Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hedoro had been watching the silvery mass expand slowly but surely. As it got closer to her, she would back off accordingly. Even though she had created it, she had no real control over it. She could understand how it worked, and form there make inferences based on what she might expect would happen next, but that was about it. This was a foe even she couldn't take lightly, and it was her own creation. There was liekly some great lesson hidden in symbolism there, but she didn't have the time or desire to figure it out. Instead, she was just focused on watching the impending doom slowly but surely swallow up everything. She watched with a grim fascination, it was hard to look away, like watching a car crash in slow motion.

But even so, she couldn't stay focused on just one task for any great length of time. She had other tasks to take care of, other places to go. Whether to destroy those places or not, only she knew. And she surely wouldn't divulge such a lesson until she was good and ready.

As she thought this, a mass started growing on her back, until it dropped free, forming what almost looked like a twin of herself. The only real differences being the slightly smaller size, and the different coloration. Where she was blue, this new one was a vibrant yellow, like sunshine on lemons. It was time for Kiiro to take care of business elsewhere. She would vanish, leaving this strange location almost immediately.
(262 )
(Second phase of Moonseed activation. Next phase in approximately two hours.)

The silvery mass had continued to inexorably expand. By this point, almost the entirety of this strange ephemeral landscape had been diminished. The sky still bore a hazy, gray quality that would likely remain no matter what happened. But the land itself had all but vanished, dissolved into what appeared to be a malevolent ocean of mercury. Hedoro had retreated to one of the last bastions of solid mass, one of the last locations that hadn't already been consumed. It must have been a large hill or even a mountain before. Now? Now it was barely a hillock. Even as she stood there, she watched as a chunk off to the side vanished, tumbling down into the silvery mass without a sound. Of course, this entire world had gone completely silent from the moment she had arrived. Was that it's natural state, or was it holding itself back from the eradication that was her presence?
(157 )

There was nothing but darkness and a discomforting cold about her. There were no vibrations, instead an eerie stillness. The last thing she could remember was a battle, the sensation of not being able to breath and then this. Just what exactly had happened? Had she made a foolish move on her part and returned to soon only to be consumed by one of the attacks?

“You worthless idiot!”

Her eyes snapped open and while she looked around, everything seemed to be consumed by fog. Just where in the hell was she? Was she lost within the mist?

“Don’t you ignore me!”

The malice that dripped from the voice heard was all to familiar but instead of only hearing it within her mind, she could hear it as if someone was directly in front of her and saying it. What brought even more alarm was the fact that the malice enriched ethereal voice was mixed with her own. She brought her hands to cover her mouth and immediately pulled them away when she felt something that didn’t rightly belong. When she looked to her hands to inspect them, the right one was fine. Her left hand however was not. The tips of her fingers were clawed and her skin, which was usually pale, was black. Worst yet, this was not just her left hand. Her entire left side was completely black and the top brim of her ear was slightly pointed. While it was just her left half that was like this, it looked to be creeping towards her right half as if consuming her.

Out of instinct, she tried to brush the blackness off or even away but to no avail it remained and she released a blood curdling scream only to soon after curl up into a tight ball, her eyes wide with fright. This couldn’t be happening. It simply couldn’t. She was in denial about it all but that denial was fading when she could feel her lips twisting into a rather wicked smile and even more so with that voice seeped from her lips once more.

“What’s wrong Akane? Can’t handle the fact that this is all that is left of you? With each passing second, I consume a little more of your soul and there is not a damn thing that you can do about it. You are mine in every sense of the word and you will do as you’re told.”

To prove its point, she uncurled herself from the fetal position and stood. Not because she wanted to, but because it willed her…no their current form to do so. This wasn’t fair in the slightest and the fact that she was so helpless pissed her off to the point of shedding tears.

“Now now, we can’t have any of that. Tears are for the weak and according to how much you’ve said it you’re not weak…or are you my sweet little doll? Oh how I do enjoy tormenting you. Even now, you fight against me despite how pointless it is to do so. Well, enough of this. The time has come to find your teachers and learn what there is to learn so with that being said, move it.”

She really had no choice in the matter. Despite the fact that she wanted to disobey and to simply sit there to spite this nameless demon she walked about this place with a face devoid of emotion aside from the flicker of malicious intent that was in her eyes. Time did not exist in the place from what she could tell so for all she knew, she could spend what may seem like eons here when only a second passed in the world of the living.

Wandering his new surroundings, completely oblivious to the fact that his life has ended, Ikkoku was attempting to remember how he got to where he was now. The last thing he could remember was a sharp pain in his jaw, and then everything went black. It could be that he passed out and was moved someplace else. Another explanation could be that he was dreaming right now. Or maybe he WAS dreaming and just woke up? This felt pretty real. This was driving him crazy! What the hell was he doing here?! Well, screaming in his head wouldn’t solve anything. The only thing he could do right now was to try to find somebody for directions or some sort of shelter, or both.

3637+123=3760 SP

Sliver 0/1900 Bringer of Darkness, Hardened Water Drill - Shikoru Mizukiri

Konata 0/900 Bringer of Darkness

Sliver slowly opened her eyes, looking around. The last thing she had been aware of, she had been attacked by that wolfish woman. Had she fallen in battle, again? Odd. Normally, when one of her died, a new one was simply sent to replace it. This was the first time that any of her selves had actually experienced anything after death. Interesting, but why? There seemed to be no precedent to this occurrence, nor could she think of a reason, or even anything she had done differently in life, to lead to this situation. As well, she could only barely feel the connection to her hive. That concerned her. The hive was everything to her, it was the reason for her existence. Wasn't it? Even though the very thought was treasonous, she began asking herself that very same question. Just what was her hive to her? It was her original home, and birthplace. It was the location of all of her siblings, all tens of thousands of them, at the least. The hive was her queen. Her queen was the hive. One could not exist without the other, one did not exist without the other. But could she, one of the lesser infiltrators, survive without the hive? She had done reasonably well for herself so far. She had found out a great deal about the world around her. Not enough to truly declare the world ready for invasion, however. There were still far too many unknowns. But was that really the truth? Was that really the reason she hadn't called for her family to attack and invade? Or could she, in fact, actually be feeling compassion for this strange land? Impossible! She hadn't been created with compassion, and one didn't simply pick it up like a stone! Something had changed in her after all. That must be the reason for what she was seeing now. That being said, she wasn't seeing much. Was this what the others saw when they died? The entire landscape was bizarrely unformed and unfinished. Everything was colored a phantasmal white and gray, and the details were fuzzed out, as if made by copying an ancient photograph. She walked closer, but the details refused to coalesce into a true picture. The details were still hazy. Much like her own history. She had no individuality before coming to this world, she had just been another of the queen's countless offspring. Now she had been given a unique purpose, and a unique outlook. She had a more independent mindset than her siblings, a required aspect of a human. They were notoriously independent, even to the point of being contrary. even after all this time, she still didn't really understand why they acted the way they did. There had to be a reason, even if it didn't make sense, right? Humans wouldn't simply act mindlessly, acting on whim and supposition, would they? If they had, they wouldn't be nearly so plentiful, and dangerous. They would be an endangered species, prey to the more intelligent creatures and forces out there. Like her own kind. They acted calmly and coolly. even in the heat of battle, they stuck with their queen's plan. Even if some of them died, there were always more to take their place, so their loss wasn't important. But now, she found she was breaking from that stance; she wanted to live! She knew she was dead, and that filled her with fear and anger. She had lost her life all too soon, in her opinion. She still had so much she had wanted to do! Yes, part of that was to continue her quest for her queen. But she also wanted to experience more of this odd world, it's food and it's people, it's actions and customs. She wasn't finished yet! As she thought that, she realized it was true. she still felt a connection to the world of the living. How could this be? She had died, that should be the end of it! Unless there was a necromancer in the area? Those black arts users were always skulking around battlefields, attempting to add to their undead armies. Even some of her own kind had fallen prey to those vultures. Their corpses, resurrected to act against their queen, it had been an act that drove the queen to rage. That battle had been bloody indeed. But in the end, they had won. They always won. Sheer numbers made that a foregone conclusion, didn't it? even when their foes tries relying on tactics to create a choke point or a bottleneck, their numbers were so great they could overrun any barricades or obstructions, and then continue to attack en masse. But now, she was alone. That scared her, but it was also liberating. She was free, freer than she had ever been before! But what could she do about it? She was trapped int he world of the dead, how could she escape to the world of the living once more? She could try tapping her inner reserves of mana, but that was dangerous. If she drew out too much, her connection to this world would be severed, and she would lose everything. If she didn't draw out enough, it would fail. She would have just one chance at this. Concentrating, she seemed to glow with a white light, brighter than her surroundings. And then, she seemed to fade away, wisps of light vanishing into the ether as she returned. But to where?

[Learned Bringer of Darkness, 900]


Konata murmured to herself as she fumbled for her alarm clock. As her hand lashed out blindly, her mumbling turned to grumbling. Where had it gone now? Had she knocked it off her bedside stand again? They were getting expensive, she couldn't afford to keep buying new ones. If she did, she'd end up wrecking her carefully planned budget, and she might not even have enough to go to the next con. Finally, she sat up in her bed, and looked around. Her eyes were still sleep-encrusted, so she didn't recognize her surroundings right away. Once she did, however, her eyes opened wide in shock. "By the myriad Moons of Munnopor! I'm dead!" She lurched to her feet, looking around. Where others who had fallen might have seen some odd and indefinable spirit realm, her own version of the afterlife was much more 'her'. everything around her was black, except for the large glowing letters suspended in the air. GAME OVER. They hung there, their glow throbbing slightly, almost as if angry. Just on the off chance, she quickly checked her pockets. "Quarter, quarter, quarter... Can I get another guy?" But no, her pockets were only stuffed with Pocky and a few cards. Munching on the Pocky by habit, she sighed and took a look around. "I guess we aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto..." Predictably, the little black dog barked. Wait, little black dog? She whirled back around, staring at the little Yorkshire Terrier. "Hey, where did you come from, little guy?" Rather than answer, the dog simply barked again, and ran off. No reason to resist, Konata chased after the little black puppy. Little black puppy? No, it was a White Rabbit! As if on cue, Jefferson Airplane began blasting on unseen speakers high overhead. Konata grumbled a little at that, a vein on her forehead throbbing for an instant. "Apparently Death is a hippie..." She tried to ignore the psychedelic lyrics about that infamous story, not particularly caring about a hookah smoking caterpillar or a dormouse. Instead she just kept running. Oh no. At that action, the music changed, to the horribly catchy tune of Megaman Two, complete with fanmade lyrics. That was even worse! Bill O'Reilly indeed! She tried ignoring the tune, and realized she had lost the White Rabbit. Instead, there seemed to be a small desk some distance ahead of her. She rushed toward it, pausing as she saw an old video game console. An NES?! It was turned on, too! She followed the cords, traveling for what had to be at least a hundred feet, before finally finding the television and controller. The Legend of Zelda was on the screen. Pretty early into the game, too. At an infamous scene, forever immortalized. "It's dangerous to go alone, indeed..." She debated setting down to play for a while, but she decided against it. This whole place was so screwed up that she didn't even want to imagine what travesties might befall Hyrule now. So instead she left the controller alone, and straightened up. Looking around her, she took in her surroundings once more. That GAME OVER was still hovering high overhead, though it didn't seem to be following her. It was still facing the same direction, too. That seemed as good a direction as any, so she set off in that direction. The landscape was pretty bland, empty blackness. Boring, too. She tried thinking of obscure anime trivia, but without anyone to impress, it didn't really mean anything. She wished she at least had a DS or something to help her pass the time. Speaking of which, she realized that, before dying, she had been neglecting her PokeMon SoulSilver. She had started, firmly intending to finish the game. But something had gone wrong along the way, she had stopped playing for a day or two, and then just never went back to it. Her poor little Zoroark should have been level 50 by now! She grumbled about the hassle of keeping track of Effort Values, making the game seem like thinly disguised math homework. She was good enough at math, but that didn't mean she had to enjoy it! Finally, she seemed to lose her patience, and posed. One hand pointing straight up, as she struck an exaggeratedly heroic pose. Her hand was held just so, index finger straight up, middle finger curled next to it, like she was holding something small, and pointing it upwards. "My drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens!" She almost expected some sort of fanfare to sound then, but she would have been disappointed. Nothing seemed to happen. Then she heard a voice behind her. Not much of a voice, as it was just a 'hmph'. Turning around, at first she thought it might have been Toto or the White Rabbit. But no, it was an actual human. Well, technically an immortal, but practically human. Long white hair and angry crimson eyes. She wore a plain white blouse, and red pants stitched with spell tags. She couldn't help but exclaim their title in shock. "The Figure of the Person of Hourai?! Mokou, what are you doing here? you can't die?!" The aforementioned Fujiwara no Mokou merely shook her head, before pointing over Konata's shoulder. When Konata turned to look, she felt a hard force hit her in the back. Had Mokou just... kicked her? "An, this must be what Keine feels like..." She was propelled forward rapidly, before stumbling. As she regained her footing, she turned back, but the Crimson Watchguard was already gone. As she looked around her, she saw something next to her that hadn't been there before. A feather? Had Mokou somehow dropped it? Wait, a feather from Mokou? Phoenix Down! she quickly picked it up, and as she did, she felt herself drift off, though it didn't feel dangerous, it felt like she was going back. "Sweet! Another life!"

[Learned Bringer of Darkness, 900]

Despite her want to make something that resembled the academy, she thought better against it. While it would have been nice, she had no idea how much more chakra she would have to use for such a feat and she wanted to hold on to the energy she had because she had her doubts of the demon allowing her to hone its strength once again. Speaking of which, did it even have a name? Should she even bother asking? She had always heard the notion that if you give or call a demon by its name you added on to the power it already had. So she would just leave that subject alone for now and continue with what she was currently doing.

Her second try at the technique was rewarding but it didn’t give her the reward she had sought out for. The dwelling she managed to create was rather nice mind you, but nothing bigger than a small bird could fit inside. She almost face planted the ground when she saw it. Congrats, she made a bird house on her second try. Sarcasm was her only savior from saying forget it and not trying once again. With furrowed brows, she executed the hand seals one final time. Beams of wood emerged from the ground and combined together to create something that was in between the shack and academy she had thought of creating moments ago. While it was small enough for a couple to stay in comfortably, it was by no means plain. The door frame and window frame held intricate designs within the wood it was molded from. Before disabling the technique, she ventured inside and took a look around. While it was empty, it did feel like a home. Perhaps she had been wrong and this technique was useful.

Having seen enough, she released the technique causing the wood to return to the ground.

“Alright, I suppose it wasn’t as pointless as I had initially thought. A technique for practical uses is just as good as a technique for attacks and defenses.”

“I figured you’d see things my way. Now onto the next technique. Shichuurou no Jutsu is pretty much the same as the one I just showed you, but it’s used to imprison your enemy.”

In silence she watched as the first hokage preformed this technique as if it came to him as naturally as breathing. Observing the technique form a prison her mind started to think back on the Birth of Dense Woodland technique. Combining the two could prove very efficient if she ever needed to keep the enemy in the same place for later questioning. To some it may seem like it was a bit much but to her, it was just enough. Knowing her luck, she’d more than likely come up against someone who knew away to break the hold of the Birth of Dense Woodland so having a prison around them too would be essential in slowing them down. Again the she went about practicing the hand seals before actually trying out the technique and she was thankful that she was able to nail it on the first go.

“Good. After this I will have nothing else to teach you, so use the techniques to the best of your ability and be tactical with them. While they are sure to assist you in any battle you may find yourself in, try not to rely on them entirely. They can’t save your life if you have no skill at all.”

Akane nod her head in agreement. There was really no need to tell her this because she herself already knew this. Plus she had gotten this far without them on just two techniques. She knew better than just to rely on something other than her own skills. She had to be honest, part of her wanted to delay in learning this technique because being around this guy made her feel positive. He had this fatherly air about him and being able to be in that air was rewarding. Not once did he talk down to her when she made a mistake. Instead, he observed her and gave her the chance to find any error she made so that she could correct it herself. He didn’t ridicule her because of how she appeared before his eyes. Instead he gave her words of advice so that she could better herself. Whoever had the chance to have him in their lives were very lucky.

“You listening?”

“Hmmm? Sorry…I was just thinking is all. Please, continue.”

A smile graced the mans features before he repeated the name and purpose of Moku Shouheki no Jutsu. As he had done so many times before, he showed her the hand seals in slow motion before executing the technique himself and then looking to her for her to do the same thing. She didn’t disappoint either. She followed her usual routine of practicing the hand seals before actually purposely executing them and again she was graced with the luck of getting the technique down on the first go.

“You’ve done well. As it stands, I have nothing else to teach you. Now if you continue on to your left, you will come to meet my brother. He has much that he can pass onto you, but I can’t be sure what you’ll have to do to compel him to pass on his knowledge.”

“Before I go, could I be honored with knowing your name?”

“Hashirama Senju.”

Her eyes widened in complete and total awe. It was now that she knew why she had a feeling that she should have known who he was. Back in the academy, before her teacher went on to teaching the class basic techniques he spoke of the hokage and the man who had just taught her what he knew was the first founding member. Before she could say another word he vanished from her sight and she was once again alone. However, this time her being alone wasn’t as bad as it had been when she arrived at this strange place. With a new pep to her step she continued on in the direction she had been given.

Silence ruled this place only making some exception for the soft sounds of her feet hitting the ground with each step she made. Ten minutes had to have passed by since she started her journey and still she hadn’t seen any sign of anyone else. Were they even around? Were they silently watching from the shadows? No, if they were watching she would have sensed it by now, but then again she was going to seek out the help of the second hokage so maybe she wouldn’t have been able to sense him. At any rate, she’d only been walking for ten minutes or at least what she perceived to be ten minutes so it could easily be said that she’d not gone far enough. Oh well, she wouldn’t complain because there was no point in doing so. It wouldn’t change anything nor would it get her any closer to her destination.

“I wonder what Rakurai is doing?”

The words had left her lips before she had realized she vocalized her thoughts and the demon didn’t wait to snag the chance at teasing her because of it.

Oh, does the little marionette that plays the role of ice queen have a crush? Never thought I see the day that you would be thinking of a male. Have to admit, I was starting to think you were a lesbian.

The first initial part of the demons teasing brought her to the point of blushing but his comment of her playing the roll of ice queen and being a possible lesbian made her left brow twitch with mild irritation. If the demon was in a separate body, she would have brought her hand across the back of its head full force.

“Just because I don’t waste my time filling my thoughts with the subject of boys or letting them get close doesn’t mean that I’m a lesbian. If you’ve noticed, I rarely met anyone worth a second though and there was no one worth allowing getting close to me. The fact that I was always on the move really didn’t help either.”

But you still are on the move. The only reason you are staying in one location longer than usual is for the fact that you are learning their techniques. There really is no difference. So what’s so special about this boy?

The demon had a point and because he pointed out a flaw in her logic she remained silent. Instead of giving him an answer, she had full intent on ignoring it. This was never a good idea. Ignoring it only would encourage it to pester her until she broke down and finally acknowledged it with an answer. If that answer wasn’t satisfactory, it’s pestering would increase ten fold. To help herself ignore the demons annoyingly pointless prodding, she started to focus on other things. Those things consisted of her strategy in going about learning other techniques of the Mist Village and how she could repay Rakurai. Yes, she’d already offered to teach him to manage his blindness but she was sure that by now, he had his sight back so there was no point in that. Then again, she could still teach him how to see without actually seeing so that he would be prepared if he were to ever permanently lose his sight or if he ever found himself somewhere or in a situation where the ability to see would be null and void.

Yes, that would prove to be an even trade.

“So you’re the female my brother told me about.”

The sudden arrival a voice that didn’t belong to the demon brought Akane back to reality and quickly she looked around for its owner until her eyes came to rest on a lone figure. The figure belonged to a man with hair as white as snow, crimson colored eyes and pale skin that was covered by a black body suite with a sapphire colored armor over that. On his face were three distinct markings located on each cheek and his chin. They almost looked as if they could have been scars because of their coloration but something told her that if these were not scars, they were painted on. Decorating the collar of his armor was fur as white as his hair.

“My brother told me of the level of your eagerness to learn and he told me of your success with him. With that being said, I will teach you some of what I know and what I think you need. However, I will only show you how to do these techniques once. After you have learned what I have to offer, you will fight me and prove to me that I have not wasted my time in teaching you. Now let us begin.”

Akane was given no time to ask questions, accept the offer or even to ask for the name of the first technique he was going to teach her. He simply started listing off the techniques he had in mind for her before going back to explain the first. His tone was colder than her own and his crimson eyes stare at her as if he were trying to peer into her thoughts. She didn’t get the same fatherly feeling from him that she had gotten from his brother. Instead she got this feeling that he didn’t want to be bothered with all of this. If that was honestly how he felt, he wouldn’t have even bothered with what he was doing now right?

As she had done with any who taught her, she paid close attention to ever word said and memorized them. To forget their lessons was unforgivable in her eyes. Before long it was time for her to show him that she had been paying attention to what he had to say about the Water Encampment Wall technique. However, she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be given the time to practice the hand seals like she had been before so she focused hard on the chakra to be used to execute this move. In doing so, she found herself thanking every god known to man for her success. Her success however was short lived. The man before her moved on to explaining what the Water Dragon Projectile technique could do.

The process of being taught this technique was fairly simple, but actually performing it was another thing. This technique took her two tries before she was able to see success and it also drained her. She had already been slightly drained before but the face pace of things now had started to take their toll. She kept her mouth shut on the matter though, as she didn’t want to come off as if she were whining.

“I notice you’re sluggish after learning just two techniques. I expected as much, so I will grant you some time to recuperate. I do not expect any argument with this. After your break is over, you will learn the remaining four techniques and then our fight will begin.”

She had no intentions in arguing with the man. This time she intended on utilizing the break she was given. She took a seat and folded her legs around each other as if she were about to meditate. As usual, she drifted into her own thoughts and lost track of time. It was when the man before her said something that she came to. She could have sworn that not even three minutes had passed but she thought it best not to complain. Instead, she unfolded her legs from their current position and stood tall listening to the next set of directions she would need to perform the Water Collision Destruction technique. While the explanation on the technique itself seemed simple enough, the name was daunting. The fact that she didn’t want this move used on her if she didn’t get a move on is what helped her in executing this technique on her first try at it.

That was a third water technique down, leaving three more to go before she had to fight this intimidating individual.

“Hardened Water Drill is a technique that if done properly will manifest a large amount of water around your fist which will begin to spiral. You can then use the vortex as a drill or spear, with a forceful point at the end.”

He executed the hand seals and moments after stare at Akane, waiting for her to do the same. She didn’t keep him waiting for two long either. Her first attempt, she was able to manifest a large amount of water around her fists but they did not spiral. She didn’t use enough chakra, but her second try was a different matter. During her second attempt, the water spiraled and looked as if they would cause a great deal of damage. She nearly smiled but she decided against it. Last thing she wanted was for this guy to think she had gotten cocky because that was far from the truth.

The final two techniques she had to learn were taught to her as a sort of combo. After learning the hand seals for Doryuu Jouheki and Takitsubo no Jutsu she executed them one after another creating a large water fall. She had done it. She had managed to learn six more techniques. Granted she did it much faster than she had done before seeing as she didn’t have much of a choice. It was all a bit over whelming and so she fell down to her knees, her chest heaving with each breath she took. The next moment she looked up she saw a wall of water headed straight for her and without thinking she executed the hand seals for Doryuu Jouheki. While she had been fast enough to block that attack she hadn’t been fast enough to avoid the kick aimed for her ribs.

An odd sounding gasp escaped her lips when the air was knocked from her lungs. The impact and power from the kick sent her flying but the moment she came to a stop, she jumped up to her feet despite the pain she felt and ran straight for the second hokage with full intent to kill. Yes this was a spar, but this was the only way she could even hope to win. Ten minutes passed and the two skid back after a punch the both of them had managed to land. While the second hokage was still able to stand tall, Akane was hunched over and breathing hard. The fact that both of them were brandishing some bruises was the only thing they had in common.

Raising her hands to eye level, she executed the hand seals for the Bushin no Jutsu. Within a matter of seconds the copies that had appeared charged for the man of greater skill. Akane stayed behind and used this as her chance to execute the hands seals for Birth of Dense Woodland. By the time the last of her clones had been knocked off her opponent was practically enveloped and held still by plant life. Now all that was needed was the finishing move. While running towards him, she performed the hand seals for the Hardened Water Drill and reared her fist back at the spinning water formed around her fist. A moment before her strike was even inches near his face he said something she hadn’t expected to hear.

“Wake up.”

Just what was that supposed to mean? Before she knew it, the world around her began to fade into nothingness.