Stray Dogs

Status
Not open for further replies.
"Vincent...I don't know you very well....I was never close to anyone in my life, but somehow...both of you have become friends...I remember a time when I myself wanted to die....One day, a voice in my head told me that if I were to die, then those who hated me for what I was would win! Don't let those who hate you win..." Emiko called out to Vincent, trying desperately to get him to understand that he wasn't alone anymore.

"You can still save Milo Vincent...It may not be easy to accept your monster side for reasons unknown to everyone but you, but if you were to die right now everyone whose ever said anything rotten and cruel to you will win! Everyone whose ever done anything to you will win! Don't let them win. Show them that yes, you're different. You're unique, but it's NOT a bad thing!" Emiko sobbed out. She couldn't say anything more as the tears flowed from her eyes. She was thinking of the time she finally accepted who she was, after years of being abused and tortured. "One year ago, I accepted who I was. After years of hating myself, wanting to disappear, and die...I accepted myself." she murmured.

Emiko finally looked into what she hoped was the monsters eyes. She let the tears flow freely from her eyes as she continued to tremble. She may of seemed brave, but inside she absolutely terrified.
 
"I...I don't want to hurt anyone." The monster spoke as it stared at the unconscious boy and crying cat girl. And inside the monster Adelita told Vincent "If you don't want to hurt anyone, than you need to accept who you are. Come to terms with what you are and you could stop all of this." Tears flooded Vincent's eyes as he answered "But I caused all of this. How can I accept myself when I've caused so much pain?"

Suddenly Emiko started shouting once again "If you really don't want to hurt anyone THAN WHY DON'T YOU TRY THINKING ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE YOUR DEATH WOULD HURT!!!" "Death...hurt?" The monster asked in confusion and so Emiko continued "Yes Vincent! You're trying to kill yourself, but let me tell you something else about suicide. If even one person would be sad if you died, if even one person would cry at your funeral, THAN IT'S NOT WORTH IT!!!"

"Who...would-" "I WOULD!!!" Emiko screamed cutting him off since it was clear what he was about to ask. "I would cry if you die. Even now my tears and all this suffering is because you're hurting yourself! So if you really don't want to hurt anyone, THAN LIVE!!! Live so you can end all this suffering! Live so we can all be friends!"

Inside the beast Vincent watched and wondered "Friends? Milo said that just before he passed out. Can I really be allowed to have friends after all this?" "Of course you-"

"DON'T YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND!?!" Emiko screamed "Cause I want to be yours!" And so the monster asked "Why? After every-" "BECAUSE I THINK YOU'RE REALLY COOL!!! The first time I saw your hair I thought it was really awesome! And when I saw your black eyes I thought they were so cool. And even this giant monster thing you are now, if it wasn't trying to kill us it'd be the coolest thing ever! We could ride around on it and-and we could reenact scenes from Godzilla! Because...the kinda things friends do right? I've never had friends before so I wouldn't know but I heard they do lots of fun stuff like that! So don't you wanna try all that!?"

In that moment Emiko thought to herself "How conceded must I be...all those things are things I've always wanted someone to say to me. To tell me my ears were cool, to tell me my tail was awesome and to...to tell me..."

Emiko made one last shout, screaming: "YOUR NOT A FREAK!!! YOU'RE MY FRIEND AND I CARE ABOUT YOU!!! SO DON'T DIE!!!"

Inside the beast Vincent could have hardly believe everything he had heard. "Friends?" And Adelita gave him her two cents as well "Yes Vincent, look at your friends, they care about you. If you can't live for yourself, than at least for now live for them. They want to be your friends. And...if I can be perfectly honest...I do to." "Wh-what?" "I'd like to be your friend as well. When I first met you, I could tell instantly that you were a kind person, who cared more about others than yourself. Of course I'd want someone like that as a friend. But I never had a chance to ask. So please, I ask you now, won't you accept our friendship, won't you accept yourself?"

"Accept? Accept...myself..." Vincent uttered those final words as he fell into a sudden slumber.

Suddenly Vincent opened his eyes and found himself in alone in a darkness. There was no Adelita, no Emiko and Milo, just no one. Bit only that, but it appeared that he was now 100% human. And so he walked forward feeling drawn to something but didn't know what. He didn't bother calling out, he knew this was something different than before.

Vincent walked until he found a black figure sitting with its arms wrapped around its legs, watching two orbs, one white and one black, that almost looked like two will of the wisps, desperately clinging to each other as they we're obviously being pulled apart by some unseen force.

Vincent watched as he stood beside the figure and asked "What is this?" "That, is us." The figure responded "You and me being forcibly pulled apart by your hate." "But, I'm not trying to reverse it right now." "Doesn't matter at this point. The damage is already done. It's like continuously pushing someone towards a cliff, then trying to save them after they've already been pushed off. The damage is done, and all you can do now is watch them fall."

Vincent watched as the two orbs clingged to each other and asked "Who are you?" "Isn't that obvious. I'm you. The you, you hate. I'm your monster side, given form from our presence in the Elemental Zone."

Vincent stared at the figure that kind of resembled what he looked like as a monster but even less human and asked: "So what are you doing?" "Watching us die." It answered, then pointed to the orbs and continued "Those two souls are us. The black one's me and the white one's you. They used to be one but...ya know, you split them up. And once they've completely separated into two, we'll die." "I see."

The creature watched and talked "I know it doesn't mean anything now but...I'm sorry I made your life suck. I just wanted to exist, but I guess that was selfish. I guess it's for the best. If my mere existence causes this much pain, I guess it really is a crime, and I do deserve to die. I may not understand why but...I can at least accept it in death."

Vincent listened to the words of the being next to him then watched as the two souls slowly separated. More and more the souls separated inch by inch. Until they were just about completely apart.

"Good bye. I'm sorry." The black creature whispered his final words as he closed his eyes and waited for death.

And after a few seconds... nothing happened. And so it opened it's eyes once again to see Vincent struggling to forcefully push the two souls back into one.

"What are you doing!?" The creature shouted as Vincent pushed, one soul in each hand, only managing to inch them together. "I've learned something today. Everyone deserves to exist. Whether it's me, Emiko, Milo, Simon, Seamus, Adelita, that jerkwad Elfren, or even you! Everyone deserves a chance at life! Even if the whole world hates you for just being born, if you've done nothing wrong, than you deserve to live! And if they don't like it WELL TOO BAD!!! I'm not gonna be miserable anymore just because other people tell me to! I'M GONNA LIVE!!! AND HAVE FRIENDS!!! AND BE HAPPY!!! And this place is gonna teach us how to use these powers to save people right!? Well I'm gonna learn how to save people and when I do, and people make fun of me... I'M GONNA SHOVE MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN ALL OF THEIR STUPID FACES!!! Not only that! But I'm gonna save my mom whether she likes it or not! Than, once I've learned what we are, I'm gonna track down my dad and make him see mom again EVEN IF I HAVE TO KICK HIS ASS TO DO IT!!!"

The creature watched Vincent in shock as he looked back at it and finished "And I'm going to need your help to do it."

The creature looked down for a second, than started to chuckle "Heh heh ha. You got all that conviction from just one day at this place? You're so stupidly gullible. You're probably the kinda guy that gets hypnotised really easy." Than it starts to stand up as it continues "But I guess I'm no better, seeing as I'm you."

The creature walked over to the other side of the souls from where Vincent was standing and finished "So what do you say? Want to exist?" "Let's."

Vincent's other self grabbed both souls and assisted with pushing them back together. And with the both of them together, they were succeeding slowly but surely they combined the two souls back into one and with it, their bodies as well.

One being, holding one soul, in his hands.

Outside, in the monster's grip Emiko looked down and cried "Don't die. Don't die Vincent. Please just don't die." Suddenly both Vincent and the monster spoke "I'm sorry." Before all of the darkness of the behemoth started to collapse in on itself.

Emiko and Milo end up fading right through the hand that had gripped them all this time and fall to the ground. Emiko screams in fear as Milo is still unconscious, but Simon catches them in his water shark just before they hit the ground. Emiko and Milo splash right into the shark just like the liquid it is and while inside the water pushes their bodies until their heads pop out of the bottom so that they can breathe. "Are we sticking out of the shark's butt?" "DON'T COMPLAIN, I'M SAVING YOU!!!" "Sorry."

The behemoth's body begins to compress more and more, getting smaller and smaller.

At this unfamiliar sight Emiko couldn't help but ask "What's going on? Is he dying?" "We're about to find out."

Everyone watched as all of the darkness got smaller and smaller. Eventually Adelita fell right out of it and landed herself safely on the ground, then watched with the rest.

The darkness continued to shrink, getting smaller and smaller until finally, Vincent was visible. There he was, the boy that had once hated his power, now controlling it. Vincent had his normal tan skin back, with his unnatural purple hair, his eyes remained black with white pupils but this time it was only his iris that were black and the whites of his eyes remained white. And along with all that, every single one of his teeth were sharp like daggers.

There Vincent stood as the darkness continued to shrink, until finally Vincent held that darkness as a swirling ball in his hands.

Vincent grinned as he held the swirling darkness ball in place when he herd the voice of his other self. "Vincent." and so he addressed it "We did it." "Yeah, about that. That was A LOT of darkness we just compressed into that ball. So much so that there is no way we can keep it stable. So...yeah it's about to explode in our hands." "WHAT!?! What do I do!?" "GET RID OF IT!!!" "HOW!?!" "SHOOT IT!!!" "WHERE?!?" "UPWARDS YOU IDIOT!!!"

And with that Vincent quickly raised the Dark Ball above his head and shot it into the sky. And after it had gone so high that it was no longer visible, it exploded in an enormous explosion of darkness so big, that it almost blocked out the sky.

Once the darkness explosion had passed. Emiko ran to Vincent shouting "Are you ok?!" And Vincent watches her and answered "I'm perfectly fine."

Once Emiko got close and stood face to face with Vincent he looked at her and told her "Thank you Emiko. I would like to be your friend. And you know what? I think your cat ears are really cool. And your tail is totally awesome."

Emiko blushes at his words and could only utter a low "Thank you." in response as she looked down at her feet.

And just then Vincent decided to take a step forward, and with that one step, his entire body dropped to the floor harder than a rock. "What...what happened?"

And at that moment Seamus and Simon walked over and Seamus bent down to tell him "Your body's finally giving out after all the abuse you just put it through."
 
Last edited:
Milo stared at the ceiling as the pounding for his head slowly began to subside. He blinked, adjusting to the natural light in the room bathed in white. Soon, everything flooded back to him and he stood up in a sudden jolt of movement causing Emiko to wake up.

"Emiko," Milo breathed only to pause mid-sentence as a frown left his lips.

"Your awake,"she spoke in between a yawn. Her pale hand released from his left tanned as she began to stretch. Milo could make out the pile of missed homework assignment and groaned.

She chuckled as she got up from the chair and Milo picked up the first assignment and flipped through the pages.

" Good morning sleeping beauty,"
Elfren mumbled as seemed to materialize with the room. He adjusted his yellow scarf around his neck and sniffed before placing a sunflower in a vase to his right. "You've got a lot of work to do. Seeing as you have been asleep for over a month, at least Simon water abilities are good for mending bones back together as well as among other things."

"Wait, I have been a sleep for how long?" Milo blurted out. His right hand gripping the sheets, until he realised his arm was completely healed. "How far-"

"Me and Vin are already learning combat combinations and drills. I've barely grasped my water abilities some-what," Emiko piped as her silver tail glimmered within the sun's rays. Elfren made himself comfortable in a leather arm chair before scratching his gotee lazily. He pointed a long boney finger at Milo then at his homework assignments.

"Get cracking on those lessons Kiddo, Emiko will help you with the material if you can't grasp the concepts."

Milo wasted no time as Emiko handed him a mechanical pencil. She sat next to him and opened up a small manuel labeled : The Duties You Must Follow.

"Once you finished with those packets. Your first day with professor Seamus begin in gym, don't be late. "



**********

Two Hours.

Milo had never taken that long to finish a homework assignment before. Yet, this school was unlike anything else in the world for people like him. Walking with Emiko was a chore all on its own as his medical shirt was drenched in sweat by the time they entered the gym double doors.

Expecting a basketball court, some bleachers and school colors, Milo could only gap at the grass the covered the gym floor. The inside of the gym was the size of a football field, a large rocker water fall angled to the east giving off the smell of freshly spring water. To the west lay sinister building of some sort that resembled a company, in the south was what looked to be a massive bridge complete with cars stacked neatly within its expecting lanes.

" This is where we do our drills," Emiko explained leading them to the middle of gym facing a small stand that held a ball of some sort in the middle.

"Oh, thought I was going to be the first one here Emiko," spoke a voice that boiled Milo's blood.

Emiko smiled and waved over Vincent. Milo took a couple of steps toward the waterfall ignoring Vincent completely. He soaked in the light splashes of water cared off from the slight breeze of the wind.

"Milo and I beat you to it. Elfren wanted him to join us today." Emiko adressed.

"Shouldn't he be resting, finishing up missed assignments. I mean-"

"I'm fine," Milo snapped turning around to face Vincent for the first time, before averting his gaze and resting it on Emiko. "I can't let drag my friends down with me. The homework isn't that complicated anyway, with Emiko I should be able to get it done."

Milo wasn't ready to fully forgive Vincent regardless of what Simon lectured. For now he just wanted to get better, catch up and learn how to use his windeath powers to protect those that need to be protected.

"I still don't think-"

"Look, just - Let's just follow Elfren's order alright. I am sure their is a good reason for his requests." Milo cut him off.

Vincent said nothing and Emiko eyes bounced from both of the boys. Her mind seemed to work on over drive as Vincent then spoke but now adressed Emiko.

"Where is Seamus?"

"She told me to wait here, the class will start an hour later than normal."

Vincent breathed shaking his head.

"You are his star pupil," Emiko joked causing Vincent face to turn red. "We just have the same dark abilities is all. He's still a hard ass. "

"We get private lessons?" Milo questioned, Vincent opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it.

"Yes, Simon is my private mentor. He shows us different ways to use our abilities until we are able to better understand our own."

"So, Seamus must be a wind attribute." Milo added an both Vincent and Emiko nodded at the same time. Milo sat down on the grass and closed his eyes, he could hear the faint conversations of them both as his headache began to throb-less.

It was only his frist day back and he was already drained.
 
Last edited:
'Seems Milo is still angry with Vincent....Which is to be expected, after everything that happened.' Emiko thought as she watched the interaction between the two boys. She was about to interject, but she thought better of it. 'Best not to get involved...' Emiko shook her head lightly, shooing away any thoughts she had.

Emiko and Vincent talked among themselves, waiting for Seamus to show up for class. Finally, after an hour of waiting she walked though the Gym doors.

"Ahh, hello everyone." he said with a smile on he face.

"Hey." Emiko murmured in greeting, smiling a bit. She still wasn't quite over her shyness when it came to the instructors in the school, but she was getting better.
 
It was an hour before Seamus decided to show up and in that hour Vincent decided to ask: "Hey Emiko?" "Yeah?" "Milo's uh...still...mad at me, isn't he?" Emiko fumbled on her words but still answered: "Well...um...uh...yyyyeeeeahh it uh...it seems like it. Yeah." "Yeah that's what I thought." Vincent answered back.

Emiko then lightly scratched her cheek and explained: "Well...to be...fair...I don't know if you remember but, he was mangled pretty bad." "Right." "And...he has been unconscious for a whole month now." "Yeah..." "And...he was...legally dead...for a few seconds." "I get it!" "Sorry."

Vincent rested his back on the grass, and after a few seconds of silence, asked: "Emiko be honest with me. Do you think Milo was lying beck than when he said we were friends?" Emiko looked at Vincent, almost shocked that he would say such a thing and asked: "Why would you say that?" Vincent just kept staring at the ceiling, which was professionally painted like the sky as to match the rest of the room, and answered: "Thinking back, he probably only said those thing so i wouldn't go ballistic. i doubt he actually meant it."

"Don't say that!" Emiko pleaded. "Just because Milo's mad at you doesn't mean you're not friends. Just because he's upset with you doesn't mean he hates you. It's just something that happens isn't it? Friends fight, then they make up. Don't they? I mean...that's what i've seen friends do on tv shows. I mean...the three of us are friends...aren't we?"

Vincent turned his head to look at Emiko's sad face and answered: "Yeah" Than looked back up to the ceiling and continued: "...we're friends." not because he believed it, but rather, to not make her feel worse.

Suddenly Seamus burst through the gym doors being her usual bubbly self and shouted: "Ahh! Hello Everyone!" "Hey." "Hi." and so started energetically jogging in place and announced: "Alright! Who's ready to get their blood pumping!?" To which Emiko and Vincent both, clearly sarcastically, answered: "Yay." while slowly raising their fist in the air.

Vincent, Emiko, and Milo all stand in a line side by side, and Seamus scream: "Oh my god Milo! Elfren didn't tell me you were up!" To which Milo responded: "Yeah, I had to stay up almost all night but I managed to catch up on my work and--" Suddenly Seamus embraces Milo's head in her arms and hugs him tightly. Milo's face was being buried in her chest and she shouted: "Oh Milo I was so worried about you! Not just for your health but for your education as well. To think you'd be behind for a whole month! It was so sad!"

Milo's face completely turned red and he could barely breath, having his head shoved right into the chest of a fully grown, adult woman. And at that point Milo couldn't even form words as she apparently refused to let go.

Emiko and Vincent both watched with red faces. Emiko's hand was coving her gaping mouth as she objected: "Um...Ms. Seamus...I uh...don't think that's uh...appropriate." Meanwhile Vincent's hands where chest high, an clenched into fist as he mumbled: "So...jealous!!!" But despite his efforts to be unheard, Emiko HAD heard and turned to him. "What?" And so Vincent quickly answered: "Um...uh...I said...I was...jealous...because Milo has such a...kind...caring mentor...meanwhile I'm stuck with the crazy, asshole, slavedriver." "Oh...ok." Emiko answered, unsure if that as truly true but it did sound believable.

And so Vincent raised his hand slowly and answered: "Um...Ms. Seamus? Are you sure it's ok for Milo to exert so much? I mean...do you think he might need more rest." And so Seamus looked to Vincent with Milo still in her embrace and answered: "Of course he needs rest, that's why I'm letting him REST on my chest pillows." "WAIT YOU'RE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE!?!" Milo shouted, shocked by the fact, and Seamus answered back: "Of course it's on purpose. You think I can't tell where your head is right now? How dumb do you think women are?"

Suddenly Milo's face gets even redder as Vincent watches with wide eyes on his face as he bit his bottom lip, and since his teeth are now quite sharp, i small drop of blood drips down his chin. "So...jealous." Vincent thinks to himself.

Emiko looks at Vincent's face with a slight look of disappointment, then rolls her eyes and raises her hand and aggravatedly asks: "Uh...Ms. Seamus. Can we please start the lesson now?"

"Oh right." Seamus answered as she released Milo who, at this point had a nosebleed dripping all the way down to his chin. "Alright Milo, no more using my pillows. You'll have to make due with Emiko's now." "WHAT?!?" "I'm kidding. Relax, I'm not going to pimp you out like that. Heh ha ha. You kids are so easy."
 
==== | Act 2 | Blood, Bones an Ash| ====



Seamus placed both hands on her hips, a sinister gleam within her eyes. Milo whipped the blood on his sleeve before stuffing his hands in his pockets. He was tired, but need to stay focused on the task at hand; after all he hated to be left behind.

"Alright, today we will focus on team work. The last few days," she paused her cat like sapphire orbs bounds from Emiko to Vincent. "Did not pan out for the both of you."

Vincent clenched his fist as Emiko expression softened into something that resembled guilt.

"Follow me," she ushered and lead them towards an abandoned building. It was at least ten floors high, with six windows lined perfectly in place. Police cars parked in a neat lines as regular car took the parking spaces behind them. Seamus heel tapped along the wet pavement as she waved her perfectly manicured hand in the air.

An umbrella materialize in her hand, she opened it as a sudden veil of storm clouds hovered over them all. A crackle of thunder ripped through the sky as a smile left her lips and a raging wind began to pick up.

"Teamwork saves lives" She instructed as the police light went off in a cascaded of red and blue flashes. Police menot began to materialize right before their were unaware of themy. Gun pointed at the double glass doors before them, citizens lined up soon after. Some dressed as camera crews, others just plan people or employees in a panic.


"In this simulation a terrorist group known as Black Plage has taken two hostages." Seamus paused as the rain began time pound, it bleed through Milo cotton colored clothes. His damp mahogany curls stick to the sides of his face and forehead. "Your job is to infortrate the building, protect the hostages and make face the terrorist head on. Without destroying the building, once you contain the enemies it is up to you to decide their fate. Mercy or Death."

Milo didn't have time to marvel at the wounders of advanced technology. Seamus handed each of them a pack, once Milo glanced up at the helicopter over head. A women's voice called out as a beam of light rested on the eighth floor, fourth window.

Please release the hostages, your terms will be meet momentarily.


Vincent was the first to move, the sounds overwhelming him as Emiko took his hand and they headed to the right. A dumpster rested on the side of the building followed by an emergency exit door. Once safely behind the dumpster Vincent took a deep breath and spoke.

"Milo, I am sure you have a lot of questions." he opened his pack and pulled out some black fingerless gloves. "But right now just follow our lead. Your good at learning through observation right?"

Milo nodded, he wondered if they could hear his heart beating as well. Emiko then pulled out a map that looked to be the layout of the company building, a white sharpis in her hand she began to make a route towards the hostages. Vincent nodded and added, "Alright, most likely these terrorist have more than one scout-"

"We take them out?" Milo mumbled and Vincent nodded patting him on the shoulder with his gloved hands. "Yeah, but quietly. "

"You haven't learned hand to hand combat just yet so let us take the lead." Emiko finished boldly her eyes hard with pure determination. Milo said nothing more soaking up the information given to him.


It was surprising this new side to them both in such a short amount of time. Vincent fished out a silver pair of what looked to be chopped sticks. He knelt down and began picking the lock as Emiko began to fix her long smooth hair into a tight bun. In just two minutes the door creaked open and Emiko headed in her foot steps light and silent.

Milo winced at the sound of his sneaky white nurse shoes as he glanced around the lobby. Holding out a hand to stop, both Vincent and Milo froze as Emiko touched the tiled floors. Water oozed out of her fingers like a silent wave, covering every inch and crack. "Alright," Emiko whispered pointing towards the stairs. "Let's move."

They treaded through the thin water Emiko had made. Milo wondered how she muffled their feet steps completely as they glided up to the second floor. Not even making it up the last flight of steps, the hairs on Milo's back stood up. Without thinking he looked back as a figure materialized in front of him.

He tried not to scream as a automatic gun was pointed directly at them. The last few seconds seemed to move in slow motion as Emiko raised her hands and a sheild of ice shielded him from the bullets. A gust of wind ruffled his damp hair with a force that knocked the man off his feet as he tumbled down the stairs. No longer moving.

Milo gasped in panicked breaths, his clothes sticking to his body as Emiko sheild devolved. "Milo," Emiko whispered a hand pressed on his shoulder as he stared at his reflection. "M-M-My-" Milo fumbled for the rest of his words, unable to recognize the person that stared back at him.

Scales littered both sides of his face the color of cottenew. His curly hair once a brown mopping mess nowith the color of Ash. But his cat like iris burned with same color as his scales that littered the side of his face and a bit of his arms in patches.

"What is this," he sqweaked. "What happened to my face."

 
Last edited:
Emiko glanced around the surrounding area, making sure no one else materialized and took them by surprise. Once she was sure everything was ok she offered a quick smile and a hand towards Milo.

"It's ok. We'll figure it out, but for right now we have to rescue the hostages, ok?" Emiko said as Milo took her hand and she pulled him up.

"Uh, right." Milo murmured as he followed after.

Emiko held her hand up to stop at the top of the stairs on the 3rd floor. She quickly and quietly peeked around the corner to notice 2 terroist guarding the entrance to the stairs going to the next floor up, she then noticed one other guard walking around the area, making sure everything was ok.

"Right, there's two guards where we need to go, and there's one scouting out the area." Emiko said quietly, looking at both Milo and Vincent.

"Best bet is to quickly and quietly take out the scout, and then worry bout the guards." Vincent said with a quick nod.

"You're right. Why don't you take out the scout, and I'll handle the two guards?" Emiko said looking Vincent, who nodded at her.

"Sounds like a plan." Vincent said as he quickly snuck around the corner and behind the scout. Emiko gave him a quick nod when she saw that the guards weren't looking. Vincent nodded and stood up, snapping the scouts neck, and quickly ducked back under cover.

Emiko gave Vincent a quick nod to come back. Vincent nodded, and looked to see that no one was around and went back over to Milo and Emiko.
 
"Holy crap Vincent! Did you just-" Milo tried to whisper his question but his voice was lounder than he had expected, and so Vincent interrupted him. "Shh."

Vincent peaked around the corner once again and noticed that the two guards had indeed heard him and one started to walk over. "Damn it. You ready Emiko?" Emiko had all of the left fingers in her mouth at the time, then pulled them out, each finger covered in spit, and answered: "Yeah." Suddenly the spit in her fingers all turned into water claws and she continued: "Ready." Vincent nodded and told her: "I'll give you some cover. Just remember neither you nor them will be able to see." To which Emiko smirked and answered back: "Don't worry, these fox ears aren't just for show ya know."

And with that, Vincent placed his hand on the wall and darkness started to spread along the walls, floor, and ceiling. The darkness moved towards the approaching guard and so he screamed: "Wh-what the hell!?" Before unleashing a hail of bullets into the darkness. The darkness enveloped the guard and more bullets were fired, until suddenly they stopped. Then a thud could be heard and the second guard, slowly approached the, now still, darkness while aiming his gun, ready to fire. After a second of silence, Emiko leaped out of the darkness from the ceiling and slashed her claws as she passed him, before he was even able to shoot. Suddenly blood starts pouring out of the guard's neck and his body drops lifeless to the ground.

Vincent retracts the darkness, revealing the dead body of the first guard, the quietly moves through the hall, signalling Milo to follow.

The three of them start moving up the next flight of stairs and Milo can't help but ask: "Um...guys I know this is a simulation and all but we were given a "mercy" option. Aren't you two taking a little bit of a "genocidal" route here?"

Emiko kept walking, not even bothering to look back as she answered. "Taking a mercy route is part of why we lost last time. And it turns out these people don't deserve it."

"What do you mean?" Milo couldn't help but ask when suddenly Vincent interrupts with a simple: "Shh." Before pressing his back to the wall as he climbed up the stairs to the top were around the corner led the next t hallway. Emiko and Milo did the same as Vincent and waited for him to make his next move. Vincent slowly and quietly removed his jacket, the tossed it passed where the stairs ended. At that moment an arm extended from around the corner and shot at the jacket. The instant that first shot was fired Vincent grabbed the wrist of said arm, palm striked its elbow, breaking it and causing it to bend the wrong direction, then grabs the whole arm and tosses the gunman down the stairs.

Vincent checks the hall and sees no more guards on this floor, then grabs his jacket putting it on in one swift motion, letting Emiko take the lead once more. Milo tails closely behind Vincent and asks: "Geez it's only been a month, how much have I missed?" And Vincent looks back at him while moving and replies: "Don't worry this is all just basic combat. I'm sure you'll pick it up fast."

After traveling another flight of stairs Emiko stops and whispers: "I think this is it."

"How many guards are covering the entrance?" Vincent asked. Emiko bit her lip for a second then answered: "Uh oh. Just one."

Down in the middle of the hall stood a tall, dark skinned, burly man with a bald head, guarding a set of double doors with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

"Oh boy." Vincent replied, resting his face in his hand. Milo was confused by their reactions and asked: "Isn't that a good thing?"

Vincent turned to Milo and informed him: "If there's only one guy guarding the boss, they must have confidence in his abilities. Meaning even with all three of us...he's gonna be extremely tough to take down."

Emiko creeped away from the corner and asked: "So what should we do?" And Vincent answered: "I have an idea." Vincent forms a ball of darkness in his hand and continues: "I could shoot him in the head before he even knows we're here. Assassination style." But Emiko forcibly lowered his arm and told him: "Vincent no. This is how we lost last time. You can't try to take on the tough ones by yourself. We need to work as a "team" we need a plan."

And so Vincent closed his had, making the Dark Ball disappear, and said: "Fine. What've you got?" "We need to figure out a way to lure him over here and fight him downstairs so the leaders don't hear us fight."

"I think I have an idea." Milo chimed in. And so Vincent told him: "Alright let's here it. But before that you should know. These guys we're about to face are like us. They're monsters." Milo couldn't help but gulp at the thought of fighting others like him with no training and reluctantly started to explain his plan.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.