Heck, Let's Be Freeform

Uggthoa's description of firearms sounded - barbaric - to say the least. Such gunpowder weapons hadn't been used in centuries, since the days when man first decided they could shrink the cannon to an anti-personell weapon. What intrigued Alexis and Madison the most was Uggthoa's acount of how much her size seemed to affect a bullet's impact - though a musketball was far slower and had less power than a rifle bullet, especially depending on the amount of powder used. "I'd hardly call you a runt," Alexis remarked. "You have to be at least 7 feet tall, maybe 8." "It's rather interesting how you channel your powers in the form of explosions," Madison said. "Almost the way we psionics use our telekinetic bursts." Both of them paused when Uggthoa showed them her map. It was crude, but the layout looked nothing like the familiar coastlines and natural features they were used to. Alexis tried to think back to the world atlases he'd seen in the library. Perhaps this was a crude map of one of the other continents beyond the oceans. "Er... You're a long way from home if you've never heard of the Northern Frontier Territories and your map looks like that," commented Madison. "The Northern Frontier Territories take up all of northern Sierria: from the Front Range of the White Mountains to just beyond the Arctic Circle - basically the whole northern part of the continent between the Occident Mountains and the Green Mountains." In the meantime, Melissa just stared at Sato with her deadpan look. "You really need to either get a job with an army or mercenary corps, or get a new hobby," she said. "Unless you want to go to a bar or saloon and have a few drinks first, you're never going to find a 'worthy opponent' in these parts. In fact, what are you doing out in these parts? Not challenging random strangers to fights, are you?"
 
Sato took some slight offence at Melissa's remark calling his journey a mere hobby. "You think this a hobby, foolish child? What would you know of being a true warrior? Covering yourself with naught but cloth and facing your opponent blade to blade, blood to blood and spirit to spirit! This is the way of my people, child!", yelled Sato as he removed his shirt, revealing the network of scars that ran across the entirety of his torso and arms. "The way of my people is of honor in battle. This is no mere hobby, child. I have buried countless worriors that have fought against me. Each one proud to die by the hand of a true warrior, as would I. You stand there in battle, hiding behind your guns and 'rifles'. You have never seen the light of the soul leave a man's eyes as you ram your blade through his belly. Praying to your godess of war to give you strength means nothing if you can kill him from five hundred yards away. You are not warriors. None of you. I am Sato, the Scarred Man, Monster of the East, The Unkillable Shadow! I have paid for these titiles with blood and spirit. What are you? Melissa... The Girl With a Gun."

Sato began to pant from all the yelling. He put his shirt back on, again covering his scarred body. "Do not impune me again, child.", warned Sato.
"As for my quest, I am not challenging random strangers to fights. I am on a quest to prove myself in a strange and distant land. I come seeking a worthy opponent, and should the universe permit it, an honorable death and burial by the one who was able to defeat me. It is a journey of Honor and Spirit." said Sato, a lot more calm now than he was previously.
 
Aeirs eyes widened for a second being surprised by a voice, he turned around and noticed an odd creature. Saying to himself “so that’s what a beast looks like” noticing his friendly gestures Aeirs had no need to draw his weapon. He walked over and with that he smiled “Hello sir” his stomach made a loud growl of hunger and Aeirs held his stomach dropping to his knees and with a loud moan of pain. “P-please sir, M-might you have anything to eat.” Without another word he continued to hold his stomach as the pain churned within him.

((might be good if I mention that this is towards Xin))
 
Melissa was used to being called "girl", "water buffalo", "mud viper", and various other racial slurs. She'd heard every disparaging remark there ever was directed at her about her race and her culture. But she was not about to have some barbarian belittle her in front of a stranger. Her face turned purple with rage, and in one swift motion, she siezed Sato by the collar and slammed him into a tree. She tensed in rage, fighting the urge to follow up her attack with a blow to the stomach and the groin.

"Oh, I'm sorry you mistook my attempt at jest as an attack on your character," she sneered. "But while we're on the subject of degrading one another: I find your little quest pathetic. If you were half the warrior you say you are, you wouldn't be ripping off your shirt to show off your scars or testing yourself in strange lands. I don't care how many fearsome titles you carry or how many men and women you've lit pyres for - at least I hope you lit pyres for them - you're still no better than a washed up ex-soldier staggering from bar to bar picking fights. A decent warrior shouldn't have to prove anything." She released him with a final shove.
 
"You leave me no choice, then." said Sato, gravely. He reached out at lightning speed and pinched a point just below Melissa's left set of ribs and then quickly tapped at a point under her left arm and then at a point on her thigh. This caused Melissa's left side to sieze up, rendering her half motionless. She swung at Sato with her free hand which connected with his face giving him a blooded his nose. Sato then tapped at a point in her wrist that made her hand go limp. "Fire your guns now", he whispered in her ear as he pressed his hand against her chest. The air rippled against Melissa's chest and sent her a good ten metres across the forrest floor like a ragdoll. He saw one of her companions reach for a weapon of thier own. "Just try it..." said Sato. He looked towards Melissa again. "You cannot beat me. That is fact.", he said with a foreboding tone. "Never lay your hands on me again or you will know true pain." warned Sato again. She was an exrtemely proud girl, and Sato could respect that. He was once much like her. He could see that she was almost over-proud in her culture and of herself and it would be rather humiliating for her, should she choose to continue her futile attempt at hand to hand combat. Secretly, Sato wanted to see how good she really was.
 
Melissa was angry now. "If it's a fight you want, you little shit, why didn't you just say so!" She heaved her heavy pack off her shoulders and threw it at him. While he was distracted, she lept into the air, spun around, and slammed the heel of her cleated boot into the back of his head. She landed in front of him and drove her fist into his solar plexis. "If you want pain, try fighting with one leg shattered, both fists broken, one eye swollen shut, and all that against a full grown, fully trained man who is also your own father." She kneed him in the groin, then went for his jaw.

 
Sato shrugged off the blows that were brought down on him. In his mind everything slowed. Everything became clear. Melissa's clenched fist soared for his jawline. He stepped back a mere inch and watched her hand fly upwards. He grabbed her arm, pulled it towards his body and brought his head forward into hers. She stumbled backwards but quickly recovered and kept coming, fists and feet moving with great speed. But Sato was faster. He dodged most attacks and blocked the rest. As Melissa prepared for her next bout of attacks, Sato slammed his hands together and then placed his hands on the ground and shouted: "Busho Sho-Ken!!" A great ripple ran through the ground around him in a ten metre radius, creating a crater in the earth around him. "You arent dead yet! There may be hope for you! But you fight with your emotion and it shall be your undoing!", said Sato with a huge smile across his face.
 
((can't this guy take any hits?))

Melissa had never faced an opponent like this before. A telekinetic - he had to be. And his smile only made her more enraged. She quickly shook herself out of her dazed state (wondering why this little fuck hadn't broken anything yet and insisted on throwing her about the way Madison did) charged again, ducked down, and then leapt up, sending a handful of sand into Sato's eyes. Then she spun around, driving her steel tipped boot into his chest with enough force to crack ribs. This time when she landed, she went straight for his face, and when he tried to block her, she siezed his arm and brought it down with enough violence to at least break the bone in half. At the same time, she pulled back on his fingers to break them too. All the while, she checked him with her shoulder, hoping to put more pressure on his already battered torso - possibly even to break a rib.
 
(( Well, nobody is perfect ;) ))

Sato reeled with the sand in his eyes and then blinly felt a streak of pain run from his chest to his face and then down his arm. He hadn't felt any actual pain for years. This girl had definitely proven her worth to him. her technique was driven my her emotion however and if her emotion got the best of her, her technique would come crashing down. Now was the time to finish this fight. Sato retaliated by drawing his katana at lightning speed, just touching the blade to Melissa's throat. They both panted, sore and bleeding. "I am definitely impressed young one. You have earned great respect from me this day. And as such, I congratulate you. I have not felt pain, real pain, in years." said Sato as he put his sword away and re-coneccted his dislocated shoulder and fingers without flinching. He bowed low to Melissa out of respect for her skill in martial prowess. "I hope that you hold no grudge against me, for I certainly do not hold any against you, young one. It is with respect that I bow to you." said Sato with an air of admiration.
 
Uggotha didnt't even realize the battle started until it was over ((yay conferences! Or else she would have interfered!)). Uggthoa rolled her eyes at the duo. "Are we really going to get into violent, potentially deadly fights in the middle of nowhere? I'm not a healer, so I hope you guys can patch yourself up when you really get the hurt put on you." Uggotha was a mercenary, but that was out of nessessity rather then choice- "the world dosen't care about people fighting each other in tests of strength; the victor is the one left standing."
 
Melissa had just about been ready to pull one of her hidden guns on Sato, seeing as he wanted to use deadly weapons. She knew she wasn't liable to hurt him, but the moment of distraction it would take to dodge or catch the bullets would be just enough to slip a switchblade into his chest. She grabbed his sword blade, ready to pull it away from her neck, then stopped when he stopped. It was only after she released his sword and stepped back did she realize how sharp the damn thing was. It had sliced her hand down to the bone, even severing her tendons. And it hurt like hell. She wrapped it in a hankerchief to stop the bleeding, and looked over at Uggthoa.

"Thank you for saying what I was trying to say, but in a more diplomatic and concise way," she said. She took a few steps backward, then stumbled from the affects of one too many concussions in the head. She shook them off. She looked over at Sato, a bit surprised at the way he spoke to her.

"I appreciate the respect, buddy, really, I do," she said. "But I am sick and tired of having to literally fight to earn so much as a moment of peace. I come from a house of nobility, descended from a great hero, but because we're Marinians living in Sierria, and Sierrians hate Marinians and most Marinians hate Sierrians; people tend to ignore that fact. They honor my ancestor, Julianna Lucia, but they never let me forget she was not only Marinian, but the slave of a Marinian princess. In fact, it is the fact I'm descended from Julianna that they bully me all the harder."

In the meantime, Alexis and Madison had been watching the whole thing, unable to interfere for fear of making Melissa only angrier and more reckless. When the fighting was over, they moved in.

"Are you hurt?" asked Madison. "I can use my powers to speed up the body's heeling process."

"Now that this sideshow is over, can we get on with our business?" he asked. "I believe we were trying to reconcile our maps, Uggthoa."
 
"That is correct," Uggotha said, pulling out her book once again. "I still have no clue where you came from; hell, I'm a bit lost as well. I just woke up in this clearing with no recollection of coming here." Uggthoa started her explanation, "What is strange is how you haven't met the northern giants, and we have never met upon your civilization. Giants get along relatively well with humans- I'm a testament to that- and circle the northern reaches of the world. The fact you have a weapon like that" Uggotha pointed to the shotgun, "and I haven't read about one like that points to something really strange going on. Giants are feared for cannons. Also, the lack of magic among human populations that you know of is strange. Also, on that note-" Uggthoa put her hands up in consternation, "what the hell is an elf?"
 
Sato rubbed his shoulder and smiled. He looked over at Melissa's bleeding hand. "My grandfather forged this sword. It might not have been a good idea to touch the sharp end. As for your lineage, it means nothing to me wheather or not you come from a noble family. My people climb from the bottom up to get to nobility. It is well earned in my homeland. Your race should not matter to anyone. Take pride in your people. Do not shun yourself for being one of them, no matter what others might throw at you. And NEVER fight with emotion feuling your fist. You can lose control and become clumsy. It was the first thing I noticed upon the beginning of our fight. You fight well, but you lack refinement." said Sato. He overheard Uggie's conversation with Alexis and headed over to them. "Elves are as graceful and full of beauty as they are deadly. I should know... I have faced on once and she nearly killed me. It was by her grace that i was let to live..." spoke Sato with an air of dreamyness as if by telling the tale he was reliving the moment. He noticed the maps were completely different from one another. He pointed to a small island in the east on Uggie's map. "This island right here is my homeland. But I also see it on your map, Alexis..."
 
"Well, sure I do, uh.." Yern moved his pack around to the front of his body so he could pull out a few random foodstuffs. There wasn't any more meat in the bag, but he found a few pieces of bread and another few fungi, filled his hands as much as he could, and pushed it all at the scaly stranger. Once the food was out of his hands he seasoned it with a series of questions: "You sound like you've been starving to death. What are you doing this far out without any kind of supplies on you? Or, did you get lost or something? Do you know how to hunt, or do you not eat meat?"
 
Alexis, Madison, and Melissa stared in disbelief at Uggthoa, as if she had just told them she'd never seen the Sun in her entire life. "You've never heard of elves?" asked Alexis. "They're only the most populous civilization in the world! They're so common, they're found on every continent and island - sometimes far out in the wilderness where humans scarcely venture, and sometimes right in the heart of human civilization. Where I live, there's a small elf village incorperated into the outskirts of the city. They are shorter than humans, but the weakest of thier species are at least twice as strong. They have 6 inch long, pointed ears, and are the most beautiful and graceful creatures in all creation. They were the first teachers of Regina, the first human, and gave us culture and civilization. Our scriptures sometimes refer to them as the Firstborn of the Sun - the elder sisters and brothers of Mankind. They are very amicable and helpful, but can also be a bit condescending and arrogant - like older siblings. They're an ancient species - already mature as a civilization when the great Goddess of the Sun brought forth Regina." Alexis paused. "Sorry. I just didn't think anyone could be ignorant about the single most important species in all human history."
 
Uggotha scoffed at the obvious idealization that the people had about the elves. "Seriously? You're sitting here saying that there is this 'magical' race that is pivotal in the support of humanity?" Uggotha blanched at their glowing report about elves, "I've never heard of them, and they were not mentioned in any of the books in the great library of Arrakis. Humanity is essentially the most populous race, with giants and dwarfs a distant second, there are abhumans as well, but none have been noted to be of any real impact to human societies,"

Uggthoa continued racking her brain as she talked through the new information, "the giant kingdoms to the north essentially protect from the monsters that come out the northern wastes. Humanity is usually fighting the beasts that come from the sea and the forests, and the dwarfs take care of that which come from below. Civilization is constantly beset by monstrous beasts. We don't have any tiny saviors." Uggthoa eyes widened, especially after Sato added the information about his home.

"I... think we might have been pulled from our worlds. I certainly don't remember leaving the bar last night before winding up in the middle of nowhere. What where all of you doing before we met up?"
 
"I was travelling across a wide open plain and I saw a forrest in the distance and thought that it would be a good place to set up camp for the night and when i awoke, everything seemed normal. All of my belongings were where they should be and all was well.", said Sato.

Sato looked amazed at the description that was given by Alexis about the elves. They were exactly like the elven warrior that Sato had fought many years ago. There were not many elves left in his homeland, and as long as thier lifespans are they were slowly dieing out. "My homeland has a small population of elves. They are quite an ancent race but they are slowly dieing out. It will be sad to see them leave this earth. Are there many elves left in your land, Melissa?" said Sato quizzically, wondering wether there were other elves outside of his homeland. Elves had tought his grandfather how to make a sure, sharp and strong blade. The only time Sato had ever met one was in combat and he was nearly killed by her. "I would very much like to meet another elf."
 
Alexis, Madison, and Melissa all looked at each other as Uggthoa spoke. They couldn't figure out why she continually refered to giants and dwarfs as though they were a seperate species. Giants and dwarfs were nothing more than freakishly small and/or tall humans (or children dressed to look like adults and large adults wearing baggy pants to hide thier stilts; it was hard to tell when most all circuses employed psionic guards to make sure no one spoiled the fun by exposing any secrets). The notion of crossing worlds was especially intriguing to Madison, though. Metaphysicists, both human and elven, speculated there were other planes or worlds beyond thier own, citing the fact the traditional stars Celestine, Ariel, and great Queen Estella were planets themselves with thier own moons and skys. But this would be the first time there was proof there were other worlds with people on them - everything before that was pure speculation. After all, the notion of a world beset on all sides by monsters was absurd.

"That could be possibility," Madison said. "My friends and I were out exploring the mountains in the southern White Mountains. They're a mass of mountains, stretching from the southern border of the Northern Frontier Territories to just inside the Arctic Circle." She neglected to tell them the real reason they were up in this wild country. She didn't really believe it herself. "We made camp in the woods last night, and this morning, we caught sight of an elk that we decided to hunt for meat. That's why we were shooting. We noticed nothing out of the ordinary - hey, wait a second - " she guestured to Sato " - you said you were in a wide open plain? Was it by any chance ringed by pine forests and surrounded by towering mountains with snow-capped peaks?"

"Well," Melissa started to say in response to Sato's account about the elves in his land (or world, if what Uggthoa and Madison were suggesting was true). "That's - horrible! I didn't think anything ill could happen to the elves. They were always so strong and resiliant - they live longer than humans, can't get sick, and still produce healthy broods of children as fertilly as any human - though at a slower rate. If we were still in my world, I'd say there was a small elf village just a day and half's march from here, in a shallow canyon at the base of a plateau at the base of one of the mountain ranges."
 
Uggthoa scratched her chin, thinking about what Melissa disclosed. "Well, we should march on then, to see where we currently are; if we are in your world, we apparently wouldn't have nothing to fear..." Uggthoa trailed off, before continuing. "if we are in mine, I would suggest trying to find some sort of fortification before night comes..."
 
Aeirs looked up still with pain and felt very happy inside to be able to eat again. When he was given the food Aeris began to devour it, thanking him very much for his hospitality. As he was eating he heard him asking a serious of questions as he ate; not a minute too soon had he finished and stood up. “once again thank you very much sir” he walked to a nearby tree and sat down leaning up against it. “Yeah I was quiet starved and it’s not that I don’t know how to hunt at all, and I do eat meat, it’s that I had nothing to hunt on the way here from the southern mountains.” Aeirs stopped and strapped off his sack setting it aside him, as well as his blade but keeping it nearby, in case of some unwanted visitors.

“as for why I came out here without many supplies, I thought I would have had made it to this forest a couple of days ago; but I was stuck up in some snowstorms and other crap like that.” Aeris sighed as he felt lucky to even be alive. “To your lost question, it isn’t physically I’m lost. It’s mentally, ever since I began my journey I haven’t had a clue where I was going. All I know is my objective is to obtain something that can change my body. I’m not sure if you ever heard or read of dragons before but this, what you see before you now, is only partially a dragon. I have no wings; my fire can’t craft the epic blades you read about in old tales. Not all is bad though my scales are intact, there are stronger than any of your… er well I wouldn’t call you human now would I” Aeirs chuckled a little “Though I’ve read about your kind, very interesting if I do say so myself, anyway back on topic.

“My scales are much stronger than those of the humans; the only know blade to us that can cut through this plated body is made from that of its own kind. I am sure you know what I mean, if not then you may ask freely… well that is if I can trust you not to turn your back on me” as Aeirs continued to talk the sun gradually descended. He took a small paused and looked at his bracelet, given to him by his mother. The only things heard were the rustles of the leaves as a warm breeze of wind brushed through them. His long speech had taken a while, which only seemed moments. The sun was already descending to the horizon again and the sky was turning to a warm and soothing orangeish color. “mm… Oh sorry about that sir, say I never did get your name at all, my name is Aeirs” he smiled holding his left hand to shake feeling a little more comfortable from when they first encountered one another.

((posted at like 12 am, so if something is wrong or seems out of place please tell me))