New Beginning 22: Once Upon a New Beginning...

[Zaleramancer]

"A fight?"

I slide over to Suzu.

"Psst. That guy said your mistress couldn't fight her way out of a kindergarden."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 "True."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 "Pay him no mind." The Penultimate whispers into Suzu's ear, "I happen to know for a fact that Zale's middle name is Loki. He can't be trusted."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

"No, he didn't," Suzu retorts. "He was practically yelling that he wanted a fight with you. How anyone couldn't hear that I don't know."

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

"Personally, though," I say to the Penultimate. "I prefer a more melee based strategy with emphasis on speed. And you?"

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"Oh.....Shi......................." Is all I manage to say before I'm struck with the full force of the sonic onslaught. I'm lifted off my feet briefly before touching down several yards away, my feet digging into the ground and rooting in place as shard rip from my ankles and calves to anchor me into the ground.

A pair of slick headphones morph about my head to protect my ears from the waves of sound. I grimaces as the sound ripples through me. I slowly raise my hand and send a pulse back into the waves of sonic force, destabilizing them and saving me from further distress.

"WHEW.....THAT WAS LOUD!" I practically scream as my ears ring with noise.

[Humunculi]

The Innocent one: "I'll fight him I guess but I can't right now. It's almost time for a nap, maybe later tonight"  ( I gtg but ill be back later)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Speed certainly is good." The Penultimate nods, "Though, I prefer to keep up stock on all stats. A mixed bag is much more likely to produce something useful than a bag of all knives or all hammers."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Loud!" Brutus huffs in response to Marv's comment, "Merely loud?! Bacchus' boxer shorts, that should have completely shattered your crystalline constructs!"

He runs a hand through his hair, "No matter, I suppose. I have more tricks up my sleeve."

Slowly, Brutus alights on the ground. The deep, penetrating red of the aura fades, until it is blue. Then, all at once, Babaraina's blade grows to twice its size. The Greatsword even curves a bit, until it resembles the fang of some great monster. And wind seems to have whipped up out of nowhere, to blow through the butler's hair and clothes.

His smile is fallen. All mirth has gone from his voice.

"Ah, perhaps he's taking the fight more seriously now." The Penultimate remarks from the stands, tenting his fingers together with a grin.

In his head, Brutus retorts, Indeed, before shouting aloud, "Heart of Heracles!!"

Hoping to give Marv no chance to reply with defenses, he takes off toward the Miscreant with what The Penultimate quickly recognizes as vampire speed. What he employs now is not rage, but something the butler hopes will prove stronger.

Courage. Strength not just of body, but of heart.

And at his trail to follow the sword's attack, a barrage of bright blue spherical bombs, formed from pure obstinate will.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

"Have you ever heard the saying, 'It's better to practice 1 kick 10000 times rather than 10000 kicks 1 time each?' I think that that saying is rather applicable to this conversation, because after all, if you specialize in doing one thing, then it's much easier for you to act without thinking about your next move in a fight when each second counts."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"I suppose you're not wrong." The Penultimate clasps his fingers together, as he watches Brutus' attack in approval, "Though, I guess my point is, rather than just one specialty, one should try to specialize everywhere. A Jack of all Trades is never without tricks."

[Marvelous Miscreant]

It's almost as if I don't even try to doge the attack it comes so fast. The Great Fang blade pierces my skin effortlessly, but it is not the hard impacts of quartz that meets it. Instead it is heavy and fluid like syrup. This bands of green crystal pulsate with in the dark liquid that spills from me as the blade cleaves me in half. Little bits of me come away on the blade.

A slow laugh builds in my throat, evolving into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"Ah heh....heh heh heh he he he ha ha ha ha ha...Ah HA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh Brutus, what a fool. I'm not just a one trick pony anymore."

An evil gleam twinkles in my eye as a burst of globs erupts from me to collide with the bright blue bombs heading towards me, detonating them.

"....I'm a whole new me!"

Green sparks of electricity arc up and down my limbs as my formless body begins to writhe and shake, reforming again slowly. The bits on Brutus' blade begin to tremble and vibrate, sparking with green light. The begin to flatten and spread across the surface, racing towards the hilt.

'Surprise!"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Light-years away, within the city sized bulk of the exploratory ship Searching the Dawn, Sherman Eltoolie watched with the rapt attention of a child watching his favorite show. That was when someone threw open the door to theater 12.

"It came from in here." hissed a voice that reached deep into the brain a drew out the memory of every strict school mam the hearer had ever met. In the doorway stood a tall, 66 year old woman with short grey hair and a handsome face, weathered with cracks and wrinkles. Beside her was a pale man, holding himself in an uncanny way. The woman's eyes swept the room and landed on Sherman's. They stared each other down. Sherman was the first to blink.

"Sherman, is this some new video game of yours?" asked the old severe voice in his ear. The little boy yelped and flipped around to find Miss Maupin, and for the first time noticed that she'd drawn her sword.

It wasn't odd for people to move that fast, at least not on this ship. Lots of people could do it. Mr. Jeong could do it when he focused his Ki. Alexis had her magic slippers. Mr. 11 was a time traveler, and could do it by walking between the seconds. They had a magic, or a power, or an artifact.

Miss Maupin, on the other hand, could move that quickly because, every morning, she had a good breakfast, did 100 sit ups, 100 pull ups, 100 pushups, and 100 squats before going on a five mile run. Sherman thought she might also have a jacuzzi somewhere in that schedule, but he had never asked because he was terrified of her.

But not as terrified as he was of the rooms other occupant, who was shrprambling down the aisle toward them. A shrpramble is a shamble that somehow moves as quickly as a sprint, and it was the only accurate descriptor of how Mr. Load moved. His name had been 4 letters longer before Mrs. Gabriel had objected on the basis that there were children in the Vault. So now he was just Mr. Load. He caught up, and looked at him with his weird face, the muscles of which he couldn't fully control so it sagged unevenly. "We thought that it had let the monkey out for some reason." he mumbled.

"No, no no." Sherman couldn't help but notice the mans eyes bugging out of his skull. Looking at Mr. Load was uncomfortable for everyone, because you were always waiting for part of him to move underneath his skin.

"This isn't a video game." Said Miss Maupin, looking at the screen. She sheathed her sword. "Who are these people?"

"Just some weirdos we ran into." Said Sherman. "You know that pit stop we made? The Vault pup Gabriel and charge and we jumped ship?"

"Motley crew, aren't they?" Said Load, squelching down beside him.

"Said the pot to the kettle." Said Miss Maupin, sitting down on his other side.

Sherman was now very uncomfortable. "They had a party. We would have hung around but, you know..."

"The Migration." They said in stereo.

"So we had to serenely skedaddle." Sherman continued. "But he wanted to keep an eye on them, just in case. So he left Harold behind."

"The Hug Bug?" asked Load, incredulous.

"I don't think they know yet. Harold is pretty subtle."

"And he has a good eye for cinematography." Miss Maupin commented as the angle on the fight rapidly changed to better view.

The three sat in silence.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

(Darn it. Tired again already. I'll post more tomorrow. Once again, good writing with ya. Night. )

[Marvelous Miscreant]

(Blast! and I was just starting to get into it. We really need to get LoC running for the second age soon so I can get creative.)

[Philote]

@Wulf: Brutus seems to be doing good since the last time I knocked him flat

@Marv: Draw this new form of yours

(@Vault: Are you narrating something happening within the Vault?)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

(Nah, The Vault is long gone. It's got places to be and appointments to keep. The Searching The Dawn is the ship he gets around on. Sherman is just watching the live video feed provided by Hug Bug Harold, who got left so The Vault would know if anything interesting turned up. Harold is pretty subtle.)

[Philote]

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 He's been training.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

As the sparks race toward the end of the blade, Brutus grows wide-eyed, and his hands tighten on the hilt as though by impulse. That he did not expect. The butler stammers, seeming to search desperately for words, before finally closing his eyes and calling out,

"Heart of Phthonos!!"

The Penultimate perks up, waiting for what he expects will be a big boom.

No boom.

Brutus opens his eyes, looks around a second, and then down. A laugh, almost incredulous, escapes his throat. As he'd hoped, but certainly not expected, the energy of Marv's attack has stopped in place. As Phthonos is the Greek god of envy, Brutus had successfully channeled the power of envy to mimic Marv's force of power.

"Ha! Can't say I saw that coming either." The Penultimate scoffs, "I thought Brutus had gotten over his issues envying reality benders. Then again, at times like this, he should probably be grateful he hasn't."

And it appears he is most grateful. Opening his eyes, Brutus simply sits there a second. He seems utterly gobsmacked that it even worked. Though, it doesn't take long for his mind to snap back to the situation at hand. And when he does, a new plan is obviously in the works.

He looks up, and rears Babaraina back overhead. On bringing it down, he completes the Heart of Phthonos move, reflecting Marv's power back toward him. And as that power rebounds back toward Marv, he charges up for a brief moment, before following that attack up with another, courtesy of Gaia.

The bright green of Phthonos' attack converted into the deep green of Mother Earth, Brutus slashes the sword downward to the ground, calling out, "GAIA'S...QUARTZ...BREAKER!!!"

Right about now, the Penultimate imagines Brutus is most grateful to have been taught the art of making up new moves on the spot.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

"Impressive," Suzu says. "Didn't think that that would happen. I wonder how it would stand up against my Shining Blade or one of Mistress' techniques like say her Moonless Night."