Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ziginz laughed as he cut and burned the undead in his path, completely oblivious to what was going on behind him. No, he was to focused on what was ahead of him. More and more undead fell and Ziginz's rage became greater, both out of excitment but also out of disappointment at his enemies weakness. On top of that he was burning KI fast. That was when he noticed it, a fork in the hallway. Perfect, absolutely perfect. A few steps from the fork he aimed his two sabers down either hallways and focused his KI useing his shatter storm ability to sends many shards down the halls to kill any undead. He then made a quick side steps and step back to let his comrades pass. After they were clear he focused his KI and exbanded his wings to many times their normal size creating a torrent of flames that destroyed many of the undead behind him and createing a wall of flames. He breathed heavily but still smiled and laughed a bit under his breath.

"Max, take Madison down the dark hallway, I'll lead these slugs down the lit way. These things rely of their senses, probably sight and sound more then anything else, and even if they can smell, the smoke should cover your scent. I got about 30% of my KI left but I have plenty of tricks for beating these guys. Problem is I can't fight like this and keep you guys safe, so our best shot, is for me to take em on by myself while you guys get the hell outta here. Don't worry, I don't plan to die or nothin, so just get outta here and I'll meet you guys outside. Besides, like I am now I'm not the safest person to be around hehehe. You got about 30 seconds before I have to extinquish my wings so don't argue and just run."

He said this as his wings clearly began to weaken and shrink.He gave a thumbs up and hoped they would listen. When they were out of sight he would lead the undead away and kill everyone of them he could before escaping. This was the best plan he could think of right now and he hoped it would work. This Max guy was strong, and he wanted to fight him and planed to do so, and Madison, somthing about her made Ziginz want to help her, and that was more then enough for him to risk his life. What was their to say, he was simple like that.

There were loud explosions of sound coming from everywhere which only caused Madison’s ears to curl up against her head. For someone who was genetically designed for sensitive hearing, the loud groups of screams coming from their enemies and the bright pink collection of light bursting into tiny pieces caused nothing more than a quite ringing to fill her ears. With a quick turn of Max’s body to see what exactly had happened Madison saw her creations turned into nothingness only to be replaced with bits of ash and clothing where zombiefied creatures once sat only having smoke rise from it.

Not taking a moment longer, the two of them continued down the hall and followed Ziginz. However, the two of them quickly stopped at the crossroads to see that the man before them was already in the process of somesort of magic. He spoke, and for some reason she could feel the uneasiness settle on Max. He seemed to fall rigid; something was bothering him about the winged man’s plan. And at the same time, it bothered Madison as well. Perhaps, it was the movement between emotions since Madison was even resting close enough to Max’s heart. But for some reason, leaving someone alone in these sort of circumstances bothered her. Sure, he was trying to be the hero and that was something that the rabbit was used too.

But Madison wasn’t the same person she was when she had entered this place.

Since she had entered inside of Barton, Madison had made a great deal of discoveries about herself. She had strength, and even wisdom. Madison had been beaten and taken care of her entire life, from both friends and the people she viewed as family as they constantly came rushing in to save the day. It wasn’t till this moment in time, that Madison was finally given the chance to show her full potential. And a part of her didn’t want to be saved, she wanted to help. She wanted to do something. She too was about to join the protest, as this was clearly killing Max himself. But before she was even given her chance to speak...

There were more words.

But this time it wasn’t through the determined man, but rather the Shadow.

Maximos was letting the man go in alone.

Turning her head quickly, the rabbit than looked up at Max and gave him a questionable look. She was completely baffled! With her eyebrow curved up with a matching corner of her lip revealing a small part of her tooth show, Madison looked almost as though she were trying to pull off some sort celebrity impression. She wasn’t exactly impressed, but there was nothing more that they could do as Max was the one who was taking the lead of this one.

As the two of them bolted, it was clear that Ziginz wings were causing the surrounding crowd to focus around the glowing light. It seemed that there was hundreds of them now, all circling around him as though they were flies. Even the fact that the shadow had bolted did not seem to be a problem as the flame was enough of a distraction. However, they were all slowly moving closer and closer...

One against hundreds?

The survival rating was not something was not something that was going to be pretty.



With a quick turn, Max and Madison were surrounded in darkness. It seemed that the two of them had taken the path less traveled by. There was no light, and in comparison to the other room that they were in it was nothing short but silent. The only sounds that were even heard was the sound of Max’s shoes hitting the floor and the breaths leaving his mouth. The rabbit seemed quite a bit uneasy as they wandered through as she had honestly no clue where she was going.

“Max... why did we leave him? He can’t do that all by himself... can he?” Even with gentle words that the rabbit seemed to be speaking rather softly, it echoed through the entire room they had entered. With her gentle words, a small response began to form from elsewhere. A light muffled moan almost seemed to respond to her question. However, wherever it was coming from it seemed that it was back where they had left their party member. The sound from afar made her body shake slightly within her arms. She was absolute terrified....“I can’t see anything...D-D-Do you even know where we are going?”

BANG!

Madison quickly let out a loud scream as the sound came from the right side of them with a flicker of a light shone as it lightly illuminated a room that seemed to be a collection of more undead people. It seemed that the hallway they were in were only separating them between them. And it wasn’t alone, within each of the rooms that were only light up whenever the light flickered ever once in awhile it seemed to show that there were at least ten in each one.

BANG BANG BANG!

The persistent zombie didn’t seem it was going to want to give up so easily. As though it were playing a drum, the beast continued to bang it’s hands on the glass harder and harder each time. If Max wasn’t quick, the glass would no longer be providing the same amount of safety as it was as it was clear that slowly it was beginning to crack under the pressure of the glass.

BANG! BANG!

Maximos did not miss a step or a beat even in the pitch black. He never paused, never made an unsure step and never once bumped into anything. It might have even seemed that he saw better in the void of black than in the light. Though no motions were made or commands given, Madison might even feel as if a stiff cool breeze were suddenly behind them, pushing evenly them forward. And yet...they were inside with no windows open and the central air conditioning long since gone out of service. The Shadows, deepest and darkest here, moved of their own accord. They assisted one of their own, giving extra spring to Maximos' step as they silently moved larger obstructions from his path.

“Max... why did we leave him? He can’t do that all by himself... can he?” Maximos' face suddenly became very serious. His lips pressed in a line, his jaw clenched. If she could not see it in his face, Madison would be able to feel his muscles tense and his hands quickly squeeze then loosen. He spoke evenly, his voice carried no anger. But it carried no joy either. It was an lifeless almost mechanical tone. "I saw something in his eyes...they were not the eyes of a man ready to die. He has a reason to continue that I do not believe he will let go so easily."

He was leaving, but he clearly did not like it. There was more to what he saw than that, but it was something he could never hope to explain to Madison in a way she would understand. Madison had the potential to be a fighter, to defend herself...but she would never be a warrior. Modern civilization had routed out the need for those born and raised on the battlefield. Those who knew the scent of blood like today's children know the scent of a bubble bath. That was an antiquated notion. But Maximos had quite literally held a sword since he was old enough to walk. He knew what surged through Ziginz Zegell. The man had a warrior's pride. And it meant Maximos had to leave him. If Ziginz fells he fell with honor. If he succeeded, he lived to become stronger. But if they denied his strength and they stayed to help him they shatter that pride. And without it, a warrior is better off dead. Maximos shook his head, and steadily his focus returned to Madison in his arms. She was terrified. He could feel it, he could practically taste in the air.

"I can’t see anything...D-D-Do you even know where we are going?” And yet even though he did not want to make the terror worse now was not the time for lies and false hope. As such, Maximos only said. "I can see just fine."

And left the question of where they were going floating in mystery. Dark Vision was a natural gift for any Shadowlander. It was like sitting in the dark until ones eyes adjust. Only it worked even in pitch black, until the room was just as clearly lit as if the lights were on only in a monochrome pallet. It was an extreme night vision, and allowed the darkness to hold absolutely no surprises for Maximos.

And then suddenly light. Oh, it was only a small light but to eye so attuned to the darkness it was more than enough.

"Gah!" Maximos called out, missing his step and smacking his shin into a chair and stumbled to a stop. He just barely manged to lift Madison up and plop her rump first onto a table before falling unceremoniously forward across the dusty ground. His eyes told him nothing, giving him only blurry outlines and shapes in the distance. He slipped both hands under himself and began to lift when the first bang echoed out.

The Shadow froze. His sword leaned itself forward in front of him, as if someone was across from him offering its hilt and Maximos used it as leverage to stand before letting it go to float beside him again. He turned to Madison very slowly, and in the universal gesture for silence pressed his finger to his lips. He squinted his eyes and let them steadily adjust, watching the picture fade into horrifying clarity. One..two...ten...thirty...more bangs.

With a snap of his head turned to the source of the sound, he met the zombies glossed over eyes through the glass, nodded once and immediately righted his posture. He held his arms out to carry Madison again if she was willing and very softly whispered. So soft one would likely require super human ears to even ear it. "On the count of three..."

A strategist prefers known factors to unknown factors when devising a plan. He also knows which factors can be adjusted to make the plan more advantageous. Maximos knew, that glass was going to break. He held up one finger. He also knew that when it did zombies were going to come quite literally flooding in from all sides. He did not however, know when. It could happen any time. He held up two fingers. Any second from the moment at the end of his next breath to the moment they started moving, to maybe even after they escaped the station. His sword rose from beside him like a wing, its point precariously taking aim.

If it was do or die, Maximos preferred to do. If it was now or never, he moved that moment. If it was a question of life or death, Maximos preferred no to wait from the answer to come to him. Three fingers, and the sword bolted forward like a spear piercing through the glass surgically, like scalpel through skin and slicing right through the front of the zombies neck and out its back, severing its spinal cord and leaving its head attached by meager flaps of skin.

By the blade exited the back of that particular rotting throat, Maximos was half way down the hall. The act of the sword slipping free from the glass and chasing after him, or the zombie falling against the damaged partition, a sudden movement or the scent of blood. Perhaps even the idea of prey escaping. Whatever it happened to be did not matter. What was important was that whatever was going to happen, was going to happen now. And Shadowfather give him strength to survive it.

Maximos was off, with Madison safely grasped. He sped around a bend and hoped the sign indicated by a zig zag line and a stick figure climbing it meant what he hoped it did. With a kick, he knocked open the roof access security doors and began bounding up the steps three at a time. The roof seemed the best and most open place to route the horde. And Nocturne only knew what sort of things were chasing him.

Zignz sat focused on himself and everything around him. He could feel the presence of another being, somthing large and probably quite powerful, but at the moment it didn't seem to notice his presence. He focused on regaining his KI and resting his body, it was to soon to truely rest, but if he wanted to be of any help to his comrades then for now he had to at least try to relax. He heard a door open and opened one eye to see his comrades bust through, mostly unharmed. Madison looked tired and scared, Ziginz looked upset at this, no one should have to go through somthing like this, ever. Maximos looked a bit tired as well, but other then that seemed ok. Ziginz heard the moan as his large "freind" noticed their presence. Even so he smiled at the two as he stood to his feet.

"Now that I've settled down a little, lets see if we can't get outta here in one peice, shall we. First we should deal with Gus..."

He pointed in the direction of the presence he had sensed and waited for the creature to show itself. He had seen the letters earlier but had thought nothing of them until, well, now. On another note, Ziginz's voice had returned to his more calm tone and he seemed more collected as well. He had managed to regain enough of his KI to use some of his abilities, but knew he should save as much as he could in case they needed to make a quick escape. For now he simply watched and waited for whatever was about to strike.

Yes, it may have been true. Madison probably did look as though she was fearful for her life as she stood on the roof tops, but it was a different sort of fear. With a glimpse of the fresh air, the woman took a deep breath in and stood tall. This fear was something she chose, so there was no use ignoring. Looking over, the rabbit saw that Max looked rather pooped as he was supporting himself with his knees and trying to catch a breath. He looked absolutely exhausted.

“Are you okay?” A small part of it felt as though it were a dumb question of sorts. Considering that he looked as though he were going to pass out. About to step over to him, Madison caught sight of the questionable sight of the mysterious creature. Slowly, she could feel the Shadow man slowly walk up behind her and ponder about the sight as well. It was indeed rather strange.

”Guz? Gus?”

“Guuuz? What’s a Guz?” She had never heard such a term before, but that’s what the sign said clear as day, which shockingly enough was finally making it’s appearance. The rabbit was almost shocked to think that they had been on the go for a day, and yet here they were standing in the dawn’s light. It felt so nice to have her stained skin being filled with warmth; she had forgotten how nice it felt in comparison to the coolness of night that was ever so unfamiliar to her.

"Now that I've settled down a little, lets see if we can't get outta here in one peice, shall we. First we should deal with Gus..."

Quickly the rabbit turned her head to see that the strange man that had been following them was indeed still alive. He seemed that he was doing rather okay, even though the slight bit of worry on his face when their eyes met. But then it was replaced with a warm smile as he joined the party in examinations. However, the way that he pronounced the name seemed to bother her slightly as she continued to stare at the sign. “No, it’s Guz. See, G. U. Z.” She pointed with her fingers indicating at the sign, her reading skills may have not been the best but she did know the very basics.

"I dont imagine we can just slip sneakily off the roof and forget its there, can we?"

“I think so. I’m positive I saw a fire escape ladder over there!” Madison quickly pointed over towards the edge of the building where the tops of a ladder was. The only problem was that in order to get to it, there was a small requirement to reach it. In order to get down, they needed to pass the entry way of the metallic box. There was a bit of excitement in the rabbit’s voice that she had almost forgotten about the danger that lied ahead of them.

Madison slowly made her way over as though she were walking on broken shards of glass. If she wasn’t too careful, there could be a chance that danger was on her way. Every step she took was just as careful as the one beforehand; she even was breathing rather shallow trying her best not to make too much noise. She was doing rather well, even despite the fact that the burning sensation of strain on her legs for being extra careful was starting to bother her. Afterall, it was much easier to be loud and have your feet smack the pavement than to actually have some grace to it. Whether Max and Ziginz were following was entirely another question, but the rabbit seemed way too focused and excited to pay attention to the important details. Madison was not living in the now, but rather she was looking forward to having a chance to sit down and find out the details on what she was searching and holding on to for so long.

Despite how careful one maybe, there was always a flaw to every plan. Now being dawn, the sun was becoming far more intense than the coolness of moonlight rays. Reaching half way passed the door a small rumble could be felt on the ground that she was walking on. Instantly, her face turned to a much whiter shade of white than she already was and her attention quickly fell on the door before her. Her ears quickly shot down to the side of her head as a loud cry echoed through the silent morning.

Guz had woken up.

With a loud burst, a large head popped out of the top of the metal box and began to look around. As it did so, the metallic nest began to crumble beneath its midsection to reveal what exactly that they were looking at. This creature was definitely something that they were not expecting as Madison seemed to meet face to face with what appeared to be a 15 foot walking pigeon weighing roughly about the same size as a small vehicle. There was something different about him. Rather than being well, the normal size of a pigeon, it was huge and slightly off shaped. It’s wings were quite a fair bit smaller than the rest of its large body as it seemed that the bird had eaten itself into a permanent position with a midsection that was rather large for digestion. But unlike most birds of this species, there seemed to be some improvements, like the blood stained beak on the bird the talons seemed to be much sharper and angled as though designed for ripping flesh and chopping up bones. He was rather lumpy in comparison to other pigeons, especially towards his frontal lobe of his head as one section seemed to be slightly inflamed compared to the rest of his body. But despite on how hideous he may have been, he still seemed like a classy bird as a small blue and white plaid bandana with small speckles of red splotches remaining.

As the bird adjusted his talons a loud crunching sound was heard as it made itself ready for the morning. Below it sat multiple skeletons of what appeared to be not just animals, but people too. The mere sight of it caused the rabbit to feel slightly nauseous. With a another loud cry, flames shot into the sky from its mouth. It seemed that this bird wasn’t just a monstrosity, but it also had a rather spicy breath to it as well. With a final adjustment of its grey feathers, it finally stopped and caught it’s sight on the rabbit who seemed to have been frozen put. At first, Madison figured that not moving would not get the bird’s attention. But once having it’s sights to on her, she slowly began to move again, however it’s large crimson eye never left her.

It was clear that it was viewing Madison as a tasty treat.

Opening it’s beak again, she quickly caught sight of something rather interesting. A small ball seemed to be forming in the beak which caused an instant panic over the rabbit. Darting back, Madison began to make her way to their starter point. As she bolted, a long trail of flames began to burst from it’s mouth. Yes, it was clear that they were dealing with something far more sinister now. Instead of zombies, the party was now faced with what appeared to be a mutant pigeon who could breathe fire and was hungry.

And what was worse, it was now coming towards them.

“No, it’s Guz. See, G. U. Z.”

“But Gus sounds so much better and makes a little more sense…”

Ziginz scratched his head at her comment knowing she was right, but still, who ever heard of a guz. Oh well, more important things needed attention, like getting away.

"I dont imagine we can just slip sneakily off the roof and forget its there, can we?"

“I think so. I’m positive I saw a fire escape ladder over there!”

Ziginz turned to the two and then looked toward the fire escape. It would probably work…except for the hoard of undead bellow waiting for a quick meal. Before Ziginz could speak up Madison was off. Oh well, if anything she would see the rotting citizens and just turn back around. As quietly and quickly as she was going she would probably get pass Gus/Guz without any trouble. Unfortunately the sun had different plans as it glared into the cage awakening the sleeping giant. Ziginz watched as the creature made its appearance causing him to quiver. It was a bird…a big…bad…ugly a** bird. Ziginz began to shake as the creature stretched and groaned and Madison froze in place. He could hear Maximos trying to tell Madison to run but made no noise himself. His eye now twitched and a smiled started creeping across his face as the creature shot out flames and turned its attention to Madison. Madison was in shock, Maximos shouted for her to run, and Ziginz, well….

As Maximos ran forward using his shadow powers to summon a shield to protect the now retreating Madison, Ziginz finally snapped and let out a wild laugh, his eyes once again a pale shade of yellow. He rushed in past his two comrades, a smile on his face and a fury in his heart, The creature opened its mouth blasting flames at Ziginz to which he simply let hit him. At first it would look as if the flames had torched him, but the sound of a low voice coming from the flames would soon be heard by those around him

“If it were lightning I’d be in trouble, if it were acid I'd be in trouble, if it were frost I'd be in trouble, but fire…. FIRE!!!!”

The flames would erupt around him as his KI aura wrapped around him, the heat from the flames seemingly being absorbed by him.

“ Fire I can live with!”

Ziginz was in his happy place now, oh God only knew the things that were going through his head. He had finally calmed down, he had regained his KI and was prepared to use it sparingly, but now there was a giant, fire breathing pigeon staring him in the face. Any restraint he had mustered was now gone. It was yet again time to fight, and he was ever so happy. He vanished in a blur, appearing above the pigeon. He aimed just right and hit the top of the pigeon’s head with enough force to punch through a brick wall. The pigeon took the hit and was knocked down, but much to Ziginz’s joy, it kept its footing and its skull did not shatter. It was strong, it really was strong! After the punch he swung his leg around to hit the pigeon again with a heel kick, yet again the pigeon took the hit, but it was defiantly effected from the look on its face. It held up again, only moving a few inches down. Ziginz shifted his weight and landed on last kick, not to hurt the creature as much as to propel himself away. He landed a few feet away and smiled at the pigeon summoning a KI blade in his right hand and waiting for the creature’s next move.

“What about you?”

Maximos didnt answer. There was a time in his life where he would have been his last concern. Where any harm that came his way was rationalized as the price for all the wrongs he had committed. He would have tossed himself into battle headlong with reckless abandon, but that time was come and gone. He had things to do. People to protect. A life to live! And more over, a promise to keep. He promised Madison he would be careful, and Maximos never broke his promises. Thats just the kind of man he was. The Shadow delayed in responding. He didnt moved and it seemed momentarily he was ignoring her. His eyes stood locked on Gus, until the last gouts of flamed faded and then he turned his head just over his shoulder and met Madison's eyes with a sideways glance and grinned and absolutely carefree grin. After all, a tragic death would be a horrible end to her first adventure!

“Okay, I’ll keep them safe...but...promise you will be okay. Please...” But before Maximos could say a word in reply the bunny girl bounced up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“ Fire I can live with!”

Now whether it was Ziginz' outcry, or the fact that Maximos wanted to hide the blush that spread across his already pale cheeks, it was impossible to tell. What was definite, was that that was possibly the most adorable act ever. Once Maximos' face was turned back to the fight he tightened his grip on his sword and replied to Madison properly. A chuckle audible on his voice. "Dont worry Madison, I have no intention of breaking my promise today. This foul beast will..."

Maximos smelled it before he realized what it was. The ground where the flame had burned was scorched black but also sticky with some sort of bubbling goop. Broken lengths of bleached white bone were scattered here and there, all of which exuded a stench so horrible it derailed his train of thought entirely. "Do you smell that? Its disgusting."

"It smells like rot, ash, vomit and..." Maximos eyes snapped open. These bones werent in pieces simply because they were broke, they were in pieces because they were partially digested. This vile creature did not breath elemental fire, it vomited some sort of combustible vile gook! And what was worse, Ziginz was rushing right into it!

"Zigz wait!" Maximos shouted, rushing forward. "The damned thing is spewing up ignitable stomach -- " It was too late. Ziginz had already punched and kicked it twice, blood bearing the same pungent scent as its vile fire splashed everywhere and then the Ki wielding fighter propelled himself off the bird and landed. Maximos came to a stop beside him dodging a stream or two of acidic spew.

"--Acid." Maximos said, lowering his sword so that its tip hovered a finger's width from the ground and from touching the tip of the shadow his sword and himself cast. "It spews acid, Mr. Zegell. I imagine these bones to mean its become very adept at melting away human flesh. I can cover you if you need a moment to remove those before it soaks through."

Max blushed slightly with the small peck she gave him. And yet he was trying his best to hide it. With a small chuckle he looked back at her and tightened his grip on his sword."Dont worry Madison, I have no intention of breaking my promise today. This foul beast will..."

The rabbit gave him a nod, she had distracted him long enough. However, before he darted into battle the two of them stared at the bubbling ground to witness that there was something fishy about the entire situation. The smell of rot and flesh flew through the air and the feeling of illness fell over Madison. She almost felt like she herself could vomit by the mere smell, Madison never did exactly have an iron stomach.

"Do you smell that? Its disgusting. It smells like rot, ash, vomit and... " Instantly, Max dashed out from where Madison was and made his way towards Ziginz. It was as though he knew something that she didn’t! But by the time Max was even finished screaming, blood spewed out of the beast and fire continued to blaze out onto the roof tops.

Ew.

Madison’s stomach turned as she watched Ziginz become a human puke bucket. But then as though he waved a magic wand his wounds had become instantly better. It still wouldn’t change the fact that probably for the next week that man was going to smell absolutely dreadful no matter how much scrubbing he did. A smell like that wasn’t going to come off in one wash, no matter how much healing you managed to do. And even if the smell was going to come off, Ziginz was going to have a small problem. Unless his clothing was just as magical as his flesh they would be fine, but if his clothing wasn’t enchanted than the man would probably find that it was getting drafty rather quickly as the strings of fabric would slowly disappear leaving his bear flesh to be exposed. And no amount of healing of Ki could provide suitable censor bars for innocent rabbit eyes.

"I should be fine now, sorry to cause so much trouble."

His voice seemed to have changed again.

He was now a bit more calm and collected, especially compared to what he had been like within the past few seconds. Perhaps, he had other people living in his head. But whatever it may have been, this one seemed slightly saner than the rest of the individuals that had made themselves present. And that was saying something considering both Max’s and Madison’s mental conditions.

"I have an idea, maybe we can trick this thing into destroying itself. The roof is already weak, and he has to weight at least a few tons, we might be able to drop this guy a few floors, but we have to be careful not to take the whole roof down with him."

It was better than nothing.

But they couldn’t really keep discussing this and letting the plan fall into action because now there seemed to be some movement coming from the gigantic bird. With a loud “chirp”, the beast began to move with a great big of difficulty. With a few flaps of his miniscule wings he seemed to finally make his way up to a standing position. A loud thunk shook the roof top as large talons scraped the cement; the sharpness of each of the claws only caused gravel to form. Flapping his wings once more the bird began to move with a slight head bob similar to your average sized pigeon. But the real question where was he going? At first the bird turned his head from side to side in order to get a clear view of his surroundings he began to move.

Each of his steps seemed a little different than the first. He began to peck on ground. First, he seemed way off from both of the men, than his pecking moved a little further forward, practically being a few feet away from Max. After striking it’s beak on the ground, the head quickly moved up and looked around again in attempts to find something. Despite being a monstrosity, the beast still served it’s natural instincts, and this case a tasty little worm was looking rather good right now. It was just a matter of finding a worm, but judging by the bird’s size it was definitely not eating worms.