saved his life by stopping Linn’s unstoppably growing powers yet forfeighted most of it and his place among the demons, fathered a son who would return him to power. He had never seen the boy as he did now, with irresistible opportunity.

They both arrived at a tent like booth on the deserted edge of the festivities. There was a single paper lantern hanging on a post adjacent to the door. “This place is kind of creepy,” Ian said as a shiver ran from shoulder to shoulder.

“Don’t tell me you’re chickening out already,” Yuri said over her shoulder to Ian but she too felt a strange vibe from the area.

“Come in, come in,” came an old creaky voice from inside the tent.

Yuri and Ian looked at each other, a look of slight panic on their face and then moved to open the sliding door to the booth. Inside, it seemed much larger than it looked from outside. Three candles somehow illuminated the entire interior quite brightly and the two children could see a woman seated on her knees at a short table wearing a dark purple robe with very long sleeves that concealed her hands. Her hair was long and a light grey, almost white. She seemed small and old but her face did not show many wrinkles. “You want me to tell you your fortune, yes?” the oracle asked.

“Wow, how’d you know we were outside? Did you know we were coming by looking into the future?” Ian asked wide eyed.

“No you twit. She heard us talking,” Yuri answered for him.

“Oh…right.”

“Sit down, come nearer and I will tell you what you want to know,” the old woman said, smiling broadly at the two. When she did, her fangs shined through the candle light for an instant before concealing them with her mouth again.

The two did not take notice of the odd smile and sat down. At the little table were bowels and cups of water. The oracle said nothing and just peered into a bowel. There was silence for a few minutes, only the sound of the flickering flames that lit the candles and the gentle wind blowing through the leaves outside. Finally someone broke the silence, “Well? What do you see?” Ian asked.

“I am waiting to hear what you want to know,” the oracle replied. Ian smacked a palm to his forehead and sighed.

Yuri just shook her head at the boy and looked into the pools of water herself. “Will I ever marry?” she asked, forcing herself not to turn completely red.

The oracle was silent for a short moment before humming a lilting tune in her creaky little neck. “Yes, yes,” she began. “I see you will marry. A handsome young man that you knew for a long time….” Nothing could be seen in the bowel but rippling water, at least to Yuri. “This young man will be your first love and you will be happy together.”

“Really?! That’s so romantic,” Yuri squealed, leaning closer and closer to the bowels.

“Bah! That’s all boring and mushy stuff. I want to know about my future now,” Ian complained and pushed Yuri out of the way. “Tell us, will we have any exciting adventures soon? All this training can get stale.”

The oracle stopped humming and pushed her bowel out of the way, replacing it with a cup. She pulled a single tea leave from her sleeve and dropped it in the cup and began humming again. “You seek adventure, eh boy?” she said with a smile but not showing her teeth this time. “Yes, I see such a future for you…the both of you….very soon. You will meet new and interesting friends and face dangerous opponents….are you some type of warrior? Is that what your training is for? Yes, yes….the life of a warrior is long and difficult…will you falter and fall from the path or will you persevere?”

“I thought we were asking the questions,” Ian interrupted.

“Shut up and let her speak,” Yuri counter-interrupted.

“Your training will end abruptly and you will be faced with a journey. You must prepare and train hard so that when you’re faced with your opposition you will be ready.” The oracle looked up from her cup and a devious sparkle was in her eyes, “If you want me to tell you more, I’ll need something from you.”

Yuri gulped audibly and opened her mouth. Nothing came out for a few seconds but she managed to find her voice, “What kind of something?”

“Blood,” the oracle openly said.

“That’s okay. Let’s get out of here, Yuri,” Ian said. He started to get up and grabbed Yuri by the arm but she pulled away.

“Wait…” Yuri looked down at her knees that she rested on, letting her long black hair fall in front of her eyes. The pause she took was almost minutes before she finally looked back at the old lady. “Okay…but if you do anything funny you’ll find a foot in your head.”

The oracle nodded and pulled a knife from her other sleeve. The blade was quite ornate, with a curved serrated edge and various skull symbols on the side. The hilt was a bronze snake coiled around the handle with a black jewel in its mouth at the bottom grip. “Your hand,” the woman asked, opening her own palm to receive the girl’s.

Yuri, shook her head. What do I have to be afraid of! I’ve fought gangs of skilled fighters armed with swords. This is just an old lady with a kitchen knife. She thrust out her hand and placed it in the palm of the oracle.

“Good good, this won’t hurt at all.” She cut a deep slit in the girls palm, running parallel to the life line running down the middle. A nice little glob of blood gathered at the base of the cut, finally dripping off into a shallow cup. While a second drop poured into the cup, she looked over at Ian. “Well? Are you going to try too?”

“Oh fine,” Ian whined and pushed his hand out too. Yuri withdrew hers and the oracle took Ian’s. She did the same and let his blood drip into a separate cup.

The two both cupped their hands to stop the bleeding while the oracle let the blood drip into a cup of dark liquid that may have been water but was concealed by shadow. The woman watched the pattern of the blood as it spread through the water and her eyes shot open.

“What is it?” Yuri asked, a bit concerned.

The oracle did not answer, she just did the same for Ian’s blood and examined its pattern. “This is most interesting. Something deep inside you…your spirit…it is ancient. The power of the ancients is something you should not trifle with, it will only lead to destruction,” she answered to Yuri then turned to Ian. “Doom, death, pain and hatred lie in your future but do not let this stop you. The path or a warrior is inevitably stained with blood…I cannot say any more, it is too dangerous.” The oracle seemed to slouch a lot more and rested a sleeve covered hand on her forehead. “Please, go now. I can say no more.”

The children just looked at each other again with a look of bewilderment before rising to their feet and walking out the booth into the dimly lit surroundings. The sliding door quickly slammed shut behind them which caused each to jump.

They began walking back to the festival, thinking hard on what was said. “That was so stupid. A complete waste of time,” Ian cried, crossing his arms in disapproval.

“I don’t know…people have said the oracle of the spring festival is pretty good….I guess it’s possible to be wrong.”

“It’s all a load of bolony! Let’s just get some more to eat before we have to go to bed. Otherwise I’ll have to give Linn back his money.” Ian ran back toward the food stands, leaving Yuri to walk behind him while deep in her thoughts. She rolled the words around in her head over and over. She blushed again and smiled.

After hours of playing festival games, Lei and Ian sat down under a tall old tree near the edge of the festival grounds and ate big helpings of barbequed fish prepared around the celebration. Ian greedily ate his share while Jing Lei just nibbled on hers. She stared off into the night sky, deep in thought. “What’s wrong with you?” Ian asked with a mouth full of fish.

Lei just sighed and looked back toward the crowds of people. “Nothing…I was just thinking about what Fen must be doing now.”

“Oh, her and that guy? Why? They looked like they were going to do boring stuff anyway,” he asked before stuffing another helping of food in his mouth.

“It’s just…I’ve always been a little jealous of how pretty she is and how popular and…oh never mind…” Lei began to blush and Ian quirked an eyebrow and stopped eating.

“Hmph, well all that talk is stupid. We should just have fun and celebrate whatever this festival is celebrating,” Ian answered then wiped his mouth with the back of his arm. “By the way, what *is* this festival all about?”

Lei took a small bite of her barbeque and chewed it. “There was once a man who lived long ago with strong wushu skills. A demon with awesome powers took control of China and under his control was a powerful Japanese samurai that did his bidding. Somehow, the man broke the control that demon had on the swordsman and both worked together to defeat that demon. This festival celebrates the two nations setting aside their differences to combine their armies together to face down that demon so we combine our cultures as one,” Lei answered solemnly. “There’s more to it but I can’t remember it all.”

“Oh…interesting. I wish I could have seen it,” Ian answered with a grin. They both sat in silence for a minute and Lei began finishing her share of food when Ian spoke up again. “Hey, don’t you think, if you’re combining cultures, you should have a Japanese name?”

“Why?” Lei laughed, “For this one festival?”

“To honor the spirits of those warriors. Just to show them you cared…” Ian didn’t know much about honor yet but he had a natural tendency toward it. “What does your name mean?”

“Jing Lei? It’s Pure Flower. Why?”

Ian crossed his legs and contorted his brow in thought. “Umm….what about Yuri?” he finally said. “It’s lily in Japanese which is a kind of flower…”

Lei laughed out loud, literally holding her sides while she did. “Okay, fine. You can call me Yuri while under training. Maybe remembering the story of those brave warriors will inspire me to try harder.”

Ian nodded approvingly. “Anyway, how about we go visit the oracle? She tells your future and stuff and you don’t even have to pay. I’ve never tried it but it could be fun,” Yuri said with a smile and ran back to the crowded carnival grounds.

“Hey, wait up!” Ian shouted after her and sprinted behind.

(([EDIT] The demon of legend was *Not* female and I had to edit that...))

Don't feed my mind anymore innuendos....I doubt I could restrain myself .

Jase: What? It's just salami...I eat it everyday for lunch and sometimes dinner...Gah! You people are so immature.

Yeah, that's why I said "Personally, I feel..." which is saying "In my opinion." >.>

I can't and won't expect people to conform to what I think and it's going to take more to change my mind about those that RP MM characters. I won't let that affect my RPing though, it's not like all of this just dawned on me a few days ago.