Tales of Symphonia: Aftershocks (Open/Accepting!)

[Youkai Saint]

Hina gave a gasp as the minotaur charged at the Chosen one, how dare he! Luckily, she seemed to be fine. She decided that she should put in another attack. She held her skirt once more and gave a bow. "Martel give me strength." She whispered to herself. She drew a circle once more on the ground, in a purple color, and began to create her spell, the symbol looking like a sword in the circle.

Once she completed it, she held her arms out to her sides and said, "Thunder Blade!" The spell circle disappated and from the sky over the minotaur fell the electric sword which would hit the ground and then send a strong shock through the ground afterwards.  

[Sirea Angelie]

As the others focused their attacks on Torus, Colette gotten up on her feet. She gave a smile to Lloyd as he landed in front of her after using his attack. Now it was her turn to make her move. "Ring Whirlwind!" She would spin around, chakrams in each hand, in attempt to hit Torus.  

[RP_Master_Jak]

Meteo hesitated a moment, watching the attacks strike the beast, then ran onto it's back, blade held high, aiming to decapitate the monster in one fell stroke. This thing deserved no less than death, as do all true monsters, and the fall of this beast would protect others from it's rampage.

 

[ac-null13]

While the final attacks were connecting, Zaul landed on his feet a good distance away and watched. Torus was too sluggish by then to counter. Hina's Thunder Blade pinned him back down, Colette's Ring Whirlwind made a few more hits to his face, and Meteo's final stroke followed through successfully.

And that was that. Once the minotaur's head was severed, he shrank back down to his initial form.

Zaul walked up to the body. He seemed to be searching for something on Torus' person, his eye darting to and fro. When he couldn't find it, he used his foot to turn over the corpse—and there it was, at the part dead center where the collarbones meet. Lloyd walked over as well, a little unsettled on the inside at the sight of the blood spilling from the severed head and the body. But he was curious about what Zaul was trying to get at. The gunman, now down on one knee, proceeded to pull carefully from the body what appeared to be a black jewel in a shoddy-looking metal mount.

Upon catching sight of the craftsmanship of the metal object, Lloyd instantly recognized its function. With a shocked expression, he blurted out, "That...that's a Key Crest! So what's in it...has gotta be an Exsphere too!"

"Yup, that's 'bout c'rrect, Lloyd. This one's been modified in a real twisted way..." He tossed it aside onto the ground and continued, "Go on an' break it, see what happens."

Warily, Lloyd stepped up to the Exsphere, drew a sword, and shattered it with a stab. He jumped back slightly in surprise at what happened next—a mass of black-colored substance leaked out of the remains like oil, soon forming and solidifying into the shape of a bull-like monster that wouldn't be found in the latest monster guides. A new species, it seemed. Zaul suspected it was the result of genetic engineering.

Its head was also severed, and Torus' corpse reverted back into a more human form. The shards of the Exsphere also turned into the normal dark blue they usually were.

"What the...?!" was all Lloyd could manage, at a loss for words.

"It's as I suspected. Th' black colorin' prob'ly means it's an evolved form o' the green Exspheres like his victims have on. An' look at its' body; that's an indication o' how far his fusion with th' creature had gone."

((Hmm. I had a lot more to put here but I figured I should leave room for the other characters' reactions.))  

[Sirea Angelie]

Colette frowned as she had watched Zaul and Lloyd. She was also at a loss for words when she saw the mass of black substance.

Emil's eyes widen as he also watched the black substance take form into a bull-like monster. "What the...!?" He then glanced over to Zaul as he spoke about the Exsphere. "Think that may be our clue as to what happened to those missing people?" He asked with concern.  

[Cinkel Anon]

Cleo managed to get out of the way of her comrades' final attacks. Once their opponent fell to the ground, she moved towards the others to get a closer look. She covered her mouth and nose at the sight. "That sounds troublesome, huh. Does that mean there are going to be more like him?" Her face was slightly paler.

Cinkel snapped his fingers and the barrier he had placed up shattered like glass. He moved closer, but he still kept a distance away from the group. "That's definitely interesting. They can be broken just like any of the originals it seems." Cinkel glanced over towards Emil at his guess. "That's a good theory, young man. Regardless, it is definitely worth looking into."

"So do these Exspheres have the same attributes as a regular one?" Cleo took a couple of steps back.  

[Youkai Saint]

Hina's Thunder blade had helped to keep the monster pinned. But when Meteo's strike fell, decapitating the monster, Hina's eyes shrank and she gave a horrified look. Never had she seen such a barbaric way to end a foe. She held a hand over her mouth as she turned her head away from the sight of the corpse. "O-oh my goodness." Hina said, quietly, through her hand.

She heard Lloyd and another man, Zaul, talking by the monster's corpse. She looked over to see them looking at an Exsphere. When Llyod stabbed it, though, it spewed a black substance that began to accumulate over the monster, turning it into a human. Hina gave a loud gasp and took a step back. "What... what manner of evil is this?!" She asked aloud. "Did we just... did we just kill a... He- he was a... a..." She was at a complete lose for words at this time, but she finally managed to spit out, "... a Man?" Hina fell backwards and landed on her butt. She sat there horror-struck. "What's going on?" She asked the group.

She believed she was fighting against some sort of monster, but... this? And for a priestess to do this? What had she done?  

[Evilweirdo 0]

Jason swung his chains around, looking quite manly if he could say so himself. After stowing them, he approached what remained of Torus and gave it another scowl. "A surprise, innit? Shoddy workmanship, though." He clearly wouldn't be getting over that anytime soon, and only looked on in disapproval as the dead monster appeared out of the Exsphere.
His grumbling, however, could wait. There was an upset lady around, and he wouldn't let himself leave things that way. "Ye two! Save that Exsphere 'n Crest! It's a sure bet that there'll be more, so we should take a look, eh? Now, if ye'll 'scuse this old dwarf..."
He walked over to Hina and offered a reassuring pat on the shoulder, his stature making it so that he didn't even have to reach down very far to do so. "There was no way for yeh ta know, lass, and 'e cannae be considered a true man with 'is deeds. 'Tleast what I think." He spoke gravely. Controlling villagers and using bad equipment was bad enough, but Torus had upset a lady by doing so, and that, the dwarf thought, was a very bad thing to do.  

[RP_Master_Jak]

Meteo didn't look at the exsphere or the headless body, instead taking the head and kicking it as far into the trees as possible, then heading back to the body. He pulled out a piece of paper to explain what he was about to try and do, and handed it to Lloyd when he was done.
"Father said necromancers can't make a zombie if you cut them to pieces and scatter the pieces or burn them. I don't think we have the time for a fire."

 

[Cinkel Anon]

Cinkel moved towards Hina after Jason. He knelt down in front of them so he could look into Hina's eyes. "He's right, milady. He does not deserve the title of man. At least, not anymore. He was nothing more than a monster to have done such things. To accept such a power... Regardless, Priestess, Martel is a forgiving one." He stood up and offered his hand to help her up. "You just have to live your life as well as his. Forgive yourself, and grow. Right? If you cannot continue, I present an offer to escort you to the closest temple. I'm sure the others could handle burial." Cinkel pretended to be oblivious to Meteo kicking the head towards the trees.

Cleo's eyes widened as the head flew through the air. She looked as if she was going to be sick.

((I'm out of turn, but I'm not sure when I'll get to post again. Gettin' ready for finals, so I might not get to check back as often.))  

[Lord Lee Major]

Schwarz and Oro remained silent as they watched the group, both partially sending a silent prayer to the deceased foe. Sure he was corrupted, but then again very few souls that were truly free of sins and corruption, they understood that.They were brought out of their thoughts with the way the others were talking amongst themselves. "Well, glad you called him... it... whatever it was a monster and not a beast." Schwarz looked towards Cinkle with a small smile.

Oro continued to laze on Schwarz head, silent in thought, not sure what to make of this new developments.


((Sorry this took so long. For some reason I had a real tough time thinking what to write for these two, compared to the other RPs... odd considering that these two are normally the easiest to write for. sweatdrop ))  

[ac-null13]

((I am so sorry this is so so long, but this much is needed to move things along. eek
I considered cutting this up but I really have held you guys off long enough. ))

Both Lloyd and Zaul noticed what Meteo had done, as his action had interrupted the conversation for a moment. The former simply sweatdropped and the latter sharply raised his brow with a perplexed expression. Overkill much...? he thought.

His attention caught by Emil's question, the gunman turned his glance to the blonde male and replied, "It's more than a clue...I'm willin' ta bet them once-lackeys back there are some o' th' missin' people." He pointed with his thumb behind him, at the monster-people that were approaching. They hesitated when they saw what Meteo had done with Torus' head, then edged away from him in slight apprehension as they made their way near Zaul. He then looked at Cleo and answered, "Yep, it cert'nly means that. There was one other I fought before, with some colleagues..."

"Yeah, it looks like it should have the same properties, but judging from what it just did, it must've had more done to it for it to do that." The swordsman's attention was then caught by Jason's suggestion. He looked down at the Key Crest that held the Exsphere he just shattered after hearing it, then went down on one knee to pick them up. "Ah yeah, I got it. Maybe I could have Dad take a look at it as well. As for these Exsphere shards...I dunno, I'll figure something out later."

Zaul's eye went wide as he watched Lloyd take up the items; he stared silently as the boy stood back up and placed them into a small empty pouch. ...Whoops. I was hopin' ta take 'em back ta Doc an' Fergus... And it was those particular ones the people he had in mind needed to examine. He carefully considered just asking for it, but it would lead to a lot of explanation and the guild was not yet ready to be known to the likes of Lloyd Irving.

It was at this point Lloyd was approached by Meteo. He made a bit of a stunned expression while reading the note out loud, involving a slight frown and a wide-eyed, blinking stare. Looking up from the piece of paper to Meteo, he replied, "I don't think necromancers are too much to worry about these days, but I guess it's wiser not to take any chances..." He sounded a little unsure of how to handle his request. It was an open-ended "go ahead", leaving room for someone else to object if they thought it was violating certain norms. There was a priestess in their presence, and it looked like Schwarz, Cinkel, or Cleo might have something to say about it, so he just thought it'd be polite.

Now noticing that Torus' victims were starting to crowd around Zaul, likely because of the Lamia-woman that spread word about him, Lloyd turned a curious glance to the gunman. He was discovering just now hints of this underground...experimenting going on involving Exspheres, and the gunman seemed to know more about it than him. "I...think I have a lot of questions for you, Zaul. But that reminds me." Looking up, he seemed to point with his eyes to the monster-people. "What can we do for these people now?"

Zaul seemed to perk up in slight alarm once Lloyd said that first statement. He sprung back up to his feet and dusted himself off, then looked back at the group behind him. "Ah right, I have just th' thing! But, uh...lemme see if I have enough..." He took out a flat black case from a pouch attached to one of his belts, opened it, and softly counted its contents to himself. "...two, three... Rats, I only have four left. Hmm. I hope someone's out there..." Pulling back one of his sleeves, he revealed a gray watch-like device strapped around his wrist. After pressing a side button, a red light on its black circular face started to blink and he began to speak into it, showing that it was a communicator of sorts. "This's th' One-Eyed Gunman, reportin' from th' route between Hima and Luin. Does anyone copy? Over."

There was a bit of a silent pause, in which Zaul started to perceive a little confusion from...people who weren't exactly there at the moment. He closed his eye and concentrated on a thought. Guys, I ain't usin' th' mind link 'cause I'm with Big Red an' Sylvarant's Angel. With just that, he could feel the tinges of surprise from them.

Finally, an answer came out of the device. It was a female voice. "Affirmative. This is Steel Fist, traveling with Copper Heel. We are just about due northeast of your position. Come in, One-Eyed Gunman."

"Excellent. Listen, I'm in need 'a yer assistance. Jus' encountered one o' them monster gen'rals, but relax, I'm fine. Took 'im down with a bunch 'a new allies an' now we're left with th' victims he dragged along. There's 'bout twelve o' them here an' I only have four Heal Crests on me. Not ta mention, they're gonna need escortin' ta a proper infirmary. Over."

This time, it was the voice of "Copper Heel" that replied, a male. "Roger Wilco, One-Eyed Gunman. Sit tight, we'll get over there as quickly as possible. At our position, should take no more than fifteen minutes. Already making a break for it. Over and out."

Zaul sighed in relief and pulled his sleeve back over his wrist. Having listened to the whole exchange, Lloyd looked all the more surprised and curious. He had seen long-distance communication devices before, but none as portable as that. And whoever he was speaking with, they all sounded like they used codenames with each other. He wondered why that was necessary.

"...Hey, Zaul? Who were they? And...'Heal Crests'?"

"Uh...just a couple o' guildmates." The gunman went on to answer his other question with his next actions. Opening the black case he had in hand once more, he carefully took out a small object that appeared to be made of a dark gold-colored metal. It was circular with short tabs sticking out the sides and pressed finely flat, close to the thinness of paper. There also appeared to be a lot of runes pressed into every inch of it, in an organized manner. "Lloyd, I reckon ya judged by now that thanks ta th' shoddy workmanship o' the Key Crests they have on, tryin' ta take off their Exspheres would actually do more harm than good. These're gonna correct that. Jus' trust me on this, I've seen 'em in action before."

Lloyd looked a bit astonished as he eyed the Heal Crest Zaul was showing. Judging by the color, he wondered if it was made of orichalcum. He'd have to ask later; he was much more interested in seeing how this Heal Crest would work.

The gunman looked to the Lamia-woman he had spoken with during the battle. "Ma'am, if ya'd follow me over here an' lay down..." He moved away from Torus' remains to a cleaner, more spacious spot and helped the woman lie straight and flat on the grass. Getting down on both knees and placing a hand in one of hers, he proceeded to speak in a manner meant to calm and mentally prepare her for what was to follow. "Now, once I apply this t' yer Key Crest...I ain't gonna lie; yer gonna feel a lotta pain. Ya can scream yer heart out an' squeeze th' life outta my hand if ya need ta. But I promise ya, it means yer goin' back ta normal. Undastood?" There was fear in the woman's eyes, but she replied with a nod. "Are ya ready?" Two nods. With his free hand, Zaul carefully placed the Heal Crest upon the Key Crest at the woman's collarbone. It glowed and seemed to melt, coating the Key Crest and filling its notches.

In the next moment, the woman let out a shrill gasp and began to groan loudly in pain as a transformation began. The Heal Crest would glow brighter as it progressed. First, her skin and hair returned to their normal color, her claws receded into normal nails, and the teeth that lined her mouth went from fangly to human. Then slowly, all the scales retracted back into the skin. Next came the part that would hurt the most—the shifting of her skeletal structure back to its correct proportions and form. She cried out as her fingers shortened to their normal lengths, and screamed even louder as her snakelike lower half gradually split and reformed into her legs.

The other monster-people watching on were stricken with anxiety from her painful shouting, but were feeling hopeful seeing that she was indeed returning to normal. And Lloyd almost could not believe what he was witnessing. He started to feel a great need to meet whoever created these Heal Crests.

Zaul gritted his teeth as the woman squeezed his hand so tightly that her nails threatened to puncture through the back of his glove. But he never once faltered as he responded with a firm hold of his own. "That's some grip ya got there, lady!" he exclaimed with a laugh in the hopes of keeping her in lighter spirits somewhat, "Just a lil' more. Yer almost there!"

Within the next minute, the woman's feet were done fully forming and her bones finished their solidifying. She was now in her true form, her raggedy brown dress fortunately still intact. Covered in a cold sweat, she breathed heavily and released her grip on Zaul's hand. As the Heal Crest's glow died down, the gunman at last pulled the Key Crest and Exsphere off her person. He motioned for Lloyd to come over and pick it up, which he did, proceeding to examine the whole thing intently.

The woman attempted to push herself up to sit and have a look at herself, but she was still too weak. "Whoa, take it easy there, lady. Rest a bit. Yer strength'll come back ta ya soon enough," Zaul advised, smiling warmly as he patted her shoulder comfortingly.

"Th...thank you...thank you..." she rasped, starting to shed tears in happiness.

"T'was no problem, ma'am." Seeing her off with a nod, he stood up to address the other monster-people, who now appeared to be approaching him eagerly. "Please stay orderly, folks. I only got three more on me, but I promise y'all, more're on th' way."  

[Sirea Angelie]

Colette had a look of concern as she saw Hina's reaction that Torus was a human. She slowly walked over to the priestess. "Cinkel's right. Martel is very forgiving. She would understand our reasons." She said. Despite Torus's deeds, she didn't think ill of him. She frowned as she watched Meteo kick Torus's head.

Emil winced as the head was kicked, though he turned his attention to Zaul when he pointed to the monster people that were approaching them. "Who would do something like this to them?" He asked. He noticed that they were crowding around Zaul, which had gotten his as well as Colette's curiosity.

Their curiosity grew after Zaul had contacted a couple of his guildmates as well as the mention of Heal Crests. Colette was speechless as she was amazed to see how the Heal Crest worked. The Lamia-woman was now back to being human.

"That's pretty impressive, Zaul." He said.  

[Cinkel Anon]

Cinkel turned his head towards Schwarz when he was addressed. "Hmm? Are beast not different from monsters? Beast like wolves, tigers, and boars I have no problem with. It's monsters like this thing that should be dealt with, no?" After helping Hina up, he walked over towards Zaul and Lloyd. "Necromancers, huh? Even if that's the case, without that special Exsphere, he'll just be in this human-like form. Even the town guard would be able to take care of that. Besides, I just told Priestess Hina that I'll bury they guy. A gentleman can't go back on his word for a lovely lady, now can he?"

Cleo looked away from the body finally to address them. "Besides, I haven't seen any signs of necromancy around these parts, and I've been around here for a while." When Zaul pulled out his little communicator, Cleo moved over to look over his shoulder. "One-Eyed Gunman? I thought your name was Zaul." She clearly did not make the connection towards that being his code name.

Those are some interesting code names. I am curious as to who they are. Cinkel thought to himself. "You wouldn't happen to now what it takes to make one of those off of the top of your head, Sir Zaul?" He heard his name from Cleo and asked after witnessing the power of the Heal Crests.

Cleo only managed to let out a soft, "Oooooooh," as the Lamia-woman returned to her human form.

"Could they be "test" towards making one of those." Cinkel pointed a thumb towards the dead Torus.  

[Evilweirdo 0]

The dwarf Jason laughed a bit to himself. "Tha worst a necromancer could do in this 'ere age is kill us with snark o' summat."
Despite his comment, he was still listening to Zaul's communications. "Copper heels? That ain't exactly the best material ta make heels wi- Aah, never ye mind."
With an appreciative shoulder clap (given with some difficulty, due to his height) to Cinkel, he nodded in agreement with the marveling members of the group. "Me 'sentments exactly, lads an' lasses. Zaul, if you lads need any help makin' more 'o them Heal Crests, you've got yer dwarf right here."


((Did someone call for a necromancer?))