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Post by doctorzero on Sept 6, 2011 23:51:00 GMT -5
The Industrial District was not a place Jihl would want to visit on vacation. As she entered the command center, the assistants at the terminals looked up at her briefly, nodded, then went back to their work. Jihl payed no attention to them as she looked through the window to the chamber below. "What is Nightmare's status?" "He's been dormant since Mr. Raleigh placed him there, Superior. He's ready to go at any time." "Good." Jihl's communicator rang. "Nabaat. What is it?" "We have a security breach in sector 9. The subject appears to be an armed woman in pink armor. She seems to be injured." Jihl sighed. Just one thing after another, isn't it? "Detain her and bring her to me alive. I want to know who she is and what she's doing here." "Understood." The officer hung up. Almost immediately, the com rang again. "For the love of Eden--Yes?" "The subject has arrived at the starting point, Superior." Jihl smirked. "About time. Is he alone?" "...er..." THAT wiped the smirk on her face. "Dammit. Who's with him?" "The ones calling themselves Gantz, Climber, Red and Rosaline." "Keep an eye on them for now and await further instructions. Do NOT attempt to harm them or help them. After all, there are plenty of those things in here that are willing to do the former. They should be a good warmup for them." "Understood, Superior." (The command center they're in is a warehouse somewhere in the middle of the district.)
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Post by gantzgun74 on Sept 7, 2011 0:15:38 GMT -5
Meanwhile at said starting point...
The group took a good long look at the area around them... Oddly enough, the place wasn't as 'in shambles' as the group pictured it would be. Industrial Park was every bit as abandoned and black as it always had been... The only notable difference was the feeling of gloom and doom that pervaded the air.
"Brrrrr..." Rosaline shivered as she looked around. "This place is giving me the heebe jeebes..."
Gantz nodded to his girlfriend, as he continued looking around. "Same..." With that said, he turned to Yana. "Yo Yana. How's Soul Calibur behaving?"
Soul could be seen in a sheathe on Yana's belt as he said this, but more on that in a second.
Really, Climber was blind when it came to energy signatures and some such things... But the evil aura around must've been especially powerful... What clued people in to that? Even HE noticed it. "W-Wow... This place is so C-creepy..." Red shivered herself, looking a fair amount scared...
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Elsewhere....
Nina continued meandering, staggering really, through the Industrial Park. What was she looking for?
Well to be honest, not even she was sure. She awoke in this metal wasteland only a few minutes ago, and was immediately overwhelmed by all the sights, and knew right away that she was ANYWHERE but home. Besides, last she remembered, she was in a desert region with no sign of civilization anywhere...
Now here she was... And this place CERTAINLY didn't look like Radiata...
"J-Jack..."
There came a roar as what appeared to be a demon charged her. Nina let out an annoyed and tired sigh, as she readied her keyblade...
That was another thing, she noted as she fought the demon off... When she awoke she found that odd weapon lying at her side. Since her Knight's Saber was in shabby shape, she took the weapon since she was in need of one. Since she picked up the keyblade she became aware that her movements had become even faster and her sword swings felt much stronger then ever. Along with that, she felt her weariness fade away a tad...
But only a tad.
When Nina finished slaying the demon, she fell to her knees, looking IMMENSELY out of breath. Not from the fight with the demon mind you, but because of the fight she herself fought not too long ago in Dysett...
"Jack... What did you do..? T-To our kingdom?"
[And CUE guards.]
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Post by doctorzero on Sept 7, 2011 0:30:23 GMT -5
As the words left her lips, the squad that Jihl had sent entered the area, guns primed. One of the gave the signal to the others, then they approached Nina, their weapons aimed at her at all times. You could never be too careful. "HQ, this is Beta Squad, do you copy?" "Roger that. What's the status of the target?" "She's pretty beaten up. No wonder, though, it looks like she took out one of those monsters. She's in need of medical attention, however." Jihl's voice cut through the chat. "I don't care if she needs a five pound chocobo and last week's copy of Better Homes and Gardens, I want her brought to me. Detain her, captain, and get her over here doubletime before I go over there myself and drill some sense into your thick skull." "...Understood."
Jihl sighed in exasperation as she hung up. These idiots were nothing like those she commanded in PSICOM. Well, no matter. Give her enough time and those morons would know the difference between a real soldier and a-- The com rang again. "What is it this time?" she snapped.
Yana shifted his belt. "She's doing okay, I guess, no complaints." He looked around at the place, thoroughly creeped out. "THIS is the place? Okay, I think I know why that Nightmare guy would be here." Erin (she absolutely refused to leave Yana's side, so they had to relent and let her come along) shivered from her place on Yana's shoulder. Yana patted her reassuringly. "Relax, things will be fine. I think. Uh, Soul, how bad is this Nightmare guy again?" (Seeing as the guards are NPCs, I'm sure you ARE allowed to control them, Gantz.)
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Post by gantzgun74 on Sept 7, 2011 12:54:31 GMT -5
[Yeah, but they ARE Jihl's goons, you'd do a better job writing them then I would.]
What were those voices? Who did they belong to?
When Nina lifted her head, her tired eyes beheld the guards... They CERTAINLY didn't look like Radiata Knights. They even carried weapons she was unfamiliar with. Looking around, she saw that these guards numbered around the 20's... Which wasn't exactly very fair odds... What was more, she distrusted how these men looked. There was definitely something shady about them.
She took a second to look around, and found that there was little place to run or hide, and her instincts let her know that those tube looking weapons they carried around would probably be long ranged...
"Who... Who are you?" She gripped her keyblade harder, as she slowly got to her feet.
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Back with Yana and the others.....
Soul sighed a bit. "Let's put it this way... An entire army tried to fight against him... They didn't leave so much as a scratch on him."
Gantz nodded bleakly. "But Yana, I have a feeling about you. You're not like other warriors. You probably stand a better chance against him then other fighters."
"I really hope that's true..." Climber mumbled as he looked around.
"I know it's true."
Red nodded hopefully to Gantz's words, and smiled to Yana encouragingly.
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Post by doctorzero on Sept 7, 2011 16:16:36 GMT -5
The squad members immediately aimed their weapons at her when she stood up. "Hold your fire!" the captain shouted. He turned to Nina, though he was ready to aim at her and fire at a moment's notice. "We are Beta Squad, sent to contain a security breach. Put down your weapon and come quietly, and we won't use force."
Jihl was just about ready to kill someone as she shouted into the com. "What do you mean there's been a security breach at Site 22?! I thought you had the whole area on lockdown, you idiots!... what do you mean, three to six of them?! Which is it?... oh, I don't care, capture them dead or alive, and the Maker help you if you fail!" She slammed the com onto the terminal and ran her hand through her hair. She quickly noticed the other assistants and growled, "What are you staring at? Get to work! And where's Beta Squad?!"
Yana gulped. "Uh, sure, thanks..." If an entire army couldn't handle Nightmare, what makes them think I would?! He sighed. Best not to dwell on it. "Well, we might as well go look for Nightmare. Where do you think--" He stopped. "...You guys hear something?"
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Post by gantzgun74 on Sept 8, 2011 14:13:46 GMT -5
The last thing Nina wanted to do was go with these guys, she had her own problems at this time to be concerned about these morons... She was JUST about to tell these idiots off...
Before a powerful roar sounded across the scene...
..... "The hell-?"
Beta Squad never knew what hit em.
A dragon-like demon suddenly incinerated the lot save for up to 3 of them. The remaining 3 let out panicked yells as they tried to face off against the demon, but they were immediately swatted aside.
Thus leaving Nina to handle the demon herself...
"Oh... This is just PERFECT..."
Seeing as how this thing was a dragon, and she was a dragon slayer, it made sense... But given she was really out of breath...
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The Dragon demon's roar was what really caught the group's attention. "I don't know what you're talking about Yana... But I definately heard that!! Come on! Let's go check it out!!"
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Post by doctorzero on Sept 8, 2011 14:28:32 GMT -5
"We're under attack! Send rei--AAAAGH!" Jihl actually threw the com into the wall in frustration. "IDIOTS!" She grabbed a new com from one of the assistants. "Squads Alpha, Gamma, and Sigma, report immediately to Sector 9, Squad Beta is under attack by unknown hostiles! TERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE! I DON'T GIVE A DAMN HOW!" Incompetent idiots! I might as well do it MYSELF if this keeps up! She needed a distraction, and she needed it now. "What's Nightmare's status?" "He's still do--hmm?" "Oh, for Eden's sake, what now?" "He appears to be moving, miss." "Turn on the speaker." The speakers crackled to life as Jihl looked through the observation window into the chamber below. "Is something the matter, Sir Nightmare?" she asked. There was total silence for a moment, then a voice spoke, one that was reminiscent to monsters only seen in nightmares. And no, that was not intentional. "She is here...my dear...sister..."
The dragon reared up on its hind legs, preparing to turn Nina into a roasted flambe. It didn't get the chance. "MOVE!" Nina was immediately tackled as soon as the monster let loose its firebreath, causing it to miss her and her savior by mere feet. "You all right?" Nina looked up to see Yana looking at her in concern as he helped her up. "Nothing's broken, right?" Meanwhile, Gantz's gang had arrived on the scene, ready to lay the smackdown on the pathetic excuse for a salamander.
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Post by gantzgun74 on Sept 8, 2011 22:43:03 GMT -5
To respond to the giant scaley menace, Gantz casted a powerful Blizzaga spell into it's mouth when it turned to breath fire at them. "Sorry charlie!" With that said, Gantz drew his sword 'Eclipse' and with blazing glory proceeded to slice down with a Thundaga spell coursing through the blade. The Dragon had it's head slammed downward with a powerful thud.
"Blast Wave!!!" The sword-beam-esque attack struck the dragon with massive kii-based force sending it reeling backwards much to Yana and Nina's wide-eyed disbelief.
Red let out a feral roar as she charged at the dragon. While the beast was still recoiling, she sliced at it's neck...
Her blade went through the neck as easily as a knife through butter, easily beheading the demon...
............. Nina looked on in wide-eyed awe, incapable of believing what she just saw. Not only did these people go toe-to-toe with a dragon, they actually SLAYED it with brutal efficiency... AND SO EASILY TO BOOT!!
As the dragon hit the ground, the beheading so clean there wasn't even blood, Gantz momentarily smiled to Rosaline, and vice versa, before they turned to see Nina. "Hmm? Well... Who's this?" Gantz asked, looking curious. She looked vaguely familiar he had to admit.
Nina just continued to look on in awe.....
"How... How did you..." Nina muttered in disbelief. "How did you do that..?!"
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Post by doctorzero on Sept 8, 2011 22:57:34 GMT -5
Yana and Erin simply stared at Gantz. Granted, he had seen him and Rose fight against Princess, Wilhelm, and several thugs earlier that day, but against something of that size? Sheesh. He hated the fact that they had to kill it, though, even if it was threatening them--couldn't they have knocked it unconscious or something?--but he figured the lecture could wait. He turned to Nina. "Okay, first things first, we need to fix you up." Now, how do I do this again...oh, right. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hold on a sec..." After a few seconds, his hand started to glow green, and Nina's wounds began to slowly heal up. She was fully healed after three minutes (Though she was still exhausted). "Feeling better?" Yana asked, wringing his hand. It's going to take me a while to get used to that...
Jihl sat down in one of the chairs, frustrated. "Idiots. I'm surrounded by IDIOTS." The assistants wisely said nothing.They dared not to point out to their Superior that she was overreacting, otherwise they'd get a face-full of her combat baton. Jihl activated her com. "This is Jihl. I want to be notified as soon as Squads Alpha, Gamma and Sigma make contact with Beta Squad, understand? And if you find the intruder, for Eden's sake, capture her alive. I don't want any more security breaches today. And no mistakes, OR ELSE..." She hung up without waiting for a confirmation and rubbed her temples. "Someone get Mr. Raleigh on the line..." (Don't mind her, she's just stressed. XD)
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Post by gantzgun74 on Sept 9, 2011 13:01:34 GMT -5
Nina looked unready to cooperate with Yana, but when he took her shoulder and his hands glowed green, she kept herself from resisting to look at the wonder in awe. Then she felt a big cut on her waist heal up, helping her realize that this was a healing spell. When the three minutes passed, she found it was suddenly easier to breath. She was exhausted of course, given healing spells only tended to heal wounds and not alleviate weariness, but that just made sense.
Nina let out a breath, relief shooting through her. "Th-thanks..." She said as she rolled up the sleeve of her cloth armor shirt to look at the cut on her arm, which was no longer there.
She looked around as Gantz and the others took her in, Gantz and Rose going to their knees to get a better look at her downed form. "You're certainly not from around here are you?" Rosaline said offhandedly, taking in the knight's armor. "I've never seen anything like that armor before, not even in Ivalice."
'Ivalice?' Nina had never heard of such a country before. "Who... Who are you guys?"
Gantz nodded as he held out a hand. "Of course. My name is Gantz van Drake, leader of Clan Highwind, and Behemoth slayer." He then motioned to Rosaline. "And this is Rosaline, she's my fiance, as well as a fellow monster hunter in the clan." Gantz figured Nina would react better if he used his fancy Ivalician introduction since her clothes seemed around the medieval period. "But before we continue introductions, may we know your name?"
Flushing somewhat, Nina nodded. "Of.. Of course." She placed a fist up to her upper chest in a form of salute. "My name is Nina Filia, Captain of the Argent Faucon Brigade of the Radiata Knights, and a Dragon Slayer." Lowering her salute, she took the group in some more. "Now, please continue."
"Of course." Gantz went politely. He quickly motioned to Red. "Anyways, this young lady over here is Red, a good friend of mine." Red nodded to Nina simply. "And this person here, is the Climber."
Climber fiddled around with his thumbs as he was introduced. "Heheheheh, it's nice to meet you miss Nina."
"Charmed I suppose." She responded simply.
With that last thing said, and before Yana could say anything, Gantz motioned to Yana, "And I believe you've already been introduced to my friend Yana, a fellow swordsman amidst our ranks."
More then anything, Gantz wanted to pass himself off as a figure of authority. He knew Nina's type, and knew that they responded well to that. At the same time, he kept his tone kind and serene. Add that together, and, he hoped, the created impression was that he was someone Nina could trust............
It seemed the little math was apparently right, because Nina dropped any signs of hostility a second later. "It is a pleasure to meet you all."
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Post by doctorzero on Sept 9, 2011 17:47:52 GMT -5
Meanwhile... "This is Alpha Squad, do you copy?" Jihl snatched up a com device from one of the assistants. "This is Superior Nabaat, what's your status?" "We're viewing the area from one of the buildings, ma'am. Beta Squad's been devastated; looks like one of those dragon monsters. Yana's group took care of it before we arrived, though." Jihl's grip tightened on the com, but her voice was level. "And the intruder?" "She's with the group at the moment ma'am. Permission to apprehend her?" "No, belay that. If anything, it works to our advantage--Yana is coming to us, anyway, and if he brings her along--well, two birds with one stone. Approach them and provide an escort, captain--it'll take them hours to find us if we leave them alone." "Understood." After the captain hung up, Jihl threw the com in a rage. "A WELL EQUIPPED TEAM OF TWENTY FULL GROWN MEN CAN'T DISPOSE OF ONE MONSTER BUT A GROUP OF FIVE NEOPHYTES CAN?! I AM SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS!!!"
Yana couldn't help but think that Gantz sounded a little pretentious with that introduction, but he chose not to mention it. "It's nice to meet you too, Nina," he said politely, "but if you don't mind me asking, what're you doing here? Wait--" his eyes narrowed. "Did Kavma bring you here? Did he do this to--" "Vee?" Erin jumped down from her perch on Yana's shoulder and sniffed at Nina curiously.
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Post by gantzgun74 on Sept 12, 2011 21:16:38 GMT -5
...........................
"Kavma?"
To say Nina didn't seem to recognize that name in the slightest would've been about as big an understatement as calling 'Princess SOMETHING of a sadist'. "Who is this Kavma that you speak of?" She looked at Yana curiously, wondering what he was talking about before the tiny little fox creature appeared, sniffing her a bit. She imagined she smelt a tad dusty, mixed with the scent of blood (Both her own, and something else's), and sweat.
Rosaline more then caught it, but didn't say anything about it. She imagined that Nina was more then aware of her current condition. She probably would've answered...
But that was when Nina's weapon caught her attention. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of it, before she turned to Gantz. "Gantz... D-Do you see what I-"
Gantz only nodded. "I see it Rosie..." This quick exchange obviously caught Nina's attention, thus making sure Gantz answered for it just as quickly. "Forgive us Nina... But we couldn't help but notice your blade... How is it you came across that sword?"
Looking even more confused then ever, the knight looked to the young man with a raised eyebrow. "What business of it, is yours?"
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Post by doctorzero on Sept 12, 2011 21:38:09 GMT -5
Of all the things Gantz and Rose were curious about, they wanted to know about her sword? Sure, it looked weird, almost like a key, and-- Wait. "Hold on, is that a Keybl--" Yana started. "FREEZE!" The shout made them turn around. "What the?!"
"This is Site 22 reporting." "What's your status?" Jihl asked, in a tone that clearly said You had better not have screwed up, you imbecile.
The Captain of Alpha Squad smacked his fellow team member. "Were you told to raise your weapon?" Oh, great, just one thing after another, Yana thought. The squad numbered around fifteen, all of them equipped with guns of various sizes. Yana clenched his fists. "Who are you people?" The captain gestured to his men. "Stand down, gentlemen." He turned to the group. "We are Alpha Squad. We've been sent by Superior Nabaat to provide an escort." Both Yana and Erin stared in surprise. "An escort? To where?"
Jihl turned off the com as soon as the officer finished his report (they still hadn't apprehended the intruders at the mountain yet) and sat back down. I cannot believe this. First month as Superior and already things are falling apart. And as if the day couldn't get any worse, the com rang again. Jihl snatched up it and snapped, "What is it this time, you prattling dolts?" Kavma's bewildered voice came from the com. "Well, someone got up from the wrong side of the bed this morning." Jihl blanched.
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Post by gantzgun74 on Sept 12, 2011 23:22:10 GMT -5
Nina was immediately put on edge when she saw that this group's uniforms were similar to the guys that was roasted by the dragon monster earlier. She looked to the bunch suspiciously, keeping her keyblade firmly in grasp. When Gantz noticed Nina's reaction, he decided to be suspicious himself...
After all, he was fairly sure he had never seen uniform quite like that before, not even on the Dimensional Island Police force.
"That's a very good question, gentlemen." He crossed his arms as he eyed the guns. "So you know, I don't make it a habit of trusting people who had guns trained on us only a second ago... Where would you be escorting us if we went with you?"
Climber didn't like the look of these guys any more then the others did, and kept his pick-axe raised.
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Post by doctorzero on Sept 13, 2011 0:26:29 GMT -5
The captain coughed. "Ah, yes...We've been sent to escort Mr. Yana to the Command Center for his second challenge." Yana blinked. "Seriously?" He couldn't help be feel suspicious. "Yes. Our Superior believes that you would prefer it to be faster than simply wandering around aimlessly." Yana and Gantz looked at each other, then back at the captain. "How do we know this simply isn't a trap?" The captain sighed in frustration. "We have direct orders from Mr. Raleigh himself that we are not to harm you or your friends unless in self-defense. And trust me, none of us want the punishment detail. Now are you coming with us or not? Superior Nabaat is surely getting impatient." Yana glanced at Gantz. "...What do you think, should we go with them?"
"I-I apologize sir, you see, some of the staff here--" "Don't worry about it, Jihl," Kavma interrupted. "It's your first month with the new job, you're bound to become frustrated at first. But that's not what I'm talking about." Jihl recomposed herself. "V-very well, sir. What do you require?" "Nothing. I'm sending you the Subspace Report. I assumed you would want to look over it." Jihl blinked. "The...Subspace Report? Why do you think I would want to read it?" "Well, it should make more sense of what you read in the Alex File, for one. And for another, your predecessor's actions during the event is listed within it. I want you to read them over." "May I ask why?" Jihl asked, tense. "I simply don't want you to make the same mistakes as she did." He hung up.
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