Mr. Gun and the Depths

[gantzgun74]

No-one really knew he was down there, none in the group he had been traveling with previously... Okay, maybe they did if Shantotto told them, but really he had wanted to come down to these pits by himself. The reason why?

"Interesting..."

Standing before the boy was what appeared to be a gigantic mural of a warzone fashioned to look like cave paintings of some kind. However, an interesting factor would have to be the fact that there was some kind of black monstrosity hovering over the battle-field artwork, painted with intricate designs. Gantz lifted his fira magic fire ball, which he was using as a makeshift lanturn, to have a better look at it.

"What are we even doing here?" Came the all too recognizable voice of Soul Calibur, whom was now comfortably in a sword sheathe, her new sword body still fitting her snugly. "And here I thought you wanted to go free your lady love."

"I do. Make no mistake about that, my goal remains unchanged."

Then what was he doing here?

Maybe it was the warning he recieved, that told him of this mysterious mural?

"Then when are we going to get out of here?"

Gantz had spent literally weeks training underneath Shantotto (Though the others were hesitant about that since she had tried to kill him before that happened), and after a few days of it, he honestly felt a grand amount of results; His magic was noticeably more powerful (though he still had a LONG way to go before he could become a force of nature; a factor Shantotto stressed boastingly a lot of the time). During that time, Otto and Wally disappeared for reasons unknown, Misty and Helga following behind them quickly. Shantotto herself left after a few weeks of training passed, though the reason was also unknown. Really, the only one that stayed behind long enough to train himself up, was along with Gantz in the mine-tunnels.

Tarosuke stretched himself, trying to crick his back for reasons beyond Gantz. "Not that this isn't 'interesting'. But we still have business to take care of." Tarosuke really didn't care about 'said business' too much... Okay, he did care somewhat since he had grown to respect Gantz somewhat, but still, he was starting to get antsy. When he had caught Gantz sneaking away from the others, the young man had to allow Tarosuke to accompany him just to keep him quiet. The demon child now regretted going, honestly.

"Just wait Tarosuke. I found some runes over here... Though it will take a bit to translate..." Gantz wasn't concerned about leaving the others at the Temple of Balance, really. I mean, he was coming right back after all. And there was no reason to worry anybody with this new twist...

Unless, of course, said new twist was quite horrific and scarily possible...

And slowly, as Gantz read the runes to himself, it suddenly WAS.

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Somewhere, a few miles away from where Gantz currently was, trying to find their way through the tunnels was a group of people that would be quite familiar with Gantz.

Leading the pack was Lilia, whom was using fire magic to light the way. "Any sign of Tree, Todd, or Snowy yet?" Came Gene from right behind her, holding his Metal Chocobo keyblade closely. He REALLY didn't want to get caught off guard in this dark and creepy place.

"No... They must've REALLY got a head start on us. I don't see them anywhere..." Lilia looked around a moment. "Honestly, I'm just hoping we're going in the right direction."

They were, of course, but Lilia didn't know that yet.

"We are." Came Talim, whom held Kosumu's hand, while the star child trembled to himself. "I sense a few strong energies further on in the direction we're going in... It could be Tree and the others, but it could also be Gantz as well."

(What can REALLY clue them in, however is if FF goes next. XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Tree was indeed rather far ahead of the others. She wasn't even bothering to light her way except with a few stray flames from Todd, as she had naturally good night vision. She stopped as she heard a few voices coming from in front of her. One that she very much recognized. Why shouldn't she? She met his clone by way of Heartless once before.

Her lips curled into a grin for a moment before she changed to a scowl and tightened her grip on Todd's tail. Snowy facepalmed and looked away as Tree ran forward at a blindingly fast speed.

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Beatrice looked around. "Damn, that fatass really can be fast if she wants to, huh?"

Ark whined. "...She left me behind..."

Infi-FF kept her flat expression. "I don't trust her. Personally, I think she's more of a hindrance than a help."

She paused and facepalmed. "Oh for Gates' sake..."

"What? What is it?" Taffy asked. Then he facepalmed too as he heard it. "Oh god..."

----------------------

"GANTZ VAN DRAKE! I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!"

Before anyone present could react to Tree's yell, the anthropomorphic bat brought Todd down on Gantz's head, knocking him to the ground, and actually leaving a small crater. She grabbed him by the collar before he could react and started smacking him silly with Todd.

"You are the stupidest, most self-centered, idiotic red mage in the existence of existence! Seriously, my god, what the hell have you been thinking?!" Tree yelled. "How stupid are you? Let me list the ways..."

She stopped for a moment, still holding Gantz up by his collar. "Oh! I've got one! How about abandoning all of your friends, family, acquaintances, etc. for a fucking sword and your possibly dead girlfriend! Oh yeah, smart move! Sure did me a whole lotta good when I tried that, and look where it got me!"

She kicked Gantz into a wall, in fact, the same mural he'd been looking at earlier.

"So hey! Do ya know what happened to all your friends after you pulled your bit of idiocy? Okay, letttsssssss seeeeeeeeee... Oh, let's start with Bea-Bea getting her fucking heart cut out! Yeah, betcha didn't see that one coming! Same day you left! Probably wouldn't have happened if you hadn't left. Or hell, if you hadn't decided to codepend with Soul Calibur! It was 'cause of that that Ms. Dopple came after ya! 'Cause of that that Chip attacked Bea-Bea!" Tree yelled, taking several steps forward as she said so.

"So, what else have you done? Oh, here we go. Trained. Trained and trained. So you can go fight Him on your own, right? Haha, oh that's a laugh. Some kinda messed up justice that made you decide you had to do this on your own. It was your problem, no one else needs to get involved. You have to do this on your own. Bullcrap!" Tree stomped her foot. "End of story, you piss me off." She frowned.

"You're weak. You're this weak and you think you can fight Him? Not even in your dreams. You wanna fight Him for your stupid 'justice'?" She bent over and gave a smirk. "Well, stand up and show me the 'justice' you abandoned your friends for, then."

(OOC: That was fun. :3

It's a bit ownish, but Tree caught them by surprise. Plus this makes a fun lead in into the fight.)

[nutcase17133]

Nutcase appeared at that moment, saying, "While I wouldn't have put it as harshly as Tree did, she does have some good points, buddy boy." Slimer floated up gving Gantz a disapproving look as well, mumbling in his typical way as if he tried to copy what Nutcase had said.

"Furthermore," Nutcase said, "This Ms Dopple hag nearly tried to turn me into one of her deranged kind after you left, as she homed in on me while I was down n th dumps from your vanishing act."

[Gantzgun73]

[Before you ask, yes it is me posting here. This post was simply too good for me to wait until I got on a computer that would let me sign on to DC proper [Which my laptop won't let me do.] Before everything else, I must warn you guys, there'll be a very big Crossover Bros Brawl Spoiler in this, though, really it was necessary, given Gantz wants to get his point across here. Now without further a due.]

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Gantz grunted before pushing himself off of the floor, rubbing the multiple bumps forming on his head. In truth, there were so many responses he could've used at that moment, all of capable of putting himself down...

But...

He motioned to Tarosuke, whom looked ready to form out a Rei-Gun, telling him to back off. The boy mumbled to himself before lowering his trigger finger.

He cured himself slightly, before looking to Nutcase. "Okay... I'm sorry, Nutcase. I'm truely sorry for everything... But can you hold that thought a moment please?" Even if Nutcase wasn't willing to do just that, Gantz's facial expression made it clear that he was more then ticked off at Tree's accusations.

Sure they were true, and yes they were harsh.

But...

"At least I HAVE friends that I CARE about... TREETUNE CONSPICILLATUS..."

Yep, he had definately been doing research. He didn't care how Tree reacted at this.

"Maybe I'm wasting my time saying this, that's true. But at least I'm enough of a HUMAN BEING to bring it up." He crossed his arms, never minding that his sunglasses were removed from his being, revealing his light turquoise green eyes, sharpened, and definately enraged. "Okay, it was a dumb move to leave my friends, the dumbest in the world in fact. I was stupid, self-centered, and self-righteous. You're right about that... But at least I never once tried to PHYSICALLY harm my friends, Little miss 'I'll turn my BEST FRIEND INTO A FU#$%^ RAG DOLL AND NOT EVEN FU#$#$%^ CARE." His face never changed once, his tone was even despite obvious emphasis in his words... And he never once reached for Soul Calibur. "And you call ME self-centered? Why don't you look in the MIRROR, PAL."

It was at that point that everyone else arrived on scene. Before anyone could get any closer, Gene held them back. In all honesty, he wanted to hear what else Gantz had to say. This was the first he had heard of this... And by the sounds of it, this Tree had REALLY gotten under Gantz's skin... Which was a miracle in and of itself.

"But do you want to know the SADDEST part in all of this, Treetune?"

That caught attention real quick.

"I hate everything you've done in your life. You've done nothing but make people around you miserable, Didn't matter if they were foe or FRIEND. I HAD TO CURE BEATRICE'S Ailment because someone never once even TRIED to do it herself. You wanna know how long it took me to do it? I timed it myself. It took 6... FRIGGEN MINUTES." He groaned. "But I digress... Back to case and point. Wanna know the saddest part of all of this? Despite all of the things that I hate that you did, despite every atrocity you committed, despite the fact that you Don't even GIVE A CRAP ABOUT ANY OF IT..."

All was silent.

"I pity you."

That caused quite a bit of raised eyebrows.

Gantz's face remained flat. "How many bribes, and blackmails did you have to go through to form up your little team, Tree? How many in your group actually LIKE YOUR GUTS? The reason I pity you is that, no matter what you do, no matter what you say, it won't matter in the end. In the end, you'll wind up ALONE."

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A sigh followed, "There. I said it. Maybe it won't mean a lick to you, but SOMEONE had to." It was at that, that his face finally changed... His face softened. "I was alone myself once. It seemed that no matter WHAT I did, I always hurt somebody, killed somebody. My first closest friend, Jenna? She died because I wasn't capable of saving her from a malevolent immortal dickwad, that isn't Him. Then there was my Great Grandfather, who was planning to kill EVERYONE, and EVERYTHING in order to create a perfect utopia. I had to kill him to prevent that from happening." He sighed.

"Life is cruel Treetune. Forgive me if I feel sorry for you, for having to face it alone."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Tree grinned as Gantz attempted to insult her by calling her by her "full" name. It wasn't. It wasn't anything close. For as well researched as he probably thought he was, he wasn't as well researched as he probably thought he was. People didn't quite understand last names from her world.

"Look, pal, if you're gonna call me by my full name, either call me 'Treetune L.I.P Conspicillatus', or Treetune Lu--"

She stopped as Gantz continued. He was trying to call her out on the Beatrice-Fluffy thing. Well, it would have helped if she'd been able to find Beatrice. She hadn't been doing much in the way of being findable at the time.

She was a self-centered, tactless bitch. Tree didn't deny this. She hadn't done a thing to help Beatrice, because she was busy trying to get rich off of her own pursuits, like most alchemists did. Tree also didn't think Gantz understood the society of her homeworld.

She blinked as Gantz said he pitied her. Well, that was a first. What was he trying to do, make her feel sorry? Like she wasn't already aware of what a horrible person she was. She looked sorry for a moment before looking at Gantz, and her expression had returned to normal.

"I took my life into my own hands the moment I left behind my old life with my old parents and went to Alchemy Academy. Do you know why I don't use that 'L.I' part of my name anymore? Why I actually use my species name as part of my name, unlike Tortellini and Ark and all them? If you haven't realized it by now, you're stupider than I thought," Tree said. "Don't feel sorry for me. Now, are we gonna keep yakkin' or are we gonna fight? Really, all you're proving to me right now is that all you're good for is talking the enemy to death, and if that's what you're going to do, then I'll just take Soul Calibur for myself."

Her eyes flashed yellow, and Snowy gulped. She landed on Tarosuke's head.

"Don't get involved. Whatever you do, don't get involved," Snowy said in a harsh whisper. "Tree is already dangerously close to losing control of Todd. If she goes Knight of Ragnarok here, I can't guarantee we won't have another situation like what happened in our world's New York."

By this point, the others from Gene's group had appeared. Beatrice, Taffy, and Ark were all cautiously watching the situation, but they were all standing in front of the others. Whatever happened next, they weren't letting the others interfere in Tree and Gantz's fight.

Infi-FF, on the other hand, was just watching the situation with an amused look. "Looks like we're not all that different after all, eh, Treetune Lunis-Icho..." She didn't say it loud enough that Tree could hear, though.

[nutcase17133]

"Ok break it up kids." Nutcase said as he shoved Gantz and Tree away from each other. "I'll deal with you later." Nutcase said to Tree.

"As for you, Gantz." Nutcase said, as he turned toward his friend, "You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. And if that bitch sword spirit's gonna poke her nose into this she'd better shove her ass in one of the ghost traps because I'm not in the mood to listen to some callous hag tell ME what she hinks is best for the world when she doesn't even care about it in the first place."

[gantzgun74]

"Nutcase..."

This surprised the loon a little bit, as Gantz sighed. "Look... I know, I have a lot to answer for but..." He motioned to Tree, and was aware of his energy senses going through the roof. "Apparently, me and Tree have a few differences to settle... And by the looks of things, it can't wait."

The loon was likely given warning looks by not only this authors characters, but FF's characters as well. A few of them already knew what would happen if Treetune became stressed out, and if she didn't blow off some steam now, they'd likely be in trouble.

"So... For ours... And likely the Island's sake, I'm only going to say this once... Just step away for just a little bit, please."

Likely whether Nutcase followed through with this or not, Gantz would now be, at that point, facing down Treetune...

"Be careful bro..." Gene couldn't help but look worried; he HAD been on the recieving end of Tree's punishment before. And while the beatdown was more comical then anything else, he could tell just how much power Tree could use… And his built in Energy senses were more then helping him figure it out again.

Kosumu shivered at the power. “T-Talim…” Talim held the boy close, knowing what effect great quantities of doom energy had on the Star Child.

“Take away Soul Calibur huh?” There was no grin on his face, Gantz was quite serious here. “I won’t pretend to know how tough you are Treetune. But you can bet one thing.”

As was the case with Gantz’s fight with Talim… One could almost hear the bells of the Ostrheinsburg Chapel ringing somewhere in the background.

“I’ve worked this hard already, and I won’t have it all undone by an idiot like you.”

He never bothered to draw Soul Calibur, but what happened next was quite impressive anyways.

“FLOOD!!!!!!”

In a matter similar to how Shantotto did it, his hands met the floor and seemed to find water coming from nowhere, he then slammed his hands upward.

Tree would likely dodge the next attack, even if it was three water-spouts blasting out of the ground at Tree's feet four different times.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

((OOC: Aaaaaaaand I think it's time for the battle theme post *nearly forgot*

))

Tree growled at Nutcase after he pushed her out of the way. She responded by smacking him away with Todd, and she smacked him hard.

"I thought I made this clear! This is a fight of beliefs!" Tree yelled. "If Gantz can't prove to me that he has the guts to fight Him, then he should just lay down his sword now! So stay out of it!"

Ark looked worried, Beatrice looked worried, Taffy looked worried... just about everyone from Earth? looked worried. The only person who didn't was Infi-FF, and she was just watching with an amused expression. She didn't even think Gantz had noticed her yet.

Tree gave a huge grin as Gantz used Flood, and jumped out of the way, her wings flapping uselessly as she stepped back out of the way of each of the waterspouts.

"Takes one to know one, looooooser," Tree taunted. "Right, Todd, you ready to kick some ass?"

"Do ya even haveta ask, foo?" Todd asked. Tree just grinned in response before jumping over and through a waterspout and landing behind Gantz. She swung Todd around quickly, smacking Gantz in the back, before jumping back. She braced herself as she held Todd with both hands. The fish was standing straight out.

"BURN!" Tree yelled. Todd opened his mouth, and a wave of flames shot out of it right at Gantz.

[gantzgun74]

"GKT!"

Once Gantz removed one of Todd's loose scales from his shirt, he was immmediately aware of Todd's flaming breath, coming right at him. "REFLECT!!!!!"

He answered it by whipping up a barrier that the flames bounced off of... So much so, that it looked like the wave was now heading right back for the Knight of Ragnarok. Gantz however, obviously had no hopes that the flames would find it's mark. "You're gonna have to do better then that!!"

Gantz quickly looked around. This area was pretty wide open and the roof was pretty high up by the looks of it...

No not yet, only if Tree ABSOLUTELY forced his hand. "BLIZZAGA!!!" Launching one spell at Tree, he was quick to follow it up with, "THUNDARA!!" And aiming it in the area, he predicted Tree would dodge.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Tree grinned as the Blizzaga attack hit her dead on... and didn't do a thing. The Thundaga attack she actually dodged, but the Blizzaga one didn't hurt her a bit. Alchemic jackets were useful in that way, in Tree's opinion. She tended to make winter coats, so they reduced damage from ice attacks greatly.

"You're not serious enough yet!" Tree called, jumping out of the way of a couple stray thunderbolts. She suddenly sped up fast enough it seemed like she was teleporting, appeared behind Gantz, and kicked high enough that if Tree was wearing a skirt (which, thank god, she wasn't), she would have pantyshotted everyone nearby. Once Gantz was in the air, she jumped up after him and smacked him with Todd again. Upon landing, she prepared what could simply be considered a batter's swing.

And once Gantz came flying down, she'd swing. Except this was merely a feint. Not that he'd know that; her body language betrayed none of that. If he dodged in the only way she knew he could, she'd answer with an attack of her own. All he'd done was cast spells. She wanted to see that sword. That damn sword he'd gotten Bea-bea nearly killed over.

[gantzgun74]

Gantz winced at the struck blows. He HAD been working on his physical defense, but he still had a bit more progress to go before he made himself better at taking blows like this. When he looked down at Tree, he saw her prepping for another swing. Now, he wasn't necessarily afraid of Todd, he knew that it'd hurt if he got hit again.

Which is why, regardless of what Tree, may or may not have thought he'd do, Quickly thrusted his arms out. He HAD to get away from Tree a moment. "AEROGA!!!!"

A powerful, almost typhoon worthy gust of wind blasted out of Gantz's hands rocketing him away from Tree, likely blasting her and a few of the others in the process. He used a barrier to soften the landing before pushing himself back on his feet.

Regardless what was happening next, he cured himself, before firing continuous Firaga spells, his hand almost serving the purpose of the nozzle of a gun. This was followed by launching a Holy spell directly in front of himself, serving as a sheild in case Tree had charged him, dodging the Fire spells all the while.

"Gantz... Why won't you use me? You could definately make this easier on yourself if you did."

'Not yet.' He thought to himself. The area was still wide and open... But he didn't want to use Soul Calibur's power in his magic... Not till it mattered most.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Tree gave another amused grin as Gantz launched himself away from her with the Aeroga attack. Doing what was probably the exact opposite of what you should do if you're a winged creature and you're having typhoon force winds being fired at you, Tree unfurled her useless wings, sending her flying back. But instead of getting slammed up against a wall, when she hit the wall, she kicked off of it toward the mural again, managing to kick off it once more and send herself flying at Gantz.

"EAT ROTTEN BASS, JACKASS!" Tree yelled before fishslapping the Holy spell. The Firaga spells had all missed her because of the velocity she was moving at the time. All but one. The Firaga spell had torn through her right jacket sleeve, and while she'd put out the fire, she still had a large hole in her sleeve. But that wouldn't be what the others would be focusing on.

"Hey, Gantz, I don't know what you think I'm here for. I honestly don't give a crap about your fight with Him. I probably wouldn't even BE here if it weren't for the fact you got Bea-Bea involved. You crossed a line when you got her involved," Tree said as she brought Todd around again after she smashed through the Holy spell. "And not only did you get her involved, but you tried to get her and all of your friends uninvolved in the worst way possible. Take it from experience... that doesn't work. It just makes things worse."

Visible through the hole in her sleeve were a rather nasty looking scar... and a glowing red rune.

[gantzgun74]

Everyone took notice of the glowing red rune from the open spot in Tree's sleeve. Gantz momentarily saw it himself, before reaching for Soul Calibur, he jumps backward, dodging her next swing... "You..."

Metal looked confused a moment, before he did the math. "I get it now..."

Gantz growled angrily. "All of this time... You've been angry at me, and now I see why." No grin came on his face, no facial expression at ALL appeared. "You... You're no better then I am... You're under a deal yourself!" He pulled Soul Calibur out having said this, though his stance was purely defensive. "The only question is... WHO are you under a deal with? And why?"

No-one likely noticed him focusing his magic...

[nutcase17133]

Nutcase regained his senses after being thrown down by Tree. The force she used suprised him so he had blacked out for a few minutes. But when he got up he was seriously ticked.

"Ok I have had it! I didn't want to do this but now I have no choice!" Nutcase screamed as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a red and white ball.

"Goliath, stop this pointless fight!"

When the pokeball flew out, a huge creature that lookd like a lizard with a giant flower on it's back appeared. To those that knew it, it was a Venusaur. But this Venusaur was much bigger than others of it's kind. From it's feet to the top of it's head i stood seven feet tall. The flower added a further six feet to it's height, making it an impressive thirteen foot tall dinosaur. The Venusaur also wore a King'sRock on his hea, and he glared dangerously at Tree and Todd.

"Goliath, use Sweet Scent!" At Nutcase's command Goliath let out a calm and soothing fragrance which immediately got to work on Tree and Todd. "Good, now grab them with Vine Whip and keep them still!"

Two large thick vines sprouted from the base of the flower on Goliath's back and grabbed Tree and Todd, applying enough force to keep them from moving but not enough to crush them.

"Ok, now that you're in a more managable state we can actually get something done. And don't think about setting fire to those vines, kids. You mayhut Goliath but keep in mind the vines are holding you." Nutcase warned.

Turning to Gantz, Nutcase said, "Now Gantz, maybe you can fill in some blanks for us; we know a bit about your problems now thanks to some detective work but we need the full story and we need it now."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Tree glared at Gantz as he figured things out, and covered the hole in her sleeve with her hand. However, she was very much aware of his casting, and continued to stay on guard as she spoke. At least he'd finally pulled out that damn sword, was all she could think at the moment.

"Who do you think?!" She held Todd out. "I turned a god into a fucking slapping fish of doom! I turned the source of the most dangerous and unpredictable energy on Earth? into a weapon! I'm the most out of shape person on Earth? and I've been putting up enough of a fight that you finally drew your goddamn sword!"

She shoved her sleeve up so that the full rune was visible. It wasn't just a rune. Really, it looked like it had developed over what was an extremely nasty looking scar that covered Tree's whole arm. Covering her whole arm was also that same large red rune from before, but something about it seemed incomplete. Particularly where it met her shoulder.

Beatrice and Taffy's eyes had widened at the rune. Snowy and Ark's... had not.
Infi-FF looked the same as she always did.

"I get literally all of my agility, my strength, everything from Todd! Whenever I overexert myself, this gets larger. My body's got enough Doom Energy in it to kill a normal person," Tree said. "Not only that, but--"

And then Nutcase had interrupted. Tree had gotten caught by the Vine Whips, and she looked pissed. Snowy's eyes widened further, and she flew up to Nutcase, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him a couple inches into the air.

"Do you have a death wish?!" Snowy yelled at Nutcase. "I thought I told you little dipshits to stay out of this, and--"

Tree didn't listen to Nutcase. She pulled her fish arm out of the vine whip and lifted Todd up. "MAKE THIS DINOSAUR EXTINCT, TODD!"

Todd gulped and complied, sending out a wave of flames that burned away the vines. Tree landed on the ground and swung Todd toward Nutcase, sending out another wave of flames. She didn't seem quite... stable as she spoke. Coupled with an increased glow from her arm rune...

[glow=red,2,300]"Stay the hell out of this! Stay the fucking hell out of this! I swear to fucking god, I'll kill you! Get your fucking dinosaur back in that fucking ball, or I'll put it where it belongs-- in the ground."[/glow]

Snowy looked panicked at the look in Tree's eyes. "Everyone get out of here! She's going to lose it!"

Even Beatrice looked panicked. Then again, she'd been right at the epicenter of the blast the last time she'd witnessed one of these.