The sky was getting darker with night, and with it, the group's mistrust of the area grew stronger.

"I think it'd be wise we stay off the streets for the night," R.D. said, "At least until we know it's safe to travel at night."

Edited by RisingDragon on February 6, 2007 at 10:37:01.

"Good idea," Matt said. "Let's get in one of those crazy buildings over there."

The group wandered over to one of the buildings, one that looked mostly intact and still standing straight. It seemed that a lot of it was buried, as half of the windows were poking halfway out of the crystalline ground. R.D. vaulted himself up through one of the broken windows higher up and helped everyone inside.

They maneuvered through the ruined debris inside, making their way to the stairs.

"What do you think we'll have to do in this world?" R.D. asked out loud.

Blazen jumped into the air as the attacks came at him. He then began to spin rapidly a twister of white fire coming around his body. Blazen then began to spin demons into the twister, burning them to ash. The dark beams were deflected off the whirlwind of fire as Blazen drew closer.

Blazen would then break the twister and use the momentum he gained from the wind to throw himself into the crowd, crushing a demon that was in his path. He then would alow a sphere of white fire cover him and spin rapidly to burn away whatever touched it or to burn and throw it.

"I hope it has to do with eating." Matt smiled. "Now THAT'S a quest I can go for."

"I'm kinda hungry, actually," Helena remarked. "Do we still have any food, Matt?"

Matt gestured shortly with his head. "Yeah, though I'd feel better if we had more than that leafy crap we had at Beanbean."

"Well, I'm sure you can get the Core to make us food if we run out," Alasea said.

R.D. gave the leather-clad girl a sidelong glance, but kept silent on the matter.

The next floor was relatively clear of debris, so they decided to make camp as night finally fell. R.D. looked out of the window, seeing a shattered moon shining a pale, sickly light on the city.

"This is the worst vacation ever," Matt quipped, pulling out his bedspread.

Hugo waddled over to Matt. "Eh, it could be better. Could be less of a pain in the ass."

"That's true. But hey, I've met some cool people." Matt smiled at Helena, who smiled back at him.

R.D. was continuing to watch outside when he saw something moving in the darkness.

"What the hell...?" he muttered, squinting, "Hey guys, take a look at this."

Outside, strange creatures were roaming. Their strange bodies were midnight black, and supported by five legs that ended in cruel spikes. The "heads" of these monsters had many long spines jutting from the top, and their "face" were made up mostly of a large, rubicund eye. As the beasts wandered, they made horrible hissing sounds. Luckily, the beasts never strayed near the building they were in.

"What... the hell are those things?"

Matt frowned, eyeing the monsters. "I dunno...but I hope they don't come over here."

"Ohh, I can't sleep knowing those things are outside!" Helena said.

"We'll keep watch," Matt assured her.

Alasea frowned. "Good thing we decided to camp indoors, huh?"

R.D. nodded. "Yeah. Well, I guess Matt and I can hold the first watch. We'd have the easiest time vaporizing these things if they get too close."

"In the meantime..." Matt glanced around, seeing what they could use. "Let's practice the pyromaniac within and get a fire goin'."

"ERAH!" Kite said ripping on of his arms free enabling him to catch diablo's initial slash, "Seikiha, TENKYOKEN!" The hand shaped beam shot forward and grabbed diablo whil Kite used his free hand to use his remaining gunblade to cut the remaining tendrils.
______________________________________________________________
"Heaven's barrier!" Blane said forming the dome of light around himself.

"Yeah, let's," R.D. said, gathering small chunks of debris to lay in a circle. "We don't have any wood, but that shouldn't be much of a problem for you."

A log suddenly appeared over the ring, floating before Matt. "Hoo-ah!" he shouted, slashing at the long so fast with his hand that it was a blur. In the same motion, he turned so that his back faced the log, and he folded his arms, assuming what he thought was a cool pose.

"There is nothing I cannot cut," he intoned, in a serious voice, and snapped his fingers.

The log fell soundly on the floor, still in one piece.

"..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Matt shouted, suddenly turning around and producing a tremendous axe from behind him, leaping at the log like a homicidal maniac.

"Calm down, you crazy bastard!" Hugo shouted amid the flying dust.

In a short minute, a pile of cut wood lay in the ring. Sheathing the axe behind him and storing it in pocket dimensions invisible to all, Matt dusted his hands off. "I repeat...there is nothing I cannot cut."

"Way to go, moron," R.D. deadpanned, "Ever think that your screaming might attract the freak show outside?"

Alasea aimed one of her short swords at the pile, and fired her flame ray at it, causing it to ignite.

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I'll be getting much sleep with those--" one of the beasts screeched again, and Alasea shuddered, "things out there roaming about."

"I guess I'll just have to bore you all to sleep," Matt said, glancing at his fingernails.

"That'll be easy," Hugo deadpanned. The blades of his pickaxe withdrew into the head of the weapon, along with the handle. The resulting metal cylinder floated to the back of Hugo's helmet and attached itself firmly. "All right, wake me up if something happens."

"Okay," Helena said. "Night, Hugo."

"Yeah, whatever." The Mettaur closed his eyes, and became perfectly still.

Matt glanced at Helena. "You should get some rest too."

She was glancing at the window, at the shattered night. "I will."

Alasea bade everyone goodnight and curled herself up in her bedspread near the fire.

R.D. was leaning up against one of the ruined columns in the room, his eyes closed and his arms folded.

He heard some rubble shift deeper into the building, and he opened one eye, going completely still. He could hear a very faint voice. The amnesiac teen looked over at Matt, silently asking if he heard it too.

Matt caught R.D.'s glance, choosing to stand and remain visually active. He made the peace sign, then jabbed the air rapidly with his fingers, then revolved his hands quickly around an invisible point before him.

...what the hell did that even mean?

Edited by The Helldragon on February 7, 2007 at 21:24:30.

Kalmar summoned his Barrier, charging energy beams in both hands. As the attacks let up, slightly, he rolled as he dismissed the shield, firing the beams at the tentacle beast.

R.D. shook his head in exasperation. "Well, let's go see if we can secure this place," he said for the sake of acting, "C'mon."

He began walking in the general direction of the noise he heard.

===At Italy===

Diablo merely teleported as the Sekiha Tenkyoken came at him, and the cloaked being reappeared behind Kite. His black sword came down, slamming the gunblade from Kite's hand, before coming back up and settling right against his throat.

"Now, now, boy," he muttered, "If you really know me as well you say you do, you know that I can cut out your throat a lot faster than you can react."

The beast roared as Kalmar's beams struck it, not really injured by it but angered. It thrust an arm into the asphault, firing its tentacles upwards at Kalmar. With its other arm, it lifted up a massive chunk of rock and steel and flung it at Blazen. It stared up at Blane as the Angel's shield faded, and fired thin energy beams out of its eyes.

Sliding his hands in his pockets, Matt glanced at the others who were resting-Helena had finally managed to get to sleep next to Hugo-and walked on, following R.D..

R.D. and Matt went about the darkened recesses of the floor they were on, seeing that except for their campsite, the rest of the place was trashed. Piles of debris, fallen from floors above, littered the area, sometimes even reaching the gaps in the ceilings.

R.D. was tense. He could feel the presense of at least one being in here besides Matt, but he couldn't tell if it was threatening or not. After fifteen minutes of searching, the amnesiac teen sighed at their fruitless. That was when another chunk of rubble shifted on a nearby pile.

R.D. whipped around and thrust his hand at the pile, shooting a force blast that shattered the pile. They heard a startled yell, and the thud of a body. "Make a light," R.D. said to Matt as they approached the being, who was having a coughing fit from all the dust and rock thrown up by R.D.'s attack.

Matt snapped his fingers, and the room brightened up, light coming from a shining fist-sized orb hovering near him. "What'd you get?" he asked.

"Hmm," R.D. mused, "I'm not sure."

The person that lay before them was a man, older than the two of them, probably in his mid-twenties. However, they could plainly see he was not an ordinary man. His hair was raven black, as well as the goatee on his chin, but his skin was very pale. A gray tattoo of a winged serpent was on the left side of his face. He was clad in a red trench-coat, the shoulders of which were covered in spider-web designs, over a gray shirt, and black trousers and boots.

The man looked up at them with frightened gray eyes. However, once his eyes got used to the sudden light, he realized that these weren't monsters, but young men.

"Wha..." he started in a timid voice, "You're not Ing?"

Edited by RisingDragon on February 7, 2007 at 21:55:26.

"Whatever the hell those are," Matt remarked. "No, we're normal people. I use normal loosely."

"You're... you're not going to kill me?" the strange man asked anxiously.

"Not unless you give us a reason to," R.D. said.

"R.D.? Matt?"

The amnesiac teen turned and spotted Alasea. The group must've awakened from the commotion. He looked back at the man. "Come on, might as well take you to the camp."

Kalmar snarled at the being, realizing his attacks would do little damage against it. When the tentacles ruptured from the ground beneath him, he barely had time to react before he was cut and his right ankle was grabbed.

His eyes burned blood red as his energy scythe was suddenly in his hands, cleaving through the tentacle. He stood and corrupted energy began flowing around him, giving him the look of being on fire. He took off from the ground, the asphalt cracking as he roared, readying his scythe as he neared the creature.

He slashed at the creature, dropping his altitude to fly underneath it as he continued to attack, shooting past it then to fling his scythe at it's back.

"Come on," said Matt, becoking for the stranger to rise with his hand. "We've got smores."

"R-right," he said, getting up from the floor and dusting himself off. What're s'mores? he thought distantly.

R.D. and Matt lead the man back to the campsite, which proved that everyone was awake.

"Sit," R.D. said to the man, motioning towards the fire. Their guest complied, and sat crosslegged by the fire.

"You'd better have a damn good reason for waking me up," Hugo muttered.

"We found a survivor," Matt intoned dramatically.

Yawning, Helena sat up, and looked to Matt. "A survivor of what?"

"Hell if I know."