Lifeless Plateau (bloodsword)

OOC: Hey, I thought we should have a rematch. (This time for real, that other thread was kind of a screw up) Only this time, I’m using Tokumaru. I challenge your character Ahab! Or is it Cain now? I think you said it was, Cain, so I’ll do that. This one will take place in… Hmm… I’m thinking a beach…. Knoll… Cold Plateau on a High Mountain. <-- Yeah, let’s go with that.

BiC: Tokumaru walked around the area with caution. The mountain he slowly approached obviously gave off a disturbing aura, and the Heavenflame Samurai could detect the presence of rather powerful beings. His battles within the past weeks had been extreme, facing off against his bitter rival, the Dragonic Overlord, and facing off against Blitz Keir, the Wielder of the Sword, whom had, in their battle, achieved his divine ‘Celestial’ form. He was not tired however, and somehow knew he would be fighting someone on this mountain.

The wind pounded the snowy hills as the samurai reached the summit. Furry little creatures ran from here to their, trying to protect their young. The trees that were laden on the wide spiral path moaned and waned in the fierce gale; this snowstorm seemed almost… abnormal. Calling upon his amazing abilities, he summoned a large fireball in his hand, and pushed it to his chest. Ina dazzling array of lights, the flame thinned and spread out, consuming Tokumaru in a veil of flame.

“Ah,” he said happily, “That’s much better.” he looked upwards and saw that he still had a ways to go. The jaggy mountain path seemed eternally continuous, and the samurai began to wonder why he had even bothered to go up. The snow began to get even more intense, and even his veil of flames was begging to wane. This bothered Tokumaru dearly, and his patience was beginning to grow thin. As he neared the final, and largest, spiral up the mountain, several loud shots were heard. With godlike speed, the samurai swished around and emitted a large shield of flame. As he’d predicted, 3 bullets clanked off of it.

Now that he could see the top, Tokumaru brought forth his wings and flew to the summit. What met his eyes was an icy plateau, dazzled with sparkling trees that were completely frozen over; even more animals were up here, running around in fright.

“I wonder what their panic is?” said Tokumaru, taking notice of the animals frantically ducking into their burrows. “Of course, with what just happened to me, I wouldn’t really be surprised!” With that, he unsheathed the Hinotama and turned around to find a gun at his face. “Heh,” said the samurai, “thought so. Your gun gives off a familiar aura. It is that of Hanshin.”

The Gunman’s eyes widened. “You know Hanshin?” he asked.

Tokumaru nodded. “Yeah.” he said dryly. “I nearly got killed by the guy in a battle between our apposing armies. It seems that you, too, have fought him.”

The mysterious marksman cocked his gun. “I am Cain.” he said. “And I am here to end your life.”

Tokumaru smiled cockily. “Is that so? Well then, Cain, why is it that you desire my life?”

Cain sneered at the samurai. “I saw what you did. You annihilated an entire village with your hell flames. Your eyes may not be red anymore, but your looks have not changed.”

Red eyes?! thought Tokumaru, Dammit Naoru! Now you’re going to tarnish my good name by slaughtering innocents?! Tokumaru wanted to fly away right then and there, but the warrior within him couldn’t deny a keeper of justice his fight. “Fine.” he said. “I will fight you, but I shall not loose.”

OOC: Ok, there you go! Let’s see what kind of plot we can make THIS time!

OoC: Okay, lets. I don’t know if we could, but lets TRY to make it longer than The Rifle and The Wanderer. Alright, here we go. This post might be a tad short, and not very well written, because I’m kind of worn out from what I just wrote. Of course, this shall end up in a tie, as usual.

BiC: Cain held the Rifle in one hand, his katana in the other. He twirled his katana around his hand coolly, facing his Samurai adversary without a glint of fear in his eye. His anger for slaughtering an entire village was still burning within him. The vengeance had to be paid. And he knew Hanshin. That meant that he might know where his old friend might have gone. And if he did know that, despite the fact that both Cain and Hanshin had nearly slaughtered each other brutally for the Rifle he now wielded, he had to find out. They had become odd friends after they left.

Tokumaru had his own sword in his hand, eager to bite flesh. Cain knew he was also out for a kill … he would not let him even come close. As the Heavenflame Samurai approached softly upon the snow laden plateau, Cain lowered both weapons to his side, and closed his eyes softly.

Tokumaru saw this as too good of a chance to miss, and dove forward, stabbing out toward the gunslinger/swordman’s abdomen. He did not hear the quiet words that rolled from his tongue seconds before the sword might have impaled him. But all the sword tasted was the cold, lifeless air.

The Samurai’s eyes shifted, and he gasped in shock as the afterimage of his foe faded away into the sky. He whirled his sword around, and jeered “Gunslinger! You shall not escape me! I will rend you to pieces without a second thought! Come out and fight, do not be a coward!”

It was at that moment that he felt a faint aroma … he could not place what it was. For a second, his consciousness lured him to the smell, inviting him pleasantly. And then, half a second after that, he realized that it was Free Magic that he had whiffed. The Samurai whirled around, sword singing through the air …

And passed directly over the head of his foe, who swung his sword hard into the side of Tokumaru’s leg, just above his kneecap. The Samurai howled in anger as pain coursed through his body. Scarlet dripped down his leg, and he kicked out at Cain.

The Gunslinger/swordsman dodged the kick with ease, and stood back up, straightening his back slightly. His enemy was not hindered … if anything, he looked fueled and ready for more.

“If it is blood that you desire, then you shall taste your own!” roared Tokumaru. His sword flashed forward, and Cain raised both the Rifle and his katana. The Hinotama crashed down on both, close to the small indent where the Gunshin had smote on the Rifle a year previous. Both men whirled around, sweeping their swords over their backs to block any blows that would have came at their backs, and they met sword against sword again. As they pressed against each other, they came within inches of each others faces. Tokumaru leaned forward, gritting his teeth against the strength of his opponent. As they came within inches of each other, the Heavenflame Samurai was surprised to see that behind his dark curtain of hair, he was grinning. Tokumaru raised an eyebrow.

Then, a second too late, he realized what Cain was about to do, and tried to back away. Too late. Ten bullets tore into his skin, and the force of the magic dwelling within them stunned him. He stumbled away, keeping the Hinotama raised.

“Damn you,” said Tokumaru. “I’ll do you for that.”

They both shot forward again, and the battle resumed.

OoC: Like I said, not very well written … and it was rushed, too. Not my best work, sorry.

OOC: Heh, don’t worry, this post isn’t exactly going to be JK Rowling Material. Lol. TOS quotes for all! Look in the first paragraph, see if u can find one. Also, there’s two quotes from a Green Day song in there. (Jesus of Suburbia) Also let me know if u can find it!

BiC: Tokumaru cringed in pain at the bullets encrusted in his right arm and torso, and knelt down in pain. Cain stepped up beside him and laughed. “Yeah,” he said cockily. “how does it feel? Countless people suffered for your cause. Can you feel their pain?” As he slammed his foot into Tokumaru, the samurai fell over and laughed.

“Heh, heh…” he said, “you know, you’re right. People did die. However…” At that moment, wings shot out of Tokumaru’s back, and heat began to radiate from his sword. In a thrusting bodily movement, Tokumaru pushed, not bullets, but literally flaming lead out of his body. Cain was hit by two of the bullets, one in each arm.

“However,” continued Tokumaru, “I don’t feel any shame… I won’t apologize. I took a stroll up a mountain only to be attacked by a gun slinging marksman. Of course, you did see someone who was impersonating me. I’ve got nothing else to say on that part. It’s a lack of a better word, and that’s my best excuse, sadly enough. Like many before you, you will battle this, my Inferno form.”

Cain sneered at the samurai. The pain in both his arms would definitely constrict his ability to use his sword and gun, so he had to think of a plan. I remember Hanshin saying something about that Magoichi person’s gun… thought Cain the Yatagaratsu is what he called it. If this sword really is that fabled blade, then the aura surrounding it should be able to heal me… But the only problem is, that samurai might know about it, and might try to take away my gun in my handicapped state!

Tokumaru flew in at Cain with his sword, now a raging 567 degrees Celsius, a slammed his blade into Cain’s side. The Gunman thought it was all over, but then he looked at his side: It was bleeding profusely, but he could still see it, meaning he hadn’t been cut in half. “You…” he said in awe, “you hit be with the blunt of your sword?!” Tokumaru said no words and held out his hand.

“Flames of Destruction!”

Instantly, a plume of flames surrounded Cain, and the wound in his side was burned badly. But somehow, the gunman knew that the flames should’ve done more. Much more. What?! thought Cain madly, He’s… he’s holding back on me?”

The flames subsided, and Cain looked Tokumaru in the eyes with a cold mixture of hate, bewilderment, and rage. “Why?!” he yelled. “Why are you holding back on me? A true warrior would never do such a thing, especially not one who murdered an entire city! You’re despicable!”

Tokumaru held the Hinotama up to his face and mumbled a few strange words. Then he raised hi9s head and looked at the injured Cain. Good. The samurai thought. His wounds are almost healed.

“I do no such thing.” the samurai said to Cain. “I would NEVER hold back on anyone. Certainly not one that wants my head. Speaking of which, don’t blink.”

In that instant, a green foot slammed straight into Cain’s right temple and knocked him over. At this vantage point, the gunman saw that his foe had summoned a green, winged copy of himself that was completely composed of mana from the samurai’s body. “What… is that?!” Said Cain, totally bewildered.

Tokumaru cackled. “That, marksman,” he said, “is my doppelganger, the Sôryûsen Ryû.”

OOC: Like your post, this wasn't my best work either. It should be potent enough though to satisfy.

BiC: Death will take me before I let this samurai kill me, thought Cain savagely. He shook off the very slight pain to his head, and rose to his feet, Rifle and katana still clutched in his hands.

Tokumaru glared at him suspiciously. He should have been knocked out by that hit to the head! he thought to himself.

Cain stared at his foe for a second, then before he could do a thing, he fired off ten bullets so fast that even the Heavenflame Samurai had no time to stop them from rending his flesh. He was thrown backwards, and landed hard on his back in the snow, still clutching the Hinotama close to his chest. He saw his adversary rushing toward him, and quickly rolled to the side as two more bullets roared from the barrel of the Rifle. But he was again unprepared for what he did next; Cain leapt forward to where the samurai had rolled to, switching his grip on the Rifle to the barrel, and pistol whipped him hard in the head … harder than he had ever hit someone before in his life, even with all his encounters in Belisaur.

Tokumaru yelled in pain as the hard metal smote upon his thick skin without mercy. He dove away from the magical weapon as it swung down again, missing his head by mere inches. Cain tossed the Rifle up and caught it by the handle again, firing off a warning shot two inches from Tokumaru’s head. The samurai stopped moving, and glanced very slightly over his shoulder at the crater that the bullet had left.

“Where did you acquire that Rifle, gunslinger?” demanded the samurai feverishly.

“A forest far from here, which you will never reach, for you are not going to leave this plateau alive,” retorted Cain. He whirled the Rifle around one finger, and aimed it at the samurai.

Then Tokumaru chuckled. He actually chuckled. This made Cain grow angry. “So you find this funny?” snarled Cain, his voice slowly rising. “You find the mass slaughtering of an entire people to be humorous?!”

Tokumaru shook his head. “No,” he replied coolly, “I just find it funny that you would really believe that I actually did it.”

“I saw you!” shouted Cain in pure rage, and unloaded another bullet straight for Tokumaru’s head. The samurai was prepared. He threw himself up off the ground, and spun the Hinotama around, deflecting the bullet straight back toward its owner. Cain bent backwards slightly, and the bullet zipped inches from his skin, into the night sky. His adversary was on his feet now, prepared to duel once more.

“This is the end for you, samurai,” said Cain, readying both his Rifle blade and his katana. Tokumaru’s mouth curled into a smile.

“I would not be so sure,” he replied, equally coolly. He charged forward, swinging his sword around hard at the gunslingers head.

Cain whipped to the side and slashed Tokumaru across the back. He screamed in anger and pain as the sword cut deep into his skin, but dealt Cain a quick but decisive blow to the upper arm. Crimson dripped from both fighters’ skin, and they ignored their wounds, smiling grimly at each other.

They charged.

OoC: Ouch … that was even shorter this time. Whoopsie … well I’ll at least make an attempt on my next post

OOC: I have no idea where this fight is going. T_T…

BiC: Slamming the Hinotama against the barrel of the Rifle, the two combatants entered a fiery deadlock. The bayonet of the Rifle was a large, 6 inch piece of the Gunshin, and the Hinotama all but resonated with its familiar aura; Hanshin and Tokumaru had fought in war, so the incredible aura given off by the two blades was bound to be remembered by even the swords themselves.

Cain was beginning to become agitated with this, and maneuvered his hand to the trigger of his gun, firing it off, the Hinotama was blasted away from the gun, and Cain had a clear advantage. Using his stream of infinite bullets, Cain fired 5 rounds through the air at Tokumaru. To his disappointment, the Sôryûsen Ryû stepped in the way, and didn’t even flinch as the bullets entered him; the bullets were then dissolved instantly, for the Sôryûsen was a being completely made out of the mana of Tokumaru’s body.

Tokumaru stood erect and put on a smirk. “You’ll find it won’t be nearly as easy to get through this Sôryûsen then it is with my flesh.”

Cain put on an equally cocky face. “Heh,” he said in the same manner, “Is that so? As a matter of fact, I also have a few tricks up my sleeve, and you can put money on that bet.” With that, the marksman unhooked the bayonet from his gun rushed up to the Sôryûsen Ryû, slashing it. Much to Tokumaru’s surprise, the mythic aura surrounding the bayonet cut straight through the Sôryûsen, picking him apart piece by piece. It was as if the mana inside the doppelganger was weak against Hanshin’s aura.

OOC: Dude, I am sorry, but I am completely drained of all creative juice. If you would like to wait for me to finish this a bit later, I would completely understand.
EDIT: I am going to be gone for a few days. Apologies.