Never Change

[gantzgun74]

Red was helping Max look around, desperately trying to find any sort of exit nearby that might help them in an escape. She was on pins and needles. Goddamn how she wanted to get the hell out of dodge.

Vanessa was also in a hurry.

She charged at Zero not even bothering with a sword anymore, as she resheathed it. She wanted to beat this moron black and blue. As she charged, she grinned when she saw Zero instinctively swing out Soul Edge. However, given his snails pace dodging the attack was little more then EXCRUCIATINGLY easy. In fact, she was chuckling as she dodged the attack. "Oop! Missed!" She balled her hand into a fist.

BAAAAM!!!! And there went his nose. "BOOM HEADSHOT!!!" Zero couldn't even take a few steps backward in recoil. Vanessa was on him, punching him left and right. One punch made him spit out a tooth, before a powerful elbow hammered him in the ribs, it certainly sounded like she cracked them.

This was followed by an uppercut, and a fast and tough karate chop to Zero's wrist, making him drop Soul Edge. This was followed by an uppercut, which she hoped broke the man's jaw. For the final ferocious attack, she grinned smugly as she grabbed Zero's head...

BAAAAAM! And head-butted the man so hard he likely saw stars, tripped the man's feet out from under him and then just like previously, she grabbed the man swung him around... "SHINE!!!!!"

And instead of pummeling him through the floor, she blasted the man CLEAN THROUGH A WALL. She momentarily grinned when she heard him crash into a piano.

[doctorzero]

He had to admit, Zero thought as he extracted himself from the piano wreckage, feeling the spell's effect disappearing, it seemed as if it was an unofficial rule that every haunted house had to have a spooky piano of some sort.

Zero shook his head and got back to the situation at hand. Specifically, getting rid of that cat, now that the slowing spell had worn off.

In the most painful way possible.

"Okay, bitch," he snapped, stomping back through the hole in the wall and glaring at Vanessa, "You have officially PISSED ME OFF!!!"

A beam of light formed from the Demon Gear, resting in his hand like a sword. He charged at Vanessa and swung.

Unfortunately for Vanessa, it was a feint. As soon as she tried to block it, he redirected himself and slammed his fist into her side. As she staggered, he grabbed her by the back of her head and threw her to the ground, kicking her in the side and knocking her away.

"Razor Wing!"

He finished by firing several golden blades in her direction. He turned to Max and Red, cracking his neck. "Now, where were we?"

[gantzgun74]

Zero however heard a cat like hiss. If he had turned he would've seen Vanessa nimbly jumping over one of the blades which had been positioned horizontally, before nimbly slinking by a vertical positioned blade. There was a moment of awe as she did a front flip past another blade, ducked another, and then dodging another blade with such a close call, that a few strands of fur from her tail were sliced off. With one last jump, she dodged the last blade.....

BAM!!!!! And nailed Zero upside the head with a front flip kick. Red couldn't help but wince.

The blades meanwhile, cleanly cut through the wall behind where Vanessa had been standing moments ago, creating a brand new gaping hole to match this building...

No-one noticed a low moan echo throughout the building. It was so low only people with ears like elves could hear it...

But for those that could hear it, they'd know something else was here... Something ancient... Something horrifying...

Something BAD.

[doctorzero]

Back with Jihl...

The wall was, to put it bluntly, being a stubborn b*tch. Jihl gritted her teeth. Just once I would like something to go my way.

"Superior?"

One of the agents was looking at the ceiling nervously. Jihl followed suit and realized that they had yet ANOTHER problem.

Long, thin needles were emerging from the ceiling. Jihl estimated that they would all be dead within five minutes.

Well, she thought, That just tears it.

"Out of the way, all of you!"

The agents attempting to tear down the wall moved quickly as Jihl brandished her weapon, then slashed the wall with as much force as she could put in the blow.

---

Zero was knocked backward, flipping through the air before righting himself on his hands, following by launching himself at Vanessa.

His fist went over her head as she ducked. As he landed behind her, he turned and grabbed her by the tail and threw her over his shoulder with a grunt.

[gantzgun74]

?!?!?!?!? "REEEEOWWW!!!!!!"

Of course as we all know, it is never a good idea to grab a cat by it's tail. Tails were naturally sensitive areas of the body. Growling and yowling, she quickly righted herself and landed on all fours. When she turned to face Zero, there was an expression of the most absolute ferocity on her face.

"DON'T."

She rushed forward.

"TOUCH."

She feinted a punch to Zero's face.

"THE."

Her real move made Max CRINGE. Why?

She aimed a kick right in between Zero's legs.

"FUCKING."

While the man was either cringing from the attack or recovering from the dodge (Whichever one it is is your choice), she grabbed Zero by the neck and slammed him against the wall.

"TAIL."

BOOOOM!!!!! He only had time to look up and see a blast of lightning magic form in her palm.

Let's just say that another destroyed wall followed... Only Zero had crashed through two walls this time around, and landed in a bathroom.

No-one noticed how the house seemed to react to this, a low moan becoming apparent.

[doctorzero]

The wall was blown inward, scattering rubble all over the study beyond. The low moan that resulted indicated that whatever spirit was involved was NOT happy.

Jihl entered the study and checked the door. Locked. "Smith?"

One of the agents approached the door and took aim. "Yes, Ma'am."

As the door fell over from the blast, Jihl turned to see that the wall in the hallway seemed to be shifting like pudding.

"Okay, everyone, new plan."

---

Max couldn't help but cringe. "Ooh, that had to hurt..."

Zero extracted his head from the toilet, sputtering in disgust. "Ppphl! God DAMMIT!"

He stood up and turned, running through the wreckage and back into the foyer, aiming his Gear at Vanessa.

"Why won't you just lay down and DIE ALREADY?!"

He proceeded to fire at her repeatedly, not seeming to care if the shots actually hit her or not.

Max grabbed Red and ducked just as a shot blasted the wall where her head had been. "This is getting nowhere," he muttered.

James tugged at his sleeve. "Max?"

"Not now, James--"

"Max, this is important! I think the house is alive."

Max, Buizel and Erin stared at him. "...oh, wonderful," Buizel muttered.

"Uh...how do you figure?" Max asked.

"There's aura all over the building. I didn't notice it when we came in, but as soon as those two started breaking things..."

[gantzgun74]

Zero's continuous shooting was met with acrobatics and cat like grace as Vanessa slunk around each bladed shot, even parrying one with a quick unsheathing slice of her katana. More shots followed with Vanessa continually dodging and parrying them. With one last shot, Vanessa jumped over that last blade and brought down her blade on Zero, the man blocking with Soul Edge.

"Back off pantywaste, this is my kill, and I have no intention to letting you steal it." Those harsh words were followed by a fuzzy furry thing wrapping around Zero's leg.

He suddenly found his leg yanked out from under him, thanks to Vanessa's tail. She wasted no more time in quickly kicking the man across the room, his back slamming against the far off wall.

Red was utterly horrified at this, not sure about who she was rooting for by this point. Both Vanessa AND Zero promised to be dangerous escorts. Growing desperate she quickly looked for the nearest route of escape. ANY would be great just so long as it lead her and Max away from these fueding fighters. Even for a few moments.

With that thought in mind, she quickly noticed the hallway Max had ran down. Taking no other chances, she took his hand and quickly ran, nearly tripping the young man up behind her.

[doctorzero]

"Wha--where are you going?!"

Max scooped up his three Pokemon and followed after her.

---

Zero considered his situation a bit more as he sailed through the air.

What I wouldn't give for a flamethrower or something so could burn this place to the ground with those assholes in it--OW.

Cue impact.

"Okay, that does it."

He jumped up and started firing Cross Cannon blasts at Vanessa, running toward her as he did. As soon as he was halfway across the room, he threw Soul Edge at her.

WHAT THE--AAAAAAAGH!!!

As Vanessa dodged the sword, Zero grabbed her and shoved her into a wall, the blades of his gauntlet at her throat.

There was a brief moment of silence as they contemplated each other.

Then Zero sighed, weary.

"Okay, look," he started. "I just wanted to kill Max because he's been a massive thorn in my side all day, and he stole my stuff. But I just realized that there's no point in fighting you over who gets to off him. So you can go ahead and kill him if you want, it doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm just here to make the Superior take me to Kavma. This has nothing to do with you anyway."

[gantzgun74]

Vanessa looked mildly confused at this sudden turn of events. A moment of silence followed this as she contemplated Zero's words. As this happened, her Foresight spell was going crazy; telling her to get away. Telling her to get as far as possible from the gauntlet blade that was a mere two inches from poking her throat.......

A moment later, she nodded her head to this little speech. Not particularly because she liked the idea, but rather for the purposes of self-preservation. "Y-yeah whatever..." She tried her best not to gulp, which would have caused her throat to expand outward and draw it closer to the possibly poisonous blade. "Can you put me down?" There was a nervous growl, "I don't like those wrist blades, they reek of some cursed magic.... The further you get those away from me, the better...."

---------------------------------------—-------------------

Red continued running for her life, dragging Max behind her all the while. It was a smart thing to do she thought, since Vanessa was distracting Zero for the time being. No matter who won it would have been a lose-lose situation, and she wasn't keen on sticking around to find out who would win.

She found that the end of the hallway had found them in this huge dining room area. Big as it was, there was plenty of places to hide...

But before that....

While Max examined the surroundings, she rushed to the nearby door which opened up to the kitchen. Once there, she started slamming open drawers and cabinets, looking around desperately for something. After a moment, she found it. The silverware drawer was full of all kinds of forks, spoons and knives. Instantly she looked through the knives and eventually pulled out a meat cleaver, checking it over for sharpness.

More then anything, she needed to arm herself.

[doctorzero]

Zero glanced at his gauntlet for a brief second at her words, then he released her and took a step back. "Right, whatever. It's not like I enjoy using this thing either, but I take what I can get."

---

Max barricaded the door with a chair as Red rummaged around the drawers for dangerous cutting instruments.

"Okay, that should hold them for...about three seconds, hopefully..." he said rather lamely.

"Kinda makes you wonder why you bothered, doesn't it?" Buziel snarked.

Max shook his head. "Criticize me later, we need to get out of here." He turned to the rest of the room. No windows. There was another door, though. He went over to it and pushed it. Locked. "For the love of--"

---

The door fell over as the sound of the shotgun blast rang through the air. Jihl and her soldiers entered the parlor, weapons raised.

"We should've brought the Ghostbusters or something," one of the soldiers grumbled. Jihl silenced her with a look.

"Complain about it later. Keep moving." She looked around--several couches, chairs and tables littered the room along with a massive wardrobe in the corner. She went over to the door on the opposite side and tried it. Locked. "Ricardo, I need you to--"

---

Suddenly, piano music started playing throughout the house out of freaking nowhere. Zero looked up, startled. "What the--"

---

Max and his Pokemon nearly jumped out of their skins when the music started. "What is that?!" Erin asked.

---

"Where is that music coming from?" Jihl demanded.

"Sounds like Fantasae Impromptu," one of the soldiers commented.

"Chopin?" Jihl asked incredulously.

"In spectral C-minor, no doubt," muttered Ricardo. "The worst kind of C-minor."

---

Zero went over to the first hole in the wall and looked at the piano wreckage. Still wrecked. "Okay, someone's trolling me."

"Spirits, perhaps," Soul Edge commented, "though in a place like this, I suppose it's to be expected."

Zero scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, there's no such thing as ghosts."

---

"I don't have to put up with this," Jihl snarled. "Someone break down the door, and if there's anything moving start shooting everything until it stops, I'm in no mood for subtlety."

(You can guess where the door leads.)

[gantzgun74]

The look Vanessa was giving Zero was actually pretty humorous all things considered. She pointed at the man blankly almost in disbelief. "No such things as ghosts?" ............. She shook her head after a moment. "What rock did YOU crawl out from under?"

It was a simple question really. She knew ghosts were every bit as real as what she was seeing. Heck, ghosts were really common. "You can find ghosts anywhere. I literally went to school with a guy that counts as a ghost in an artificial physical form..."

Before Zero could call bull-shit on that...

CRAAAAASH!!!!!

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

Back in the dining room, Jihl's leading man had just finished breaking down the door. When she heard the loud racket, Red, still in the kitchen, instinctively did the first thing that came to mind; hide in a counter, making as little noise as possible... She could only hope Max was okay, as she lay in wait, her mind desperately thinking up possible ideas.

[doctorzero]

Zero snorted. "Simple. Holograms."

That was when Soul had to draw the line.

"Holograms?!" the sword sputtered. "What in the world made you come to that conclusion?! Is a haunting really that hard to believe?!"

---

The door fell down as Max backed away, James, Buizel and Erin tensing and readying themselves for the imminent beatdown.

Imagine their surprise when Jihl and her men came in.

"You!"

Jihl adjusted her glasses. "Yes, me. Why you're here, I'll probably never know, but there's no time for that. Zero's in the building--"

"Yeah, we just saw him," Max interrupted. "He was fighting this cat girl."

Jihl cursed. "Why do I even bother..." She signaled to four of her agents. "You, go to the entrance hall and assist Vanessa. Get her out of the building. Don't bother trying to capture Zero, considering what happened in the ballroom you'll most likely fail."

Only one of them grumbled as they left through the door Max and Red came in through. Max was curious as to what she meant by the ballroom, but it clearly wasn't the time for that. "Why are you here, anyway?" he demanded.

"Making a mistake and attempting to rectify it, Mr. Chadi," Jihl replied. "But enough of that. Have you seen that girl named Red? The one with a penchant for violence? It'll be catastrophic if Zero goes near her."

Max's grip on James' Pokeball tightened. "Why is she even here in the first place?"

Jihl sighed in frustration. "Chadi, we are in the same building as a man who is insane enough to try to destroy the world, and has the ability to do so, and you're demanding explanations? I would rather we find the girl and bring her to your companions first, rather than wait and watch Zero turn her into a horrific monster that will signal the end of days!"

[gantzgun74]

.......................

There was a brief moment where Vanessa wanted to club this ignorant ass upside the head... But hey, he had JUST let her go. It wouldn't befit her current situation to strike this guy in the back of the head after he managed to pin her. "You know what? What-thefuck-ever. Believe what you want you..." It sounded like she was going to through an insult in there, but decided against it. "I have more important things to do with my time; getting paid."

With that said, she quickly ran off in the direction she saw Red running in during the fight........

"HEY!!! WHAT THE-!? GET YOU'RE HANDS OFF OF ME YOU-?!? HAH!!!!!!" This was followed by a series of loud crashes and booms.

If Zero bothered to look, he would've found Vanessa easily plowing through CRLMT cronies with little effort.

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

Back in the dining room and kitchen areas, Red remained unmoving in the cabinet, hoping to god no-one would find her... But on the offchance someone did, she had her meat cleaver at the ready...

[doctorzero]

Perhaps 'easily' wasn't the right word. These troops were personally handpicked by Jihl and were some of the best CRL had to offer.

Then again, the problem lied in the fact that they were trying to avoid actually hurting her.

"Will you stop it?!" yelled one of the soldiers. "We're not trying to--"

He was interrupted by Zero grabbing him by the collar and being thrown at the others.

"Well," said Zero as he brandished Soul Edge. "This ought to be easier than the catgirl."

He knew that normally he wouldn't stand a chance against most CRL operatives. However, he knew that they had orders not to kill him.

Not to mention that Vanessa could act as a nice little decoy, given that they were apparently trying to avoid hurting her.

---

"I'm not doing anything until I get an explanation," Max said stubbornly.

Jihl stared at him for a few seconds, then turned to one of her troops and nodded. "Search the room."

"Wait just a--" Max was silenced as soon as Jihl pointed her weapon at his throat.

"If you are refusing to cooperate," she said, annoyed, "then I will simply force you to. Am I clear, Chadi?"

[gantzgun74]

Vanessa continued fighting off CRL Troops with intense ferocity. She didn't know what was going on, but she was willing to guess that Jihl's bitch had something to do with it. Growling and yowling, she continued fighting her way through, the sword conveying more in that moment then a pen would. ....... Okay over-exaggeration but still, someone was not a happy camper.

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

With Red meanwhile, she heard boot stomps quickly approaching and clenched her meat cleaver closer to herself. She was ready to defend herself if the need came...

And it certainly was sounding like the need was coming.

"Check in those cabinets. Pretty good place for kid's to hide."

Red froze over a bit as she heard a cabinet door open up somewhere... Slowly one by one these doors opened, coming closer and closer with each one.