Ark looked up from having a knife to his neck.

"So....no slitty slitty?"

Blyr was laughing inside, but the inward feeling didn't show through to his exterior. I have my suspicions, but...

He started to speak, keeping a serious tone. "I have my doubts like you, Arc, but if Ripel says he's clean, then it's good enough for me."

Arc got off and helped Dezil up. "Sorry man."

Dezil coughed and said, "*cough* No problem, perfectly understandable to see your enemy and react like that." Then he got back up and said, "first off, Ciaran will know his plot didn't work and that you survived. Hopefully, my ploy worked, and he thinks I'm dead however, which may be your ace in the hole. Regardless, I can only do so much, and my Anti-Anti-Magic Field device isn't ready yet, so we need to keep moving for now at least. Anyway, I'm gald your willing to trust me, and prmise I won't let you all down or betray you."

"Trust you? Who said anything abuot trusting you? We were just going to use you then toss your dead corpse into an alley."

He looked around and said, "Oh...so that isn't the plan."

Dezil raised an eyebrow and said, "Hmph, maybe I should have gone solo. Nonetheless, I am here now, and don't plan on getting stabbed in the back and left in an alley, and if you want access to my mechanical equipment, you might want to reconsider that. I hope that our relationship turns out to be a good one for us, and a bad one for Ciaran."

OOC: Hmm, I think I see why Deamon is always trying to kill Arc now...

From behind them, Deamon came up and smacked Dezil and Arc across the backs of their heads'. "Shut up and get moving, I've already 'persuaded' everyone else to get going." Deamon was talking about most of the other survivors, who were already traveling southeast.

"Agreed." Blyr replied.

He turned towards Dezil. "So, do you remember any of Cieran's plans he made before you came here? It could help us prepare for any attacks, or potentially intercept any supplies he could be sending out."

Ripel nodded, agreeing with Deamon, though not asking how he suddenly popped up (he had learned that anything was possible with that man). "Yes, he's right. We should get going. Get your mounts, and for those of you who don't have them I'm sure we have rounded up some spare chocobo for you."

Dezil rubbed his head and shrugged, saying, "Not specifically. I only new about my specific operation. I knew he had dispatched other units on missions similar to this, but I don't remember village names or any thing specific. All I have to say is, I hope those villages knew to run, because without me sabatoging those Magiteks, they would most likely have overrun this village." Dezil looked up at the mention of chocobos and said, "Oh, right, I guess I need to ride one of those now. Guess I need to find one." Dezil left the tent, looking to see if there were spare chocobos.

"Okay. We'd best be off, then."

Blyr stepped outside, put two fingers two his mouth, and let out a long, loud whistle. Out of the forest came Blyr's green chocobo steed, Toc. Blyr mounted, and noticed Dezil looking for a chocobo. He whistled again, and another chocobo galloped up, this time yellow-colored. "Ride this one, he's eager to go."

Kairi looked at Marche, "Looks like we'll have to go find some chocobos of our own." Kairi followed where Dezil was headed, then saw Blyr call up one for Dezil, "I don't suppose you have two others that are ready to go?"

Good thing Toc made so many friends in the forest, otherwise we'd be out of mounts!

Blyr made a similar whistle twice again, and two more chocobos rushed out of the forest, yellow feathers glistening in the sunlight. Blyr rode up to Kairi, and tossed a pouch to her. "You can ride those two. Just be sure to feed them some of these greens, I think I inturrupted their breakfast."

Dezil walked up to one of the spare chocobos. "Come here, err, chocobo. I need to ride you so we can get out of here faster."

Says the chocobo, "Wark?"

Dezil said, "Err, is that a good sign, or a bad one? Hmm, maybe I should just jump on?" Dezil walks up to the chocobo.

The chocobo looks at Dezil. "Wark." It says.

Dezil says, "Alright, I'm not going to let a giant chicken stop me from coninuing on, Yeaaa!" He grabbed the side and tried to swing himself up on the chocobo. It was an awkward leap, and the chocobo wasn't used to unskilled riders trying to get on.

"Wark wark wark!" It said, and it took off, with Dezil still grabbing the side of the saddle and trying to pull himself up. The chocobo ran around through the camp, Dezil desperatly trying to hang on, before it finally suceeds and hurls him off. He lands with an *Oof!*

Dezil looks up, "I miss my magitek already, I hate chocobos."

"Wark?"

"Alright, Thanks a lot." She nodded gratefully. Then she took a handful of the greens then tied the pouch to the chocobo that Marche was going to be riding, she felt fairly confident in her ability to control Chocobos, but she figured that Marche had better keep the greens with him in case of an emergancy or a stubborn Chocobo.
She fed her chocobo, the mounted him, attaching her partisan to her back. "Alright, I'm ready to go."

Ark jumped lightly onto another chocobo, and rubbed it.

"Aw...you're a good boy, aren't you?" He then scratched it behind the ears. It warked lightly, eyes slightly closed.

He turned it and said, "So, where's Carolina?"

OOC: Where is a chocobo's ear exactly? They don't have ears in any pictures...

OOC: Not exactly an ear perse, but remember how the majority of chocobos in the games had those two feathers that stuck out, at the very sides of their head? The ones that stuck up? Used an FF9 reference for that.

OOC: Seriously, where is LWM. She hasn't posted anything in weeks...

Eventually Dezil had managed to wrangle his chocobo and get on him, and was now struggling to make him go.

"Ya chocobo! Move. Walk. Trot. Skip? Crawl? ANYTHING!" Dezil said in exahsperation.

"Wark?" The chocobo seemed to ask in confusion.

How do I get you to move, you dumb beast?"

"Wark."

Dezil thought for a second, than without any other options, Dezil said, "...Wark."

The chocob started to walk at an average pace. "Yeaha, you finally started moving! Man, you are one odd creature. I guess I have to name you or something now?" The chocobo nodded. Dezil thought for a second and said, "How about, Wark?" The chocobo gave him an odd look and Dezil shrugged. "Fine, how about... Choco? No, what about... Zero?" At this the chocobo nodded happily.

"Alright then Zero, lets go!" After a few seconds of not moving, Dezil said, "...Wark." and Zero walked over to the others on their chocobos.

OOC: Yah, that is a good question. Oh well, I can fill this in for her I think.


IC: The entire group flinched as they heard a squeal of sheer delight, that they could make out as "CHOCOBOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Carolina ran up to the one Dezil was on, and gave it a giant hug around the neck.

"WARK!" It bucked, tossing Dezil off.

Then she proceeded to run to random chocobos randomly, with a speed that could not be natural.

"Somebody stop her before she overdoses, or she kills the chocobos."

"Ow... Zero, you traitor... this is why machines are better..." Dezil grumbled on the ground. His grumbling was met with a "Wark!" from Zero. Dezil then got up, and slowly began the task of getting back on Zero, finally suceeding. "Ugh, you... were also there that night. The N'Revat white mage. well, guess neither of us are N'Revat anymore. Ah well, when do we go?" Dezil asked.

When Carolina came up to Black, she tried to hug him. Instead, the chocobo pulled back and hit her with it's wing, knocking her out.

OOC: Oh now see, that wasn't very nice... But it does allow us to transport her and not worry about the fact that LWM seems to have left...

Arc raised a finger to Daemon as he dropped down to pick her up.

"Teach that thing to reel itself in, or it might have to be forcibly taught."

He picked Carolina up, and using a series of various leather belts and buckles on the saddle, managed to tie her securely enough onto the chocobo, but still sat behind her (since she was limp, and Ark was taller than her)

He brought his chocobo around. "We going man?"

(( I hate you all... ¬¬ </Sarcasm> ))

Naras rides at the front of the refugee group, having not been included in the meeting. (( Seriously, I didn't see him mentioned. )) The muscleman, Daemon, (( I'm just going off an old reference to that effect by SS... )) had some pretty rough ways of getting people to move, but at least they were moving. Naras looks up at Jiju -- who's patrolling the skies ahead of them for anything suspicious, just in case -- and follows his flight path idly, without much thought.

(( *slaps IHMN* That's for Carolina, you mean, mean guy, you! ;-; ))

Kairi glanced at Deamon, then at his chocobo, "You shouldn't have a chocobo that's so ill-behaved out in public." She frowned, "You should at least punish him for hitting her like that."

(OOC: you know. You just can't have a FF RP without an angst-y character (there's always one in each FF)... that would be Kairi. ^^; )

"I was going to hit her. Now be quite before I hit you." Deamon threw a piece of cooked meat (Guess where he got that) infront of him. Black caught it in mid-air, then began to eat it as they walked.

Arc sighed. "Would it kill both of you to be less angsty?"

He flipped out a pair of daggers, and scraped the side of one with the blade of the other. A horrible shrieking shound came out.

Kairi's chocobo freaked and started running around wildly. Black's head shot up and he looked freaked.

Arc sheathed them and watched Kairi get tossed around as her chocobo ran amok.

Kairi's eyes grew wide as she chocobo lurched forward, scared by the sound that Arc had made. She clutched to it's neck with one arm, keeping herself from falling off. With the other arm, she reached back and grabbed one of the greens.
"Hey boy, it's alright." She soothed in a comforting voice, or as comforting as she could manage.

She leaned forward and held the green out. The chocobo immediately stopped and turned his head, "Wark?"

Kairi continued to sooth the chocobo, stroking his neck, as she threw the green out in front of them for the chocobo to eat. Seemingly forgetting about what it had been afraid of, it bent over and gulped up the green quickly. She steared it around, heading back to the rest of them, looking fairly unhappy.

<I am going to kill Arc... One of these days...>

OOC: just as a side note, wouldn't the other chocobos freak out by the sound? Or just Kairi's? ^^;; Not that I'm complaining, just wondering.

ooc-Ugh, sorry Zephir, I forgot about you. Heh...as an excuse it was mostly the people Ripel trusted though, he didn't know about Naras...yeah, that was it. Also, LWM is on vacation, and may not have access to computers at times.

ooc-Also, I'll posting a new chapter (with the correct number) tomorrow I think. You can post more 'Adventures' I guess, but expect chapter seven soon.

Ripel and Boco, rolled their eyes as they witness the scene. Ripel, because he was embarrassed by the sillyness of his fellows, and Boco, because it was ashamed that the other chocobo was so easily frightened.

Yes, the Boco was little arrogant, but red chocobo tended to be that way.

Clapping his hands (Ripel, not Boco), he tried to call attention to himself. "Remember, one last time. Be sure you have everything we need, we won't be turning back for the duration of our journey."

Dezil had made sure to hitch his container of equipment and machines to the back of his chocobo, much to Zero's annoyance. He was ready for whenever they left.

Blyr chuckled to himself. I bet Ripel could have calmed the chocobos easily, him knowing some beastmaster techniques. But, then again, I do too. I should pay more attention to their silly antics.

"Remember, one last time. Be sure you have everything we need, we won't be turning back for the duration of our journey." came Ripel's call.

Yeah, I think I've got everything... Blyr made a quick check, and he did have everything he needed. I'm good to go. I hope everyone else is.

OOC: Okay, no more 10k posts.

He came alone to the Mountain of Doom.
The spectre waited in the high passes.
The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill.
One did live, and one did die, but both are.
The Time of Change has come.
Blood feeds blood.
Blood calls blood.
Blood is, and blood was, and blood shall ever be.

******

"Awake now?"

Dante blinked and looked around. For a moemnt he was afraid he was still trapped in the past. Then he looked around, and realised he had bigger things to worry about than that.

He was lying on an altar-like platform, before a vast field of reflective metal. He could turn his head, but the rest of his body remained still, unreponsive. Whatever bonds confined him, they were certainly not physical - he was wearing nothing but his skin, and the goosebumps emerged from his skin as a sudden, chill breeze delivered its icy kiss.

Then the source of the ill wind made itself known, and whatever physical discomfort Dante might have felt paled in comparison to the effect the sight of that... thing had on him.

It was shrouded in ragged, translucent robes, through which bones could be seen. But its face - or what passed for a face - was clearly exposed. A grinning skull leered down at Dante's naked body as the wraith ran its bony fingers along his arm. There was no physical contact, but Dante shuddered as the chill cut to his core.

Its mouth did not move, but the faint, rasping, corpse-voice betrayed its origins.

"So. You're awake, my precious. Do you know how long I've waited for you?"

The fact that the creature called him "his precious" disturbed him more than anything else. It crooned sickeningly as it brushed his cheek. Date recoiled uselessly from the touch, grimacing as the chill fingers touched his mouth.

"Yes... you will be my greatest pawn... Bandon thinks he's gotten rid of us, but no... Radeus wins in the end... "

Then, Radeus placed a freezing palm on Dante's crown, its bony fingers clasping the head in an intangible vise. The empty eye sockets bore down onto Dante, orbs of black that seemed to swallow everything.

"Now, precious... scream for me."

******

In the corner of the chamber, three shapes blended in with the darkness. One was of a large, robed man, with a horse-like face bearing a serious expression. Beside him was a younger man swathed in black cloth, with a sword on his back. His hair was long and spined, tied into a ponytail behind him.

The smaller man was the first to break the silence.

"Damn. Does he always have to do that, Abby? It seriously creeps me out."

"Not really. The mental probes are remote-controlled... but I suspect he does it for his own sick amusement."

The third person was silent, but the way she shifted herself betrayed her unease. She spoke in a soft voice that would have been sweet had it not been so riddled with disgust.

"Must we watch?"

The big man looked down to her.

"You know the answer as well as we do, Shara. We are bound to do this. We have to protect Radeus... even if we die-"

"That would be preferable!" She turned away, tears welling up in her eyes.

The younger man glared up at Abby as he went to Shara's side.

"There, there... Abby, that was pretty damn cold. You know what she's been through-"

"Yes, Gaia, I know. And I'm sorry, if it helps. But it is true. That mental block of his is too strong for us to break without outside help. "

He looked towards Dante, writhing in Radeus' grip.

"And now, he'll have another pet."

"Just like us. Poor guy."

They continued watching as Dante went through another round of convulsions.

******

Meanwhile, with the others...

Marche gently patted his white chocobo, which he had named Yan, behind the ear.

"Easy girl. Easy..."

He looked up from Yan's back and looked at the rest of the group. There was the strange machinist whom everyone else didn't seem to like, that guy whom Kairi was teaching just now, the other, quieter guy on the red chocobo who seemed to be their leader...

... and then there was the man whose black chocobo had just knocked out the white mage when she tried to hug it. He had an air about him which made Marche feel strange. There was something very wrong about that man...

(OOC: I'm assuming Ciaran is in his throneroom because he said so.)

Meanwhile, back at the Emperor's Palace...

A woman with long white hair and an absurdly puffy dress marched through the halls of the palace, light glinting off her jewelry. She carried a fan she occasionally snapped open and fanned herself with. After a bit of walking, she came to a large set of doors and some guards on either side of it. She shrugged.

"Open the doors," she commanded.

"No one sees His Excellency without fir-"

"I don't have time for this, peon. Get out of my way."

She lunged for the door handles.

"Hey! You can't just go in there with-" the guard said, his voice cut off abruptly and punctuated with a little explosion. The doors to Ciaran's throneroom swung open and Ren slinked (slunk?) in, waving a fan.

"Ciaaaaaaraaaaaaaan," she said with a bit of a whine. She fluttered her fan again and grinned slightly.

Ciaran smirked a bit as he recognized the woman whom entered his throne room as one of his favorite participants in the bloodsports. She had made him quite a bit of money when they were still underground and he didn't have the wealth of two powerful countries at his fingertips, and as such, he rather liked her. The fact that she was an amazing fighter, as any would have to be in order to win as many fights as she had, and had earned his respect due to that, didn't hurt his feelings for her at all either. He signaled his guards to relax, from his lounging position within his throne and addressed the attractive combatant.

"Ahh, hello Ren. It's a pleasure to see you, as always, but I really wish you'd stop injuring my guards." Ciaran's tone was almost playful, and he gestured toward the open doors to his throne room, through which an unconcious guard could be seen.

She tilted her head a bit, her grin widening.

"But they're so uncooperative, dah-ling." Her fan fluttered; she looked around and placed a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow.

"Nice place you've got here, by the way. A vast improvement over your previous lodgings. Miss me?"

Ciaran chuckled a bit at the woman's off-putting demeanor. One would scarcely expect her to be a fighter in the blood sports who had slain so many opponents with casual ease. One would scarcely expect her to be herself. This wasn't normal behavior for the woman, and Ciaran was quick to pick up on, and what it entailed, having seen it before. He found it rather amusing and assumed her 'friendly' or 'playful' demeanor at the moment was due to his recent acquisitions... of Rab and N'revat. Many people tended to try and gain his favor, and he recognized that this was what she was doing.

"Yes, I rather enjoy the palace myself... although my mansion wasn't so bad, but might I ask what brings you here?" The question was asked, but the emperor already had a good idea what brought her there. The woman lusted after power far more than he lusted after anything, and he was, currently, one of the most powerful men in the world.

Her grin faded and she put the fan into her sleeve. Ciaran was sharp and she knew it; besides, the cutesy-rich-bitch act was getting annoying.

"Oh," she said. "I was just away on some business, and I had to come back to visit...an aquaintance." She winked and tossed a strand of hair from her shoulder. "He's quite a character. Handsome as hell, charming..." She trailed off. "...Only problem is, he's a bit of a nymphomaniac...." One of her fists clenched in her sleeve, and her voice lowered to a whisper. "Goddamn nymphs," she growled under her breath, then returned to her normal tone. "So how are things going for you, besides the obvious?"

She let her eyes smile in place of her lips, ever so wary of wrinkles.

Ciaran chuckled at her story. He was more than able to place in the missing pieces, and was rather sure her aquaintance wasn't doing very well these days. It was rare for someone to annoy her and make it away completely unscathed. Ciaran guessed he was injured, dead, or quite the fighter himself. Either way, none of it concerned him past a little laugh.

"I am doing quite well... how could I not be?" His characteristic smirk widened into a self satisfied grin as he spoke, "I have both N'Revat and Rab at my beck and call... my remaining enemies are being destroyed as we speak... and I have my magitek engineers working on a wonderful little toy. I'll be certain to show you when it's finished."