A Gathering of Sorts [Viola, Castle, Open]

[Fate]

No Kadaj, you can't disarm someone's fist. Well technically you can, but that'd be gross. Don't do it.
--

How was he not feeling that? He caught the Souba with his hands to block the attacks Kadaj was handing out like it was just a stick, not two incredibly sharp and burning blades. What were those gloves made out of, darkness cancelling steel or something? No Kadaj, that didn't exist. And why wasn't he feeling the lovely cut that was on his chest now? Normally that would earn at least a wince, but the kid just kept going. It was almost admirable, key word being almost; Kadaj didn't do that whole admiring of other people thing.

Now he was trying to close the distance, make it so Kadaj would have a hard time using his sword. The remnant put his sword in front of him to block any hit that the kid was going to try and aim, and then aimed a kick to the kid's side. If that worked, then it'd be directly back to Kadaj jumping into his personal space and trying to cut his throat again. The darkness was fading from his sword though. The cut wouldn't be quite as clean as he would want it. But it'd do.

[Shadow Blade will deactivate after this post]

[/font]

[Nothingness]

It's only a flesh wound!

"Feel like I got hit by a goddamn truck. Damn." Viola groaned, her senses returning to her. The two healers on either side of her held her shoulders as she sat up, shaking her head as she tried to stop the ringing in her ears. Looking down at her stomach, she grimaced: the wound wasn't bleeding and it was shallower, but even a dull butter knife could open it back up. "You guys couldn't have done a better job? This is shit." She laughed, quickly stopping as a jolt of pain shot throughout her body.

Looking around, she saw a lot of the Shield members standing around watching that shrimp duke it out with the pretty-boy-bitch from earlier. Ava was nearby, too, watching the fight. Although, after watching it for a few minutes, she couldn't see any reason as to why they would be enjoying this. Gesturing for someone to bring her her sword, she used it as a cane to push herself up and support herself. Shetaunted the two fighters, "God, you guys think you can pick this up a bit? I'd get more enjoyment out of watching two whiny nerds bitch-slapping each other." Being the kind of person to laugh at her own jokes, she did so through the pain. And frankly, if she could join the fight, she probably would--she was in a good mood today, despite having nearly died.

[Castle]

The visible darkness around him waned. Castle's vision blurred for a moment as he regained his senses. It felt like waking up from a dream, but at the same time, his perception lost clarity when the enhanced sharpness faded.

In that moment of hesitation, he was kicked directly in the side. The blow knocked him off of his feet, and before he could fully comprehend what was happening, he was on the ground, and all the pain of his wounds had returned.

It hurt like hell, but the adrenaline rush urged him to get back on his feet as soon as possible or suffer the consequences. Castle rolled onto his front, prepared to push himself up, and discovered that he could no longer move his hands. His arms were pure pain from the elbow down, though his fingers were completely numb. He bit back a groan as his weight fell on the ground again, aggravating the burnt cuts on his torso.

No, he thought wildly, No, no, damn it! No!

Even though his legs were uninjured, the wounds on his arms and torso weren't going to let him stand up, at least not right away.

[Fate]

It's killing time.
--

The woman that Ava had fought now decided to add input. Well that was nice of her. He'd gladly pick this up a bit, or at least finish it. The darkness wasn't saving the kid now, fading and leaving him. It was leaving Kadaj too for the time being, but he could always call it back. Besides, he was strong without it infused in the Souba. Wasn't that obvious? He had been dominating this fight, or at least in his mind he had been.

But the fight was over. The kid wasn't getting back up after he was kicked, making Kadaj grimace. Come on kid, get up! This wasn't over yet. Okay, it was. At least he finally admitted defeat. And now it was time to kill him. He smiled wider, laughing for a few seconds. "See, I told you. But you didn't believe me," he taunted, his tone then dropping to a low, menacing pitch. "And now I finish this."

Making this all the more dramatic, Kadaj ran and jumped straight for the kid's neck.

[/font]

[Administrator]

You owe me, midgit.

Watching the fight, Ava just sat still for a while. Literally. He sat upon the ground, watching the two duke it out. Then, it became apparent that Kadaj was winning, and then it became even more apparent that Kadaj was going to kill the boy. Which meant that the kid couldn't get stronger, and then occupy them for longer. It was more fun that way. But Kadaj wasn't seeing that right now. Ava thought of doing something, but Viola spoke up then, and he tilted his head to listen.

Ultimately, her words inspired him to get up and stop the fight. Kadaj was about to kill the boy, when, suddenly, in a flash of light, a black sword blocked the souba's path. "He's done for, Kadaj. Leave him be. It's no fun picking on them when they can't fight back." A bored expression was plastered on his face. The Chaosling knew the remnant would be angry with him for a short while, but he would get over it quickly. Hopefully.

"If you really want to keep on fighting, we could go somewhere else and fight ourselves. I've been practicing, and we've not fought in a while." It was only the truth. And the thought of fighting with Kadaj again was enough to bring the grin back to his face. The other sword appeared in his other hand and spun in circles in anticipation. "Come on. If he gets stronger, you can fight him again. It's no fun if you kill all of the slightly capable ones."

Ava flashed the boy a quick look that told him he was lucky, because he usually didn't do this, and that he owed Ava big time. It implied Ava would come collecting at some point. Other reasons being he was bored, and something told him that this kid shouldn't die. "Get out of here. I could still change my mind~" Old habits die hard, as they say.

[Fate]

Ffjdsaklgjdasg
--

Sword did not go through neck, or bone, or anything. No, it met metal and Kadaj was frozen. Ava stopped him. Ava was probably the only one who could have stopped him, what with his brothers not being there. But they wouldn't have stopped him and let him do what he wanted. Why wasn't Ava letting him kill when the Chaosling was usually the one right next to him, killing with him? Had he gone soft or something when the remnant wasn't looking? He didn't even kill the woman. Why. NOT?!

Kadaj seemed to be frozen for a second, his face covered in shock. Ava was trying to convince him that it wasn't fun to kill them when they couldn't fight back. They could fight themselves later. No no no, did he not get that killing was just fun no matter what? The kid had fought back, had his chance, which meant Kadaj could kill him! That's how things went! Why didn't Ava understand this?!

His eyes narrowed as he slowly took his sword off of Ava's, backing away a couple of steps. His grip on the Souba was hard, the remnant refusing to let go. He glared at the kid behind the sword, his eyes like slits, before looking back at Ava. "Is. That. Right," he said, each word punctuated as he held back every bit of rage and malice. Then, he cooled, giving Ava a faint smile. "Fine. Then we're done here."

Well, he was. And he was still angry, and the Chaosling probably knew that. Hell, everyone probably knew that-- Kadaj wasn't a fan of subtlety. He sheathed his sword and looked back at the kid. "Don't worry. We'll see each other again soon. Count on it." He started walking away, back to his ship. If Ava wanted to stick around and not kill people more, that was fine with him.

[/font]

[Nothingness]

Congratulations--I'm bored now. And in pain.

Viola sighed. Why did all the good fights have to end like that? No, she and the other Shield members weren't about to let the shrimp get killed on her world under her own watch, but still. A little bit of maiming wouldn't have been too out of the question, would it? Wait, what was she thinking? "Damn freak's rubbing off on me," she thought with a mix of bitterness and amusement.

She watched the pretty-boy-bitch stalk off, obviously pissed at Ava. At least that meant she wouldn't have to worry about him causing anymore trouble. And speaking of trouble, that lovely cut on her stomach was starting to sting and throb quite a bit now. Turning to her men, she said, "Alright, enough fun for today. Let's head back."

One of the healers wrapped an arm under her shoulder and started to help her head back to HQ when Viola turned around and shouted to Castle. "You fight a good fight, shrimp. Sloppy as shit, but nothing wrong with a brawler. Wanna get some improvement, just swing by Shield HQ. If not, later!" She waved with her free arm before walking back with the rest of the Shield squad. The ones on the roof had long since gone.

[Castle]

The violent clang of metal on metal right above his head startled him. Someone started talking, and a glance toward the voice informed him that he'd just been saved by the freak who'd been blowing up his hometown.

As humiliating as that was, the other freak wasn't attacking him anymore. Castle forced himself to move, and in a few seconds, he managed to struggle to his feet. Once he was securely upright, the wounds on his torso didn't hurt as bad, though they still hurt. His arms were a different case entirely. However, physical pain was the least of his concerns as he eyed the two strangers warily. He was nowhere near ready to let his guard down.

After a relatively short discussion, and some promises that he would see one or both of these guys again in the future, everyone just left. Even though his life was spared and the chaos was over, Castle was far from happy. He'd just been beaten into the ground again, almost literally, and none of the parting words exchanged made him feel any better about his situation. Even that chick from the Shield called him sloppy, even though that was the most precise he'd ever felt during a fight.

Would he ever be good enough?

In spite of the physical exhaustion, he was filled with the urge to kill something anyway. However, there was nothing around, so he settled for simmering in his rage as he trudged down the street. His house was a district away.

When he got there, he found the place dark. His mom must have been out shopping or something. With some difficulty, as he still couldn't feel or bend his fingers, he fished a key out of his pocket and fumbled it into the lock. Out of habit, he went through the trouble of closing and locking it again once he was inside.

He would spend the next hour or so on the bathroom floor with a first aid kit, separating burnt glove from burnt, bruised, and bleeding skin.

The whole process gave Castle some time to think. He hated to admit it, and the very thought burned his insides, but he just wasn't good enough. If he sought out Jericho, he would get killed. End of story.

So what about Emi?

The pang made him flinch. He couldn't just give up on her. There was no way he could do that. However, there was no way for him to save her, either. "Save" was a ridiculous notion. This wasn't some fairy tale where he could go in and rescue her from the bad guy. This was real life, where if he tried to find her, he'd probably die.

Maybe she wouldn't even want his help.

In the end, he left Traverse Town without letting his mom know he was there. She didn't need the stress, and neither did he. Sleeping was going to be hard again as it was.

[Administrator]

So much fun~

As expected, Kadaj got angry with him. The remnant stalked away, still angry with him, though he hid it. Not very well; but he didn't really try that hard to hide it. Watching Viola give her last remarks, Ava grinned and waved back, almost running over to the kid. But, then again, the kid probably remembered him as the one who started this, not as his savior. Even though he wanted to say things to him, the Chaosling instead followed Kadaj.

Silently, he went with Kadaj back to the ship, a slight skip in his step. After all, today was a good day. He'd gotten to fight again, and now, he had a new bondmate. The loss of the others was completely gone from him now. Ava had forgotten all about it. But the bundle of direction and little bits of pain in his head that was Viola was wondrous. He had missed it, the short while it was gone.

I'll be back, he silently promised. We'll fight again. Maybe you'll do better next time. That would make it so much more fun. The Chaosling giggled to himself in anticipation. Their next fight would prove who was a better match for the other; since the woman would be more prepared for him next time, it would be a much better decider.

And so, Ava followed Kadaj without a word, a secret grin on his face. After all, everything only went uphill from there.