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18. This Hot Room

Teddy went straight for Q. She threw a line of electricity to the man, who was squinting, his eyes not too used to the light. Electricity being bright didn't help, either. Nonetheless, Shoy was adept at martial arts and even in another body he was able to dodge the hit.

"Roy!" Shoy, as Q, yelled out, as he continued to sidestep or jump away from Teddy's continual electric attacks. "Turn out the lights!"

Q was finding it very difficult to see, and while Q's legs were much faster with the aid of ki, Shoy was feeling uneasy in that it felt as if he did not have control of it all. Teddy had closed the distance between herself and Q however, with a brilliant smile on her face.

Tootz looked to Tali on the floor, then Sin, and promptly stepped to the side with her arms crossed over her chest. She was not the fighting type. Roy looked to Q then to the lights overhead, and panicked, doing nothing.

"Possessors are always interesting," The Pheonix said solemnly, making a small flicking motion with her fingers. All the lightbulbs shattered in the building. "We will see what he can do with Brother's body."

Teddy jumped back momentarily, as did Q to the opposing side so they were apart. "I am not who you think I am," Q's voice rasped.
Teddy brought down her goggles, so she could see Q's ki. He had two different colors. Which was interesting. Teddy jumped forward with a lightning punch, but Q's hand caught it in mid-flight. Q's strength was comparable to Shoy's old body. "Tell me, do you see a Rez with those?" Shoy knew of the goggles that could see ki and define Rez. He never had a pair, but having traveled the world, he at least knew of them.

Teddy stepped back, with a gasp. "You're not the Soul Stealer..." She would have continued with "Are you wearing a Rez Suspender?" But she was interrupted by Askasa, who's wires shot threw the air and wrapped up Q's body, squeezing it.

Ismaru and Fortenra had entered the game late, but no less aghast. They first inspected Tali's body as Teddy was fighting Q/Shoy. The lights went out, and as Ismaru was filled with sorrow once more over his friend, his partner was filled with anger. It had taken a while, but Askasa was able pinpoint Q/Shoy's location once his night vision had settled in.
He was now walking toward Q, wires tightening with each step. "...Fortenra...?" Q's voice was higher pitched, and softer.

"You killed her... You killed her..." Askasa whispered to himself in the dark.
Q's eyes were able to see clear as day. He should've dodged Askasa's wires, but was too overcome with shock. He knew Fortenra was a friend of Tali's, but never did he think to see the boy here, now, while Shoy was stuck in someone else's body. He took a deep breath and held it. Askasa continued to constrict his wires as if he were a predatory snake.

"Why would you--" Askasa's line was interrupted by Teddy.
"Stop! He's not the soul stealer!"

The wires constricted slightly, and Q/Shoy winced.
"It doesn't matter," Fortenra growled, "you kidnapped her, I bet you shot her too," the wires were beginning to tear Q's clothes as they tightened. "And then you killed her... You b*****d..."

Shoy knew he shouldn't attempt talking, but he did it anyway. "I'm not Q," He said. "I--" Fortenra threw his head back and laughed.
"As if I will believe that."

Sin frowned. The Pheonix knew Shoy had the ability to get free from Askasa. Possessors were always skilled. Why the Possessor was even in this position in the first place was confusing for the Soul.

"If it's the Pheonix you are after Decay Arm," Sin bellowed, "I am it."

Fortenra threw his wires, Q in tow, against the wall. "I don't care about the Pheonix!" Askasa roared. "I want Tali back!"

As Shoy/Q was thrown against the wall, he threw his ki outward. Q had a surplus of ki that Shoy didn't really understand, but it would be to his advantage regardless. Askasa felt it before it was coming but couldn't figure out how to dodge such an amount without letting go. So, he loosened his grip and jumped above. Q/Shoy broke free of the loosened grip and followed pursuit, using his ki to propel him forward in a leap, preparing to punch Askasa. However, Askasa grabbed Q's fist with his wires on the way down, and attempted to throw Q down. Q/Shoy instead grabbed Askasa's wires with his free hand and pulled Askasa toward him. While holding the wires, Q/Shoy positioned himself atop Askasa and landed on his stomach. But that wasn't all - after landing atop the boy, he yanked upward with his arms.

Fortenra screamed in pain as the wires were literally being pulled from his skin, in which they were embedded. It had only taken two seconds before Askasa initiated his decay arm, hand turning to black and smelling of mold, grabbing hold of his own wires, rusting them to the point of collapse.

The hand turned to normal immediately after the wires broke, and Q/Shoy fell backward, unable to retain his balance.

Shoy/Q quickly recovered, throwing the wires to the side. "You rely too heavily on your only weapons," Q's voice rasped. "I hope you know some sort of martial art aside from your own."

This only fueled Askasa's short temper, but he stayed on his back, unable to pinpoint where Q was in the darkness. Q spotted his sunglasses on the floor from earlier, next to Shoy's dead body. He walked toward them and put them on his head, then went to the light switch, turning it on so the half of the room that wasn't lit previously was now lit. He placed the sunglasses over his eyes with a sigh, tired. With half the room lit, everyone looked to him.

"Where is the Soul Stealer?" Tootz piped in, near Q.

"Brother is inside of this body, with me," Sin said blankly from the wheelchair in which the Pheonix Soul sat. "However he is in a deep slumber."

"And who are you?" Tootz persisted.

"I am the Pheonix."

Askasa gripped his arm, which was bleeding profusely, as he got up slowly. Many of his ribs were broken. Ismaru, on the other hand, was kneeling next to Tali. He was the one who spoke next. "What happened?" He whispered. He'd been quite silent before this.

"I don't know," Roy was sobbing, rocking back and forth from his position on the floor. "Father told me to make the Perfect lifeform. I do so. Shoy possesses The Soul Stealer, steals the Pheonix Soul, they merge, I guess, and then put them both inside Sin. But now everything's gone to Hell." He bit on his thumb. "Hell, hell, hell..."

"But what about Tali?!" Ismaru yelled.

"Wind Soul, you are too young to understand," The Pheonix's ethereal voice replied. "All bodies are simply vessels for the Resonants. We began without bodies, they are now our cages. Why must you be so attached to the cage of another Resonant? Their personalities only mask our own."

Ismaru couldn't believe how calm this... naked... thing was being. His friend was dead. Dead, Dead! She was shot, kidnapped, then killed, all without him doing anything. What had he done? Nothing! He'd sat by idly, saying they shouldn't act- they should wait. And what had happened? She was gone! Forever!

Ismaru turned toward Sin, his hair waving in the beginning of a slight zephyr, which was quickly growing into a torrent. Sin's hair, which was over the back of the wheelchair, began to wave to the side. "Wind Soul," it was as if the Pheonix spoke with deep regret, "Do not repeat the same mistake you have made through your many lives."

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?!" Ismaru screamed, standing, and aiming his now quite powerful wind toward Sin's lithe and weak body. Q could see the wheelchair beginning to tip, and jumped at Ismaru, grabbing him in midair and falling with the teen in his arms at the other side of the room.
He wanted to say 'keep a hold on your anger' or 'please don't do this' but the words wouldn't come out. Shoy's mind was thinking but Q's body was only focused on the fatigue of using too much ki in such a short amount of time. Even though Shoy knew what he was doing, Q's ki had no use for such a long period of time. One could say Q's ki had atrophied.

"Let go of me!" Ismaru yelled. Q was blown away from Ismaru. Not glamorously through the air, but pulled away toward the opposite wall, dragging on his posterior. The pressure on Q's tail was particularly painful, and once he'd been shoved against the farthest wall, closest to Askasa, he didn't bother to stand up.

Ismaru began to walk toward the Pheonix, and the room began to spin. Once Ismaru entered one shadow, however, he disappeared. The wind remained strong, and Sin was forced to stand as the wheelchair was pushed against the wall.

Sin had fashioned its ki into a pivotal shape - the wind hit it but was split and went behind as a much hotter alternative. So hot that the wall behind Sin's body was becoming charred. The heat woke up Amigo, who was dangerously close to the hot wind. His first thought was "But I'm not using my rez."

His second thought was "My god, it is hot."

20. Of Wind and Blood

Inside the sealed room, there were ten bodies. Fortenra, Tali, Q, Shoy, Amigo, Sin, Roy, Teddy, Tootz, and Ismaru. Only eight of these bodies were alive. And only eight bodies had the souls they were born with inside them.

Currently, Sin was standing, with the aid of the Pheonix's ki, near the corner of the room. In that corner, were also Amigo and Tootz and Roy, though they were on opposing walls. Ismaru was last seen walking toward Sin, however he had disappeared into the shadows. His Resonance Soul still reigned supreme, however, as the room was beginning to fall apart with the cycling winds.

Ismaru had never had full control over his wind ability. He never truly liked it. The pale-skinned teen who obsessively wore all black to match his ruffled medium length hair had preferred to study ninjutsu. He was merely sixteen, younger than everyone else. He lived with his mother, who never talked about his father. Ismaru, despite his obsession with ninjas, had never killed anyone. He'd never seen death up close and personal, despite being with Tali and the others.

Until now, Ismaru was innocent.

But right now, as countless incarnations of the Wind Souls before him, Ismaru was finally sick of being the stay-behind, young cheerleader on the sidelines who supported the team. His defense had turned into offense. His gentility to hostility. His friend's enemy and supposed killer was his own enemy. And Ismaru was going to kill that b***h dead.

The winds changed direction, and pinpointed toward the Pheonix. Sin's colorful hair flew behind her, and the ki which protected her spelled the wall at her back's demise. It finally crumpled and revealed the hidden laboratory where Sin, the body the Pheonix Soul now resided in, was created.

That was when Amigo bit his thumb. He had jumped from the retreating and falling wall near to him, and now he looked about for the hidden Ismaru. Despite how he felt about the Pheonix, how he had to protect her, he also had to protect this innocent boy. He knew the Pheonix could handle herself. Ismaru, however...

“Wind Soul,” The Pheonix came out, still held in place by her own ki and unphased by the wind screaming at her. “I am and old soul, lest you forget. I do not have to rely on my eyes to see you. Please stop this nonsense before I am forced to send you away from your friends.”

Three kunai knives came from seemingly nowhere, each angled for a different point – the head, the heart, and the right foot. Each struck the Pheonix's ki and dropped to the ground, glowing red from heat. A dew shuriken were thrown from a different origin and came to the same fate. With what seemed like a sigh, the Pheonix pointed a hand toward the ceiling in the center of the room. A wave of fire exploded from her hand in a straight line toward what seemed invisible. Amigo took the hint and quickly jumped in the way of the flame. It was only when he reached the target of the flame could he see his own son-- Ismaru. The Wind Soul's eyes widened as Amigo hugged the amateur ninja, screaming while the flames hit his spine, and burned off his suit. He fell to the ground with his blood-relative still in his grasp, a torrent of rain a bit too late to protect him from his injuries. A shocked Shoy called out from afar, forcing Q's body to run toward his comrade, who had passed out again, holding a deathgrip on Ismaru, who was struggling to get free.

Q/Shoy wasn't the only one who took notice. Everyone else was quite shocked. Roy among the most. He ran toward his boss, screaming about his father, only to fall down on his knees near the two and place his hands on Amigo, attempting to regenerate the man.

“You idiot! Let me go! Why even bother!!” shouted a confused, but nontheless still pissed off Ismaru. He couldn't get free, and although Amigo's burns were healing the man would not regain consciousness for quite a while. The rain had stopped once the man had fainted, and the puddles in the room were evaporating quickly around the Pheonix.

Relentless, the red eyes turned to the current group of two adults and two children. She rose her hand again, preparing for another attack. The precipitation from the puddles created a dull mist about them, hard to breathe in. As her hand glowed, Tootz lifted her hand to put the Soul to sleep. She was interrupted by the door being knocked down once more, this time to introduce Sim and Mercain to the game.

The Pheonix swiftly turned around and shot her flames toward Sim, who simply doubled himself. His doppelganger was hit, but his original body grabbed Mercain's hand and pulled him fully into the room.

“What are you doing here?!” Roy turned to the two new faces, his voice cracking in worry. “You're not supposed to be here!”

“Yeah, well, I'm here now, aren't I?!” Sim roared, jumping toward the madman. Mercain tried to stop him but failed to. As Sim went toward Roy, he doubled himself once, twice, three times. There were six Sims, all fraught with jealousy and frustration at being left out of what was apparently some big party.

Q/shoy growled and ran toward the forgotten kunai knives and shurikens on the floor. Rolling to his destination, he quickly grabbed each and threw one to a respective doppelganger. Each one hit its target and did what was intended: switch their attention toward himself.

Mercain's eyes darted around. He was nervous, but after surveying his surroundings, he knew what he could do here. There were twelve original bodies including his own. Two were dead. One was unconscious. Approximately three were fighting...

22. Idiocy

"Sim," Amigo coughed. "You are an idiot."

It had been a few hours after Sim had tied Amigo to a chair, and used him as a punching bag during his unconcious sleep. Now Amigo was bloodied, and wondering where Sin was. He'd figured out chasing her here had all been an illusion. He knew from Sim's large mouth the power of illusion was Mercain's Resonance Soul. The Faker. How appropriate, for someone like Mercain. Sim had also explained that he had put Sin in the Azure Mirror, and left her there for the time being. Sim didn't really know what the effects of staying in such an alternate dimension were, but he was quite positive the Pheonix wouldn't be able to escape from it without his help. And so, he had placed her there so it wouldn't run off. And that was the reason Amigo had called his partner an idiot.

"You're one to talk," Sim shot back, sitting across from his former leader, now victim. "Look at yourself. You're all beaten up," he scoffed, trying to prove himself. Sim was still young.
Amigo almost felt pity for the boy.
"You only took advantage of me while I was unconcious," Amigo stated weakly, his jaw popping. "Think about what type of person that makes you."

Sim slapped Amigo. "It makes me a damn smart one!" he proclaimed. "This is all your fault! You shouldn't have left me out!"

In Mercain's office, Shoy, who was still in Q's body, was trapped in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet. He was in much better condition than Amigo was, as Mercain had cleaned him up. Mercain spoke to Q from behind the shield of the bathroom's door, afraid of the Soul Stealer's power.
"I told you," Shoy groaned. "I'm not Q."

"That is really, truly, the worst excuse you could give, you know," replied Mercain from behind the door.
Q's head tilted back with a groan, his eyes closed. Though luckily, the sunglasses were still on his face.
"I'm Shoy. Ask me anything I would know. Q doesn't know anything about me."

Mercain leaned his back to the door, looking down at his fingers, which played with the feathers of a dart. He tried to think of a question no one would know.
"Shoy's too famous," he finally said softly.

"You're smarter than that," Q's voice wrung. "There are things the paper doesn't know."

Mercain flipped the dart in his hand, considering what it was he could ask. "You said you had a wife, once. How did she die?"
The hacker knew Shoy had a wife, knew when she died, and knew that while Shoy was not born is Dexterity, his wife was, and here was what Shoy called his home because of that. Even though Mercain didn't know the answer, he wanted to know, and Q would have to make up a very convincing story to fool him.
Besides, a part of Mercain wanted to believe that Q was Shoy. If it were true, Shoy was powerless and completely under his thumb. And he knew, that in Shoy's condition, the fighter wouldn't have to be convinced too much to do what Mercain said to fix things. Mercain had no problems with Shoy. It was Amigo, and Edmond especially, who held the contempt for.

Q's head went down, a deep frown upon his face as he took a few deep breaths. He had a hankering for a cigarette, but Shoy didn't smoke. Maybe that was why Q's voice was so hoarse. He had a headache, and the forced rembrance of such a devastation made it worse. He had loved Cherie. He still did, with all of his being.
"She killed herself," Q let out a slight wimper. All these animalistic behaviors, he didn't have a hold on them yet.

Mercain was taken aback. Of all the answers, that was the last one he expected to hear. "Why?" he said, sullenly. Shoy was a strong man. Why would he even love someone who had the ability to put herself down so much?

Shoy let out a deep sigh, his shoulders sagging. "We had a kid. I didn't want it but she did, promised she'd take care of it. I.. Didn't know what to do, I wasn't ready. I convinced her to give it up for adoption, even though she didn't want to. Then I left her, had to go out of town to get away from my guilt. She refused to come with me, wanted to stay in Dexterity and look after our son even though I refused. I didn't know she was so much of a risk or I wouldn't have--" He stopped himself for a moment, calming himself down. Now was not the time to get all emotional. Cherie had been gone for a very long time. "When I had come home, she had done it already. There was nothing I could do."
He could still remember the scene that greeted him when he had opened the door, finally feeling better. Cherie had her upperhalf on the bed, grasping a picture of herself and the newborn in one hand, and in the other a piece of crumpled up paper. There was an empty prescription bottle on the floor. She must have overdosed. Vomit was everywhere. Death was never what the media made it seem.
Out of pure resentment for himself he had uncrumpled the paper in her hand, and all it said was "My Love," and then in much worse handwriting, "We didn't even name him yet." It seemed like there should've been more, but maybe she had only started writing after she had overdosed, and couldn't think of anything afterward. That would've been like her. Cherie never thought things through all the way. Shoy had burned the house down with her and all his memories in it, except for the clothes on his skin, and the umbrella in his hand. It had been raining.
After that, Shoy traveled the world trying to forget, but never fully being able to. All he had achieved was because of Cherie's death. She didn't have a resonance soul, and they suspected their son wouldn't either. Practically a death sentence in Dexterity.

"I'm sorry, Shoy," Mercain sympathized. He too, had loved someone. Though he doubted it was ever as deep as Shoy's love. Mercain had never been married, after all.
Shoy ran Q's hand through his premature grey hair with a sigh. "It's not your fault. It was a long time a go."

Mercain decided this would be a good time to change the subject to something only slightly less grim. "What happened in there? Who was that Roy lookalike? How did you get stuck in Q's body? I thought you were dead..."

"I am dead," Shoy replied, before he began to try and explain everything.