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(Untitled) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Makai... In the Pits Of Shade where Shadow was 'born'... ------------------------------------------------------------------ Shadow snarled to himself as he drifted around the pit where he had first emerged. "The INSOLENCE of that little bitch. How DARE she betray me?!" Shadow tried to swat at a nearby rock, but his hand just passed through. Snarling again, he started to pace, wondering what to do next. "Maybe I should check on Rowdman's progress. It's better than just drifting here," he raised a claw, preparing to open a wormhole into human world, when he was struck by a vision of his past... ------------------------------------------------------------------ Long Ago... In a very different ChaosGrounds... ------------------------------------------------------------------ Jana T'Arousi shivered as she walked through the cold, sterile landscapes, leading her five-year-old son by the hand. What was once the very essence of Chaos was now a living city of machines, each one going about his business. Each one glared at her as she and her son passed, the only creatures of flesh in the Realm. Jana shuddered as she thought of the shocking ease with which this realm's former ruler was dethroned. After an hour of walking in the capital city of the Realm, she came to a massive castle, a building that looked more like a blazing star than anything else. She came up to a wall and knocked on it. A portal opened, revealing a bipedal mechanism that used to be a werewolf like her. "You are expected, Designate: T'Arousi, Jana. Have you brought the boy?" the mechanism asked. Jana nodded sullenly, and gestured to her son, who was hiding behind her legs. "Yes. I brought him." "Come with me," the mechanism said, and started walking down the hall. Jana and her son followed. The walk down the hallway wasn't very intresting. The lord of this realm didn't believe in decorations, so the hallway was simply a smooth, silver tunnel with lighting on the wall. Finally, they came to a grand thone room, adorned with golden rings, depicting the three current rulers of Makai. The pathway split towards three different thrones. On the right sat a powerfully built, silver-skinned man with flowing white hair and golden robes. His throne was made of carved emeralds, and a massive dragon sat behind him. On the left was a man literally cloaked in shadows, his pumpkin head with the jack-o-lantern face the only thing visible. And in the center, clad in nothing but a pelt of werecat fur, sat a beautiful woman with hair made of spun gold, skin of polished titanium, and glowing green LEDs for eyes. The machine-wolf bowed. "All hail Valdoll, Master Of Dragons, Enemy Of Demons, Lord Of Magic," said the werewolf. The old man smiled and nodded. "All hail Samhain, True King of Shadows, Endbringer to the Plague Lands." The pumpkin-headed creature frowned as he looked at Jana and the boy. "All hail Tekla, Machine Empress, Bringer of Logic to the Chaos, Scourge of the Flesh." The machine woman smiled wickedly, licking her lips as she looked down at the werewolf cub. He whimpered and clutched his mother's leg tightly. Valdoll stood up and waved the mechanism away. As it left, he walked towards Jana and said. "I see you brought the boy, like we asked?" Jana nodded sadly. "Yes. I've brought Malken." Valdoll nodded. "Good. Leave the boy with us and go home. The denizens of the TekLands will not harm you on your way out." Jana nodded again and leaned down, hugging her son tightly, "No matter what happens, Malken my angel, I will always love you." She turned away reluctantly and started to leave. Malken tried to follow her, but Valdoll put a hand on his shoulder. When she was fully in the hallway, the doorway vanished, becoming a wall again. Tekla laughed, leaning over to whisper in Samhain's ear. "Cute little morsel, don't you think?" Samhain snarled. "He should be killed. Valdoll's a fool for thinking that he can be taught to serve us." Valdoll heard every word of this, and whirled on his two compatriots. "Is it foolish to not want our entire empire sacrificed because of Tekla's gluttony and your paranoia? I believe that we can teach him. And if it works, we'll be able to defend ourselves better when and if the Lords make a move to reclaim their kingdoms." ------------------------------------------------------------------ The present... ------------------------------------------------------------------ Shadow raised a hand to his head as the vision ended. "What in... Was that my past?" He frowned, then shook his head. "Time enough to interpret visions later. I need to check on Rip." Reaching out and 'gripping' the air in front of him, he tore open a hole in mid-air, drifting through it and appearing in an abandoned factory. He appeared to a scene of carnage. Blood was slashed across the walls, looking like an insane painter had taken up abstract art. Shadow smiled, visibly impressed. "Well well. Such viciousness. I think I'm starting to like this Rowdman character." Shadow drifted through the factory, chuckling at each scene of gore, smiling at the bits of skin sewn together in a grotesque mockery of macrame. He came upon two heavily gorged werewolves, sprawled out on the floor. Huddled in a fetal position next to them was a young man with a green mohawk, shivering with fear, his clothes in shreds. "Well well. Looks like Rip's used the magic I've given him to make a couple playmates. Now, let's see what else in on this poor man's mind." Concentrating slightly, he easily merged with the man's shadow, his memories opening up to him. The first thing he learned was the man's name, Vince. The next he learned is what happened to him. ------------------------- Vince's memories... -------------------------- "Yo, Lucy! Pass me some of that fancy limey grog!" A dark-skinned woman clad in leather clothes, passed a bottle with an amber liquid in it to a large, muscular man in bluejeans. He took a deep swig from it and burped, offering it to Vince, who took it gratefully. After taking a long drink, he looked around at the various thugs and tough guys and girls that had gathered here. Vince smiled. Their leader, Abigail, in one of his rare moments of having a good idea, had suggested that they, after being utterly CLOBBERED by Haggar, Guy, and Cody, flee Metro City and come here. Abigail's seconds-in-command, a chesty, blue-haired woman named Roxy and a bald man in orange leather named Dug, toasted each other and then their comrades. They had wanted to surprise their boss with the booze, so they had gone out on a tear. As Dug was pouring Roxy another drink, a hole in reality opened, dumping a battered ball of fur out in front of them. As the former members of Mad Gear got a good look at the creature, they realized that it was a werewolf. But that was impossible. So it had to be someone in a werewolf suit. Vince laughed. "Hey, lookit the loser what thinks it's Halleyween." --------------------- The factory... --------------------- Bored with the simplicity of this man's mind, Shadow fastforwarded to when Rip used the magic he gave him to change Dug and Roxy into werewolves. After that is was short, sweet, and very violent, as the three of them, Dug and Roxy under Rip's mental control, tore into the gang members, reducing them all to pulp in seconds. Shadow chuckled, and walked further into the factory to find Rip. He found him laying on a desk in what might have been the manager's office when the factory was active. "Rowdman. Wake up," he snapped, manifesting himself from his host. Rip grunted and slowly came awake. When he saw Shadow looming out of Vince's body, he yipped and fell off of the desk. Peering over the edge, he said, meekly, "Uh... Hi boss." Shadow sneered at him, folding his arms, his host mimic the action, "Having fun?" Rip grinned weakly. "Well, I was until you decided that I shouldn't." Shadow sighed, cursing himself for choosing such a clown as a lackey. "How did it go with Marionette?" Rip coughed nervously. "Well... It was going rather well... But apparently she 'as some weird powers. She h'opened this portal-thingy, and dropped me off 'ere in front of these bloody-fucking fools. I decided to let off some steam." "So I see." -------------------------------- The outer factory... --------------------------------- Dug and Roxy, woken by the sound of Shadow's thunderous baritone voice, ran back to find their master. They stopped when they saw Shadow, terrified by the sight of the creature. Shadow turned and sneered at them. "Let me guess. Douglas Simms and Roxy Paul, correct?" Roxy blinked. "How you know who we are?" she asked, the words hard to form in her werewolf state. Shadow chuckled. "It's easy to pluck information from the minds of simpletons like your comrade. Who I assume was being used as your toy before I came along." Dug snarled. "What busy-ness it of yurs?" Shadow loomed up out of Vince, still connected to the boy, but just barely. Shadow laughed and said, "Whenever I link with someone, I can see into their thoughts and memories, controlling them completely. But since I've learned what I need to know from this brat, I'm done with him." Before the astonished eyes of the three werewolves, Vince's body glowed and started to shrivel. Dug and Roxy gasped, shifting back to their human forms. Rip whimpered, hiding under the desk. Roxy and Dug didn't understand what was happening but Rip knew. Rip knew all too well that Shadow was eating the boy's soul. Shadow chuckled mildly as he detatched himself from Vince's husk, his wispy body swelling out as he absorbed the boy's energy fully. "Wh-wh-what happened?" Dug stammered, "What did you do to him?" "Yer better off not knowin'" Rip muttered. Shadow smirked in agreement. "The time has come, little ones, to make plans. I have an insolent traitress to take care of and..." Shadow started, when he was interrupted by a loud, boisterous voice. "WHAT IN THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?!" Rip and Shadow blinked. Dug snarled. Roxy groaned. "It's our old boss, Abigail Andore," she said. Dug snarled, starting to shift back to his werewolf form, and said, "He's a loser. Just gimmie a minute and I'll take care of him." Shadow watched with amusement as Roxy put a hand on Dug's arm, causing him to pause in mid transformation. "No, I kinda like him. I've picked up a few tricks from Poison, I think I can convince him to leave." Dug snarled at her for a moment, then nodded. Shadow chuckled, and whispered to Rip, "It's amazing how sometimes a woman can control even the most savage creature." Rip smirked lazily as Roxy walked out of the room. Shadow, curious as to what would happen, floated up after her, flowing through a ventilation grate. ---------------------------------------------- The main lobby of the factory... ------------------------------------------------ Roxy sighed angrily to herself. She always seemed to be getting involved with the worst kind of men. First Abigail, then Dug, who was almost as bad. Now this Rip Rowdman character came along and mutated her using some kind of weird magic. It was fun being a werewolf, but still, having to work for someone that crazy didn't appeal to her. And now this 'Shadow' person. She shuddered, and came out fully into the main lobby of the factory. Abigail was there, looking about. Roxy sneered. He was the only member of the Andore family (that she knew of) that didn't look like a lardass, but he was still just as ugly. His neon pink jeans and muscle-shirt were almost stretched to the limit by his oversized muscles, which looked like they were enhanced by steroids, but really weren't. That combined with his cowboy boots, Road-Warrior facepaint, and Mini-Me mohawk, made him one of the stupidest looking people Roxy had ever seen. "ROXY? THAT YOU? WHAT HAPPENED HERE? WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF CARNEVIL?" Abigail bellowed. Roxy winced, her sense of hearing enhanced by Rip's spell. "There was an animal attack. Dug and I were out at the time. We came back here and saw the mess, and were about to clear out." Roxy said, thinking quickly. "GEEZ, IT MUSTA BEEN A BEAR OR SOMETHING, TO TAKE OUT ALL OF OUR GUYS," Abigail said, not noticing how calm she seemed, "WOW. HEY, WHERE'S THAT FUCKNUTS COWARD DUG? I WANNA TALK TO HIM FOR A SECOND ABOUT HIS STATUS IN OUR GANG." Roxy tensed. She may be irritated with Dug sometimes, but she did love him. "Why?" Abigail stared at her for a moment, frowning. "HE'S FUCKED UP ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION. I WANT HIM TO EITHER SHAPE UP AND GET TOUGH, OR GET THE HELL OUT OF MY GANG." Roxy scowled. "What gang? We're a bunch of punks who had the good sense to get the hell out of Metro City before Haggar used our asses to wallpaper the City Jail. Which, I remind you, was mine and Dug's idea that we let you take the credit for." Abigail's frowned deepened. "I DON'T LIKE YOUR TONE. I THINK YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE." Roxy laughed. "Oh yeah, big man, and what will you do if I don't?" Abigail just smiled. And before Roxy could react, he wrapped one of his Chistmas ham-sized fists around her neck. Abigail chuckled. "THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION?" Roxy gagged. She tried to concentrate enough to transform, but Abigail's grip was cutting off the air to her brain. Dark blossoms bloomed in her vision as the brutish punk tightened his hold on her neck. Shadow watched the fight from a grate above the door where Roxy emerged with some concern. He wondered if he should interviene. After all, Roxy did seem like she would make a very competant lackey. In the next instant, he realized he didn't have to do anything. A dark-furred blur came out of the doorway, tackling Abigail and knocking him down HARD. Abigail fumbled as he got to his feet. He snarled, clenching his fists and turned to where Roxy was, coughing and catching her breath. He blinked when he saw Rip Rowdman staring at him, snarling viciously, drooling in anticipation of the battle. "No. One. Harms. My. Pack. GOT IT?" Abigail blinked. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SUPPOSSED TO BE?!" Rip grinned. Then he howled and charged him again. Shadow laughed inside of his vent, silently wondering how many seconds Abigail would last before being gutted, when another vision overtook him. ------------------------------------ The past... Forests of Makai... Home of the Skindancer... ------------------------------------- Malken looked around him. The forests were beautiful! All the colors of the rainbows of Ningenkai and so many more. And the light. Was this moonlight? Incredible. The Trinity rarely let him out of their respective castles. He turned up to his guide, a cloaked, shadowy entity he had met while being educated in the castle of Samhain, one that had introduced himself as Ozum. Ozum had come up to him after he had overheard him questioning Samhain as to the rightness of their actions. The superspectre had given him a terse, harshly-worded reply before dismissing him for the day. Ozum has said that he felt the exact same way about the Infernal Trinity, and wished for him to meet people that were working against him. Reluctantly, he agreed. Now here he was, and he wasn't regretting a second of it. He looked up at Ozum again to ask him a question, but seeing the irritated look on the demon's face he decided against it. "We are here," Ozum said suddenly, stopping. "Where's here?" Malken asked. "The home of Skindancer," was all Ozum said, drawing back a branch so that Malken could see. Malken looked through the branches, and his breath caught in his throat. The most beautiful creature he had ever seen was dancing in the light of the moon, leaping and twisting, shifting from the form of a human, to a wolf, a dragon, a phoenix, and so many others in such a fluid fashion, it was as if he was made of water. Ozum chuckled at the boy's reaction, and turned to the dancing creature. "Skindancer. I've brought the cub." The handsome entity stopped his dance, blinking and shifting to a fully-human form. To Malken's shock, the man who Ozum called Skindancer went over and hugged him, laughing jovially. Ozum smiled, his demonic face brightening. "Old friend. It does my heart good to see you again," said Skindancer. Ozum just smiled, shaking his head. "As it does mine. I grow tired of pretending to be the lowly servant of Samhain, and its nice to see a friendly face once in a while." Skindancer laughed again and turned to the boy. "And this is the cub of the Trinity?" Ozum nodded. Skindancer smiled at him. "Welcome, young one. My kin callest me the Skindancer, The First One. Yon demonic oaf is Ozum. We both are two of the seven deposed Lords of Makai." Malken gasped. He had heard of the Lords, but the way the Trinity, Tekla in particular, described them, he had pictured them all as mindless, shuffling barbarians. Skindancer continued. "We have a request of you. We know that you are a student of the Infernal Trinity, and may have feelings of loyalty towards them, despite the doubts that are in your head. We ask you to join in opposing them. What do you say?" Malken blinked, and frowned. Skindancer noticed this, smiled warmly, and said, "I know that this is a lot to spring on you at once, but it is VERY important that we get an answer from you. The Trinity has claimed land that is not theirs, and is despoiling it. To save all of Makai, we need your help. What is your answer?" Malken bit his lip. Then he opened his mouth to give his answer. ------------------ Now... The factory... ------------------ Shadow blinked and shook his head as the vision ended. "This could be inconvienient if the visions continue like this. I must investigate their source soon," he said, speaking to no one in particular, "But now back to the fight. Yes. Time to see how Rip is do... ing..." Much to Shadow's surprise, Rip still hadn't beaten the brutish Abigail yet. Abigail was visibly bleeding in several places, but his oversized strength was managing to keep the powerful Rip at bay. Right now Abigail was holding Rip's jaws open so that they wouldn't clamp down on his face as Rip's claws started to dig into Abigail's neck from where he was squeezing. In desperation, Abigail headbutted Rip in the nose. Startled, Rip yipped and leaped away from Abigail. The brutish human roared and tried to tackle the werewolf, but Rip simply jumped out of the way, kicking him in the back of the head, knocking him down. Abigail grunted and got back up, the veins on his neck standing out as he got furious. Growling he charged Rip again. Rip just blinked, hopping out of the way and kicking Abigail again, realizing that this charge attack was the only thing he had. Avoiding another charge by the enraged Abigail, he turned to look at Roxy and Dug, who were relaxing near a dead engine. Dug just chuckled. "Told ya it'd be easy to beat him. You may want to turn around now, though." Rip did, just in time to get clotheslined by the massive human. Snarling, Rip rolled out of the way and crouched, as Abigail paused to glare at his two former comrades and catch his breath. Rip snarled. "That one I'll give you. But it's the last one you'll get. Time for Howling Inferno." Rip leaned back, taking a deep breath. "You may want to get out of the way," Shadow said to Dug and Roxy, who, taking a look at Rip, got the idea and backed into the tunnel. Rip howled, leaning forward again and exhaling a massive gout of flame. Abigail saw it coming and BARELY managed to get out of the way. His boots were caught by the flame, the heels melting to slag in seconds. Abigail managed to take them off before he was burned, though. As Rip leaned back to prepare for another attack, when Shadow interrupted. "That's enough, Rip. I think he's learned his lesson." Rip whimpered and nodded. Shadow emerged from the grate where he had been watching the fight, expanding himself to massive height and width before Abigail's eyes. Abigail squeaked. Shadow laughed and said, "I suggest you leave." Abigail nodded and ran out of the room. Forget this. I'd rather have Haggar bounce me off my head every other day than deal with this. I'm goin' back to Metro City. He hopped in the jeep that brought him to the factory and drove off at top speed. Shadow laughed wildly, then turned to his compatriots. "Well done, my friends. But our work is not yet done, no. Rest for now. For tomorrow, we make plans for my vengeance on the treacherous Marionette." Roxy put her hands on her hips, frowning. "Then what?" Shadow grinned at her, causing her to shudder. "Then, my dear," he said, "we'll figure out something 'interesting' to do." |