Corpus Rahkshi

IC Fog:

"In that case...." Fog intensified his cloud, pointed his harpoon gun at Xara, and fired.

IC: Xara - Gym.

Of course, as soon as he tried to obscure my vision, I started moving. I heard something hit the wall I'd been leaning agaisnt, and I reacted instinctively, flinging a lightning bolt into the centre of the fog cloud. 

IC: Fang - Gym

Fang watched Mahrika leave as he carefully set each weapon on their improvised work table. His face was blank as he turned back to Exxan and Kat. "Omega is not... going anywhere if... you wanted to give it a try," he sighed.

He gestured at their rough forge and the small pile of metal they had left. "A few... knives would be easy. And... useful. I'll... just watch." He no longer had the spirit for forging. His mind was still trying to process what he had just done.

You forged a weapon for Exxan! it cried. After he lost the previous ones for killing Omega! You let him poison it, poison you! And now you offer knives?!

In some ways, it was worse than the poison. It wasn't just eating away at his health. It couldn't be quickly healed by a stop in the Infirmary. It was against every single promise he had made to himself. His entire being resisted it, and yet he still offered. The angry thoughts slipped in unbidden.

No, he tried to counter. It isn't like that. He is defenseless...

For a reason...

He did it because he saw no other way!

He still killed...

He is changed!

...

That was always what I wanted... For the others to see the error of their ways...

He leaned against the table. He was weak. From the poison and from his own mental conflict. His hands twitched, threatening to ignite and tear into the Rahkshi in front of him, but he kept them cool. He looked down at Exxan sincerely, with rage waiting like a crouched predator behind his eyes.

OOC: The cloud was released as soon as Xara shocked him. It was particularly large becuase he had been charging it up. She probably wouldn't have noticed the intensifying.

IC Fog:

Fog received a minor jolt, as per lvl 3 Chain Lightning, and rolled to the side. He began running around Xara, creating even more fog, while charging a wind buffet.

IC Outlash

Outlash's Dormitory -> Raptor's Dormitory

Outlash was woken quite abruptly by a cacaphony of clicking and squawking. Sleepily, she rose from her bed and tried using her power to sense what was making the noise. There was certainly at least one sentient mind nearby, but it didn't seem like a Rahkshi.

When the noises continued, Outlash resolved to take care of whatever their source was herself. She picked up her sheathed knives and left her room, finding the adjacent room with its door open. Inside were two Rahi, an Ussal and a Gukko, having what looked like an intense discussion.

Well, if their owners weren't here to silence them... Outlash might have to do it herself. She drew her knives.

IC: Claws

When Claws saw the knives, he cowered in fear. He needed to find Mantis, he could speak to him.

IC: Exxan - Gym.

"Fang.... are you okay?" he didn't look okay. 

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IC: Xara - Gym.

The fog gave my opponent the advantage of being able to attack me while remaining unseen. But if he couldn't see me either, his advantage would be lost. I kept moving to the side, willing the gym to create a grid of squarish, evenly-spaced, Rahkshi-high pillars around us. 

I ducked behind one of them, and waited for his next move. 

IC: Wings

Wings saw the Rahkshi with the knives and chirped angrily. This was his place, and he was gonna defend it.

IC Fog:

Fog began to slip from pillar to pillar, drawing his dirk and continuing to charge a wind blast.

IC: Xara - Gym.

I pulled out my Rahkshi staff. My level three lightning was already formidable; this would make it even deadlier. I just had to wait for him to get in range... I heard a sound from somewhere to my left. Gotcha....

I pointed the staff at the sound and fired another crackling lightning arc towards him. Hopefully the agonising electric jolt would make him think twice about attacking me, like it had for so many others...

IC: Fang - Gym

"It was... a lot of poison," he admitted. "I'll need time to... get it out of my system. I just need... rest. Yes." He slouched backwards, and a piece of the floor slid up to meet him as a rough chair. He couldn't stop his hands from fidgeting, as exhausted as the rest of him was.

All was supposedly resolved between them. He could not ruin it by telling Exxan of his doubts.

Eager to get away from the topic of himself, he slowly cut off a chunk of metal from the ingots and kneaded it around in his burning hands. It gave them something to melt and break other than Exxan. "Knives are easy," he said again, forcing every ounce of his will into keeping his voice even. "Just a... short blade and handle. No need for the folding of... Remembrance."

IC: Exxan - Gym.

"Okay.... where can I find the tongs and hammer and stuff I'm going to need to forge the metal?" I asked Fang. There had to be some smithing supplies somewhere around here. 

IC Outlash

Raptor's Dormitory

The crab knew its place, but its filthy feathered friend clearly did not. Outlash threw Pain at the wall behind it, hoping to scare the bird rather than hit it.

IC: Wings

Wings ripped the knife out of the wall and examined it. Then he flew up to one of the highest shelves, where Raptor had constructed a nest for him, and hid the knife as yet another of his treasures. He chirped happily. Presents were fun!

IC: Phantom studied Raptor for a moment, his head cocked to the side. Or that might just have been how his head was fixed on, it was sort of hard to tell. 

"How does this make you feel, shadow-scum?" He swung at Raptor again. The Rahkshi leapt back to avoid it, but it was always supposed to fall short. The Hunter had just done it to make him jump. "Are you scared? Feeling small? Good. I have friends who are dead because of your kind."

He charged, sword held out like a lance, this time legitimately meaning to impale Raptor

OOC: Whoops, just noticed I missed your last post Kovika. Sorry 'bout that.

IC: "I imagine he'd tell you it was privacy issues. Letting one student know who everyone was and who they were created by would be a breach of trust for everyone involved." Privately Palma was thinking it was probably because not revealing it gave Tridax just that but ore information to lord over the student body

IC Fog:

The moment he heard the zapping noise, Fog jumped away. He ran at the orgin point, and let out a massive(Comparitively) buffet of wind at it. A normal one would knock an unprepared Rahk over. Fog had been charging this one for some time.

IC: Raptor

Raptor turned and ran, hoping he'd be able to outrun the hunter. But, having just woken up from a coma, he knew that even if he did manage it for a while, he couldn't keep it up forever.

OOC: Jayar, Hoto, Era, and Zelnos are still talking to Suvak.

IC: Fang - Gym

He looked up from his project, already taking on a vaguely blade-like shape. "Oh," he mumbled. "Right... Check the... Armory for a hammer. I'll... take care of the tongs."

He had never needed a whetstone or a hammer and tongs in his own forging, but not everyone had hands built to withstand high temperatures. He ruthlessly crushed the white-hot dagger in his hands and began stretching and curving it into a shape he had seen somewhere in a book.

IC: "Not so easy now, is it?" Phantom laughed, "How are you enjoying having a level playing field for once?" He crouched down, unnamable joints in his legs twisting and turning before leaping into the air, his enormous strength catapulting him right at Raptor like a particularly meaty comet

IC: "A night on the town for you students means a lot of demolition," Suvak frowned. "And I can't supervise because my presence is needed for the next assignment. You could ask Palma I suppose, but I doubt she'd be willing to leave the school even for a day. Just imagine how the injuries would pile up."

IC: Raptor

Raptor whimpered, but as soon as Phantom's feet left the ground, darted and slid under him, right towards the dust where the hunter had just stood. He knew his luck was running out. Desperately, he forced his screaming muscles to leap up into the air, grasping onto two of the stalactites. With a swing, they disconnected from the ceiling and Raptor fell to the earth again. He spun around to face Phantom and, all in one fluid motion, released the makeshift projectiles at Phantom's eyes.

IC: Era - Suvak's Office. 

My shoulders sagged. "Very well...." 

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IC: Exxan - Gym.

"The Porters won't let me into the armoury," I explained, "if they did, I would have gotten myself new weapons ages ago." 

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IC: Xara - Gym.

The blast of wind caught me by surprise, throwing me backwards a few bio. If it hadn't been for the fact I was crouched down beside a pillar, partially sheltered from the blast, I might have wound up bouncing a bit further. 

But the wind had blown away the fog, so now I could see exactly where my opponent was. I lunged at them, sending another arc of electricity crackling from my staff towards him. 

IC: With one great sweep of that blade Phantom smashed both the stony missiles into dust and fragments. It stopped them from gouging his eyes out entirely but covered him in dust and gravel that made him cough and stung his eyes.

"Haha! Now that is more like it! No more running, eh shadow-scum?"

And then he vanished. Just went completely invisible in a single moment. Well that explained how he'd avoided being seen under the hood at least-

A fist powered into Raptor's gut with terrifying force. It sent him flying across the arena, crashing into the crude seats on the opposite side. 

"You going to let that stop you?" Phantom said, reappearing in the visible spectrum, "Come on, get up and fight me!"

IC: "Sorry to disappoint, but thats the way it has to be for now," Suvak shrugged his shoulders, "Ask me again after the next assignment, I hopefully won't be as busy and could try supervising such an expedition."

IC: Jayar / Suvak's Office

As before, what Suvak said made sense. But Jayar hated to give up, for Hoto's sake, especially since there was apparently an assignment coming. The last few hadn't gone so well for her.

"I understand that you can't assist us, and hate to pester you furthur. But there isn't anyone influential in Malebranche we could contact who would assist us instead?" he asked. "Someone at Tridax' estate, perhaps? It must have caretakers of some sort. Or an old war friend?" Forzan sprang to mind... well, no forget about that. The cowardly old Skakdi probably wouldn't be much good against the Guards - he might even be more inclined to turn the Rahkshi in. But who knew, maybe there were others, right?

OOC: If the others want, they could mention Grossh, who I think fits the criteria of being influential and willing to help.

IC: Raptor

Raptor slowly stood, hands twitching. There went his only chance.

"I'll... fight you." Raptor woozily shook his head, then got into the closest thing to a fighting position he could manage.

IC: Alpha/1st Person/Gym

I stopped training and was about to leave when I noticed that Fang returned and....he wasn't looking to good. I walked up to him and asked if he was alright.

IC: Toxin and Stronghold/1st Person, Toxin's POV/Outside Raptor's Dorm

I was drawn to the clicking of a familiar crab as we wandered the halls on the way to Bullseye's dorm. There I found a Rahkshi trying to kill a Gukko and...Claws! I recognized Rider's pet but Rider or the owner of the bird were nowhere to be found. Stronghold peeked in as well.

"What is this?" I angrily screamed.

IC: Bullseye/1st Person/Dorm

I went to sleep.

IC: Wings

Wings saw the other Rahkshi and flew over to sit on his shoulder. He squawked indignantly, motioning with his beak towards Outlash.

IC: Era - Suvak's Office.

"What about Grossh?" I spoke up. Zivon chirped happily on my shoulder. "I met him when we were last in Malebranche."

IC: Claws

Claws recognized Toxin and scuttled over to him, whimpering at Outlash.

IC: Fang - Gym

...it was his punishment.

"Oh, of course," he replied out loud. "I'll... take a look then."

He wearily pushed himself up and set the half-finished tongs aside. The softened metal quickly sagged and folded in on itself as it cooled.

The Porters watched warily as he entered the Armory again. He tried in vain to avoid glancing at the places Omega's weapons had rested, but he had to search everywhere. There was a warhammer that seemed small enough for their purposes. Fang hefted the unwieldy weapon and walked out quickly to hand it to Exxan. With that accomplished, he sank back onto the chair and picked up the ruined tongs to start over.

IC: Hoto - Suvak's Office

She should have just walked out, but this was just unfair. She was starting to realize that she actually wanted to go. She wanted to just spend time with her friends and forget about this school... for a while. And Suvak was standing in the way of that. As he had blocked her from victory in the last assignments, and she had had enough.

"That's not fair!" she called out. "None of us caused any trouble last time!"

She stopped herself, surprised at her own outburst. She hadn't shouted like that since... Dodge was injured? Then again, she hadn't had this much energy since then.

She stayed silent and humble until Era's comment. "Yeah, we were just talking to Grossh the whole time," she added, much quieter. "We were thinking about visiting him."

IC: Exxan - Gym.

"Thanks," I said, taking the hammer and placing one of the ingots into the furnace. When it was hot enough, I pulled it out with the tongs and placed it on the bench, beginning to hammer it into shape. It wasn't as quick a process as what Fang had done; he'd simply used his powers to melt the metal how he wished, but slowly, a knife started to take shape. "This is harder than I thought," I remarked dryly. The heat alone was exhausting.

IC Outlash

Raptor's Dormitory

She spun to face Toxin and Stronghold, jabbing an accusatory finger at the former. "Your bird stole my knife!" She grabbed it back from the shelf it had been set upon. "And I'd say there's something wrong with it. Its reaction time is slower than a dermis turtle's."

IC: Raptor

 

Raptor stumbled to the side, barely avoiding the Hunter's swing. He was panting hard and barely standing. Forcing his body into a fighting stance, he warily watched Phantom for what he would do next.

 

IC: Wings

 

Wings woke up and fluttered down to Claws with a quizzical look.

 

IC: Mantis

 

Mantis realized that it was either release the foot or be crushed. He let go just as Rail's weak kick connected with his wrist, letting him step away from the walls. Suddenly, he willed the walls to move toward Rail. They converged on him, leaving him the one trapped.

IC: Rail - Gym

Rail returned to his feet, using his thoughts to summon two single protrusions from the walls, which, upon hitting each other, stopped them dead in their tracks and allowed him to step out from between them. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Xara had become engrossed in a fight of her own, and decided that it was high time that he wrapped this up in the unlikely event that he would need to go over and support her.

"How about we finish this like true warriors?" he growled, tossing his knives aside before removing his Tiger Claws and Crossbow and doing the same. "No powers, no gym, no weapons; just fists."

The shards of metal making up his additional armor fell from his body, clanging against the floor as he cracked a one-sided grin, waiting for his opponent's response.

"Or does your concept of honor only apply to the situations where you can sink a blade into your foe?"

IC: Mantis

"I much prefer this new method that you have suggested." Mantis gave an earnest smile and tossed his remaining Kama on the earth. Getting into a fighting stance, he felt as if he had been reinvigorated by this turn of events.

IC: Fang - Gym

Fang picked up the tongs again as Exxan set them aside and worked on refining them. He hadn't quite finished them before Exxan needed them.

"I suppose I am better... built for tasks such as this," he replied, never taking his eyes from the warming tongs. He barely seemed to notice the heat from the forge. "But I'd imagine you will be able to complete it."

It almost sounded like a complement.

IC: Exxan - Gym.

"Thanks.... I think...." I wasn't sure if his words were earnest, but I accepted them nonetheless. Satisfied with the shape of the knife, I use the tongs to place the rapidly-cooling metal back into the furnace, heating it until it glowed, before beginning to hammer at it again. I had the rough shape of a knife, now I needed to define it some more.

"And Fang?" I looked up at him. "Thanks, for helping me with all of this." 

I knew how hard it had to have been for him. 

IC: Sidonas - Infirmary

Sidonas was slightly puzzled by Palma's response. "I don't see how, besides knowing what type of Rahkshi one is, how that knowledge could be dangerous for a Rahk to know. I'm not going to ask many questions on it; but how could knowing which Rahkshi came from which Makuta harm anyone? Besides, all need is to know the name of a telepathic Rahk, if one is here, that is."

IC: Alpha/1st Person/Gym, Waiting for someone to tell what's going on with Fang and co.

I stood there. Pouting.

IC: Toxin and Stronghold/1st Person, Toxin's POV/Outside Raptor's Dorm ---> Toxin's Dorm

"Unfortunately for you, we have no control over these pets. They belong to friends of ours. We will deal with them. Take your knife and go. Or else."

We took Claws and the Gukko and left to my dorm.

"Did he hurt any of you? Where's your masters?"

IC: Claws

Claws shook his head. He attempted to mime being knocked out by smoke and pointed to Toxin with his right claw.

IC: Phantom grinned and started slowly ambling towards Raptor as though this was his morning stroll. The confidence he had in victory was practically radiating off him.

"Is this how the Matoran your kind died, do you think?" he asked, getting closer and closer, step by step, "On their feet, given a sporting chance?" The smile dropped from his face, his features slumping into a gloomy frown, "Or do you think they died running and afraid, with monsters at their backs?"
 

IC: "Perhaps it is to prevent anyone who bears a grudge from trying to hunt down their nemesis," Palma suggested with a shrug, "I do not question Tridax's ways." Did not and could not really. Not as much free will as the students...

* * * * * * * * *

"Grossh?" The name rang a bell for Suvak, but he couldn't recall all the details, "He's some sort of merchant, isn't he?"

IC: Era - Suvak's Office. 

"He makes weapons, too. Really nice guy." I held up my whip, "His people fixed up my weapon after it was damaged a while back."