Corpus Rahkshi

IC: Era - Infirmary.

I felt like a bit of an idiot for not thinking of this sooner. I willed the gym to shift around me, creating a pillar that lifted the unconscious Rahk far enough off of me that I was able to snake out from under him, freeing myself. "Come on," I told Zivon, and the Kahu landed on my shoulder as I started back towards the exit. I managed to pry the whip's blade of my smelted hand and returned the whip to my belt while I walked. It would need fixing; it felt like slag: melted, raw, misshapen.  

But when I arrived at the infirmary (after more than a few wrong turns) there was no sign of Palma in the room. Sighing, I sat down in one of the chairs and did my best to wait patiently for the nurse to return.  

OOC: A few minutes later...

IC: Stronghold/1st Person/Gym ---> Infirmary

I woke up, and everything felt sore.

"Ugh...what the Karz happened?"

Then I saw that I was laying facedown on a pillar, and I remembered everything. I had lost, in my opinion, to Era.

My right arm still couldn't move and my gauntlet needed repairs.

I picked up the broken cestus and staggered to the infirmary. I had to fix my suit first, then I needed to find a way to make repairs.

OOC: Well this should stir up some more awkwardness.

IC: Fang - Courtyard

 

"Wouldn't that be something," Fang mumbled as he continued working on the cylinder. "I may stand in the way of seekers of revenge, but I will not prevent the judgments of Tridax, whatever they may be." He smirked as he imagined what might happen, though it quickly fell.

 

At Caoutchouc's entrance, Fang snatched up Venom and pushed himself to his feet to face down the Rahkshi of Elasticity. "I will tolerate no more violence, but if violence is the only way to stop it, I will use it. You said you like physical conversations. Take one step forwards, and you will meet my blade."

IC

"Ah."

Caoutchouc stood silently, observing the weapon.

"I do not feel that he," a gesture to Vaalku, "is the kind of person to listen to aural reasoning. His cognitive disorders are beyond what I can comprehend with my mind, but..." He raises his fists and moves his feet, placing them in a battle stance. Relaxed and ready to receive the information of the world, his mind was switching to processing mode. Fang was stronger than him, strictly speaking, but strength meant oddly enough, very little.

"I do understand these, my fists. My words so to say. Some people speak violently or deviously. I think that is far more damaging than these could ever be. I do not expect you to understand, but if you want to stand between us, I suppose I'll have to defeat you as well."

Unsheathing Faithful, he raises it, not in aggression, but to drive it into the ground.

"Sheath your weapon if you are an honorable fighter."

IC: Sidonas - Dorm

Sidonas thought about sending everything into complete madness, but quickly dismissed the thought and instead though about that if the headmaster had his Codex, how long of a window would his allies have to steal it? And if it was taken by another, then who on this island would want a book that they could not decrypt? All of this puzzled him and he had no idea as to who could have done this. At that, he looked again over his note on Hook while he waited for several Rahk to enter.

IC Vaalku

 Vaalku sprang up and stood slightly behind Fang, not in a defensive position, but because that was where he had been sitting. He softly growled, intending to give Fang any assistance in changing this Rahk's opinion on the matter.

IC: Fang - Courtyard

Fang did not flinch. His grip did not fall from the blade. His voice was cold. "I do not speak with my fists. I use words. Vaalku knows his place. He has no need of your teachings, and neither do I."

IC: Rider

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" Rider ran after Caoutchouc and threw a punch at the back of his head.

IC Catatonic:

We both watched, Jayar and I, as the Matoran cast his light on the area where I was.

I mentally cursed myself, I'd just painted the suit, and it shone in the light plain as day.

He gasped, and I activated my power, motioning for Jayar to silence him from behind.

OOC: non lethally, if you please.

IC poly: I blinked a few times, and this, too passed.

What the Karz was wrong with me...?

Auditory and visual hallucinations?

I shook my head.

~you must be unstable~

I didn't respond, but the words struck a chord.

Was I unstable? Was this why no one acknowledged my presence....?

I sighed, laying back on the unyielding gym floor.

IC Vaalku

Whoa. Fang just went all cool about it. He kept a grip on his sword, though, in case anythi-

Karz, Rider again. Well, attention's off Fang for now.

OOC: Now to see Era's reaction...or lack of reaction.

IC: Stronghold/3rd Person/Infirmary

He entered the infirmary and seeing as Palma wasn't there, he sat down, and unfortunately, next to Era.

IC Mahrika

Phantom-on-the-Water outskirts, Quest for the Leg

Quickly and quietly, Mahrika climbed up the cliffs of Nyrah, following Jayar and Kat. He reached the top and brushed aside a screen of scraggly vegetation to see a small group of Matoran huts, and--

Uh oh.

He let go of the foliage and crouched down, hoping the Matoran with the lightstone hadn't seen him.

IC

"I didn't expect you to understand."

Rider decides to show back up, blabbering incoherently. "Though, I did expect you to know the meaning of an honorable duel." The announcement of his presence allows the elastic rahk to duck and then turn, slamming his fist towards Rider's stomach with all his strength.

IC: Era - Infirmary. 

Zivon let out a squawk of recognition as an injured Rahkshi slumped into the chair next to mine. I decided not to say anything. 

IC: Rider

Rider gagged when this happened but he managed to attempt to curbstomp Caoutchouc's head.

IC Vaalku

Vaalku looked painfully at Fang. "You in the mood to intervene?"

IC

Ah, the old "standing on one leg" trick. The position of a body A while gutpunching body B makes it difficult for B to effectively get their leg high enough, fast enough to perform a stomp. Instead they're rather awkwardly standing on one leg. Body A is still low to the ground, letting them perform a sweeping kick to knock body B onto their butt

This is exactly what Caoutchouc did

IC: Fang - Courtyard

Fang watched, motionless, as a new fight began. "I know perfectly well, and this is not honorable. This is your pathetic attempt at interfering in matters that do not concern you. Step aside."

IC: Rider

Rider was not an idiot, however, so he saw this coming. He jumped out of the way and slammed back down onto the stretchy rahk's chest.

IC: Glass

"Yeah, see, I don't know much about physical gender differences for Rahi, since we're, well, basically slugs in power armour."

That was really awkward to say. Who knew?

IC

Caoutchouc was an idiot and didn't see this coming. However he did decide to withdraw before the stomp, distancing himself from Rider.

"Why do you keep trying to fight me? We've already settled this."

Fang is beginning to sound cognitively dissonant as well... Caoutchouc had thought him one of the sane ones, though, he supposed. No one here was truly sane, save himself. He turned to Fang once more.

"Who are you asking to step aside?"

IC: Rider

"Because I didn't say this was over." Rider launched his leg at Caoutchouc's back.

IC Vaalku

Vaalku tried really hard not too, but to no avail.

He facepalmed.

Was this rubbery Rahk really so distant from the conversation that he didn't know Fang was talking to him?

IC

Caoutchoc was kicked, stumbled forward and rebounded.

"Would you mind calling him off? I might get tired out for the real fights at this rate."

IC: Fang - Courtyard

Fang kept it concise. "You." He glared down at Caoutchouc.

IC Vaalku

Vaalku smirked slightly. Now, that he liked. He kept quiet, knowing at this point Fang's reaction would make the difference.

EDIT: Kapura'd again!

IC: Rider

Rider stomped on Caoutchouc's back, intending to incapitate him.

IC: Xara -Infirmary. 

"When you put it like that it just sounds really..." I searched for a word, finally settling on "...unromantic," for reasons I don't fully understand. "Anyway... does the little guy have name?" 

IC: Sidonas - Dorm

 

Sidonas thought about sending everything into complete madness, but quickly dismissed the thought and instead though about that if the headmaster had his Codex, how long of a window would his allies have to steal it? And if it was taken by another, then who on this island would want a book that they could not decrypt? All of this puzzled him and he had no idea as to who could have done this. At that, he looked again over his note on Hook while he waited for several Rahk to enter.

IC: Death, Famine, War, Pestilence

After waiting for Sidonas to come to the refectory, they decided to go to his dorm.

Death: "War told me you had some kind of plan. Well? Tell us."

IC Kat:

Behind Jayar, I saw the foliage move.

"Karz."

IC Catatonic:

the matoran in front if me spun, hearing the bushes move, and I quickly put him out with a quick strike to the base of his neck. I drew my blades, moving quickly to the dense cluster of vegetation, cutting it aside instantly to find....

"Mahrika? What are you doing here?!"

IC

Caoutchouc wasn't on the ground, so Rider's backstomp didn't hit nor make sense

"I really get the feeling you all don't understand me, I understand because I am bad with words." He makes a fist, staring intently into it's depths. "Hence my preference for this."

"Before I defeat you all, would you like to hear a story?"

IC: Rider

"Sure." Rider then grabbed Caoutchouc and held him still. "No fighting until it's done though."

IC: Fang - Courtyard

Keep him talking. It's better than fighting. Fang gave a quick, courteous nod.

IC Vaalku

This was going to be interesting. Vaalku changed his expression, pretending to be incredibly intrigued.

OOC: Where is everybody?

IC: Rider

"Sure." Rider then grabbed Caoutchouc and held him still. "No fighting until it's done though."

 

OOC no autoholding pls

IC

"There was once a man, he was hollow in mind and body. He slogged through his day to day life and was denied happiness by his own mind's nature. One day, he resolved to kill himself. As he prepared to, he was struck down by a stranger. The stranger told him life was worth living, and that anyone that denied it was crazy. The man told him of his inner demons and his hollow hollowness. The stranger responded not with words, but with a blow. Fierce and unexpected. The man drew his sword but had it snapped. He armed his zamor launcher but had it crushed. Beaten and bruised, he fought back with his hands, feet and teeth. He could not win."

A dramatic pause...

"But, the man realized that the battle had been fun! It was full of color and excitement in a dreary world of greys. He never met the stranger again, but he realized now that in battle was where he belonged. He did not care about winning or losing, who he fought or why. Over time he became learned on the matters of combat, sadly he was a somewhat stupid and none too eloquent man. He could not explain the vivid colors through words, art, music or pictographs. All he could do was give them the gift the stranger had given him."

"The gift of a good, fun fight."

That was a somewhat long story, it had given him time to catch his breath from the brief scuffle with Rider.

"In case you're all denser than me, that was about myself. I believe that good, clean combat is as close as mortal life can come to whatever the religions proffer as enlightenment or true happiness. Because of this, I do not see fighting as violence, nor death in honorable combat as bad. They are both natural and beautiful."

He crossed his arms.

"Now. Which one of you will fall first? I hope you can all agree to single combat, you can keep your weapons out if you feel you must."

IC Vaalku

Rip off. Vaalku frowned. Like anyone was going to go in single-handed and attempt to attack this freak. That is what teams are for.

IC: Rider

"Someone else can beat you up first." Rider said, clenching his fists.

IC: Fang - Courtyard

"Take your ideals to the Gym. They have no place here."

With luck, he would be severely injured and relieve everyone of his ramblings.

IC

He frowned

Usually, in a story the protagonist would give such a speech and his foes would either realize their mistakes and join him, or just die then and there. Overcome by the words and wisdom the main character had spoken

These three seemed to not understand, and more than that. They seemed openly hostile and belittled his ideals... His life, his dream and his gift

For the first time, he became angry. "SO BE IT! I shall fight you first Fang. Hopefully the sound and spectacle of their strongest friend falling in defeat to a "lunatic" will scare these cowards off. That way I won't have to waste my time with them." He gave Rider a look that would melt through concrete, it's meaning was clear

Interfere and you die

Caoutchouc stepped forward, waiting on Fang's move

OOC I'm doing a slight Timeskip here, given that I had nothing else planned for Nynrah.

IC Kat:

As the four Rahkshi argued and began to set up to fight, a voice rang out across the Courtyard from above.

"I can't leave you guys alone for a second, can I?"

If they looked up, they'd see Kat, with metal leg draped over shoulder, flanked. by Jayar and Mahrika.

I jumped down, landing amidst the Rahkshi.

"So. What's THIS fight about?"

IC: Fang - Courtyard

This is getting out of hand. "I do not want to fight you. I am simply preventing needless violence. But let it be known I will fight on your terms." Venom dropped to the side and rang off the ground. He raised his fists, trying to keep the plasma out of them. They were shaking.

Fang was not the "strongest friend" at the moment. He was still weak from his encounter with the Ghosts, and had spent hours using his plasma for welding. He had hoped his displays would send Caoutchouc running, but he was too thick to understand the warnings. Still, getting the Karz beat out of him was nothing new.

Luckily, Kat was there to step in. Fang stood straight once more with a sigh of relief.