Curing the Sickness (Invite Only)

[nintendonut1]

(Continuing from their hasty retreat in "Time to Fight, Time to Fly, Time to Die...")

"You... sure about this?"

Eddy was somewhat skeptical. Well, obviously this samurai guy knew what he was talking about, but still... was tying their unconcsious best friend up by the limbs and hanging him over a warm spring with steaming water really all a part of it?

"It's just like in the episode, Eddy!" Ed nodded in response, well recognizing these visuals. Now with the situation more under control, he was free to express his total GIDDINESS over meeting Samurai Jack in person... Of course, the true fanboy-ing would have to wait until later.

Tightening the last rope, Jack wasn't sure what Ed meant by 'episode,' but he nodded to Eddy. "Even if the sickness has progressed further than I have ever seen--which you have said is because of his strong affinity with light--the process for curing it is the same." He stepped back. "We keep him under control and do out best to aid him in destroying the cursed evil from within."

[Felix Falora]

"That's all fine and well, but what if this isn't the cure? What then?" Felix growled. He didn't know the plan Masahiro and Patchouli had set up in motion. None of them did. All would come to fruition soon. Masahiro's death would not be in vain, though he certainly hadn't intended to go down as quickly as he did. The traitor stood there, seemingly impatient, wanting Double D back to normal. It could be a loving gesture from many others, but from Felix, it just seemed to feel off and wrong.

"There you are!" Felix turned and noticed Trevor and King coming towards the area. "Bastard! What the hell were you thinking leaving us behind?!"

"Double D!" King's immediately reaction to seeing Edd stopped the approaching drama in its tracks as Trevor stopped confronting Felix to take a look at their friend.

"Oh my god!" Trevor run over and looked at Double D. He gasped and quickly began to catch himself before hyperventalating. He then looked at Samurai Jack. Normally he might've been like Ed, fanboying about it. But with Edd as he was, all he could say were the following words. "You're the only one that can do it, y'know? ... Make Aku pay... with his life..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"If this doesn't work, then... I'll find some other way to cure him!" Kyle said. He was extremely nervous. Initially, he had very vocally objected to the samurai's "cure", but once it had been explained, he reluctantly went along with it.

Crow wasn't so sure about all of this. Things were suspicious. She didn't trust the samurai on the principle of his being a samurai, but it wasn't like she could complain much. She didn't care what he did as long as Double D got cured.

She turned to King and Trevor as they came in. "Hey, you guys see that Mr. Copycat guy on your way here? He stayed behind with that Patchouli chick to hold off some freakshow who was trying to kill Edd. I dunno who that guy was, but there was something majorly messed up about him."

[gantzgun74]

Gantz meanwhile had managed to catch the tail-end of the episode of which this sickness was debuted. If anything, he knew this was going to work. It just depended on Double D.

When they first arrived here, they were, at first threatened by Yang to take their leave right that instant, however a quick explanation of the situation, followed quickly by being chewed out by Yin, shut the Deity of darkness up. At this point, Yang sat on the floor nearby his back to a column and overlooking the scene with a look that clearly said he was saving judgement for whatever may happen. Yin meanwhile, had assisted Samurai Jack by providing what he had needed. It was little trouble providing the spring, the 'hot springs room' more then compensated, and the ropes were a cinch for Yin to collect.

"I do hope this works, young ones." Came Yin with a worried look. "Double D is supposed to be one of the ultimates of the forces of good, being an Angel of Light."

Gantz was taking his time lighting a few candles around the room, using his fire magic from Soul Calibur. Yang watched the sword with a glare, the most. "It has to. This was how Jack was cured when he himself contracted the illness Double D has. Needless to say, it's the only way to do it. Or at least the only way we know."

At another point of the room, Roland was also on scene, sitting at the edge of the spring Double D was hovering over, in a meditative stance. Gantz was greatly surprised and happy to know that Roland was still alive, especially since he had no idea where his clan was ever since what had happened in his world. "Jack described that this cure was brought upon him by an ancient clan of wisemen. If this is how a bunch of ancients did it, then it may be the only way to do it."

Talim was sitting next to him, in a meditative stance. "There's one thing I don't get though, if we have all of this help, why did you contact me, Gantz?"

Gantz finished lighting the last candle, before blowing out the Fira spell at the tip of Soul Calibur. "Merely because your a Wind Priestess, Talim. You're presence should help things along. Just do your exorcist thing and you'll be fine." Talim nodded in understanding.

Seated next to Talim was Kosumu, the only thing was, the boy wasn't in meditative stance. More then anything, he was sitting there just to stay close to Talim, whom he had dubbed his guardian. While he was hesitant to be near the monster, he didn't want to be too far away from Talim either, so just in case the monster burst loose, he stayed close, though he was warned by Wally and Otto that any attack he made at Double D would purely be for subduing purposes. "When get started?"

"Hopefully pretty soon..." Wally gulped. "I don't know about you mates, but I want Double D back to normal as soon as possible..."

[nintendonut1]

"...unnnhhhh..."

...he awoke with his body wracked with pain once again, making a weak attempt to try and pull inward pathetically, only for his progress to be halted, and he went as limp as he was before. His ratty hair was all in his face, obstructing most of his view, even of the steamy water below him; he hadn't the energy to lift his head up just yet.

But part of him knew... this place's aura spoke to him, soothed the savage beast, told him everything was going to be okay... a let out a piteous moan, his neck creaking as he pulled his head up to look upon these... people staring at him.

Ed and Eddy flinched, the former cowering behind the latter, gulping. But... Jack knew what he was doing! Jack could do anything! Even help cure his best friend! Right??

As the beast let out a pathetic whine, Jack bowed his head in sympathy, dipping a cup into the spring.

"...Aku's very essence is creeping through your viens..." he spoke softly, the same words he had once been told, to placate him as much as he could. "...possessing your body, poisoning your mind...it means to devour your spirit."

"...p...pa..." he coughed in a starchy, inhuman voice, which only a hint of the sweet voice they all recognized. "...please... help...me."

"We are doing all we can," Jack assured, gently pouring the spring water over the beat, flattening his hair against his head. "We have gathered forces that will aid you. But even if this sickness is more advanced, its source is the same; pure evil. And pure evil can only be purged from the light within you."

"I...I...I can't...." he whimpered. "...it...hurts... too much... all over... please...!"

[Felix Falora]

"Light... light is always the way," Felix said. "... Masahiro's blood. That might be what's keeping Edward from being a beast."

"Masahiro's blood?! What do you mean?!" Trevor said.

"... ... ... I'm sorry," Felix said. He didn't really mean it, but he sounded the part well enough.

"Oh god... no... no, you're kidding... Percy," Trevor groaned, immediately making his way over to the other Super Child to pull him into a sort of comforting hug.

"Masahiro's blood must be working in conjuction with Edward's natural light to keep the evil from taking over. All we need to do is fill him with more light. It'll help break Aku's hold on him," Felix said.

"... ... ... I see," King said. "I-I'll try to help."

Felix placed his hand on Double D's head softly, glowing with light energy, untainted, pure, despite his deeds. "Come back to us Edward... come back... please..."

"Errr..." King awkwardly placed his hand on Felix's and tried to focus on the same. "Y-Yeah... come back Edward... for everyone's sake."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Kyle's eyes had widened as Double D suddenly spoke. He had stepped forward to do something when Felix spoke... about light. The others began focusing light energy on Double D. The hand he had reached out dropped. He couldn't do anything to help Double D. He couldn't do a damn thing, because his powers were shadow based. He stared down at the floor as he began to sob.

Crow looked over at Kyle and sighed before walking over to him and putting an arm around his shoulder. Kyle looked over at Crow before burying his face in her ample bosom as he continued to sob.

"I... can't do anything.... I can't do anything at all...." Kyle sobbed. Crow sighed.

"I know. Neither of us can. If I was a normal angel, like the rest of them, maybe I could have helped, but...." Crow trailed off.

"I just... I just want to help him for once...." Kyle said. "...Like how he helped me, all that time ago..."

"....While this is great and all, you're squishing my boobs. Could you stop sobbing into my chest?" Crow requested. Kyle looked up at her, and then politely stepped away.

[Felix Falora]

Trevor looked at Kyle softly and frowned when a thought suddenly occured to him. He snapped and smiled, walking over to Kyle. "You know little boy," he whispered seductively into Kyle's ear, "I have an idea. Your powers are based on shadows, right... if that's the case, why don't you draw the evil energy from Double D into you... and then expel it from your body into the air?"

[gantzgun74]

Gantz was lighting the last candle when he overheard that. "Uh... Trevor? You sure that's such a good idea? Double D wa pretty hard when this sickness got him... Who's to say it won't affect Kyle too? Sure Darkness can't conquer other powers of darkness, but that doesn't mean there can't be some kind of unforseen loophole."

"Do you have a better idea then?" Otto walked up with a raised eyebrow. "Honestly, I'm not seeing one."

Yin meanwhile looked to Double D sorrowfully. "Let us figure out what we are to do quickly... Seeing this poor child suffer like this... It's more then I can bear..."

"More then YOU can bear?" Wally was shuddering endlessly. "No offense to Double D, but this guy REEKS of death. Can we try to get this whole thing done A.S.A.P? Please?"

[nintendonut1]

(PLEASE, for this next part, FF will decide what Kyle will do to help him. Just let him have his chance after this post, okays? :3)

"That, uh..." Eddy gulped, shrugging. "I-I dunno, don't look at me. I'm STILL lost about this whole light versus dark stuff..."

"Shh!" Ed quieted as the process began. This had to work... it had to...

Naturally, the beast flinched and hissed as the first tendrils of light touched him. At first, it was bearable, and he braced against the hot burn with nothing more then deep, quiet groans, gnarled hands fisting and crowded teeth tightly clenching together. This was helping him... it was HELPING him...

But as it traced more and more throughout his body, the burn grew and grew to blazing proportions. The black shapes on his skin wiggled and whrithed as they began to steam, and the sensation was pure agony... the soothing aura that once kept him somewhat placcated was overwhelmed by a searing, ripping, tearing pain that threatened to rip him in two...!

"A-are you sure this is working?!" Eddy had to hollar over the terrible screams he hardly could believe was coming from his friend's throat.

"I believe it is..." It was hard to tell at this point; he remained wary. "Aku's essence will attempt to resist... the more resistence it meets, the harder it will fight back~!"

That seemed like the case indeed; by now, Edd was thrashing violently, snapping at the closest people near him with foaming teeth and maddened, tear-filled eyes. And in a terrifying, otherworldly mix of his voice and the voice of the one who infected him, he shrieked...

[glow=red,2,300]"YOu aCUrsEd pEOns! UGlY feSTeRiNg cARRioN!! I'Ll KilL YoU!! I'LL deVOuR eVEry LaSt OnE oF yOu!!! AftER I coNSUme tHe aNGel yOu wILl bE mY grANd FEAST~!!!"[/glow]

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Kyle blinked and edged away from Trevor as he gave his suggestion. Okay, it was a good suggestion, and it was one he was thinking of himself, but did he really have to say it like that? He kept insisting to the group he was straight....

Kyle's eyes widened as Double D began to thrash and scream even more than before. He clenched his fists and looked away from the scene... up until the point where he started shrieking out words. He forced himself to gaze upon the scene, and as the struggling darkness began to scream about devouring them, he started running forward.

"Everyone, please move!" Kyle yelled as he concentrated some shadows in his hand. Ignoring the beast's snapping jaws, he pressed his hand onto Double D's forehead. The shadows around his hands split off into several black strings, which then attacked themselves to Double D's thrashing limbs. At the same time, he was still concentrating on something with Double D's body. It looked like he was trying to reach into Double D's mind. In truth, he was using the strings to try to soothe him and calm him down, but the darkness interfering with Double D's mind was preventing this. He was trying to use his benign shadows to hold it back, but that didn't look like that was working either.

"Urk.... Double D, I'm here. We're not going to let this evil overcome you," Kyle said. He was visibly straining himself. At this point, he was willing to try anything to help Double D. Even Trevor's insane suggestion, because not only was he trying to calm Double D down and restrain his limbs, but he was trying to pull Aku's darkness into his body. He started wincing from the pain after a few seconds, and similar shadows to those moving across Double D's body began to appear on his own skin. It wasn't much longer before he doubled over in pain and fell back, his eyes glassy and unfocused. The strings broke as he fell away from Double D.

"N-No... I can't... release it..." Kyle grunted. He looked up at Double D. "Oh no you don't!" He held out his hand again and the strings reattached. At the very least, Kyle looked like he was in horrible pain, and it was obvious he was exerting himself too much.

[Felix Falora]

King noticed Kyle. His reaction was a maelstrom of pain and suffering. He then looked at Trevor. "This was your idea! Do something!" he said.

"How does one allieviate darkness?!" Trevor sighed and went to put his hands on Kyle's shoulders in a comforting manner. "Kyle, are you o-" The moment his hands touched, the pain began to surge through Trevor as well, causing his hands to clamp down instinctively as if it was electricity, even though Kyle was the very source of the pain. Both of them seemed to be suffering equal pain as the darkness was drawn through them.

[gantzgun74]

There was a sudden flash of light, and Trevor and Kyle likely felt their pains going away quite a bit. Looking behind them, they saw Gantz with a small smile, holding up Soul Calibur. "Honestly... You two just don't know when to quit. What do you suppose would have happened if we weren't here to heal you up?"

"Double D would never be able to forgive himself, if something happened to anyone of us doing this." He nodded a little. "So allow me to give you two a hand. If either of you need healing just signal me."

Looking up at the monster screeching and yelling, Wally was clearly revulsed, however he stood his ground. "Keep talkin' mate. We've heard it all before from Kijin." He looked to Yin, "What should we do?"

The goddess turned to the others, before nodding. "We should follow their example. They are in the right." She took a step back, before energy charged up, light surrounding every inch of her. As she did this, she spoke in an ancient tongue that no-one really recognized... After another moment, she launched a beam of light of her own which zapped into Double D. "May you finally come back to us, young man."

There was a quick nod, before Wally got up, took a step back, and charged up energy. "Incoming light beam mates!" He then followed Yin's example, launching his own light beam. "I hope this works..."

"Need a hand?"

Trevor and Kyle looked to find Otto, his hands now claws, grinning lightly. "I figured you two would need a hand, and I'll be damned before I let another friend die off because I didn't do anything." He turned to Double D his frown reappearing. Closing his eyes, he started to focus... Immediately, shadows from every corner of the room heeded Otto's call, and entered him, before he ordered them into Double D. The boy winced, at the sudden influx of evil energy, similar to Kyle and Trevor. His endurance was pretty high up there though, so he put it aside.

Last but not least, Talim entered a meditative state, as did Roland. From where they sat, it appeared all they were doing was sitting, doing nothing in the face of this danger...

Really though, the two were using their own energy (Magic for Roland, and the power of the Wind God's from Talim), to further help the process, in whatever way possible. It appeared to help, as Otto, and likely Kyle and Trevor, felt a little less pain then before. "G-good on ya." Otto mumbled, with a sneer. "Just a little more..."

[nintendonut1]

[glow=red,2,300]"--KiLl YoU! I WILL KILL YOU A~!!"[/glow]

He inhaled sharply as he felt the darkness drain from his body, his mind... he cracked his eyes open and gazed upon Kyle, upon Trevor and Gantz and Felix and Yin and everyone who was doing their best... to help him. Yes. He remembered them now. The dark viel on his conscious was all but gone, and he remembered.

With a brand-new conviction, he fought with all his might. The inner flow of light energy was helping tremendously, sparking the inner flame in the Angel of Light's soul, until finally....

"GgggAAAAHHHHHHH!!!![/b]" he shrieked a final time in an undistorted voice, and there came a shattering sound, and the grotesque features crumbled away like shed skin, plopping into and dissolving in the warm water below.

"...Yes! YES! YES!! It worked!! IT WORKED!!!" Eddy couldn't have said it enough times, Ed jumping up and down beside him.

Jack nodded in content; well done to everyone. He watched Edd hold his tight releasing pose, and in wonder when the wings, once tattered and putrid, but now bright and full, stretched from his back. Edd held his silent gape for a moment more, then limped in exhaustion.

Quietly, Jack approached, looking his weak form over. He was shivering, freezing cold, and in sympathy, he swiftly cut the ropes and let him fall into the warm springs below with a slight splash. A few seconds later, he reemerged gasping, still disoriented, and threw himself at the closest being, that being Kyle, and pulling him into the water in a shaky embrace.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Kyle was still shaking as Gantz pulled the tainted dark energy from his body. That had felt dark, it had felt evil. Now Kyle knew why it had corrupted Double D so easily. That kind of dark power would have been enough to corrupt him, and from what Kyle knew of light beings, they were weak against darkness, much like how darkness was weak against light.

When the mutated features finally fell away from Double D's body and he fell into the spring, Kyle looked like the weight of the world had been lifted off of him. He flinched as Double D embraced him, but it was just an instinctual reaction.

"...Now... we're even..." Kyle said with a smile.

Crow smirked and looked over toward Felix. "Looks like you've got a rival for your affection, huh?"

For once, Kyle ignored Crow's jabs. Now wasn't the time to react to them.

Outside the temple, an injured Mr. Copycat slumped against the outside wall. "Sounds like... I missed the show..."