Fantasy The Divide

[Sir Raime]

Ophidius awoke in the massive, comfortable bed of what he assumed to be the penthouse suite of a hotel. Oh, and he was spooning Okurigami. A little part of his soul shriveled up and died. Ophi slithered out of the bed silently so as to not wake 'Hanzo.' As the old saying goes, let sleeping dogs lie. Then again, it wasn't often he got the drop on old Okurigami. An occasion like this called for sharpies......Okurigami was going to be furious if he ever discovered the words "Property of Mephistopheles" scribbled on his left buttock in permanent marker.


Five minutes later, he wandered off into the hallways of the hotel to intercept any staff that may have been delivering food to paying customers. He spent a good half hour or so crawling on the ceiling for maximum stealth until he ambushed a hapless worker drone pushing a food cart loaded with a magnificent breakfast to another part of the hive. Ophi savored the spoils of war. Another few sessions of ambushing the occasional random passersby led to Ophi subduing a few of the hotel’s wealthier occupants and plundering whatever they had on them at the time. Sorting through his prizes, he counted two tickets to an opera in the local demon community, a pile of fake diamonds, an oyster and a tortoise. This gave him an idea….


Later, at the gang’s hotel suite…


Ophidius watched events unfold from behind a couch on the far side of the room. The wolf girl woke up, ate breakfast and went back to sleep with the fallen. Nothing out of the ordinary. For Ophi, ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ was absolutely unacceptable. He leapt from the shadows to perform an intricate imitation of Isaiah Mustafa.


“Hello, ladies, look at your angel, now back to me, now back at your angel, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped using ladies’ scented body wash and switched to Ophi Spice, he could smell like he’s me. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re in a hotel with the demon your angel could smell like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s an oyster with two tickets to that thing you love. Look again, the tickets are now diamonds. Anything is possible when your man smells like Ophi Spice and not an angel. I’m on a tortoise.”


That’s right, Ophi was standing atop a very slowly moving tortoise. This was just an average morning for Lucifer’s (least) favorite creation.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

A blink, she rubbed her eyes at Opidius-san... and then she looked down. Oh, wow... he really was on a tortoise. Johanna-san eating a lion's share of food, check, Akio-sensei doing something in his room, presumably with Johanna-san, check. Ophidius-san doing something that normally would be amusing... check. She proceeded to pinch her leg in an attempt at waking up, then stretch, and say... "You're suitably crazy this morning..."


Up on her feet she looked over at him, ignoring how tired she was, Saphire, a small smile on her face, asked him "Did you eat breakfast already?" She needed to make breakfast. Hot cocoa... was there any hot cocoa? No, don't trip on air. That's a girl. Over to the pantry... nothing there. THen to the fridge... ahh, that's a bunch of eggs right there, and bacon for the meat eaters... that works. She could... make omelets or something similar?

 

[Sir Raime]

"Crazy? I don't need no sense, 'cause it's a weak defense." Ophi sang to himself. "Oh, I already ate. You look a bit on the groggy side, are you feeling tired?" If that girl wasn't slaving away to appease others, there was always some problem that would rear its head just in time to ruin her day. Poor human. He could only imagine what she had to deal with every da-


Wait a minute. The tortoise.


Ophidius stepped off the tortoise and pumped a decent quantity of life energy into it, supercharging the creature's vitality as it sped out the suite and into the hallway like a rocket.


"Go, Turbo Turtle, go! Fetch breakfast for the girl!"

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire felt the pan she had in hand drop from her hands as she stared at the turtle... tortoise. That just shot off for the hall... and was he saying breakfast? But... "I don't think it knows how to order breakfast, Ophidius-san..." There was the crash she was expecting from the pan falling. She shook her head and went down to grab it, yawning... No, don't yawn. "I appreciate the sentiment, though."


She put it in the sink, stared at it for a few seconds, and then turned on the cold water. Better to just randomly spray herself with it than run around on half-gas. one hand shot under, and then she was rubbing it onto her eyes, she should have done that first thing in the morning. Then it was turned to the hot water and she was sighing.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

Johanna had been up enough to watch what was transpiring and had even followed back and forth between what he was saying. Then she sat up so she could see a tortoise, that he was standing on and she had raised her finger to argue against 'Ophi Spice' and then stopped. The tortoise had sped out of the room and Johanna..well..she just couldn't anymore. She couldn't handle this anymore so she just laid back down next to Akio, and immediately fell into a deep slumber.


Aika, had finally awoken and had entered the common room in her wolf form. She was a large white wolf, larger than that of a dire wolf, and the only non white part on her pelt was a black mark under her right eye. That mark was a sign of the byakurou bloodline. She moved yawning a bit and getting in the kitchen using her snout to open up the fridge door. She searched over the fridge before finding pack of raw steaks that Johanna had seen earlier, and clinched in his teeth before dragging it out.


She curled sat at the foot of Saphire's bed curled up with herself biting into the pack, getting open, and beginning to go to work on the raw meat. Soon, she was finished and she rested her head on her front paws staring up at everyone with big grey eyes.

 

[Akio]

Akio just slightly and raised a eyebrow at orphi at his act. He had gotten semi used to this thing but... He saw Johanna seem to be about to argue only for the tortoise to speed off and she just passed out and Akio let out a small grin at Johanna's reaction and orphi's antics while he turned back over resolving to sit with Johanna a bit longer.

 

[Sir Raime]

Ophidius stared blankly at the wolf that helped itself to the fridge's contents. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about that dog seemed familiar.....then he saw that mark under the right eye. He felt an itch in the back of his head, almost as if he had seen something like that before. A white wolf with a black-

Spoiler

[media]

[/media]
Mephistopheles slithered through the primordial jungles, ducking and weaving in between the roots of massive trees and splashing through small streams to eliminate his scent as best he could. The Beast was tracking him by the smell of his body, perhaps even his fear. That thing was an ungodly juggernaut, a force unlike anything he had ever seen. The creature lived and breathed destruction on a scale he had never thought possible. Deep trenched were dug into the earth by its claws. It's maw was a gaping chasm filled with sharpened tombstones. The Beast's eyes glowed like the fiery pits of a volcano. He had witnessed Lucifer's wrath, but this abomination existed on an entirely different level. It was like trying to escape an earthquake or a tidal wave, an unstoppable force of nature. There was no hesitation, no remorse, no deep thought, only a ceaseless devastation left in its wake. Nothing could stop it, not even the tyrant lizard kings that proudly ruled the land. No, they were snacks for that monster spawned from the nightmares of mother nature. It could shatter mountains with its nigh-immeasurable strength. Even now he could practically feel the breath of the Beast on the back of his neck-


And now he was holding a kitchen knife to the wolf girl's throat, struggling against someone else trying to hold him back. He stopped, looked at the blade in his hand, and collapsed into unconsciousness.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

Aika hadn't expected the attack from the former high demon, but soon she felt the wrath of his strength and his moment of PTSD. She flailed a bit, turning into her anthro demon form before the demon had let go. She was left in her undergarments (to keep it pg-13) from her transformation and had scurried into her room to grab her wakizashi -and also putting clothes on-.


She had come back to kill the demon, until she realized and remembered that he had fell unconscious, and so she placed the cold blade back in its sheath. She growled a bit,"What's his issue."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Ophidius-san!" She'd said in reaction to his bout... she didn't know what was going on, but she did her best to hold him back. Trying to kill a teammate was NOT a good idea, so she did the only thing she could think of... she sang a lullaby to him. It didn't have words, she didn't have the time for that, but she kept up the soothing melody, holding him until he fell unconscious. It was better that he not be awake, and when Johanna came back... she just shook her head. "It... must have been a horrible memory or something..."

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

She sighed looking at the clock on the wall,"We have to of our teammates passed out..and we have to be to the stadium in fifteen minutes....great." she sighed and decided to walk to where her cousin was sleeping,"He that sleeps feels not the tooth-ache." she sighed a bit poking Akio and letting her cousin continue to sleep,"Wake up, and carry her on down, we're about to get back to the stadium."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Yeah..." And Saphire hadn't eaten yet. Great. She shook her head, ignoring the grumbling of her stomach, and grabbed Ophidius-san, glad she was now strong enough to carry him over her shoulder. "Come on, Ophidius-san. Akio-sensei, we gotta go!" Called over her shoulder as she walked towards the door... completely forgetting about breakfast. Great. She hoped she wasn't going to fight anyone overpowered that day... even if she was sure that it would happen. How could she be at full strength? Well, one loss would still be a win, wouldn't it? She could afford that much... Not that she wanted to loose.

 

[Akio]

Akio felt himself get up after getting prodded. He looked up groggily but listened and picked up johanna kissing her forehead, she could use the sleep anyway. He walked out of the room looking at the scene and raised a eyebrow. "Did something happen? And did everyone eat?" He asked looking at them as he looked at them.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire mumbled something rather similar to a no as she continued going to the door, before saying in a louder voice "Ophidius-san had a problem with something. I think it was a bad memory... triggered by Aika." How that had happened she had no clue, to be honest. "we've got... fifteen minutes to get to the stadium, and... All three of us have to win, or we're disqualified." That was worth more of a problem than her desire to go eat, so she had to hurry... nevermind that she was still tired, if awake.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

Aika sighed a bit stretching her arms out, slipping back into her human form listening to Saphire speak,"You are a strange bunch." she said before she entered the hall. It would be down the elevator.....and a short walk to the stadium....and when they got to the stadium they would be catching the end of the round with the supreme 4.


The first match they would have caught -hanaagoori and argon had already won at this point- would be Arturo. The angel looking demon would stand firm with his large sword as he was approached by a small blue demon who formed into multiple forms of himself. Each with jump up and shoot a storm of fireballs at Arturo who stood ready with his left arm, that was part wing part shield, blocking them all.


Before the storm even cleared, he flew through the inferno chopping each of the demons into pieces easily, before landing on his feet again. He got on one knee, saying what seemed to be a prayer as the pieces of demon exploded. Getting to his feet, he jumped off the stage and walked towards the rest of the team.


Mortoro laughed, it was no need for him to fight at this point, so the team just went back into the tunnels away from the rest of the crowd. They were on to the next round in relatively easy fashion.

 

[Akio]

"Is everyone ok to fight tonight." He said looking at the odd scene, he had gotten some of the raw meat from the fridge and seemed to be getting ready to do something with it as he looked devious and serious at the same time. He wasent sure if orphi could fight right now if what he though had happened. He wasent surprised by the supreme fours performance, they were pretty high class demons.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

Aika yawned a bit, she cracked her knuckles a bit when Akio asked if everyone was ok to fight. She took the initiative and hopped on to the stage with her Rintaken in hand. She was tired of waiting and wasn't going to wait any longer.


Before her came out a demon, a tengu looking fellow. A black beak, and a wooden staff to match his priest uniform. It wasn't long before the bird spread his wings, and flapped them once a large gust coming out causing Aika to slide a few feet back.


She smirked a bit grabbing the Rintaken, her mouth moving quickly as the sycthe looking blades began to glow."Kazeken, wolf's barrage!" she yelled as she threw the two weapons, it going from 2, to about twenty each forming a deadly tornado around them as they moved.


The tengu didn't move, instead he thrust the staff into the ground,"Kazenoshi!" and with that a large gust of wind shot from the staff across the arena, making a path between all of the blades and the Tengu flew through attacking with his staff. Aika managed to block it with her sword, deflecting him off and jumping back as one of her Rintaken returned to her hand. She growled a bit,"Kasaiken!" and she threw that Rintaken at the tengu, before her other returned and she caugh it also,"wolf's barrage!" and then another storm of curved blades came at the tengu.


The tengu was able to use his staff to block the first, but the fire was a bit much and caused him to fly back to retreat after deflecting the flying blade off. He looked up to find the rest of the blades coming and he used his attack from early to shoo them off but before he could take the offensive, Aika's sword came at his face and he had to use the staff to guard.


She was learning him, and she didn't want to take out her entire repertoire. She fell to the ground and swept at his legs causing him to fall on his back. She put the blade back in her sheath doing a backflip and jumping up catching each Rintaken in each hand. She now hung in the air for a while,"Kageken!" she threw the blades but they disappeared.


The tengu was getting to his feet, and had no idea what was coming for him and each blade hit there mark cutting through his sides. Unknown to the demon, Aika was focusing all her energy into one of the blades,"Wolf's barrage!" she called again.


The tengu had called on his attack again, the wind knocking back all of the blades but....then he blinked falling to his knees. He was caught by her other rintaken that was still being hidden by her last attack. It struck him directly in the back rendering him unconscious, and down and out for the ten count. Aika took in a deep breath and sighed, as the rintaken appeared sticking from the demon's back. She retrieved it from the demon and walked off the arena.


Johanna still sleep yawned a bit,"That was boring....."


This brought a growl to Aika who popped the sleeping half breed on the head,"Brat...." she looked over to Ophi and sighed,"I guess it's Saphire's turn."

 

[Akio]

He looked at the arguing cousins with a small smirk having gotten used the cousins antics awhile ago. He looked at Akia. "How swift is your sword Akia." He said complementing her as he leaned back have watched the battle.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

((Nice way to get us back to the stadium, Naru.))


Saphire had watched the battle, A mix of awe and trepidation in her eyes. Then of course the twins argued as soon as it was over... she winced and stood up. She had to win... had to, but... her stomach let out a small grumble. Great... her foe was standing up to enter the ring, cloaked for no apparent reason, and she was getting hunger pains. "Stop that..." she nearly pouted, but that would ruin the image.... ahh, she wanted fish... seafish, oysters, lobster, shrimp... no, stop thinking of those, you'll start drooling. She inched towards the stage, Naginata still in hand, lamenting that she hadn't sung to reinforce it...

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

Johanna was still sleep, leaning against the wall letting out a light snore as she sat. She mumbled something under her breath,"There's a seafood buffet for winners blue hair..." she said stretching a bit before sliding over and laying on the ground. Even sleep, it was like Johanna was there and apart of the scene.


This just caused the older cousin to sigh, and rub her temples,"Even if you were awake that would be such a silly antic..that would never work!"

 

[Akio]

"Not a seafood buffet." He said beginning to grin as he had set up a camp fire and he lit it and took the raw steaks and plucked a few feathers using them to hold the steaks above the fire as he cooked them actually pulling out a few spices, akio loved his meats. "Survivors get breakfast, or second breakfast." He said slightly teasing.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

What could be felt as a tiny twitch on Saphire's side, but was almost a comical large-ear. And then her eyes grew starry-eyed and wide.... Seafood... AND STEAK?! The naginata rose, and she jumped up on the stage, a manic look in her eyes. "I'm having both. No questions." Her naginata was pointed at the foe, and they actually took a step back, hood falling down to reveal a young draconic demon. The expression on their face changed from superior to actually frigtened, as she began to exude an Aura of sure victory. Not death, but sparkles and bubbles seemed to surround her... "Shrimp, sirloin, steak, scampei..."


The demon suddenly shook off the fear, rushing after her just as the bout began... and she just stepped to the side, slashing upwards. Not even a word aside from her chanting the names of food she wanted. "Eggs, Lobster, crab, bacon..." And blood spurted out, staining her hair slightly, but it was shallow. Her foe jumped away from her, now looking at her wearily again... and she jumped after him, "SHRIMP!!!!" With that the naginata was extended to it's full length, using the extra momentum from her jump to cut off his arm again... and a scream filled the stadium, as it wasn't clean... she didn't know or care how she'd done it. "You're in the way of my breakfast... forfeit, knockout, or death are your only options." She said it with a gentle smile, and the dragon... squared his legs and grew a new arm.


"Neither." He spit at her, fire in his eyes... only for the end of her naginata to appear in his chest after she said spirit ray, the blue energy spreading through his back.


"Wrong answer." She knocked him off of her naginata with a foot, jumped down, and walked over to Akio with the same crazed look in her eye... "Food?"


((Totally playing up sleep-deprived and starving.))

 

[Sir Raime]

Ophidius, who had woken up during the first fight, watched Saphire's performance with interest. Perhaps starvation training would be more effective than his other methods. "Hm, the food is over there." He said, pointing a finger to a buffet table being carried atop the shell of a slowly moving tortoise. He was really looking forward to mopping the floor with at least one of the Supreme Four.

 

[Akio]

Akio just looked at her in pure shock momentarily his hands frozen over the sizzling steaks as he watched her come back. He was not gonna bother arguing with her after looking at the dead demon on the floor so he took out a plate and handed her a well seasoned steak.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

It was a dream....there were steaks. So many steaks. They all looked so delicious and it was in her mouth. Oh this dream was so realistic, and she couldn't stop eating all of the steaks. Well.....it wasn't as much of a dream as she thought.


The smell of the steaks had induced Johanna's salivary glands, caused her mouth to water, and forced to her into sleep eating. She had devoured all of the steaks Akio had prepared for Saphire and belched quite loudly. So loud in fact, she woke up. She noticed she had steak juice on her mouth, and blinked,"Wow..wasn't a dream, but so delicious."


She cracked her knuckles and rubbed her stomach,"Nothing like a good after meal workout to work off TWO big meals." She reached down to pick her sword up and slowly walked to the arena. She didn't even jump up, she placed her sword down and climbed over slowly. With a yawn she picked her sword up and stood up and walked to the center to wait for her opponent.


The guy came out was a red skinned demon, but he wore a white gi, with a black obi around his wait and around his head. He had fighting equipment on, and he pointed to Johanna,"Why don't you fight me fist to fist. Put that sword down."


She rose a brow and shrugged walking to the edge of the ring and placing her sword down before coming back to the center. She reached up and tied her hair into a bun, instead of the ponytail it was in. She nodded, and the demon took a fighting stance in a tense manner. Johanna did the same, but much more lazily.


He yelled, charging up a bit it causing him to sink into the arena a bit. The two stepped closer, and each threw a punch. Each punch stopped short of the face, and they smirked. A cut on the other cheek from the cut from the day before, appeared on Johanna's cheek. It was light and wouldn't scar the like other one. The demon laughed, a bit cocky because of a lack of scar. This caused Johanna to laugh also, before she flicked out her finger a deep cut going into his cheek,"I didn't want to hurt you too bad...so I had to hold back on my punch..."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire blinked... the steak that had been offered to her... was gone... she was at the point of pouting, but at that moment she saw the tortoise... and rushed after it. She didn't even notice Johanna going to fight the evil demons that got between food and her... foood.... She ignored the whole scene, just eating more and more of the fish. Gosh she loved fish.


((Sorry. I had guests, was planning on a better post.))