Halloween in July

Job Info:

Alexei entered Halloween town, looking around idly. This was his first time in this strange place called Toonville; he was finding himself growing very fond of it already, however. The world of Toonville was a fascinating one; the world itself was almost as patchwork as Pandora as a whole was, which was a rather amazing feat. He was fond of the inhabitants and their extreme unpredictability as well; as the God of Chaos, he felt like he had found his target audience.

When he had mentioned that his goal was Halloween Town, however, the Toons (the name the residents went by) had all grown very silent. Not one of them would volunteer to guide him there; they regarded this place as unholy, and Alexei could see why. As opposed to the pure light in Halloween Town, this place was pure darkness; Alexei could almost feel the oppressive unknown bearing down upon him. This was a fitting home for villains; it was no wonder that they chose this place to hide compared to the rest of Toonville.

A sudden movement out of the corner of Alexei's eye caught his attention; he whirled around to see what was causing the commotion. It would be a pure stroke of luck if he encountered an enemy this early on...

((OOC: You can't roll dice on the topic starter apparently, so this is a stand-in roll. I won't count towards the post requirement.))

The member 'Chaostothemax' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Monster Dice' :

Alexei whirled around to find a squadron of small, goblin-like creatures. They only went up to Alexei's kneecaps in height, and were thin and wiry, with small devilish tails jutting out from their lower back. None of them looked particularly tough, but the way they stared at Alexei with malice in their eyes certainly implied that they weren't friendly. Alexei looked down at the small goblins, grinning. A single spell would be enough to take care of these cretins. He wouldn't deign to use his full strength on such miniscule creatures, after all.

Alexei closed his eyes, focusing his energy into the area around him. A set of four swords seemingly made from dark green energy materialized, hovering around Alexei as he opened his eyes. Grinning cheekily, he flipped off the little gremlins; he didn't know if they'd understand the gesture, but if they did, it would certainly aggravate the little hellspawn. As it turned out, they understood the meaning completely; all seven of them let out little shouts and leapt at him. Their legs were stronger than Alexei had predicted, propelling them up towards his shoulders and face, but it was no matter; he was prepared. With a swing of his hand, the four swords swung downwards at the little gremlins, eliminating four of them immediately. The other three continued, but Alexei lashed out with his hand and slapped one of them into oblivion, sending it crashing into the ground. The other two latched onto Alexei's arms, but he quickly brought the flat edges of the floating blades down on his arms. The blow stung a little, but it had the desired effect: both of the gremlins were crushed like the bugs the were. Alexei let out a sigh, preparing to continue on his way. A growl from behind him, however, seemed to have other ideas.

--

Alexei's Stats
HP: 98% (sword slap)
MP: 95% (one D-Rank spell cast)

Concerto: Two post duration remaining, then four post cooldown

The member 'Chaostothemax' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Monster Dice' :

Alexei groaned as he recognized the growls, turning around to face another small horde of seven gremlins. He wasted no time this time around, raging into the small horde with the four swords swinging. A few bite marks aside, the Gremlins were dispatched easily this time around; after a small wait to see if any more of the annoying things would show up, he breathed a sigh of relief and traveled further into Halloween Town.

As he walked, Alexei reflected on his mission. He had been sent here to root out and eliminate members of 'The Agency', a supposedly powerful group that performed experiments and wreaked havoc among their domain. He had been given a choice of coming here, going to the Urban City, or visiting Kai. He had wanted to go to Kai, honestly; Toonville had looked rather bland, and Urban City was their main base, which could lead to several complications. But alas, he did not have a passport to Kai (the bureaucracy strikes again!), so he was brought here. He wasn't even positive what it was that he was searching for; had the gremlins from before been Agency members? They didn't seem too bright if that was the case.

Alexei was brought out of his reverie by yet another growl. Groaning, Alexei looked in the direction of the sound, prepared for the next annoyance to cross his path.

--

Alexei's Stats
HP: 95% (gremlin bites -3%)
MP: 90%

Concerto: 1 post duration left, then four post cooldown

The member 'Chaostothemax' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Monster Dice' :

Alexei was actually relieved to see something other than the little gremlins appear before him; perhaps these creatures would actually provide a challenge. That being said, the gremlins and these new beasts seemed cut from the same cloth. They had the same mottled, dark green skin, and the devil tails. Where the gremlins were small and harmless, however, these were huge and hulking. A single one of them was the size of Alexei, and there were four of them. A quick strike with the hovering swords showed that their hide was tough as well, barely scratching the surface. Alexei grinned. Oh yes, this was certainly more exciting. He'd go full power here.

Alexei maneuvered all four swords into position before slicing at the lumbering beast he had struck before with all four blades. The beast raised it's arms and swatted at the swords, shattering two of them; the other two, however, found their mark, striking at the same place Alexei had landed a test strike on earlier. The beast roared in pain, it's voice surprisingly high-pitched. Maybe it was a female variant? No matter. Alexei would put it out of it's misery soon enough.

Looking around, Alexei quickly realized that the other three beasts were close to being able to strike him. Laughing darkly, Alexei held out his hand. "Now the real fun begins," he declared as a bright flash of light burst through the clearing.

--

Alexei's Stats
HP:95%
MP:90% (2 posts until regen)

Concerto: Ended, four post cooldown

Enemies:
3x Normal enemies: 100%
1x Normal enemy: 0%

As the light died down, Alexei realized that his telekinetic swords had disappeared, but it no longer mattered. Now that he had brought out his trump card, all would fall before him. The light dissipated completely, leaving nothing but Alexei, the three remaining startled creatures, and the source of the light. Alexei's trump card, his Keyblade.

Bark of Oblivion.

Alexei immediately went into action, taking advantage of the creatures' surprise. Bark of Oblivion collided with one of the beasts, resulting in a small explosion of light where he had struck it; it fell to the ground as the Keyblade's magic swept through it. One of the two remaining beasts brought its hands up in what appeared to be an attempt to crush the wiry God, but Alexei simply whirled around and planted the blade in the abdomen that the creature had left unprotected. Only one remained, and fear was clear in it's eyes; Alexei gave it mercy, striking it's head so it wouldn't suffer. The God of Chaos stepped back to admire his handiwork, gripping the Keyblade in his left hand; as he watched the creatures' death throes, he felt almost bad for the poor things. They were surprisingly humanlike; listening to their cries, Alexei was given flashbacks of another time, long ago. He shook his head violently to remove the cobwebs, however; he couldn't let the past keep him back. He would keep moving forwards.

--

Alexei's Stats:
HP: 98% (Bark of Oblivion's Heart Health)
MP: 100% (Bark of Oblivion's Regulate, 1 post until regen)

Concerto: 3 post cooldown

Alexei continued to watch the creatures with morbid fascination, observing their death throes until they stopped moving. Something about them was far more compelling than the gremlins; they were much more humanlike. Once they stopped moving, Alexei turned to leave; when the bodies suddenly started moving again, he whirled around, expecting a sneak attack. What he saw, however, was even worse.

The creatures' bodies were changing, shrinking and becoming thinner. Their skin became peach-colored as their bodies lost most of their muscle and fat, becoming more sinewy and thinner. The devil tails retracted and the horns vanished, and Alexei noticed a fifth finger growing to the size of their four shrunken ones. By this point, Alexei has figured out what was going on, but he stayed around to watch just to make sure. The creatures continued to slim out, hair growing on their scalps and slightly through the rest of their body. Within thirty seconds, the four creatures Alexei had just murdered had become four naked humans.

Alexei was gripping Bark of Oblivion so tightly that his knuckles were turning white; he was so angry that his vision was swimming. It was one thing to imprison humans; even then, they had the hope of escape. But to capture humans, experiment on them and turn them into monsters, and then to let them free? That went beyond simply rejecting freedom. That was twisting it, making a mockery of it for all the world to see. As the God of Freedom, Alexei could not let this stand. As long as he still drew breath, the Agency would have to pay for its crimes. He turned around and set off towards the center of Halloween Town again, his mind still dwelling on the four humans behind him.

--

Alexei's Stats
HP: 100% (Bark of Oblivion's Heart Health)
MP: 100% (regen, 5 posts until next regen)

Concerto: 2 post cooldown
Bark of Oblivion: Active

((OOC: Forgot to roll for next wave >.<))

The member 'Chaostothemax' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Monster Dice' :

Alexei felt a chill run down his spine as he heard another growl to his left. Slowly, reluctantly, he turned his head in the direction of the noise, only to see another quad of the same creatures. His face went white at first, then red with rage; how dare the Agency send more of these mockeries of humanity to him? He would dispatch them quickly, and take them out of his misery.

Reaching inside, Alexei found the pieces of Rakoto's power that Corona had re-purposed for him; now, if ever, was the time to use them. "Mercuriality," the God of Freedom muttered, using Rakoto's power to transfer energy from his defenses to his speed. Alexei could feel his feet getting lighter, and his skin growing more sensitive; within a few seconds, he felt as fast as he did back when he was a simple Light God Slayer.

With his enhanced speed and the power of Bark of Oblivion, dealing with the four creatures in front of him was a breeze; a full-power hit from Bark of Oblivion was enough to eliminate one, and his speed allowed him to easily dodge the lumbering strikes of the man-beasts. Within a minute, the four in front of him were dead; Alexei simply turned and ran, not wanting to be around when they morphed back.

--

Alexei's Stats
HP: 100%
MP: 100% (4 posts until regen)

Concerto: 1 post cooldown
Mercuriality (Lineage Ability): 1 post duration remaining, then five post cooldown
Bark of Oblivion: Active

((OOC: Forgot to roll for monsters...AGAIN))

The member 'Chaostothemax' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Monster Dice' :

After a few more minutes of traveling, Alexei heard a chittering noise behind him; after thanking Phenax for not sending more of those terrible man-beasts, he turned to face his opponent. There was another squad of gremlins here, chittering and growling in their high-pitched, deformed voices. Alexei watched them threaten him, weighing his options. With Bark of Oblivion, he could eliminate them easily enough, but it would take a while to eliminate each of them individually. Plus, his defenses were still weakened from Rakoto's power, so he could easily end up over his head if another monster showed up to assist them.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Alexei, giving him an evil grin. He simply stood there, daring the gremlins to attack him; just for good measure, he flipped off this group as well. Immediately, the gremlins were on top of him, biting and punching. Once Alexei made sure all seven were on him, he activated his Emancipation ability. Bark of Oblivion exploded in a shower of magical energy, disintegrating the gremlins; Alexei let out a howl of pain as well, but he knew he would survive. With that particular set of gremlins destroyed, Alexei was free to move on to the heart of Halloween Town.

--

Alexei's Stats
HP: 55% (2% damage per gremlin = 14%. Emancipation detonation = 10%, for 24% damage. Multiply by two for the halved defenses, and he takes 48%. Then add 3% for Bark of Oblivion's Heart Health)
MP: 100% (10% used for Emancipate, 10% gained from Bark of Oblivion's Regulate, 3 posts until regen)

Concerto: No Cooldown
Mercuriality: effect ended, 5 post cooldown
Emancipate: Nonexistent items drained for 2 posts, then 5 post cooldown
Bark of Oblivion: Active

END OF COMBAT PORTION; STATS WILL NO LONGER BE STATED

After roughly half an hour of additional traveling, Alexei finally reached the bizarre spiral hill that marked the center of Halloween Town. The job request had asked him to come here and wait, implying that Alexei's reward would come to him if he made it here and waited. Alexei was too mad at the Agency and their man-mutants to think about much else, but he couldn't shake his curiosity at why he needed to wait here for his reward; as a result, he decided to see what would happen.

Minutes turned into hours as Alexei sat there; a day or two might have even passed, but immortality and the constantly pitch-black Halloween Town sky made it hard to judge that. Even Alexei's white-hot anger at the Agency sputtered into a dull roar as he waited; taking the rage's place, however, was irritation. After a while, Alexei decided that he wasn't going to wait any longer for his client to bring the money here; instead, he figured he'd get the money from the source. The God of Chaos and Freedom got off the hill and moved back the way he came, purposefully moving in a large arc to avoid the spots where he'd fought the man-beasts.

A few hours later...

Alexei knocked down the door to his client's house in Toonville, irritated. Not only did the man have the nerve to make Alexei wait pointlessly in the center of that wretched Halloween Town, he also had the gall to not answer his door! Alexei had grown sick of waiting for the man, and had used Diffusion to simply blast the weak door off of it's hinges. Once inside, he stalked through the house searching for the man. The house was an average one: Bathroom, Kitchen, Dining Room, Sitting Room, Bedro-

Alexei froze when he entered the bedroom. Lying on the perfectly made bed was a sack and a gaudy necklace that Alexei recognized as belonging to his client. Slowly, carefully, Alexei inched his way towards the bed, watching carefully for traps. When he reached the bed without incident, he tentatively reached down and grabbed the sack, opening it slowly. There was a large pile of coins in there, likely his reward, but there was no sign of the client. Had he skipped town for whatever reason? If so, why would he have left the money and the necklace here? Had he been kidnapped by the Agency? Regardless of whether he had left of his own volition or he had been 'coerced', Alexei had to do something.

Alexei grabbed the necklace and the coins before setting a fire in the bedroom and leaving. By the time he was down the block, the entire house was ablaze. Alexei stared at the gem in the necklace, a brilliant sapphire, and swore to himself that he would not be duped. If the man had skipped town, burning the house would be a warning to not cross Alexei again; if the Agency had taken him, it was to prevent the home from becoming one of their bases. Either way, Alexei had learned something valuable from the mission; the Agency had to be brought down.

END JOB

Interesting twist on the Experiments.

And a bit of math

The member 'Andr01d' has done the following action : Dices roll

'D Class Reward Dice' :