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 Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:37 pm
Raiden attempts to cover himself with the rainbow sash as best as he can. "Wha? Who the heck are you?! Ashura didn't say I'd have a roomate...oh! You must be "Oliver" then?" The demon gives Raiden a blank look.  "How insulting! Do I look like a goat to you? That's Oliver."He points to the purple goat, which looks up at Raiden adoringly. Raiden shakes his head, then turns back to the demon. "Well who are you then? Why did Lord Ashura put you here?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:51 pm
"Lord Ashura? Put me here? Ha! Of all the nerve."The demon rises from his chair at last, tips his hat at Raiden, then produces a black cane out of thin air. He points this under Raiden's nose. "I am the demon Kujaku! I answer to no one! Least of all Lord Ashura. That sexually ambiguous weirdo has nothing at all to do with me. I'm here because I was curious. Curious as to why a being as powerful as Lord Ashura would waste his time with a mortal. Summoners are common. I see nothing interesting about you."Raiden sighs, "Well I suppose that makes two of us. I don't really get it either. I mean...I do my best to improve myself and to be a good summoner. But I feel kind of undeserving."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:55 pm
Kujaku scowls at Raiden, "And a wishy-washy mortal at that! ARGH! Ashura's out of his mind. I'm bored with this. I hope he just leaves you here to rot and finds something more interesting to do. Later looser. Oh...and mind Oliver."Kujaku sinks into the pool of blood, and vanishes along with it. Raiden looks down at Oliver the goat again. "Mind you? You don't seem too bothered to me." Oliver lets out a small bleat, and skips around Raiden's feet.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:04 pm
Raiden stoops down and pats the little goat on the head. "Well, since it's getting dark I guess I'll sleep for now and get to work on turning the Ashura's Soul into clothes in the morning." Oliver peeks out of the doorway, and notices how dark it is becomming outside. He suddenly leaps into the air and remains suspended. He opens his mouth, and a swirling vortex bursts out of it.  Raiden leaps back in alarm. " eek What the hell?" The vortex of darkness surrounds Oliver. When it vanishes, the little goat lands on the floor, now a black goat with bright red eyes. He glares up at Raiden. 
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:28 pm
What happened? You ok little guy? As Raiden bends down to inspect Oliver, the goat lunges at Raiden and bites onto the little cloud, Raiden's only current form of personal censorship. Raiden grabs onto it as well, and the tug of war begins. "Hey! Let go of that! You were so sweet a second ago! What the heck happened?!" Oliver tugs on the cloud with all his might. Finally he lets go and turns his back on Raiden, looking bored. "Great...Ashura put me in a house with a schizophrenic goat!" Oliver's ears perk up angrily and he wheels around. His little red eyes glow intensly. "Uh...I mean...an unusual goat! An interesting...um..." Oliver lunges at Raiden and delivers a swift headbutt straight to the gut. As Raiden topples over, Oliver grabs the cloud again, and races off with it. The little goat dashes out the door, grinning as he trots away. Raiden raises a hand feebily. "Noooo...come back! That stupid cloud is all I...huh?"  Raiden suddenly realizes that the rainbow sash is gone, and has been replaced with a long flowing silver cloak. "This is it! The cloak! Finally!" "But you still have to change it into the gown." Ashura, in his miniature form, appears in front of Raiden. "Though I'll admit, not bad progress. Er...might want to cover up a bit." The color drains out of Raiden's face, and he pulls the cloak around himself quickly. Ashura laughs at Raiden's antics. "See Kujaku? I'm having plenty of fun." Ashura vanishes, leaving Raiden to complete his task.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:01 am
Part 4: Armor Raiden awakes the next morning to find Oliver asleep on his chest. Once again, the goat is purple and docile. Raiden sighs and places the snoozing goat on the floor. His next realization, is that he is wearing a long flowing gown. "When did...oh, I must have changed it in my sleep." "I suspect that you were cold in the middle of the night, and changed the Ashura's Soul into the gown to keep warm. Though I suppose it counts."Ashura's voice fills the room, then the god himself appears in front of Raiden.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:17 am
"L...Lord Ashura! Erm...forgive my asking but...why exactly can your treasure be manipulated into a gown?"
Ashura raises an eyebrow.
"We are the god of fire and destruction (he's using the royal "we" for emphasis). Trivial matters like gender specific clothing are not our concern. We wanted to include a beautiful gown to reflect our own grace and beauty, so we included it."
"Oh...um, fair enough. So...does this mean I can have my clothes back now?"
Ashura sighs.
"Well, I suppose. But it was so much fun to tease you with that cloud. But if it keeps you from focusing on your training, I should eliminate distraction."
He snaps his fingers, and Raiden's clothes re-appear. Ashura tosses Raiden a shirt.
"Put those on, and that shirt, then meet me outside for your next training exercise."
Raiden looks at the shirt.
"Oh, will this enhance my focus or something?"
Ashura smiles, "No...I just think you'll look cool in it."
Raiden gives Ashura a skeptical look as the god leaves the house.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:00 pm
Raiden dresses and walks outside to meet Ashura. The god of flame waits in the middle of a clearing.
"Ok, so what am I focusing on today?"
Ashura nods, "The Ashura's Soul treasure can be manipulated into armor. This is very useful in battle. If you are about to be struck in the head, you can change the gem into a helm. The most powerful peice of armor you can form is the "Soul Sheild". It is powerful enough to turn the force of your enemy's attack back on the attacker. In other words, they strike the sheild, and are hit with a blast equal to their strength. This can be enough to stun or suprise your opponent, and turn the tide of your fight."
He gestures to their surroundings.
"Today you will begin sparring with an opponent. Your spar will begin when I give the word, and will not end until you defeat your opponent. You may only use ARMOR from the Ashura's Soul to defeat them. If you fail to defeat them within the day, you may break only at the end of the day for a meal and sleep...then your spar will begin anew the next day. Do you understand these conditions?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:05 pm
Raiden nods, "Yes, I understand...I hope that I don't disapoint you Lord Ashura." Ashura gestures, and Raiden's opponent appears in the clearing.  His opponent is Souma, goddess of stealth. She is silent and nods to Raiden. She spins a silver rod in her hand, before striking the butt of it on the ground. A blade of blue glowing energy leaps from the rod, forming a blade indicating that Souma fights with an electric lance. Raiden approaches. The opponents bow to each other and then, the fight begins!
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:13 pm
Souma immediatley shifts to shadow form and sinks into the ground, weapon and all. Her shadow moves swiftly, darting up from the ground, and striking at Raiden from below with the electric spear. Raiden is able to roll and dodge most of these attacks, but is struck early in the foot. He winces, and begins moving as fast as he can to avoid Souma. "You cannot dodge her forever. Souma is an embodiment of stealth. You will have to use the Ashura's Soul."Raiden dodges a few more attacks, but suddenly, Souma leaps from the ground like a shark out of the water and strikes forward with the spear. Unsure of what to do, Raiden lifts his foot an attempt to block the strike. Very suddenly, the Ashura's Soul gem shifts, and becomes a pair of metallic sandals. Instead of being struck in the foot, Raiden successfully guards himself from the attack. Suprised, Souma dives back into the ground and begins attacking Raiden's feet from below again. However, the sandals protect Raiden's feet completly and he is unharmed. A smile flickers across Ashura's face for a moment before Souma leaps from the ground and re-assumes solid form. She spins her weapon in her hands and takes up a new stance, ready to launch a different attack.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:21 pm
Souma lunges at Raiden, striking quickly with the electric spear. She aims for his upper body. Since only his feet are armored, Raiden blocks her attacks by dodging and kicking. After a few minutes, his legs begin to ache, while his opponent doesn't seem the least bit tired.
Raiden focuses, concentrating on the Ashura's Soul treasure. When Souma strikes again, the sandals shift and become gauntlets. Raiden uses these to block Souma's strikes.
Souma jumps back in frustration and raises the spear angrily. She begins assaulting Raiden even faster, now striking at both his upper and lower body. Raiden shifts the Ashura's Soul back and forth from sandals to gauntlets to block the onslaught. He is able to block Souma's attacks strike for strike, but doesn't seem even close to defeating her.
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:27 pm
As Ashura watches the fight, a small pool of blood begins to form to his right. Slowly, Kujaku rises out of the puddle and watches the spar with his arms crossed. Blood drips steadily from the hole in his midsection. "I don't understand Ashura. He's a mortal...there's tons of those. I've even seen a few that struck me as interesting. But this one? Why waste your time on him?"Ashura's gaze does not stray from the fight as he responds to Kujaku, "Are your eyes really so bad Kujaku that you do not see the mark? This mortal has been close to one known as Yokoshima. Closer than many mortals have been. Look at his eyes...they were not always purple, yet now they are stained with the color of that dark being. An eternal reminder that at one time, that very mortal was entirely under Yokoshima's power."
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:34 pm
Kujaku rolls his eyes, "Yeah yeah, I've seen plenty of tools Ashura. And that one there is a grade A tool if ever I saw..."Ashura turns his gaze for a moment onto Kujaku, and it is enough to silence the demon. Ashura turns back to Raiden's spar, "Fool Kujaku...you still do not understand. That mortal was consumed by Yokoshima. None under that level of posession have EVER lived or returned to sanity. Look at that mortal's mother, Lady Ruby. She willingly gave her heart to Yokoshima, and will now suffer in eternal madness.
And yet...her own son, who you are watching right now, has completly rejected Yokoshima from his soul, and has survived. You think I'd be fool enough to entrust such power to a mortal if that mortal was still a slave to Yokoshima?
Raiden climbed the mountain under his own power. He fought his past, he purged Yokoshima from himself, and while his eyes bear the mark of his enslavement, when he stood before me in my temple, I could see no trace of that dark power lurking within him."
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:51 pm
Kujaku is silent and waits for Ashura to continue.
"Do you know Kujaku, how that mortal came to be posessed? He opened a book of necromancy. A book that Yokoshima had just happened to seal himself within. At that time, Yokoshima was both ressurected, and filled Raiden with his evil power.
Raiden went berserk and attacked his friends and his sister. In his madness, Raiden was killed. But the angelic beings were gracious, and returned him to life at the cost of Raiden's eyesight. They also granted him a well of angelic power. Raiden was always fairly skilled with magic, but now he had holy power to help keep the dark traces of Yokoshima's power at bay.
For a time, this worked quite well. Raiden focused on Summoning. With the help of Chrona the time goddess, he even regained his eyesight.
But then the summoner went through many changes. The dark tendrils of Yokoshima ensnared him. Raiden betrayed his friends and loved ones, and became entirely the slave and prisoner of Yokoshima. At long last, he was able to overcome this, and return to his friends. However...the connection between him and his loved ones was damaged beyond repair.
At this time, Raiden was little more than a shell. The damage inflicted on him by Yokoshima was so great. Most mortals would have lost their sanity. But Raiden's identity slowly began to change. His power too had been warped at this point. He had once been involved in an accident which left him with a human body, but a robotic face.
On one Halloween night, when the Zurg invaded, Raiden's form shifted into that of a Zurg. Believing himself to be one of them, Raiden fully embraced his new identity. He even found love with another mortal, and was given a Zurg brother. However, the Zurg quickly discovered that Raiden was not in fact a Zurg, when Raiden suddenly sprouted a tail. The little Zurg under his care was returned to live with its own people, and Raiden was left with his lover Orion to sort out his own identity.
Again and again, Raiden's form would change. He didn't understand it at the time, though I suspect he is more aware of that now...but Raiden's form would change according to the way that he saw himself. Finally, Raiden's form has settled on the one you see now. He is finally beginning to realize how strong he really is, and who he really is. He even went so far as to distance himself from his love, Orion...a move which appears to be irreversable.
This mortal has suffered...and suffered, and it would be entirely understandable and acceptable for him to crumble under such conditions. Yet there he is, matching blows with the goddess of stealth."
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Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:57 pm
Kujaku sighs, "Ok fine...I'll admit he's pretty tough for a mortal. And resisting Yokoshima after all that time is fairly impressive. But still! There are plenty of mortals who have suffered under Yokoshima. Why aren't you tending to them all? Or is Raiden merely the begining of Lord Ashura's "Charitable Assistance for Victims of Insane Tyrant Yokoshima (C.A.V.I.T.Y)" Do you plan to start helping all mortals like this?"
Ashura shakes his head, "Kujaku, that mortal represents a great hope to all of us. If he was able to purge Yokoshima from himself, then he must be strong enough to fight the being himself. He has been doing everything on his own for so long...if I can help him to focus his abilities, then his power along with that of his friends might just be enough. This is why I focus on this mortal, on Raiden."
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