Welcome to Gaia! ::

A small thrill reeled through Vixen's chest when Skip mentioned something about the caves. Was this excitement? She stopped to ponder a minute. It had the same effect on her as the thoughts of ripping the flesh off a poor victim with her hands or burning their flesh alive until her nose was burning and eyes watering. Yeah, it was indeed excitement. The computer asked if they had reached a verdict, which they had even if it had only been one that mentioned a scenario. Vixen had already given her consent to do anything. Then Skip asked a very important question. What did they do with Emerald? Well the computer had said something about assistance in their task. Did that mean that some one would make Emerald better? She directed a question to the computer.

"Is Emerald going to get better?"

Ooh... pretty. Skip scanned the choices before him. Chemist? Ew... sounded like some weird scientist kinda thing. Skip was definitely not into that at all. Philosopher? Skip didn't need another smart form. Ninja? Had one of those already, too. Morph? Skip didn't even wanna think what that could possibly mean. Bard? Singing and playing instruments? What would be cool about that? Technician? What was with all these bland choices? He peered over at Vixen's options. Wizard, necromancer, dark knight, demonae.... why'd she get all the cool ones? Looking back at his, Skip realized that he had overlooked a dark blue syringe, mistaking it for the black one at a cursory glance. He read the label. Summoner. Now that... didn't sound all that bad, actually. If he could become a summoner... then perhaps he'd be able to summon a power strong enough to defeat Ellisent...

Resolute in this decision, Skip picked up the dark blue syringe, and injected it into the small mark on his arm where he had seen nurses give him countless injections, and pushed in the stopper. He shuddered a bit, not from the syringe itself, but from the feel of the substance which flowed into him. After a few seconds, he decided it felt good. He then picked up the black injection, and did the same. After a few seconds from there, he decided this one felt very good. He felt even better than the leaves had done. Even the slight residual pain in his legs was gone. Fun.

Now.... how was Emerald to get these injections? He turned to Vixen, and asked, "Hey, do you think I should just give her an injection?"

The color red was enticing to Vixen. Red was the color of blood once it was released from its confines to greet oxygen and mingle. It was Vixen's rage that had no end but only depths. It was what she was. What would she be compromising for ultimate power? What could stand in her way now? There it was, right within her grasp, the being that she had always wanted to be. At least, since she met Ellisent. She touched the syringe, imagining the great ruins that could be brought by her hand. The destruction that would ensue was like no other pleasure she could imagine. Why, then, had she not already shot herself up, ready for the magic to take hold? She looked at Skip and Emerald. Surely they were not the reason. A beast such as herself had no feelings for others. Yet there it was, her hesitation plain to see. She knew the path that she so longed for was one that no one else could tag along. She barely had tolerance enough as it was. Which, none of this would not have bothered her before, but now there were two others just like herself desperately craving escape. She could not help them if she could not control herself. Most importantly, if she could not control herself then she could end up as her own demise. What good was freedom if she died?

"Sure, pick any class. Except for summoner. I'm pretty sure we don't need to summoners in this joyous party." Sarcasm was pretty awesome.

So, in the end her ultimate decision was made by a rather conceited conclusion. She took the dark blue liquid and shot it into her veins. She quickly followed that one by the black. She tried to ignore any feelings that was going on in her body. Though it was rather hard to ignore.

Skip nodded, then scanned Emerald's selections. He eliminated summoner in his mind by the sheer fact that he had chosen it for himself, and it soon disappeared as well. Convenient. And Emerald already knew white magic as an inherent ability, so that eliminated White Wizard. And something about Angelus didn't sit right with him. He couldn't tell why, but it just didn't. And that left three. Auramancer... he had no idea what that meant. He assumed it involved aura magic, but... without knowledge of the job class itself, how could he know if it would be worth it? Geomancer... Paladin.... either one sounded fine. But which to choose? Geomancer would come in handy in caverns, but what about afterwards? And what if this whole scenario was just a hologram? Would geomancy make any real difference? And then Skip observed Vixen's choice. Tempest. The Dark Knight. Batman? No, the other Dark Knight. Skip nodded, realizing that he nodded way too much, took the light black syringe, and injected into Emerald the power of the Paladin. He then took the darker black one, and injected it into Emerald, eagerly awaiting the awakening that he knew was to ensue.

If anyone had thought the first hug Skip had given Emerald when she awoke momentarily was impressive, then they would have seen that it only scratched the surface of what the hug he gave her now was like. Skip launched himself at her, knocking her back down to the ground, and the two slid forward a bit more from the sheer force of Skip's hug. It was, in short, an uber-glomp, if you will.

Skip stayed embracing her, and said, "Emerald! You're awake! Oh man, I have so much to tell you! It was so cool! I woke up on a table, and..." Skip then proceeded to recount his adventures to Emerald in his own style of narration, to which Emerald replied that she had observed some of it, though in a state of delirium. Skip eventually came to, "...and so then I gave Ellisent the bird like this, BAM!" He demonstrated his crude hand gesture, though this one had a lot more bravado and less panic for his life than the original one had. "And then we came to this room, and we're gonna do some kinda training thing, and... oh yeah! Emerald, you're a Paladin now! That's a White Knight, or at least that's what the label said." He nodded, still grinning from ear to ear. "So, what have you been up to? You know, aside from being unconscious.... um... actually, that's all you've been doing isn't it? Okay, never mind, bad question..."

Skips grin grew bigger, if such a thing was possible. He had missed this. Classic Emerald. That was all he needed. That familiarity in her paranoia, her predisposition to doubt things. In an odd way, it was her "flaws" that made her so endearing.

"Well, the disembodied voice has been pretty good so far, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't take the shot. And you look good, Emerald. You're not fat. You're rather well built," said Skip. He may have gone further with that last part, but talking to Emerald about her body was dangerous ground to tread on, even if it was in an attempt to be reassuring. Skip did not know that this applied to all women, because he didn't know any other women all that well. He just figured it was another one of Emerald's personality traits.

((Team 1))

Emerald shrugged it off. She knew he meant well. He was a good boy. He wouldn't do anything to harm her, right?

Slowly and carefully, she took the needle and jabbed it into the crook of her elbow, pressing down hard on the plunger...

As she did so...the room seemed to get bigger...or...was she shrinking? It was all too weird...the flab simply...disappeared from her body...her wrinkles disappeared, too! God, she looked about 20 years younger! Even she noticed the immediate change, looking bright eyed at her newly fitter self...


And then came the awkward part. She started examining.

"Hm...let's see...a**? Oooh! Check! Titti-oooh, yes, check and CHECK! Hot damn!"

Feeling every body part to make sure it looked and felt as good as it seemed, Emerald was loving her new self. She wasn't entirely wrong for being this conceited, either...she looked pretty damn hot!

Except for the clothes. They were a little big. But nonetheless...she...she...just, wow. Really. What kind of shot was that, anyway?

"Now...just so I get this straight, y'all...I get to keep this, right? This ain't just a teaser? 'Cause I'm about to s**t my pants over here."


Of course, dear. Every patient has the right to accept this treatment, if previously marked as in less-than-good shape. It all goes in your personal profile.

"Whatever. I don't care. I'm hot as a ********! Let's start this s**t! I'm so ready!"


Okay, I've obtained Emerald's consent. How about the rest of you? We have some equipment to give before we begin. Is that alright? We're almost there...

Skip was in a very awkward position. Emerald's transformation had the effect of when your mom suddenly becomes really hot, and then you start to override the fact that she's your mother because she's hot. It was like that, but only worse, since Emerald wasn't his mother. So why not admire her hotness? Because... because... it's just wrong. Skip couldn't define it, but to think of Emerald in those terms just... was horribly, horribly wrong. But Skip did appreciate the fact that she was pretty now. Pretty he could deal with. Hot... he just had to ignore her girl parts. It didn't help that she was talking about them, though....

Well, back to buiness. "I'm ready, too. What equipment will we be receiving?" asked Skip.