First Things First[Castle, Jericho]

[Castle]

Castle didn't even try to say anything back. He had no energy for words, only for fighting. Even the smallest amount of effort had to go into his attempts to tear his opponent limb from limb. The taunts only served as invitations, motivation to keep going, like fuel for an unstoppable machine. Things would have been entirely different in a normal situation; he would have been furious, but at the moment, he could feel only the intense, unquenchable bloodlust.

He found himself having to block a lot of techniques. The rapid succession of blows prevented him from retaliating, and he was being driven gradually backward. That wouldn't do. Finally, since his arms were occupied, Castle shifted his hips forward and drove a kick at his opponent's torso.

Then, without warning, something happened to the ground. A powerful ripple went through it, as though the earth had been shaken out like a bed sheet. The familiar solidness disappeared. Castle's feral grin vanished as he stumbled and fell over backwards, landing on his rear first, and then catching himself on his elbows before he could fall the rest of the way onto his back. For a moment, he was disoriented, unable to understand what had just happened. A receptor in his brain, though muffled by the Amplification, was telling him that it kind of hurt.

[Slash]

Jericho was knocked back by the shockwave, but sprung up quickly, moved up to a low tree branch, and avoided the other one while crouching on said branch. Jumping back down, he ceased laughing- but his merriment was plainly obvious, in both his wicked smile and his dance-like, stomping movements. To have won such a victory! Not a victory in battle- battles mattered so little, and while he was formidable he was not so strong as to be sure of victory. In fact, if he was to stay here he would inevitably lose and die for his folly.

No, here was a victory over the heart. Here he had taken hold the strings that every man was moved by and assumed the part of the ventriloquist for just a small amount of time, and in doing so made said strings painfully obvious to the naked eye. Here he had corrupted, twisted, temporarily made dark what was once merely shadowed, or even light. He had accomplished that which gave him the greatest joy in life, and would depart with the black flames of ecstasy that came from satisfying his need for revenge. What man could escape him? None, for all human hearts held darkness within them, and no matter how small it was he could find it, make it show itself, and then force it into full bloom.

He turned towards the other two, his smile stretching almost from ear to ear.

" Ha! Ah, my lovely dogs, I fear it is time to depart!" Suddenly, his voice took on a more serious tone. "If we should meet once more, I will cast you into darkness forever. Pray that you never cross my path again, dear ones, for the hearts that you consider dear are mere playthings to me." He was moving constantly to avoid attack as he spoke, and with a quick burst of vigor he moved into the trees- and disappeared.

He moved quickly, ignoring the many pains from his tired, abused body. Oh, how he wanted to laugh, and call after them, but he could not. He knew when it was time to leave. The damage was done, and he could do little more. Obscuring himself so as to be almost impossible to catch, he moved quickly to and fro in the woods. A team of trackers, equipped with dogs and a sharp, focused demeanor would most likely be able to find him. Two people lost in the thrall of their own negative emotions could not.

And so he disappeared as a malignant wraith would, after having forced two hearts to temporarily reflect the twisted, burning anger inside himself. Were he to see them again, he would happily twist them further until they were exactly like him, and then he would cast them down.

Such was the way of the Devil's Poet.

-------

Jericho used Obscuration.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Is it over now?
--

Emi smiled, watching both Castle and Jericho go down. Normally, she would have screamed for any allies to get out of the way once she started this attack but at the moment, she couldn't have cared less. She got just as much of a thrill watching her friend go down as she did her enemy. The scary thing was, Emi rarely smiled like that. A big grin, completely genuine.

Given the addled state of her mind, she was only peripherally aware of Jericho's taunts. She didn't comprehend the words, only let them keep the fire going. The smile disappeared just as the last shockwave of three faded out. She saw him running away and went to chase him. She didn't get very far before he completely disappeared. She shrieked, turned around and punched one of the many trees around her, still holding Duskywing. And then another tree. And then she kicked one. She attacked the defenseless plants until she felt the rage flow out of her, leaving just the usual agitation she generally felt.

Emi stood there, panting and looking around. Wondering what had just happened. "Where... where'd he go?[/color]" she asked herself, looking around. She decided it didn't matter. He was gone, and that was the important thing. She vaguely remembered him telling them they should pray they never cross paths again. Stubborn as she was, Emi hoped for the opposite just so she could finish this fight.

The girl didn't remember anything about the strange transformation. She didn't even really register the few minutes of black, a few minutes where she couldn't recall her actions. The whole battle was blurry to her.

A pain shot through her shoulder, both from the wound and the phantom pain of the wing that wasn't there anymore. She grabbed at her shoulder, growling.

"Where are you, squirt? Let's get the stupid gummi ship and get the hell out of here before something else bad happens,[/color]" she called, stowing her sticks and running both hands through her hair.

She sighed. She was feeling a bit guilty, knowing this whole problem had been started because of her quick temper. What had they even been fighting about? Probably nothing of importance. He had, more than likely, just done something small to set her off and it had snowballed from there. But it sucked that Castle had to be dragged into a battle because of her temper.

--
Battle Report
[Xerces Blue] deactivated.
1 post until next use
2 uses left.

[Castle]

Unfortunately, Castle wasn't quite as nimble as Jericho, and being seated on the ground didn't help. Just as he began to scramble to his feet and continue the attack, he was hit with the next shockwave. He fell flat on his back, rebounding slightly off the ground, the force knocking him silly for a few moments. The position gave him no defense against the third and final wave, either.

His new, rabid emotions wanted him to get up and keep trying to kill, but his body desired otherwise. He ended up gritting his teeth and writhing a bit in his attempts to get himself upright, his limbs battered and sore now along with the back of his head. His head was probably what hindered him the most, the ache making his vision blacken every time he strained to look in a direction other than at the forest canopy.

Being thus preoccupied, he hardly heard the enemy's parting words, nor was he aware of Emi's attempt to pursue him. Around the time that she went wild, punching trees and slaughtering the underbrush, he finally began to tire himself out, his struggles becoming increasingly sluggish until he simply lay there, panting.

It was then that the Amplification faded away, leaving him feeling fuzzy and a little nauseous. Well, that could have been from his new collection of bruises, too, but he couldn't tell the difference. And that wasn't the worst of it; now that he could think again, he could register everything that guy had said during the fight.

No, no, no!

Castle swore loudly, slamming a fist down onto the forest floor next to him. Part of him felt disgusted, horrified that he was so ready to actually kill someone, but that was overshadowed by pure, natural anger. He was defeated. Again. By someone like that. How could he let that happen? Someone like that!

He heard Emi calling for him. Remembering himself, Castle staggered to his feet, flexing his limbs. Nothing was broken, but he felt bruised as hell. He was going to be sore in the morning, that was for sure.

The guy was nowhere in sight, probably long gone. He cursed again, softly, and hurried over to where Emi was. She looked disheveled, but not seriously injured. A flicker of relief went through him.

"Yeah," he muttered in agreement, perfectly happy with the idea of taking the gummi ship and leaving as quickly as possible, "You okay?"

Again, she didn't look seriously injured, but that didn't mean she wasn't hurt at all. Besides, it was a standard question.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I wash my hands of this creepy... creepy place.
--

Emi dropped her hand from her shoulder and nodded once.
"I'm fine,[/color]" she said. At least, she was pretty sure she was. Physically. "Let's skedaddle. The ship is around here somewhere.[/color]"

Just like that, she dropped the subject. Back to the task on hand.

They found the ship, even though it was dark now, with no further interruptions. Emi opened it up, surprised with herself for remembering how to get in. It was largely undisturbed on the inside and as they got in, Emi found herself grimacing.

"Hate this stupid ship,[/color]" she grumbled. "Corridors are so much easier.[/color]"

Clue searching had obviously been a bust. Emi decided getting the heck away from Beast's Castle, as far as they could get, was more important. She pulled the list out of her pocket and threw the cloak over the seat.

"Alright. Time to start wandering again. Yippee. Wherever the wind blows us, man.[/color]"

All of that said with mock (and not very convincing) enthusiasm. She rolled her eyes and wiggled her fingers in "glee". She definitely wasn't looking forward to being a wanderer again, but this was a journey she had to take.