Welcome to Gaia! ::

A green mage sat behind the special glass plate windows that she had specifically installed in the atrium of the RI tower, she was practically frothing at the mouth over all her hard work gone to waste as the attackers continued their assault over the city, and the fact that she felt she could do very litle to them while they were mostly in the sky. sweatdrop

Dawn blinked a few times as something strange tugged at her attention, the plants in the greenhouse were whispering something to each other, something about walking... and that made no sense to her at all since she knew that just moving a potted plant confused the heck out of the poor things, but something was definitely coming, and it was not of the same flavor as the invaders.... "Strange.."

A short time after the Dead-Man Army had left, messages begin to pour in from Lament's allies in Durem and Aekea. They sounded desperate, urgent, however, they would soon be answered. Technicians and Engineers worked in large number to get the mighty Obsidianus ready for its biggest and most suicidal mission yet. They had received word that two enemy airships had appeared in the skies over Aekea and begun to attack the city from the air. The city had held them off until now, but with two airships, one knew that without SOME help, the city wouldn't last much longer. And thus, Lament poured all of its resources into arming the Obsidianus for its first fully operational fight...

On the Obsidianus' Bridge, her commanding officer, Colonel Nathaniel Briggs stood and looked around at the technicians preparing the final touches to the mighty fighting fortress. It was the single most powerful weapon ever constructed by Lament's Engineers, and the most advanced as well. Nothing else in Lament's arsenal could match the Obsidianus for sheer power or shock value. As the bridge crew finished their final preparations, they gave him the go ahead for the mission to begin. They all stood at attention as Briggs ordered a ship-wide broadcast. As the Com Officer gave him the affirmative, Briggs took a deep breath and spoke.

Attention, this is the Captain speaking...

We stand on the edge of a precipice... This fine ship, this fine crew, are about to embark on a mission unlike any other in Lament's long history. Today, we stand on the deck of the finest fighting machine ever conceived by the greatest minds Lament can offer. And yet, here we stand, looking down into the depths of the abyss, gripped by what? Fear, terror, anxiety, all of these feelings flow through our veins like ice, chilling us...

But...

We must wrest our fear aside. We must place our faith in everything our greatest minds have worked for over the long two years since Project Black Rock was first conceived. All of us have families at home. Sons, daughters, wives, loved ones of all kinds. They placed their faith in us when we signed onto this mission, knowing exactly what might become of us...

We, as one of the last free cities on Gaia have enjoyed our freedom for ages. But it has not been without sacrifice and battles. A great many of our finest soldiers have fought and fallen to protect our freedom, our beloved home, our way of life from the tyranny that threatened to destroy it. And today, we still fight with everything that we have to destroy the tyranny that threatens our way of life and our loved ones.

This day, we fight not just for ourselves and our freedom, but for the freedom of our allies and the freedom of all Gaia from the undead plagues that rise out of the North. We fight to usher in a new age of peace and prosperity the likes of which have never been seen before. We stand on the edge of a precipice, yes, but a precipice of a new beginning!

The abyss at our feet threatens to swallow us, but we will beat it back to usher in the light! We will beat back the darkness and take the leap to cross that great expanse to reach the other side of victory, and the new age for all of Gaia! What one does in life, echos in eternity! And if we fall by our enemies' hand, let them hear not echoes, but roars of victory!

As the Colonel finished, the bridge crew erupted into applause and some wiped tears from their eyes. The Colonel took another breath and looked ahead before speaking once more.

Engineering, prepare for Slipstream Tunneling, charge all weapon banks and be ready to obliterate whatever we find hovering over the target area.

"All engines and generators answering full power sir!"



Above the skies of Lament, in front of the massive form, a titanic wavering form of energy appeared and spun around the front of the vessel before in a mighty pulse, a vortex appeared and the ship accelerated into it, engines at full burn, and vanished with a brilliant flash of light...

In Lament things seemed to take a turn for the worst in Izette’s shoes.

Indeed there was a reason for the fact that she wasn’t answering her phone, she had no money. In fact she couldn’t even afford a place to live at. It had seemed that she had finally met her wits end when it came to her money situation.

However, where was Izette know?

Why, she was panhandling on one of the street corner of Lament.

She only sat quietly leaning up against a building with Reginald by her side. She didn’t have much, the only thing that she seemed to hold close to her was a bag containing all of her clothes that she had from the tournament. Many members of the crowd passed by her only to be minding their own business, after all, many of them couldn’t afford much for themselves. But once in awhile someone would drop a few coins down in front of her. Usually it was one coin, but one was better than nothing.
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Reginald quacked quietly as he rested beside her. They didn’t need to say anything for the two of them had an understanding about the situation they were in. Sighing, she wrapped her leather coat around her body in order to try and keep warm. However, it really didn’t seem to be playing in her favor.

The day only seemed to continue as more people passed, dropping the occasional coin. Her stomach growled loudly as she wished that there was a chance that she would be able to get a drink of alcohol or a delicious hot dog. But unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be an option for the two of them. Finally, darkness was falling upon them.

“Come on, Reggie.” Peeling herself off of the cement, the woman stood to her feet with her bag slung on her shoulder and her coins in her pocket. She knew that she needed to move. Especially when she knew what was coming, in the town of Lament the streets were never exactly the safest spots in the world. In fact, they were possibly very dangerous considering that Lament was a rougher neighborhood, especially when you were a pretty girl like Izette was. But before they could do any of that, there was one thing that they had to do.

Food.

Both Izette and Reginald made their way down the street at an unusually slow pace. The two of them were both starving, which often played a toll on ones body movements. Finally, she stopped and went over the amount of money that they managed to obtain. Holding the money in the palm of her hand, she flipped through each of the coins counting quietly to herself. Once finished, she quietly repeated her process in a more frantic manor as though she was searching for there to be more in her collection.

However, she seemed to only become more disappointed.

It seemed that Izette only managed to gain eight gold pieces. That wasn’t even enough to buy anything for the two of them to share. However, she knew that there was only one of thing for her to do. Walking over towards a hot dog stand on the opposite corner of the street she decided to make her order.

“One hotdog please.”

“That’ll be five gold pieces.” Sighing, Izette handed over the gold towards the man as he then prepared her order. It wasn’t long till the two of them were on the move again and she found herself an alleyway to make herself comfortable.

“Here you go, Reg. It all of it, cause that’s all we got. ” It was at that moment that Izette handed the hot dog over to the bird. Reginald could only stare at her as he seemed to know that her stomach was growling just as much as his was.

“GO ON! EAT IT ALREADY!” Her voice went rather sharp for that moment which only resulted on the bird beginning to eat. Smiling, Izette began to look around the area for some sort of shelter for the two of them. However, most of the good spots seemed to be taken by other homeless individuals. Frowning, Izette grabbed a hold of the only thing that seemed to suffice any sort of shelter, a small box.

Reginald only looked at Izette as she began to construct what appeared to be a small cardboard box. Placing her leather coat inside she moved Reginald into the box with the hot dog.

“There, you can sleep here tonight. I know it’s not much, but it’ll work for now. I promise.” She smiled slightly as she used her bag as a pillow. She didn’t look very comfortable and Reginald knew that, however the punker only seemed to keep on smiling as though everything was going to turn out for the better.

“No need to worry, Reggie. This isn’t the first time that I have been in this sort of situation.” However, the duck did not seem to be convinced as the punker grabbed a hold of Betsy rather tightly between her fingers.

“Tomorrow is a new day, and everything will turn out for the better.” She smiled and stared up at the rough only to sigh for a moment.

“I hope.”

Izette tried her best to enjoy the comfort of the ground that she was given. However, despite what one would think, the cement wasn't exactly the comfiest of places to be resting. Every inch of her ached slightly as she could hear her bird snore quietly beside her.

At least Reginald was doing all right.

But the woman only could stare up at the smog filled sky as she could feel her mind wander slightly. It was the best she could do in a situation like this. From the distance she could hear footsteps, gunshots, and screams, which only seemed to serve as a little lullaby for her. At the same time, she could only keep her ears open as she knew that sleeping on the streets was never a safe thing to do these days, especially in a rough neighborhood.

Taking a deep breath in, she attempted to get some sleep. However, there was something that caused her little ears to twitch. It must have been her super hearing as she heard a voice call out in the distance. It must have been a few blocks away at least, but she could hear the distinct sound of something mentioning something close to “Fizzy”. Lifting herself off the cement, she picked up her bad and her box which held her duck to move. She couldn't just leave him there, that would be completely rude!

Tiptoeing, she began to make her way down the alleyway to the main street. Every pathway was light ever so slightly by a post which only created a small pool in certain areas. She smirked slightly as she continued to make her way down the road, she had seen all of the horror movies. This would be the point in time where someone an axe murder would chop her into tiny bits and than bathe in her blood followed by a delicious meal made of her carcass.

Shuddering at the thought of being someone's dinner, the punker continued down the partially light side walk. She was trying to see if she could hear where the voices were coming from. But apparently it seemed that they had died out. Frustrated, Izette sighed and made her way down the road. It was probably best that she found a new spot to sleep anyways, the sounds coming from the area seemed to make her feel rather anxious.

Quack.

Izette practically jumped out of her skin as she heard the sound of the bird from inside her box. She hadn't realized that was indeed coming from Reginald. She quickly began to start laughing nervously as though it was intentional. She wasn't allowed to get scared anyways; she was a fighter, and she was watching out for her small bird who couldn't take care of himself.

“Hm, do you hear it, Reggie?” The bird quickly waddled up her shoulder as though to be sitting on the look out. However, it appeared that there was definitely no sign of anything in the area that the two of them were in.

“I could have sworn... but than again, I must be going crazy...” Although, Izette really hoped that she wasn't going crazy.

-Aekea-

Izette sighed slightly as she rested within her happy little kitchen with a cigarette between her delicate fingers. She found herself bored and more so lethargic than anything else. Sure, she loved living with Ryke in the town of Aekea. It was calm and peaceful, almost filled with sunshine and rainbows compared to her old apartment But really, it was anything but this punker’s cup of vodka. If anything the most exciting things that would happen was the knowledge that one of the factories had shut down or were about to explode. Than at least there was some excitement involved, otherwise it was pretty dull with happy little workers walking home from a hard shift at their jobs and then to come home and kiss their loving family.

Frankly,

Izette found this disgusting.

If anything this town needed a little oomph to the area. Just like how things were in Lament. If there was a city that should have been condemned, that was this place. It was filled with nothing but the scum of the universe. Gangs, ruffians, pimps and hoes, and whatever else you could imagine. However, despite all of that, Izette considered this place home. At least when she walked through the streets there, she blended in easily as many of the individuals had similar fashion senses. It also wasn’t uncommon to see someone wandering the streets looking to pick a fight and holding a bottle of some sort of liquor in their hands, where as in Aekea you were more likely to get the cops called on you if you even CONSIDERED it.

Ah...

Those were the good times.

With a nostalgic smile on her face, the punker took a small sip of the glass of vodka she had in her other hand. Slowly, she turned her head over to exam the clock that was located on the stove. The large green numbers almost seemed to glow in retaliation.

12:30

Damn.

That clock was mocking her.

Placing the glass on the table the punker quickly flipped it off before taking a drag from her cigarette. Yeah, that really told it.

With a slight mischievous grin on her face, the punker knew exactly what she needed to get done. Instead of lazily wasting the day away as though she were some sort of employed bum (which she was ironically), perhaps she was going to thrust some adventure on her. But first, clothing. After all, going around naked in a rather dangerous city wasn’t exactly the best of ideas.

Izzy had been sitting in the kitchen naked this entire time.

Ryke was definitely going to have to disinfect.

-*-*-

-Lament-

Steam raised out of the gutters as Izette made her way through the streets. She grinned as she bore witness to how much the city had not changed. Every alleyway seemed to hold their own private conversation. In one, she witnessed a hooker rendezvous as they sat there as socialized with their pimp, only to find out where they were going next and how much they were to make. Following that seemed to be the location where a drug deal was made, something that Izette was all too familiar with. And then a few down seemed to have the star location for a gang fight.

Izette lips rose in amusement as she walked passed all three events.

There was definitely no place like home.

And what was the even more exciting part was down the next alleyway after you took a left; Izette knew exactly where the best hot dog stand was in Gaia. And the best part was, most people didn’t dare take the risk of walking through the alleys without having to face mortal danger! Thus, it was never busy as no one was around to provide it business other than the locals who knew the ropes quite well. After a few paces forward, the punker made a turn and continued her way through.

Ugh...

It was disgusting.

The mere smell of garbage, blood, and smoke would often turn the average individual off. But the punker continued to make her way through with her vibrant purple overcoat tuck closely at her side. The white fur trim closely hugged the sides of her face almost making it impossible for anyone to see who she was. This was generally probably a smart tactic to make.

After stepping over a few passed out drunkards, the woman made her left at the appropriate time. However, it wasn’t possibly the appropriate moment to do so. As she turned she froze for a moment to witness what seemed to be a mugging that had taken place. Two men were ripping through a woman’s belonging as they tossed everything out looking for their prize, gold. Now, this wasn’t a very uncommon situation to witness, afterall muggings were a way of earning money in this part of the city. However, it didn’t help that the woman recognized at least one of the men.

Stopping in their tracks, one of them looked up. His green eyes quickly took notice to the woman standing before him. His dark brown hair fell over his eyes as a dirty smile filled his face to off his nice pearly teeth that he still had. Tapping his blonde friend on the shoulder, the two of them were now staring at her, with the same smug smile as they had beforehand.

“Hey Johnny, look who it is. It’s Dizzy. I’d recognize that coat anywhere.” The brown haired man seemed to say as he then slowly made his way closer to her. The two of them almost seemed to have a predator like movement came closer to her.

“Yeah you are right, Sid. Doesn’t she owe you money for the time you spent together?” From where they were standing, the woman could smell the booze coming off of their lips. And yet, she didn’t move she was still.

“You are right! Guess we’re going to have to take back what is ours, huh?” The two men began to laugh. Slowly, the woman’s eye caught noticed that the two of them were both digging for something, which only meant terrible things for her end. It was definitely going to be a two against one sort of match, and the punker didn’t have very good odds.

Before she knew it one of the men’s arms extended towards her and the punker dropped downwards as though to make a sweeping motion with her legs. As soon as they made contact the men dropped to the ground Izette hopped onto the dark man’s body and straddled him. Both of her legs were beside his hips which made her look as though she was in for a free ride, but really she only wanted to keep balance. Taking this opportunity she quickly pulled out one of her knives and placed it against the one known as Johnny’s throat while sharply looking towards Sid.

“Listen, I suggest that you run. This is between myself and Johnny” Her voice sounded almost poisonous as she glared him down. With a nervous nod, the man bolted. For how long she wasn’t entirely sure, but it was enough time for her to speak with the man before her. With a sincere smile she than smiled, if the man even attempted to move her arm off him he would have sliced his own jugular, especially since the woman’s pressure was so fierce against his own skin that she was already creating a cut in his neck with the lovely use of Sarah, her favourite knife.

“Now, now, now Johnny! What have you been up to as of late?” With her left hand she swung open his coat and dug inside his pockets. And lucky her! She had found a variety of things, a small plastic bag with some sort of pills, a change purse filled with coins, and some cigarettes. Smiling, she slowly placed them into her own pocket. “I’ll be taking these!”

“You ******** bi-“ Before he could even finish his sentence her knife pressed even more firmly against his throat. Her eye narrowed down on him as though he had offended her honour or something. But then she began to laugh, almost demonically as she had just heard a funny joke and he had missed the punchline. In fact, the joke was so funny that she had even moved the blade off of the side of his neck.

At that moment the man quickly attempted to the move and pull her off of him, he had to definitely teach this woman a lesson. But before she could even allow him to make that her right hand went flying downwards and across his face. Once having their skin make contact, it was rather unfortunate as her blade was still in her hand. With the angle that it was at, rather than simply causing him to pass out, she had provided him with a lovely hole in the side of his face.

“Night night Johnny-boy.” Smiling, she gave him a little kiss on the lips before ripping out the blade and standing to her feet.

Now she was really itching for a hot dog.

Although...

Damion may have been enjoying himself, but it wasn’t long before his mellow evening was going to change rather greatly.

At one of the islands, there was a great deal of laughter fluttering around as a large group of men gathered around one table. All of which seemed to be sitting with a beer in hand as gold pieces passed between each of them. Gambling was very prominent in most establishments in this part of Gaia, afterall if their money wasn’t going for booze, it was going to drugs, if not those too than it was to try and make more money.

“Twenty gold pieces on the lass!”

“Thirty gold pieces on him. He’ll beat her under the table.”

“Are you kidding? Have you ever seen her work? You fool. I’ll take your bet.”

“Hey Doll! Six more shots. They still be standing over here!”

With much rushing, a blonde woman quickly moved her way through the crowd over to the table. On one side sat a rather large looking fellow, he was at least 6’3 with rather broad shoulders. Most were certain that if he moved the wrong way his shirt was going to rip off. His large sausage like fingers only tapped on the table with great impatience as he looked over to his opponent on the other side. Now, normally one would expect that as an opponent they would at least be equal in size. But this was definitely a great shocker.

“Than I was like, ‘Get off me grandma I’m done!’ “ With a cigarette between her fingers, the punker Izette sat laughing away as jokes came fluttering out of her mouth. Many of the gentlemen seemed to be looming over her as they listened in to her stories. However, the jokes seemed to stop as soon as the waitress dropped six shot glasses for each of them on the table. With a quick nod to the bringer of alcohol, the punker placed her cigarette beside her in an ash tray that she seemed to have conveniently placed for this evening.

The laughter had stopped between the men.

All eyes were on them.

It was show time.

“Ladies first." The larger man smiled and flashed her some golden replacements. The punker however didn’t seem to be all to scared of the man; sure he was five times bigger than her and probably could squish her with his bicep. Despite his large exterior, she was almost positive something nice and fluffy was hiding behind his outwards appearance.

“Well, you better get doing it, huh smart boy?” Her eyebrow raised with the commentary, it probably wasn’t the best idea, but hey! It was Izzy! The man’s eyebrow began to twitch violently as he continued to stare back at the one eyed comedian.

“Why don’t you do them at the same time?” It seemed that the peanut gallery actually had some good suggestions once in awhile. Silently the two of them looked at each other and gave each other a small nod as though there was a mutual understanding.



It was practically rapid fire as the two of them glugged their drinks down as though they were stranded without any liquids whatsoever. And than finally, the two of them sat with their faces grinning. It was clear that whatever they were drinking, it was hitting them fast. Now there was just the matter of hoping that one of them doesn’t forfeit.

Casually, Izette reached over and placed her cigarette in her mouth as she allowed the burning sensation to trickle down her throat. It was a simple pleasure she had when it came to alcohol and she loved every mom-

THUNK!

Wided eyed the punker looked across the table to see that the large man before her had admitted defeat as his body was now slumped on the ground. Instantly cheers broke out and the celebrations began!

Instantly money passed between people and the punker was now on the table demonstrating a little jig with the new upbeat music. As she busted a move she finally stopped to see a familiar face. It wasn’t just anyone but rather someone she had seen at the Heaven or Hell tournament.

“Hey Cutie McHotdog!” Instantly she began to flail her arms around in order to get his attention. Whether he got it or not was entirely a different story, after all the music was blaring and there was a great deal of laughs and noise coming from around the room. Then again, how many people wore an eyepatch and danced on tables?