R.D. mostly ignored the goings-on in the room, and instead collapsed onto the bed. He proceeded to tune them out for the remainder of the time spent there, focusing instead of letting his body return to normal, after the severe overchanneling he continued to do.

Humph. "Come on, Ileyna. Let's go get candy bars." Matt cupped his hands around his mouth, aimed at the sleepers. "AND I'M NOT BRINGING YOU ANY."

*****

As Alasea and Maya played, a loud clatter suddenly burst out at another place in the house, like something heavy got tossed over.

"Okay!" Ileyna said, excited at the prospect of sweets.

===Pillar of Dawn, Japan===

Immediately, Alasea's instincts went on full alert. Pausing the Street Fighter game, she looked over, her eyes narrowing. What in the world was in her house?

"Maya, go," she said firmly, standing up. "Get to the shelter."

With a flex of her hand, the Megami Tsurugi appeared in it, its white blade shining in the fading afternoon light.

Another loud clatter. Something dragging along something else, making noise.

Alasea took her shining sword in both hands, holding it out in front of her as she made her way to the kitchen. Turning the corner that separated her living room from the kitchen, her eyes immediately fell upon the disturbance.

Those eyes went wide with shock. "You!"

Edited by RisingDragon on April 2, 2009 at 22:20:20.

A familiar figure, cloaked in black, sat with legs crossed on the overturned refridgerator. He contemplated an apple for a brief moment until Alasea turned the corner, then tossed it onto the floor with the rest of the pooling, ruined food.

"Hello there," Malvettix said, with a bigger grin than normal. "It's been too long."

Serpents of darkness burst up around him, and they threw themselves at Alasea, fangs bared.

"Aaahh!" Alasea shouted, backpedaling away from the attacking serpents. "Maya, run!"

Bringing her sword up, she slashed at the dark serpents, eradicating them as the blade cleaved through their necks. Throwing herself back into the kitchen, she yelled as she swung her sword. "What are you doing here!?"

Malvettix spun around, whipping out a blade to deflect Alasea's slashes mid-turn. "Personal business. You understand." Another whip, and he flung a spiralling drill at Alasea. "But I'd like to have some fun first."

"Personal!?" she growled at Matt's antithesis. "Get real! The only personal business you have is with Matt and he's not here!"

Twisting herself to the side, the shadowy drill flashed past the girl, and she attacked again, slashing horizontally at Malvettix's body with both hands on her sword's hilt.

Another blade darted past to block the attack. "I'm afraid not." Malvettix grabbed her wrist and dragged her close with a single pull. "This time, I need you to come with me."

Alasea blanched as Malvettix's hand grabbed her bare wrist, causing her entire body to feel like it had been dipped in some viscous oil. Struggling to free her wrist, she glared at Malvettix's shockingly familiar-looking eyes. "Like hell I will!"

Her knee shot up at Malvettix's groin, in the trademark attack all women preferred to use on men.

Malvettix didn't flinch.

"Good try," he whispered. Lifting her up by the wrist, he tossed her back into the living room.

There was a horrible crashing sound as Alasea's body impacted against a small wooden table, crushing it under her. She let out a short scream as she hit it, the wooden edge bruising her side.

Pulling herself out of the shrapnel, the Daughter of Dawn lashed out with the Pillar's might, swinging the Megami Tsurugi as a whip of light flashed out from the tip at Malvettix. It first cut into the side of the wall, unimpeded as it cut through the plaster, before coming across at the dark being.

The burst of light sliced across Malvettix, splattering arcs of his black blood. He grasped at the wound, still grinning with shocked and angered eyes, and smashed his hand into the floorboards. Shadowy spikes burst across the floor and from the walls, tearing through furniture and cabinets as they hunted Alasea.

Alasea's smile at having caused damage to Malvettix was short-lived as he began his counterattack. She jumped away as the first of the spikes shot out at her from behind, only for another one to cut through the back of her boot and into her calf. She felt warm liquid running down and making the garment rather uncomfortable. Coming out of a roll, another one sliced open her forearm, and more blood dripped down onto the floor.

Tears from the pain stinging her eyes as she got up, she ducked as more spikes utterly destroyed a set of cabinets, flinging wooden shrapnel everywhere. Flinging one hand forward at the wall separating the kitchen from the living room, Alasea fired an Aura Strafe, a white beam of energy cutting through the wall into the kitchen, where it pierced through the oven built into the wall and caused it to explode violently.

Edited by RisingDragon on April 2, 2009 at 23:03:05.

"Its a hunter..."A voice whispered in the shadows,catching Drake's attention. Warily,he held up his shotgun and picked up his pace.

The voice was heard again, only this time it was another,"What shall we do with him...?"

"Who's out there?!"Drake yelled, aiming into the shadows with caution. "Not to be afraid,Drake. Not to be afraid,"

Drake heard something crunching,realizing those were footsteps. He whirled around,only to find nothing but to find an empty road covered with darkness

Veronica and Bryant looked at each other. They questioned each other, searching for the answer. Of course neither knew so looking back to Tomoko...

"You have locations?" Bryant asked keeping his voice low, "It would definitely help if you had something to tell us, Tomoko." Bryant then said, hoping for the best, but, of course, expecting the worse.

"No, actually, I don't," Tomoko said with a shrug. "But I do know something that might help you find out about the pieces' locations."

She leaned back in her chair, clasping her hands together. "What do you guys know about the Chronoscepter's history?" she asked them.

Veronica shrugged when Bryant glanced at her again.

"Nothing." Bryant admitted, he leaned forward on the table, his hands together. He supported himself on his elbows.

"Luckily, I do," she said. She stood up for a moment. "Be right back."

The girl went up to the counter and ordered something to drink. After a few minutes, she was given a mug, which she took back to the table they were at. "Call your brother over here," she said upon her return. "He'll need to hear this as well."

Bryant nodded and stood to get his brother.

"Got the piece?" Brandon asked, he was leaning against the wall next to the doorway.

"Yeah, but we got somethin' more. You'll want to hear this...anything out here?" Bryant then asked. Brandon shook his head.

"Naw, nothing." Brandon shrugged.

"Alright, let's get in there then." They came in, Brandon stood at the end of the table. His bulk blocked out their voices pretty well and people couldn't see anything either with him in the way. Bryant took his seat like before.

"Ok, let's hear it." Bryant said upon sitting.

"This particular dimension has never been all that stable and secure. Its got a ripe history of dimensional anomalies scattered across thousands of years. Attempts at merging dimensions, interloping travelers from other dimensions, parallel worlds in line with this one," Tomoko began, sipping at her drink intermittently. "This place has always been a hot spot in the Multiverse. One such dimensional anomaly centers around the history of the Chronoscepter. There was a parallel dimension alongside this one, and there were people who could travel back and forth between this dimension and that one.

"Naturally, with that comes threats to this world from that one. While in places that world was just as primitive as this one was, it was even more susceptible to technological advances brought in by interlopers. And naturally there's gonna be some crazy sociopath who is gonna put it use, you know?" she said with some gestures. "The Multiverse is full of nutjobs. Well, one particular nutjob knew about the Chronoscepter and sought to put it to use."

Taking a pen out of her pocket and a napkin out of a dispenser in the middle of the table, the girl began to sketch something. Looking down at her work while she drew, she continued. "This guy built some sort of amplification array that he planned to use to magnify the Chronoscepter's power. The Chronoscepter has the ability to manipulate time and space to an impressive degree, and he was going to make it even more powerful with such a device. With it, he'd be able to rip apart the dimensional boundaries and tear apart entire regions in different dimensions."

Bryant nodded at the appropriate times, listening to the history lesson.

"Right, then how does that help us find the last pieces?" Bryant asked, anxiously.

"Well, there was one person who was able to master hopping between the two dimensions," Tomoko said matter-of-factly. "This person sought to defeat the madman, as he attacked his people. This person... the legends call him Tal'Set. We don't know if that's true or not, but it works for now."

She flipped open the napkin she was drawing on and continued her sketch, though no one could make heads or tails of it just yet. "Tal'Set was the one who found the Chronoscepter. With it, he was able to gain access to the madman's fortress and defeat him in single combat. From there, he destroyed the amplification array and stopped another threat to the Multiverse. He went back to his home and continued his good deeds with the Chronoscepter. But Tal'Set knew that there would be more people looking to harness its power, and he was growing on in years. He couldn't protect it forever."

Another flip of the napkin, unfolding it completely. Again Tomoko continued her sketch while her tale went further. "So, he did the one best thing to make sure it wouldn't happen. He tried to destroy the Chronoscepter. To weaken it structurally, he dismantled it into eight pieces, and threw them into a volcano. Sounds like a good idea, right?"

She laughed a bit. "Too bad he didn't know that the weapon is virtually indestructible. And, well, volcanoes have to erupt sometime. And it did erupt, with untold force. The eight pieces were scattered in the eruption."

Bryant looked down at the sketch as she drew. He eyed it, trying to make sense of it. He only half listened. After she paused again, he looked up.

"So the pieces were threw in a bunch of different directions from this eruption. Are you saying that we could fine a way to track them from the source?" Bryant guessed.

"It's possible," Tomoko said as she drew. "Unlikely, but still possible. I mean, they've undoubtedly been moved around since then, after all: Alasea's friend had one, my parents had one, Sheena had one... but really, the best place to start a search is from where it all began."

She put down her pen and turned the napkin around, except it was suddenly no longer a napkin--the composition of the paper had changed. Now, it was a map. Tomoko knew using her power blatantly in the cafe would cause people to freak out, so instead she tried a subtle trick, transforming a drawn-on napkin into a map. "This map shows the location of Tal'Set's tomb, and of the volcano he threw the Chronoscepter pieces in. I think you'll be able to find something there. There's just one catch."

She took some more sips of her drink as she leaned back in the chair, brushing her pigtails back over her shoulders. "The tomb's in the midwest of the U.S.A.. So that means its right in Carnax's territory. Now, that guy's the most dangerous of the Five Beasts, but he should be preoccupied. He and Legion have their hands full with dealing with all of Ziatoch's invasion forces. They just keep pouring into the place... that's what you've got to watch out for."

Lance rubbed the side of his jaw tenderly as the pain now kicked in. Regretting the decision to have let her hit him, he sighed at her question, the Spanish now more difficult to understand as his senses dulled from the pain medication that had automatically been injected, "I already told you why I'm here. I know it wasn't a very good reason, but if you don't like I don't suppose there's much either of us can do about it now. Unless you want to hit me again of course." Lance spoke the last words bitterly, wiping the blood off on his shirt as he stared straight into Audrey's eyes with a confidence he didn't deserve.

When Alasea paused the game for a moment, Maya looked up at the bigger and older girl with a light frown. The words she spoke reached her ears, but she disregarded them at first, until the she leapt backwards and cried out again and suddenly there was an assailant, cloaked in shadows that seemed to be attached to his body somehow. The girl leapt up with a shriek, dropping the controller and running for the hatch that Alasea had shown her, pulling it up and going down the ladder quickly--a little too quickly, at the third-to-last bar she stumbled and fell over backwards onto her bottom, groaning softly with a hurt tone. Her eyes had to adjust to the different level of light for a moment. The two brown orbs moved upwards at the hatch, wondering what was going on up there, but too scared to go back. Besides, Alasea had told her it would be best for her to hide; and so she remained hidden.

Edited by Morphman on April 4, 2009 at 1:04:38.

Malvettix ducked low, shot underneath the Aura Strafe, and went for Alasea's throat, smashing her into the wall.

"Tell me..." His other hand formed into black claws, and they moved toward Alasea's face. "What do you fear?"

Bryant leaned back and sighed. Here comes the fun part then. He thought for a bit, but there wasn't much to think about was there? It was either go do it or don't. The world depended on his action. Of course he took the right one and decided to deal with it.

"Ok, we can do it." Bryant then said with as much confidence in his voice as he could muster. He took a better look at the map.

"How will we know which way to go when we get there?" Bryant then asked, keeping that confidence for as long as he could.