darkSpyro

"I'm sure, Erianna," Ember told her friend. "Light gives you...well, light, but it won't keep you warm. My inner fire will be enough for me." She gave Erianna a small smile as she listened to the rest of her words. "I know. But I will do my job and return to you and the others," she said. "I'll keep you in my dreams, Erianna. But I have faith in you, too! We'll be able to do this quickly, I bet." Ember dipped her head, blinking quickly, and wrapped her cloak around herself. "Goodbye, my friend. I wish you the best of luck!" With that she turned and hobbled towards the east side of the castle.

Hoshi appeared alone near the other side of the river facing the other side of the castle. She lightly landed down, having arrived just a few inches above the soft snow covered grass.
"It's going to be a long three days..." Hoshi muttered to herself.
She got to work setting up a small tent made of twigs and pine branches. It wasn't particularly good, but it did the job to protect her from the elements. Once done, she huddled inside and stared at the castle.

Hoshi sat in her tent staring intently at the castle. With her focus all centered at one point, she didn't notice the footsteps through the snow creep behind her. A sudden chill, colder than the already frigid temperatures snapped her back to what was going on around her. Hoshi peered from her tent and quickly ducked, just as a scythe swung by slicing apart her leafy shelter.

The castle of ice grew sharper in Ember's view. Snowy wind whipped around, tugging her cloak in different directions. It was too dangerous to scout like this! She had to make a shelter. After glancing around, she realized there was a forest behind her. Upon entering the leafy shadows, the wind buffeting her grew lesser. That was when Ember decided that she'd make her shelter in the woods. She bent a branch on a pine so that it draped down, then ducked under it. It was a small space, but small enough to ensure she wouldn't be found or bothered. With the base established, she emerged from the shelter and began looking around for more branches, maybe leaves or moss to pack it in tighter.

As Ember was looking for more supplies to build her shelter, Kai walked up behind her and drew his sword. Moving like a mindless zombie, he carelessly stepped on a twig, signaling his presence.

~~~

Another figure staggered from the forest heading straight for Erianna. Mei raised her sword and swung it down, slashing through the air. A blast of air was sent flying at Erianna.

~~~

Hoshi got up and drew her sword from her back, facing her attacker. Runo looked back at Hoshi with a blank look in her glowing golden eyes.

Ember froze as something snapped. Was it an animal? She slowly turned around and faced her opponent. Hey, wait a sec! That's the guy we fought! And he injured Erianna! Ember narrowed her eyes. Okay. This guy might be controlled, as the others suggested. I've gotta be careful. With that she felt darkness pulse through her hand, taking form as a darkness sword. She positioned it in front of her, waiting for her enemy to attack first.

Kai used his katana as a conductor's wand to draw a large amount of water from the snow on the ground and raised it into the air. It floated for a short while, before he let it fall, drenching Ember. He then drew more water from the ground, creating another water-whip. He swung it straight at Ember's ankles, wrapping around them as if it were a solid rope.

~~~

Mei changed her stance to a defensive one. She held her sword up to block Erianna's attack.

~~~

Hoshi charged for Runo, as she ran, she stepped upward slightly so that she was running on the air. Runo waved a hand and sent a flurry of ice shards flying at Hoshi. Hoshi tried deflecting them, yet her cheek was still cut by one of the shards.

As soon as the water hit her, Ember realized there was no fooling around. She jumped to the side, narrowly missing a whip attack, and opened her hand. Darkness manifested in the palm, which she then threw at her opponent. It poofed into a mist, limiting her opponent's vision. She then stumbled back and rubbed her shoulders, shivering. This would be a quick match, not in her favor. Unless she got a few lucky hits...Ember's sword became a bow as she thought. She raised it, trying to aim and fire.

Mei was knocked on her back, tripped by Erianna's staff. Mei put her hands to the ground and released a blast of air pushing her back up to her feet. She then stomped on the ground causing a burst of air to shoot up from under Erianna.

~~~

Kai looked around, blinded by the mist yet not fully aware of why. One of Ember's arrows pierced him in his shoulder, yet he didn't react to the pain. Rather he started freaking out, moving his sword about madly in his blindness. The water whip danced about and changed shape, moving about violently.

~~~

Hoshi jumped down and brought her sword crashing down into the snow. The snow flew about as the large sword came crashing down. Runo jumped back and slid back, her feet gliding along the ground as if she were ice-skating. Hoshi raised her sword back up and charged along the air, swinging at her opponent. Runo glided backwards and backflipped to dodge, only adding to Hoshi's annoyance.

Ember looked up in horror as the tendril of her rival element started flying around recklessly. She stepped and twirled around, trying to avoid the whip. At the velocity it was moving, it could cause more damage. Eventually she decided enough was enough and leapt up in a tree, sure her enemy wouldn't find her, as the mist was still around. The tip of the whip caught her angle and she collapsed into a tree branch, biting her lower lip to stifle the cry she almost unleashed. Steadily she pulled herself up, and when she was ready she positioned herself and her bow, firing a few more arrows.

The rapid, wild movements of the water coil ended up blocking most of the arrows, slapping them away. One however, landed in Kai's upper thigh. He still didn't react to the pain however, almsot as if he didn't feel it.
Kai moved his arm as if cracking a whip; the water tendrill expanded a bit then exploded in all directions, covering the area in a light rain. The rain washed away the dark mist from his eyes. He looked around, tryign to find Ember, yet seeming unable to what with her perched in the tree.

Ember withdrew deeper into the tree branch as the rain fell. Intermingled with the snow, visibility was lower than ever. And now that the black cloud had been washed away, it was harder to target her enemy. She continued to stare out into the area, realizing that if she fired now, the source of the arrows could be tracked. But Ember did have the element of surprise, leaving her with one more option. Her dark bow fused into a curved scimitar- did she want to take this chance? Well, it was now or never. She watched, gathering herself together, and lunged out of the tree, swinging the sword in an attempt to hit her target.

Kai turned to see Ember flying towards him. With little time to react, he quickly balls his left hand into a fist and creates a ball of water around it from the rain. He throws the fist forward connecting his punch with Ember's stomach, her blade landing in his right shoulder as their attacks collide. The water around his fist explodes, giving a greater impact to his punch. As Ember's blade remains lodged in his shoulder, blood begins to trickle down around it. Kai manipulates this blood, causing a few drops to float up and stretch out into coils that wrap around Embers body.

OoC: oh frick

Ember gasped as her enemy's punch knocked the wind out of her. She stared into his face as she froze, surprised by the impact of the blow. He showed no pain, even though her scimitar was lodged in his shoulder. She stretched a hand out as she stumbled back, forcing the dark weapon to flatten and weld itself to his shoulder, making him heavier and therefore imbalanced. She was surprised when the droplets of blood thinned out into coils, wrapping around her. She struggled slightly, but deducted it couldn't be too much blood, or her enemy would be weak from blood loss, which he wasn't. She felt her fire flare up and soon, everywhere where the blood was touching her skin, it boiled and evaporated off.
I can't keep this endless dance up forever. If I run out of darkness, bad things will happen. Luckily, the fire was giving her energy, so she formed a darkness spear, thin but pointy, and began lunging around her opponent, poking with the spear here and there. It was long enough for her to stay a safe distance away, and hopefully the other solidified darkness would slow her enemy down.

Kai did his best to dodge the flurry of spear attacks, though the added weight of the darkness on his shoulder, which felt as if it were made of metal, weighed his arm down causing his left side to hunch a little as he moved. This led to getting struck several times, mostly along his left side. In no time, his left arm ends up covered in blood dripping along it. As Ember moves in for another jab, Kai grabs the pointed end of the spear, cutting into his hand. He sends a few thin stream of blood from his arm wrapping around the spear and up to Ember's hands going for her wrists to tie her hands to the spear.

Mei took the hit and stumbled to one side, though didn't seem to react with any emotion or sense of pain. She simply rose back up as if she had started to trip. She held her free hand close to her with wind swirling around her lower arm to form a small circular shield made of compressed air. Mei then charged for Erianna, swinging her sword at her.

~~~

Runo skated side to side watching Hoshi, readying for even the slightest move. Hoshi's eye twitched in annoyance at Runo's constant dodging as well as the blank, unblinking stare she kept looking at her with.
"Alright, fine. Warp." Hoshi said. In a flash she was gone.
Runo stopped and looked side to side for her target, somewhat confused by Hoshi's sudden dissappearence and unable to process it. Hoshi reappeared behind Runo and smacked her in the back with the side of her sword, knocking her up into the air. Hoshi then teleported behind RUno once more and continued knocking her higher and and higher until eventually Hoshi appeared above Runo and hit her straight down.
Runo plummeted to the ground, falling flat on her back landing with a light smack against the ground. She tried to move, yet a few of her bones had broken. Hoshi, standing in mid-air then pointed her sword down and increased gravity in her body, causing her to fall even faster than Runo had.
Runo quickly raised a series of icicle spikes from the ground forming a tent around her. Hoshi crashed through the ice, softening the blow and giving Runo time to roll to the side.

"Grr!" Ember gritted her teeth as she tried to yank the spear away from her opponent. She'd been pleased by how much damage she'd been able to cause, but his constant ability to bloodbends was getting annoying. But all I have I do is strike him enough, and he'll lose so much blood that he'll pass out. That is, deprive him of blood before I am deprived of darkness. She gave one last yank and was free, except for the fact that her hands were slightly wrapped. Fine. Her spear became a club, easier to weld in the position Ember's hands were stuck in. And she quickly struck her enemy's arm with it, aiming for some bone fractures.

((Can I have a recap?))

OOC: Ember, Erianna, and Hoshi split up to scout different areas of the castle and are under attack. Kai is attacking Ember, Mei is attacking Erianna, and Runo is attacking Hoshi. Meanwhile, Seiki, Shiori, and Jason are hanging around back at Jason's shack. Everyone is going to get captured, go with it.... I'll have someone attack the shack after someone loses among the scouts.

Mei blocked the staff with her sword and thrust her free hand forward, shooting a burst of air at Erianna from her palm.

~~~

The club hit Kai's arm, knocking him down, yet the club became stuck to the blood drenching the arm it had hit as a glue sticking the club to his arm. Kai remained on the ground and placed an hand on the snow covered grass. Water tendrils slowly rose from the ground, wrapping themselves around Ember's legs as they rose from the ground and slowly continued wrapping their way up Ember's body.

~~~

Runo sent a flurry of ice shards flying at Hoshi. As Hoshi blocked them with her sword, Runo took the chance to stand up; albeit shakily thanks to her broken bones. She raised her scythe to Hoshi. Cold air became attracted to the blade, freezing over it and making it grow larger into a long ice scythe. Runo began twirling the blade around as if it were weightless before charging at her opponent. Hoshi held up her large sword in front of her to block. Upon impact between the two blades, Hoshi was pushed back from the force, sliding along the ground. Runo then quickl skated around to Hoshi's other side and sliced Hoshi's back. The brunette fell to her knees.

I'm a fool! There's water all around me! Ember's eyes widened in terror as the sudden realization hit her. Her club faded away, and the blood wraps fell off as they were not holding her hands to anything anymore. Ember tried to jump away from the newly forming water tendrils, but was too late and ended up tripping over one instead, her injured ankle giving out. She struggled to escape, but they slowly covered up her ankles and legs. "Erianna!" she screeched as one final defense before the water became too great, overcoming her fire and making her pass out.

The tendrils continued working their way up their body, until they bound Ember entirely. At which point, they expanded into a large bubble of water, trapping her within it. A small air pocket was left around her head to let her breath. Kai attempted to stand up yet ended up lying down further due to fatigue.

~~~

Hoshi warped behind Runo, though staggered as she moved, the cut on her back leaving her in pain. Hoshi used what strength she had to knock Runo down with her sword. Runo turned and looked at Hoshi and gently blew air from her lips. The air was firgid and clung to Hoshi's body leaving a thin layer of frost. Hoshi did her best to make another move and send out another attack, but the ice continued to overcome her body, covering her in a fine layer of frost until Hoshi became frozen in ice.

~~~

The door to the small shack flew open and a tall woman with long blonde wavy hair strode in.
"Hello kiddies, you'll be coming with me." Kana smirked and waved to them.
"And what if we don't want to?" Shiori asked.
"Then I'll just make you." The woman replied.
She turned to Seiki and looked directly into his eyes. Her eyes glowed golden.
"At the sound of a snap, and this little rhyme,
You'll have a short nap, then you'll be mine." She chanted.
Kana snapped her fingers and the golden energy flew from Kana's eyes into Seiki's. He collapsed to the ground unconcious.
"What did you do to him?!" Shiori readied her bow.
Kana simply smirked in reply. Shiori lulled back the string, yet before she could fire an arrow, she felt the blade of a sword slash at her back. She turned to see Seiki standing with a sword raised to her; a blank soulless stare in his glowing golden eyes.

~~~

Mei met the staff with sword once more, and pressed forward to try and knock it from Erianna's hand. She held up her other hand and began collecting air from around the area, sucking the air away from Erianna and drawing it into a ball in her palm. She didn't take enough to kill her, merely to try and get her to pass out.

Jason had jumped back from the door, instantly summoning his sword to him, and creating a ball of lightning in his left hand. "Who the hell are you, and what did you do to Seiki!" He yelled, pointing his sword from Kana, to Seiki, than back.

OoC: Well now Ember's trapped, unconscious in a bubble. What do I dooo?

OOC: You're stuck in the odd position of waiting for Erianna, Jason, & Shiori to get captured. So... constantly poke Lyv and Rickorio to post.

Kana moved over to stand behind Seiki and stroked one of her hands along his face. Seiki didn't react to her touch..
"As for who I am, you needn't worry about that. Though your friend here is now my little puppet for the time being." She grabbed Seiki by his chin and turned him to face her. "Isn't that, right?" She made him nod his head. "Now, my little pet, subdue these two."
Seiki put his sword away and brought out his keytar. He took a step forward and began playing it. The sound emitted from came off as a loud shrieking, but only seemed to be heard by Shiori and Jason.

Jason backed away, wondering what he was going t-"AAAHHHHHH!" He yelled in pain, grabbing his ears and falling to the floor. How? Why aren't they in pain?! He was now, rolling on the ground in pain, screaming. Wait...He then began to take a huge breath of air, and pushed the air around him away from him, which meant the sound waves as well. He then stood up, and through his sword at the keytar.

Seiki ran his hand along the keys of the keytar. A large explosion of sound energy erupted from the keytar in all directions knocking the sword away, though making the shrieking stop as well. Shiori stood up and joined Jason against Seiki. Seiki began playing a song on his keytar causing the keytar to fire little bursts of sound energy to the rhythm of the song.
"His attacks aren't as powerful...." Shiori notes, watching the bursts flow from the keytar. "Usually, when he plays a song, the power in it, comes from the emotion he puts into the song. If you've seen one of his songs before, you'd know, this one's weaker because it lacks the emotion. We have a chance."

Jason gasped as he let the air flow back to him, and he summoned his sword back as well. "Yeah...." He said. "We just need to get him out of her control." He said.

Shiori began firing arrows with dulled tips at Seiki, though his sound blasts continued to knock them away.
"C'mon... Just one..." She mutters as she loads another arrow.
This time, a sound burst hit her bow before she could fire the arrow, knocking the bow from her hands. She dove for it just as another ball of sound energy zipped past her head.
"The energy balls follow the beat of the song he's playing, if you can match the beat you should be able to dodge them." Shiori called over to Jason.

Jason had to jump out of the way from the blast and nodded in response to Shiori's statement. "Got it." He said, putting an electrical barrier around him. "Wait....let's try something!" He yelled, shooting a bolt of lightning, which would come back towards him, just in case, at the harp.

Seiki changed the song he was playing to a faster paced rock song. This made the rate and array at which the sound blasts fire change as well, now coming out as a steady stream of little balls of sound energy being sent directly at the bolt.
With Seiki's focus pre-occupied, Shiori grabbed her bow and fired and arrow while on the ground. The arrow hit Seiki in the arm, though bounced off as if it were rubber. A small seed like piece of the arrow was left embedded on Seiki's coat where the arrow hit.
"Yes!" Shiori smiled.
Seiki's attention became focused on Shiori after her attack moving to send the bullet-like blasts at her. She got up a d ran to dodge them.

Jason cursed under his breath as he saw the blasts come at him, and destroying his bolt. "Crap!" He yelled, dodging the rest of them. He watched as Shiori shot Seiki, and his focus went to her. "Don't hate me for this after we free you!" He yelled, picking up his sword and running towards Seiki, ready to cut the keytar.

"What are you doing?! I have a plan!!" Shiori shouted, trying to stop Jason.
As Jason grew closer to Seiki, the seed embedded on his coat began to sprout vines that slowly started to wrap their way around Seiki's arm. Jason sword came down and struck the keytar. The keytar began to crack with glowing purple sound energy radiating from the cracks.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" Shiori cried out.
Kana took cover by jumping down to lie on the ground, anticipating the worst from the way the keytar was glowing and Shiori's concern. The keytar exploded releasing all of the magic trapped with in it in a large burst that spread outward with a great force. What sounded like a voice screaming could be heard as the sound energy escaped. The force of the explosion sent Shiori flying backwards into a wall. She fell unconscious from the impact and slid down onto the floor. Seiki was thrown back as well, sent sliding along the ground.

Jason didn't even have time to think about how big of a mistake that was, or even let out a curse as he was flown back from the blast. He let out a big umph! as he hit the wall, and quickly sucked in as much oxygen into his lungs as he could. When he felt himself a bit more relaxed, he then felt the pain from the blast all over his body. "That was stupid." He said, sliding down to the ground, hugging his chest.

OCC: Is it okay if I drop out?

OOC: Popfizzfan, I honestly thought you did awhile back.....

Kana stood up, staggering a bit as she walked over to Jason. She got close and looked him straight in the eye. Her eyes glowed golden.
"At the sound of a snap, and this little rhyme,
You'll have a short nap, then you'll be mine." She chanted then snapped her fingers. The golden energy flew from her eyes going towards Jason's.
Seiki meanwhile lost consciousness across the room.

~~~

Mei released the air from her hand and picked Erianna up as she fell, slinging her limp body over her shoulders and marching back to the castle.

Jason turned away from the golden energy going for his eyes. Gotta....keep....it...away...from me! he managed to think through the pain. He took in a big gasp of air, all while keeping the golden energy from his eyes by moving his head around, and flew straight up into the air. "See ya!" He yelled, slamming the door wide open with a gust of air, shooting out of the cabin, then closing his eyes as he flew through the air, trying to make sure he didn't end up a zombie like Seiki and that other guy.

"Stubborn brat..." Kana sighed as Jason flew out the door. "I'm trying to help you."
Kana closed her eyes and focused. A golden aura overcame her eyes.
"Find him, capture him, do whatever it takes, but don't kill him."

~~~

As Jason was flying off, far from the cabin, a powerful chilly gust of wind slammed into him, head-on. Mei and Runo stood on the ground below him, having answered Kana's call and the source of the attack.

Jason had been flying, about to open his eyes, when they were opened by the huge gust of air that slammed into him, knocking the breath out of him. "What the?" He yelled, barely stooping himself from dying from the fall. He noticed Mei and Runo, and got in a fighting stance, summoning his sword.

Mei drew sword and charged at Jason. Runo swung her scythe around kicking up a flurry of snow around her. With one quick movement, she sent the snow flying at Jason, flowing like a current. As it flew to him, the snow clung together and solidified into a flurry of ice crystals.

Jason cursed, trying to dodge the shards, failing to do so as one cut his left arm, rendering it useless. "Damnit!" He yelled, ducking as Mei ran toward him. He quickly rolled to his right, hoping to get out of the way.

Mei charged past him as he dodged. She then turned and sent out another blast of air from her hand. Runo struck the ground with her scythe causing large ice spikes to shoot up from the ground, forming a close circle around Jason.

He let put an umph as the wind blast knocked him back into one of the ice spikes! and he needed up banging his head against one! leering out a loud bang. "Here we go..." He muttered, falling to the ground, unconscious.