Pavement, Pavement Everywhere and not a Spot to Park (Lunchbox)

The sun craned low in the sky, caught in a perpetual sunset. The red blazing sphere lit up the planet, casting its rays for miles and miles. Those very miles stretched in every direction, as far as the eye could see. There were no trees, no plants, no hills, no mountains. Everything was flat and covered with black tarmac. In every direction the large flat of tar was marked with painted lines that formed a semi-grid. Forever was so small.

In the center of eternity stood a single man. On his head he wore a tattered cowboy hat; in his mouth loosely hung a cigarette. He wore an old, tan jacket. His legs were covered by a pair of dark brown cowboy chaps. He held a pocket watch in his hand, open to read the time. He wasn't looking at it, though. His eyes were caught staring into the distance, looking somewhere over the blank and lifeless horizon. So much was going on in his head, but his face looked lifeless. So much to calculate, so much to understand. Too much to understand.

He finally blinked, returning to the reality he'd created. As he planned, the empty field was now covered entirely with cars. They were all of different shape and design, but there was an infinite amount. He put his pocket watch away. More the merrier. One was never enough. Irritating constraints.

He reached his hands deep into the pockets of his chaps. He fiddled around until he felt his pad and paper. He pulled it out and took another glance, though his eyes never met the paper. He stared just over it, but he could still read it. Another battle was scheduled for today. High Noon. It was time he gathered the combatants. The air smelt of gasoline. It always had to make sense.

The wind blew away from him, outward to every corner of eternity.

Always outward. It always blew away.

***

Tree stared down at the city below him. From his spot atop his skyscraper, he could see in every direction. Cars crawled by, slowed by Rush Hour traffic. Somewhere, a dozen sirens were blaring. People were screaming amongst the hustle and bustle, but no one noticed. Everyone was too absorbed in their own greedy little lives to notice those in need.

The giant green statue off to his side stared away into the distance. It was as if the liberty statue herself didn't want to be there. Tree couldn't blame her. It was a rather disturbed city: So much violence, so much crime, so much hate. He had to help heal this city. He had to kill the guilty.

Tree lunged off the building, plummeting into the streets below. The windows on the building he was passing washed past him in a mesmerizing blur. He slowed his falling to the appropriate speed just as his feet hit the ground. Perfect landing.

But now he wasn't in the city. When his feet hit pavement, he was no longer in New York city. Now he was standing in a parking lot. Before him stood a stranger. All around him: Cars. Millions upon millions of cars. To his right, another stranger.

Strange.

Ooc: Yeah, Lunchy, just post your character doing something then suddenly appearing here. I'll follow it up with "The Man in the Field's" explanation, then we can begin.

He looked around inquisitively, trying to determine what had just happened. Just seconds before, he had been wandering around a giant city filled with wailing sirens, honking cars, and cursing pedestrians. And now, he was... wherever the hell he was. For as far as the eye could see in every direction, there were cars. Some looked old and tired, rust spread haphazardly across it, falling apart at every seam and corner, others looked as if they had never even been touched, gleaming brightly. The world was bare and dry; it looked like dry, crusty clay that could fall apart at any given moment.

And then he noticed there were two other people in this world besides him. They were too far away to define the features of. One looked like a scarecrow, an old, tattered coat flapping around. Bright red hair poking out of a long dark top hat, and holding a cane in his right hand. The man didn’t look human, and probably wasn’t.

“So, what’s your name?” it suddenly asked him, without moving. It spoke fast and hyper, with a hint of insanity laced throughout.

“Who wants to know?”

“Oh, well aren’t you just a little bundle of happiness!? Fine. The name’s Tree Shade, like what one would get sitting under a tree. Tree shade!” Tree cackled maniacally. “Now, I’ve introduced myself, it’s your turn.”

“…Valkyhn.”

“Valkyhn?” He laughed again. “What a silly little name. Sounds like sometime just drew random letters out of a hat!”

Valkyhn ignored Tree’s ramblings. “What am I doing here?”

The second stranger moved with a sense of purpose about him. Tree gave Valkyhn an excited look. “I think we’re about to find out!”


OoC: Short, I know.

And, if anything was out of character for Tree, I'm sorry. I did my best "insane" impersonation.

Ooc: Yeah, it wasn't a bad attempt, but Tree isn't usually "cackling insane" ... usually. That's more of a Toofy personality. He usually has a calm tone (at first), but still a rather messed up way of talking and thinking, scheming twinkle in his eye, randomly grinning at inappropriate moments, etc... He does cackle, though... just only at moments he finds particularly amusing.

Bic:

The man in the field looked up from his pad and paper, glancing from one subject to the other. They were both quite different. They both also had unique abilities he had never seen before. He could gather quite a bit of information from these two, but if the information was useful was another question. He'd know soon enough.

The stranger in the cowboy hat shoved his pad and paper deep back into his right pocket. He took a deep, stuffy breath. "Tree and Timothy." He mumbled, tone low and lifeless. Tree didn't appear to be surprised, but Valkyhn's eyes widened slightly. "Yes..." The stranger mumbled again.

"Speak up. Can't here you, lad." Tree spoke softly, a slight grin playing at the corner of his lips.

The man glared Tree in the eye, his blank expression expressing his sudden irritating with Tree Shade. That top hat wearing freak had no idea who he was playing with, but that was just his nature. "I am the man in the field. I am here to organize a fight." His attention shifted to Valkyhn. "This is your battlefield."

Valkyhn glanced around the field of vehicles for a moment, still trying to grasp everything that was happening. "Wait a minute, what fight?"

Without diverting from his current mindset, the man in the field continued. "High noon is when the battle will begin. Neither of you are leaving this parking lot until one of you is incapacitated."

Tree took a step to the side, tightening his grip around his cane. Who was this stranger? What was the purpose of fighting? It was still too soon to discern his motives.

"There's a catch." The strange cowboy continued, raising his voice to be sure they both heard him. "You can't kill the other combatant. If you do you will be trapped here forever. If you refuse to fight, you will be trapped here forever. If you try to cheat, you will be trapped here forever." He said it with such an uninterested tone. He had no respect for the two that stood before him.

Tree chuckled to himself. What a fool. "I'd like to see you try and confine me."

Suddenly the man in the field was standing a mere inch from Tree, his body much taller than it was before. "Don't think your ability to travel between dimensions will work here, Mister Rune, you will find that you can't; not in my world." This put Tree in his place. Mr. Rune? The enigma was suddenly back to normal, no evidence of change left behind.

"The battle starts at high noon. It ends when one of you falls unconcious."

"Wait," Valkyhn spoke up, "from where the sun sits, noon won't be for another ten hours or so."

The man in the field took a step back. "From where I sit, noon will be here in ten seconds." In a split second, the wind erupted like a hurricane, picking up speed, emanating from the stranger himself. "Good luck." His voice echoed even after he'd already disappeared. Everything was still.

Tree and Valkhyn simultaneously jumped away from each other, eyes locking in a suspicious stare down.

Tree cocked an eyebrow, curious about the messy-haired young adult before him. He could understand why a demi-god would want to see what he, the Self-proclaimed Master of Insanity, would have up his sleeve, but what would he want with this kid? Surely there was more to him than what he appeared to be.

Everything suddenly went dark. The sun in the far west had dropped behind the horizon. The stars soared by, then it was light again. The sun shot up into the air in the east, tearing across the heavens before freezing dead center above their heads.

Noon.

OoC: Yeah. Technically, you were right in his name being Valkyhn, seeing that the post came before the approval of his reboot, but...not it's just always been Valkyhn. No big deal, just an FYI kind of thing.

Valkyhn and Tree eyed each other suspiciously, eying each other’s every move, every breath, every twitch of the eye. Valkyhn’s hands laid upon his sword, ready to defend if the need arises.

The need arose.

Out of Tree’s monocle came a blast of red. The suddenness of the beam took Valkyhn aback, making him flinch. This caused him to lose his balance and fall on the ground, missing the beam by mere centimeters. As the red above him dispersed, he turned to look behind him, finding a row of holes burned into the cars behind him as far as he could see.

Wide-eyed with a feeling betwixt fear and relief, he turned back to Tree, his eyes asking ‘What the hell was that?’ The man was pre-occupied with his pipe, attempting to light it with…something on fire. Upon closer inspection, Valkyhn found it to be his middle finger. Succeeding, he flicked his finger around as if it were a match, puffed a few times, and blew smoke out of his mouth in the most casual way one ever could. Valkyhn was speechless, fascinated by this odd creature. “Got lucky there, didn’t you, boy?” he said, finally, looking at Valkyhn with his negative-colored eyes.

Valkyhn didn’t reply.

“What was your name again? For the life of me, I can’t remember.”

Again, no reply came.

Tree eyed him curiously, puffing slowly upon his pipe. “Well, if you’re not going to do anything, I guess I’ll start this.” The man stood straighter, stretching his back, groaning “What a pain…” He started twisting his body left and right, swinging his arms. “It was such a good smoke, too.” He stopped his movements, and smiled. “Are you ready? Well, I guess that doesn’t really matter, does it?”

Valkyhn stood up, gripping his sword even tighter. He was ready now, for anything this enigma was bound to throw at him. Tree slowly floated off the ground, flailing his arms a bit as if he couldn’t completely control this power. He floated there for a second, and then suddenly sped toward Valkyhn. Tree’s eyes were filled with a sick delight, an insane gleam in the black of his eyes. He raised his cane high above his head…

Valkyhn unsheathed his sword.

…and Tree suddenly stopped. Ten feet away, he stayed, hovering in the air, holding his cane as if it was supporting him on some invisible floor. Valkyhn held his battle stance, unsure of what he was doing. It was clear this man was insane, dangerous, and extremely unpredictable.

“I had no idea you were a lefty! That’s pretty interesting. Quite rare, you know.” Tree leaned his head to the left, looking upwards with a furrowed brow, as if trying to remember something. “I don’t remember ever fighting a southpaw.” He chuckled lightly. “I guess there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?”

Valkyhn felt a ping of annoyance. The way this man was acting, the fight would never start. And what would happen then? Would they both be stuck here for eternity?

“Hey!” snapped Tree, shaking Valkyhn out of himself. “Are we going to do this or not? I don’t have all day…Well,” he glanced at the motionless sun, “you know what I mean.”

Finally, Valkyhn spoke. “I can’t fly.”

“What does that have to do with anything? I can’t either.”

“But—you’re doing it right now.”

Tree glanced around him, as if he hadn’t realized he had been floating this whole time. “What, this? Pff. This isn’t flying. It’s falling.”

Valkyhn ignored him. The hassle trying to figure out just what went on in Tree’s mind would never be worth the answer. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’d rather not be stuck here for the rest of my life.”

Tree smiled widely. “Then why don’t you come knock me out then, hmm?”

A twitch of a smile fell upon Valkyhn’s face. “Gladly.” He rushed forward, hopping on, around, and over cars until he came to only a few feet away from Tree. “I can’t exactly reach you from that height there.”

Tree shrugged.

Well that was entertaining. He'd toyed enough with this boy. He couldn't tell what his motives were, but so far he didn't seem much like the typical evil human being. Hopefully he wouldn't show any signs of wrongdoings. It would have been a while since Tree had fought someone he deemed worthy to live. Even if this one was destined for death, he couldn't be the one to give it to him. He had to leave this place. The only way he could properly leave would be to knock the boy unconscious... or get knocked out himself. Still, he'd hope for the first choice. He couldn't discard his personal pride so easily.

The boy looked rather annoyed that Tree was floating just out of reach. He couldn't blame him. Tree slowly rotated the directional pull of his personal gravity, slowly revolving his body until it was completely upside down, facing the strange what's-his-name boy.

Tree lurched toward him, cane flailing wildly from his floating stance. Valkyhn slowly backed up, quickly trying to adapt to Tree's unorthodox fighting style. His skill was extraordinary, definitely a superior close ranged fighter. Their weapons connected in a flurry of parries and thrusts, but Tree's skill at melee combat was inferior. Valkyhn's blade cut through the sky, nearly severing one of Tree's eyebrows. The Master of Insanity suddenly backed off, falling to the ground behind a pickup truck. He could hear Valkyhn's footsteps as he advanced after him.

Tree scrambled to his feet, spying his target through the window of the vehicle he hid behind. Lifting his cane, he sent a blast of antimatter into the truck, throwing a hole clean through it and into his pursuer. The left-hander's feet flew out from under him, sending him crashing into an old junker. Tree shielded his eyes from the falling debris, straightening his posture.

Thankfully, the properties of the antimatter blast disallowed for human killing. That made it an effective tool for this particular battle. With its blunt trauma it would certainly knock him out, given he fired it in just the right place.