Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 31, 2023 1:51:48 GMT 9
Green eyes widen as the Z-MOVE BLOOM DOOM tears across the battlefield in an unparalleled barrage of mini-explosions. Your Rival’s remaining Chimchar perishes at the first detonation. Gyarados’ bellowing cry can be heard throughout the field—the behemoth taken down as soon as he emerged. Mudsdale grits her teeth, managing to tank through the first few hits, but the combined fatigue from the prolonged battle ends her.
Kazuki watches, barely able to observe through the blinding light. He has his arms raised over his eyes, the heat of the explosions and the razor-sharp leaves cutting into his flesh as they ricochet uncontrollably. Were he not switched out of battle, he would suffer the same fate as his pokemon.
The light subsides in a giant plume of dust; the lush plain is reduced to craters.
“What I wanted? Is this what I wanted?” His voice is quiet, slowly ramping up in volume. “Are you kidding me?”
Kazuki bursts into laughter.
“This is more than I could have bargained for!”
Still with that hyena-like cackling, he shakes himself off like a dog, spraying the mud and rainwater that had piled all over him. His hair looks disgusting, and his tattoos are covered in smears. Unlike Muin, he had made no attempts to shield himself from the mess; had basically relished it, like a pig in a pit.
The thing is that Kazuki is indeed, and unfortunately, a grown-ass adult playing a pokemon game. And what reason would he have to play some silly immersive game, when he has spent most of his life traveling all over the globe and engaging in sensationalized violence as a profession?
Spectacle. Pure and simple.
And watching that bird nuke the shit out of everything was indeed a spectacle he could never experience in real life. It was awesome.
“Goddamn, just look at this!” He spreads his hands out as if the wasteland is an altar to behold. “Not only did you do all the work, but you obliterated the place! And most importantly…” He pivots, grinning sharp and wide at Muin. “You got pissed.”
He sighs happily, turning back to the battlefield. “And I gotta say, your tantrums are explosive.”
The glass cookie jar had shattered on the linoleum, and all it took was every pokemon he had on the field. He had managed to horf down the Scooby Snacks.
But that’s really all it is, isn’t it? A snack. As the high of the spectacle abates, all that’s left is a ruin. The cute little pop-up congratulates them on their victory (as if Kazuki had done anything) and signals the end of the fight. And without a fight to maintain his attention, Kazuki’s interest slips like soap in a shower.
“I’ve got some business to attend to. Let’s do this again sometime, hm?” He says, the edges of his eyes crinkling with his smile, his words less like an offer and more like a promise. He’s taken a liking to him. “See ya later, princess.”
He hops over the craters as he goes, passing Your Rival who has fallen to his knees, slack-jawed at the result of his challenge. Kazuki’s attention returns to his first objective: Finding another uptight, white-haired bastard to spur into violence.
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 30, 2023 21:38:37 GMT 9
He watches from the ground as Verai moves towards him, muscles tensing with every step—
—only for Miu to intervene. He breathes out of relief. Her wide eyes remain trained to him, but her paws never touch the corrupted puddles. The absol’s stature makes her a prominent wall, strong enough to redirect the grown man in armor.
“Good cat,” Kazuki mumbles. Very, very good cat.
Verai cuts himself to demonstrate the shrine’s healing power, confirming that the shrine is working perfectly fine. Kazuki’s hands drag across the stone, moving under him, smearing tar. He tries to push, only for his wounds to ache in protest.
“Shit.” Alright, no sitting up for now. He slowly flips himself so he can lie on his back, bleeding over the edge of the abyss.
He turns his head to see Verai kneeling down beside Miu, asking him what he’d been doing.
His head thrums as he tries to recall, but he can see it: The look on Domino’s face as he left her, the light calling out to him as a siren’s song, the roots suffocating him to death.
Verai’s voice in words he has never uttered.
‘There's no need for that. We are not enemies.‘
“Promise you won’t get mad?” Kazuki laughs mockingly, stifling the urge to cough. He doesn’t want concern. And he definitely doesn’t want pity. “I went back to Mistra.”
“Don’t fucking start. I had to. My cat couldn’t stay awake, and I wasn’t getting answers from anyone.” He doesn’t say you weren’t there. Maybe Verai could have stopped him if he was. He wouldn’t have gone in with him on his tail, but it would’ve only prolonged the inevitable.
He shuts his eyes. “It can talk. The parasite. It was talking to me, in my head. It used your voice.”
He falls silent, as if waiting for it to talk again, but there’s only the ambience of the world around him. His mind is empty.
“It tricked me into doing something, and it—killed me. I don’t remember anything else after that.”
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 30, 2023 19:12:32 GMT 9
His arm fits comfortably around the small of Verai’s back, hand sitting lazily on his waist. His fingers drum over the silk as he chews on Verai’s words.
“Just because you’re good at something, doesn’t mean you have to dedicate your entire life to it.” He huffs a bit, leaning his head to him. “And you are still pretty fucking good at it, in my professional opinion.”
They’re walking down the streets of the settlement, and Kazuki has to admit—it’s nice. The place is loud with the calls of street vendors, there are plumes of smoke everywhere thanks to the carriages, and it smells like a goddamn barn, but Verai is relaxed by his side and there aren’t any paparazzi snapping his every move. His shoulders are lax and his strides long and languid.
“Whatever you think will happen if you go back into fighting—I don’t think it’ll happen. You’ll restrain yourself.” He chuckles. “Fuck knows I’ve been trying to make you let go since day one.”
His eyes follow where Verai’s hand waves to, spotting the cats dragging each other into a shop. “But if sticking to only fighting in the game is the best course of action, well…”
He grins, looking back at him. “Then you’d better give me a rematch soon.”
Sprigatito sticks his head out of the shop entrance, spitting out Kitten’s ear to call out to the trainers: <If you two are done being lovey-dovey, can we have hats now?!>
Kazuki purses his lips, before withdrawing his arm.
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 30, 2023 18:37:38 GMT 9
Black sludge is dribbling out of his wounds. He watches, disgusted and fascinated as it traces a line down his arm, steady where it flows from the fresh gash. A whimper and frantic steps signal the exit of the pokemon he’d been brawling, its shadow disappearing into the bushes, but his eyes are turned elsewhere.
Despite how it plagues him, Kazuki has not unequipped the Parasite class. It’s too useful to let go, but he can’t bring himself to disable the class flavor either, even when its effects on him and his pokemon turn disturbing.
The reason is that this thing is alive. It occupies him quietly, far more quietly these days than it used to, and that’s fucking alarming. It does not speak to him. It does not reach out. He is aware of it only in these small, jarring instances.
So when his blood is replaced with an inexplicable but harmless substance, he pays attention. And when that inexplicable substance traces across his skin and on the ground reaching to a particular direction—like ferrofluid to a magnet—he follows it too.
The doors of the church slam open.
“Of course, it’s some creepy church,” Kazuki grumbles. Rain pounds the windows despite the sunny weather in Briarbane. When he steps in, he looks as if he had been caught in the imaginary storm: a beaten stranger dripping black puddles over the cracked tiles. The dim lighting helps camouflage the strange tint, but the stench of blood clings to him like a cloud.
It’s not the only thing hanging in the air. Tainting the petrichor is a miasma concentrated by the pews, where he spots the only other players.
“Anybody got holy water up in this bitch?” is how he decides to announce his entrance, because Kazuki has no sense of tact or atmosphere. He raises a brow as he recognizes the pile of fluff from a distance. “Foxy? Is that you?”
He hobbles up to stop in the nave beside their seats, squinting at the unfamiliar face next to M'Foxy. “Who’s this?” The two players could not look any different. Where M’Foxy stuck out of the gloom like a sore thumb, this player—Yuze—seemed right at home. A figure in ornate black and soul-piercing eyes. “You a preacher? I’m not here to get baptized. I’m here for the—fuck, the meeting? Exorcism? Whatever it is.”
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 24, 2023 19:45:54 GMT 9
KAZUKI[tangent=Current Heart Level | R̤̭̟̹̠̞̾͐͠o̷͚̟̩̦͂ͅm̢͓̙̟͈̭̱̳͕ͣ̆̓a̟̫̳͑͠n̾͌́̄҉̜̱̣̩̘̭t̛̙̰͎ͨ͆i͊҉͉̫̖̥̩̟c̴̞̘ͬ̈́][/tangent] |
At the clap of your hands, Kazuki freezes, his look of irritation and endless stream of complaints gone in an instant. Your laughter is a balm that heals all ailments. It wraps around him and gently wipes away the stains.
When you meet his eyes, your golden orbs arrest wide, verdant emeralds, as if he cannot believe his luck.
[tangent=Wait what?]“Does it have to be next year?”[/tangent] He asks, stepping forwards. Fresh sakura petals dance in the autumn air between you. You are a bouquet of fresh lillies, and when he takes your hands, it’s as if he’s [tangent=Who wrote this shit?]cradling petals.[/tangent]
[tangent=AND WHAT THE HELL AM I SAYING?]“I don’t want the flamigo. I want you.”[/tangent] He smiles, looking at you as if you are the whole world. You are the six-eared, five-tailed fox girl of his dreams, there is no other furry he wants. [tangent=Fox, I can't control my avatar. Make it stop! Make him shut up!]“No one else. Let me take you out.”[/tangent]
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 24, 2023 3:25:09 GMT 9
As they’re shooed out of the kitchens, Kazuki takes the time to snap up a couple of the delectable sweetrolls, the harried baker too preoccupied playing pastry jenga to notice. He trails after Verai through the hallway leading to the DINING ROOM, inspecting the ever-present HOWARD TODDIGAN GALLERY like a visitor to a zoo exhibit, shoving a treat in his face with his pockets lined with flour.
And, much like their brief foray into the kitchens, an NPC servant spots them and immediately comes to kick them out as if they’re pests. Kazuki rolls his eyes, chewing on a roll. “Who do you think wer lookin’ frr?” He says, talking with his mouth full, as if he was raised in a barn rather than by two sophisticated and respectable parents.
The butler raises a brow. “Sir, is that... a sweetroll?”
“Come on, Ver. Let’s check someplace else.” He grabs him by the back of his clothes and drags him out, fingerpainting the fabric with sugar.
Behind them, Sprigatito enters the room in a hurry. He has the expression of a puffer fish. He quickly makes a run for Kitten, stumbling on his little legs to shove what he’s holding in his mouth. <MRR’N! LRYU’ WHU AY GO’!> He says, eagerly trying to share his stolen sweetroll.
"Kitchens are out. Dining Room’s out.” Kazuki chuckles. “Alright, let’s go with your suggestion. Let’s get in the closet.”
The CLOSET in question is a walk-in located in the master bedroom. The bedroom itself is about as grandiose as the rest of the mansion, bearing a canopy bed of Gulliver proportions, though there isn’t anything Kazuki can peg to be Lady Toddigan’s possessions. Just more portraits. And hyperrealistic Toddigan busts.
Kazuki saunters over the Ursaring carpets and throws the closet open.
He is greeted with cold air.
“Come out, brat! You–what the fuck?”
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 24, 2023 2:14:24 GMT 9
#s://cdn~discordapp~com/attachments/847006452118978590/1132721864842682438/ivory-black-painted-swatch-300x300~png It’s dark.
It’s so dark that it doesn’t matter if he opens his eyes; so quiet that it doesn’t matter if he opens his ears; so suffocating that it doesn’t matter if he opens his mouth.
He is a tiny thing compressed in a tiny space. Most would panic, but his heart is calm. He remembers this. It has been a long time, but he remembers what this feels like, and what he has to do.
It’s not sight or sound that he needs. What he needs is to reach out, through the stagnant albumen, and push.
The shell cracks and splinters. He pushes harder. The cracks spiderweb until the entire barrier shatters, and he’s spat out into the cold world in a disgusting spill.
He chokes for a moment, spitting out a liquid that filled his throat as he drowned. He does not cry. Even when he was born, he hadn’t uttered a sound, only opened his eyes to a frazzled man with burned hands.
That is not what he wakes up to. He opens his eyes and the first thing he sees is a pool of tar under his palms. He raises his head and sees a world he doesn’t recognize, void of life. Looking behind him reveals that what he’d broken free of wasn’t even an egg—it’s some kind of black mound, like hardened magma, shattered now.
He does not hear the approaching steps of an enemy. He doesn’t realize he’s under attack until he’s been tackled, having just been born and immediately placed under the mercy of some rabid beast.
He grits his teeth and doesn’t scream even as his fur is torn as he holds it away from him. Black eyes are wide with shock, with the urge to scream. His body is drenched in tar, half-formed and sloughing into pieces, and it’s not even this that causes him distress.
Pansear has never been able to utter a word, but never has he been unable to hear.
PANSEAR HP: 50/100
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 23, 2023 19:37:38 GMT 9
While oblivious to the retort that hangs from the tip of Tuesday’s tongue, Kazuki does notice the ogling. He simply does not give a fuck. His entire career was built off the concept of being half-naked on camera beating up other half-naked guys, hence his lack of reservations about running around the plains in a PG-13 birthday suit.
The mention of an outfit change does pique his interest—especially once he realizes what outfit he’s dealing with.
“I don’t know what the Precipice Crown is, but are you telling me the entire guild ran around wearing cat ears?!” He shakes the ruffled headdress, causing the little black cat ears to flap around.
He had been under the impression The Creed was the guild for players who kicked ass and took names. He had not been prepared to find out they took names for orders of omurice.
Tuesday however, is relentless. The shiniest boulder he’s ever met, with a smile that puts Colgate commercials to shame. She cuts the proverbial ribbon on his Cat Maid Era and tells him to go back into the closet with a swish of her fluffy tail.
“Cut the cameras. I’m not putting anything on until you answer my questions,” he hisses, bristling like a dog. Sure, this is a game, a cosmetic is the last thing that will kill him—but he’s wearing his face. His actual, real-life face, and he cared enough about his aesthetics to burn an hour on his pixel tattoos, so yes, he does have dignity riding on this.
“First of all: What exactly are the rest of the goods? And what do I have to gain from the tunnels? We already have fast travel.” He demands a better pitch. If he’s going to don frills, it will be for the BYTEs.
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 23, 2023 0:19:14 GMT 9
Novelist is another piece that slots into the puzzle. Kazuki’s brows rise, eyes darting up and down as if thoroughly impressed with this personal trivia. In reality, he’s checking the name that floats over this stranger’s head.
The face. The username. The ease at which he jumps at pretty things, blindly, with no heed for (stranger) danger—
Kazuki laughs. “No, I don’t model.” De Saint Sernin, he recognizes that name from his mother’s extensive knowledge of designers. It brings images of that nouveau pseudo-nude fashion bullshit that Kazuki could not care less about. He’s just a bastard who likes to run around shirtless.
He ignores what’s happening behind them. Tailing the objective leads them to stop before a wall, a tight alley— a dead end.
“Don’t... you know…” A voice groans behind them.
“How to catch…” Awkward silhouettes lumber into the alley, blocking the exit.
“Pokemon…?” Decayed hands tighten around Pokeballs, unable to grip for long. The empty balls fall out of the NPCs’ grips, leaving them only to reach for the players, their eyes milky, their jaws hanging open.
“Maybe,” Kazuki hums, pulling away from starlitlover to grab the gutter on top of the wall with both hands. Muscles tense as he hoists himself with ease, climbing over the wall. And would you look at that, the Patrat has popped out on the other side.
“You know, I can’t tell if I should be offended or flattered.” Kazuki says, looking back to starlitlover, who has been left with the shuffling zombies. “On one hand, you forgot me, but on the other, you’re still into me.”
He drops to a crouch, grinning down at the man, his eyes shining. “I guess you only liked me for my face after all. Right, little prince?”
He extends a hand, leaving starlitlover with the choice of either succumbing to death in the hands of man-eating NPCs or death in the hands of a man-eating ex.
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 19, 2023 4:32:20 GMT 9
Kazuki grits his teeth, snatching Waffle by the scruff and bracing against the shrine, his fingers cutting themselves on jutting metal. He doesn’t hear the kitten squeak against his chest, his ears battered by the deafening howl of their descent and Zapdos’ declarations. The wind is a thousand swords tearing into his bare skin.
It has been a long and grueling battle. Both sides giving their all, racking up casualties with every wave.
"Your 'inspiration' is just another set of claws in my back. Try to take my life. Try to sap my fighting spirit. But I will not yield."
And he has to hand it to him, Zapdos knows how to put up a fight. But the finish line is within reach—a massive, metallic venus flytrap with its jaws wide open, ready to feed. All they have to do is push him in.
Professor Ash’s next announcement joins the cacophony, and it only stirs the rage brewing in Kazuki’s gut.
Stand down? After all that—after everything, they were meant to just throw in the fucking towel?
It’s another victory wrenched from his fingers. Another battle that could have been won with a few more hits, a little more time – only for everything to fall apart before his eyes. The whine of the beams reminding him of feedback on high speakers.
He has already been burned trusting the Professor. She had led them this far, convinced them this would be the answer, only to rescind it right at the most crucial juncture.
Kazuki does not know what to trust, and he doesn’t have time to think.
The first volley of beams is released, forcing Zapdos into safety maneuvers that slam into the teams in harsh swathes of air and light. Even protected, Kazuki feels the light screens smash into his back, Waffle screaming as they jet past the beams.
And then Zapdos calls for one final gamble. Of all things, an offer. Because of the boon?
Kazuki chuckles breathlessly, his forehead pressed against the cold iron of the shrine, the shrine he has never once prayed to, never once felt beholden to—including its owner. He had only been involved with the Prince because he’d been pursuing someone else. He had made a mockery of him. He had saved him, merely for his own selfish curiosity.
And here Zapdos is, asking for his help.
“You must be truly desperate to ask me, Princey,” Kazuki growls, every muscle of his body aching, his blood boiling with frustration as he holds on for his life. “I’m not some big damn hero.”
The choice arrives, and it’s as simple as a pop-up.
The decision is simple too. Kazuki has only wanted one thing out of this, after all.
To cleanse Mistra.
But he hears a familiar voice cry through the chaos. It is the final bell. It’s the sound of Verai’s answer, followed by the blinding light of his blessing. Kazuki curses, swinging to avoid the lightning that blitzes back into the edifice, the shrine glowing as Kazuki opens his eyes and sees – Verai, floating away, wings limp. Is there no end to the betrayal?
And is there no end to his own foolishness? “For fuck’s sake!” Kazuki lets go of the shrine, Waffle clinging to his shoulders. The antigravity belt keeps him afloat, and by kicking off the shrine, he maneuvers down to Verai, hands reaching to grab him before he’s lost to space.
Only for him to be grabbed in turn.
“Ver?!” Kazuki tries to steady him. The man wakes as if surfacing from the deep waters of the underwater cave. His eyes are clear and wide, red-rimmed – he’d been crying?
His hands grip his arms, brows furrowed as he tries to take in his stammered words. “Ostellia,” his face twists. “You still want to save him. After what I told you, you still—!”
But Verai continues on. His grip on his shoulders is tight, as tight as when Kazuki had taken hold of him before, trying to stop him from defending Zapdos – a wasted effort, in the end.
“How do you know?” Kazuki insists. “How are you so sure?” The visions, the professor, Zapdos himself – how could Verai trust any of it? They had never heard of Ostellia before. Kazuki knows that uprooting everything to move across the ocean does not guarantee a better future; more often than not, what haunts you at home will haunt you everywhere else.
And what haunts him here and now feels as if it’s bearing down on him, slowly dripping out of his wounds, even with his best attempts to hide it.
But the rest of Verai’s crew pop out of their pokeballs. Even Kitten – who he’s fairly sure he saw faint on top of the world’s fanciest scratch tower – emerges in full, bright health, with a very valid question:
What are they fighting?
Two hands squeeze his own. Clad in gauntlets, they are not warm, they are not soft, and the metal pinches his scraped fingers, but they ground him. They feel secure.
"Please come with me."
There is hesitance. His reservations – they’re hard to let go. The fear Mistra implanted in him is rooted in his bones, and denying this perfect chance to solve it for a possibility feels like taking a hammer and nail to his own coffin, and many others. It feels like spitting on the blood they’ve shed.
“You really asking me that?” He murmurs, staring at their hands intertwined. He’s high in the air, holding hands with his rival and traitor, being asked to deny victory right as it stares him in the face. It is ridiculous. It goes beyond reason. Kazuki huffs, squeezing the twin grips.
“I've always followed you, haven't I?”
<Oooh they’re holding hands!> Waffle whispers loudly, predictably pressing up to Kitten the moment she returned, and also predictably ruining the mood.
Kazuki sighs, ducking his head. “Can’t believe I’m doing this. Can’t believe I’m about to 180 after talking all that shit!” He is a goddamn sucker!
“Zapdos! You are one lucky as hell bird with one devoted as hell follower!” Kazuki yells up at him—no longer the Prince, no longer some target to beat into the earth. Just another shmuck trying to survive and asking for help like the rest of them.
“Take your boon! You need it a lot more than we do!” He lets go of Verai’s hands as he activates the BOON OF SURGING, black sparks weave across his skin. “Shit, will this even work?” He curses. But he had attacked Zapdos with it on the first round, there hadn’t been signs of corruption. Now to just pray it doesn’t infect the shrine.
The corrupted lightning shoots past his hand, slamming into the shrine. As it separates from him, entering the shrine’s threshold, the electricity reaches a harsh glow — white-gold, as it’s meant to be. Seeing this, Kazuki releases the rest, his body engulfed in that same searing, blinding light, a feeling as if his nerves have been set on fire.
The shrine glows ever brighter in Zapdos’ grip, absorbing the surge seamlessly. It’s not quite strong enough, still missing one boon. Kazuki’s eyes dart about, trying to find that kid from back then, he’d spotted glimpses of her during the fight — Aero. “Cap us off, kid!” He calls.
With that, he exhales, slumping against Verai. His body feels like lead but still, he clings to consciousness. “Not done yet,” he grumbles, eyeing the skyscrapers under their feet. The sight makes him laugh. He almost wishes M'Foxy was here. “Good thing I got a lot of practice killing Duraludon.”
He’s down to the last three members of his squad. He releases the only member still in her ball.
Mudsdale blinks, red light subsiding for her to be greeted with chaos, and the whole sky once again beneath her hooves. The tar dripping off her body goes plummeting a thousand feet below. Ah shit, here we go again. <Really?> She blinks. <Is that the Prince?>
“Yes, and he’s about to be pancakes if we don’t act now, so less backtalk, more backhoof. Get rid of as many Duraludon as possible, you know the drill. Waffle, the bazooka?”
Waffle squeals in excitement, moon-hopping over. <Locked and loaded! Let’s go again! Let’s go again!> The boon is gone, but energy flows from him, invigorated by the will to fight. Mudsdale shakes her head, getting into position. Her hooves are rearing to once again pulverize some giants into glitter.
With his team set to go, Kazuki beholds, once again, the destination that awaits them. A massive jaw. Red, red, red. He knows how this will play out: Crashing with full force and ricocheting off reinforced steel, smashing metal and taking strain on an already-battered body. His eyes remain on his feet as he squeezes Verai’s arm.
“This is going to hurt like a bitch. Have my back this time.”
All that’s left after is to fall.
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 15, 2023 10:05:13 GMT 9
Mechanical (Easy)ZONE D
Full recap here
All camaraderie and jest falls silent in wake of the next round of announcements. The Professor’s voice is steady despite the harsh wave of criticism and doubt, reaching crescendo as she establishes just what she is here for. Her purpose, her ambitions—her failures.
Stretching yourself thin and pouring out everything you have for a single lofty goal, against all reason and odds—now that is familiar. That is something Kazuki knows better than pixel creatures and games. That is human.
He listens even as Zapdos makes his stand, the bird’s scream to Ash, to the skies, to humanity: his cry for help. Kazuki is a piece of shit and a half, but he can recognize it, can feel the pain saturating each decibel. He has, begrudgingly, at a crawl’s pace, learned to see heart within these artificial beings. It has taken months of fighting, making stupid mistakes, and traumatizing to make this progress.
But sympathy does not take precedence in wake of necessity.
He has seen and walked and suffered through the horrors that lie in the border of Asper. The life of a prince is not worth an entire kingdom.
And he’s not letting Verai make the same mistake.
He leaps across the chasm to grab him, leaving no room for escape, no room for excuses.
“You are going nowhere.” He hisses. “You heard the Prof. This is the only way. The Prince has to go.”
Heroes. Fake, selfish knights who live to serve their royals. “Or do you really care so fucking little about the rest of us?”
The fresh sting of betrayal, a reminder as Verai continues to defend Zapdos’ life, searching for options that are simply not there. It is absurd.
“You’ve been to Mistra! You’ve seen what Corruption can do! Now, we finally have a fucking solution, and you’re throwing it away just because one giant bird squawks?!” He has to sink his claws in. Has to hammer the reality of the situation, what’s truly at stake. “He isn’t real. The players that go through Mistra are real. Taking him down means making Asper safe. Do you think we're the only ones that'll suffer?”
It’s a fight that escalates, snowballing with rash words, Verai’s grip around his throat, and Steelix’s clumsy attempt at saving him.
Ironically, what grounds them is the experience of being shot into the sky. At least Steelix manages to save them then.
Kazuki had been prepared to fight. To scream until his voice grew hoarse until Verai, standing there, drained of spirit and power in the pouring rain and in Zapdos’ shadow, is forced to accept the truth.
What he hadn’t anticipated was which truth it would be.
Actually, Kazuki was very close to decking Verai. Really, who responds to a confession with "Unequip trainer class seer"?
But then Verai sees him—sees the whole of him—and pulls him in, pressing against his lips, and being mad becomes impossible.
“Yo. Verai, Kazuki, pretty damn sure that's not the kind of Mile High Club Cygnus meant!”
Nevermind, he’s going to kill someone. C.L.A.W will be a widow twice over.
But Tuesday leaves no room for quarrel, her words transitioning to an urgent message toted from the Dream World—from a being called Articuno. It’s an anomaly that Kazuki accepts, because this raid—his entire UNOVR journey—has already been so goddamn weird. In the past hour alone, he’s experienced betrayal, had his worldview flipped upside-down, and kissed the man he was sure he’d bury. Why shouldn’t he believe the demonic catgirl prophet?
She ends with a call to arms, the cycle of UNOVR’s legendaries established with the help of a familiar Kyogre.
As the central platform collapses under the stress of the battle, Zapdos works to save the fallen players. Moltres spirits assail him, the world and his family rallying for his defeat, and it is here that Kazuki finally sees common ground. In those circumstances, he would battle against everything; to hell with going silently into the night. He would be screaming and fighting to the bitter end.
But Kazuki has already made his decision. He has to ensure no one experiences what he had. Even now, when his mind is clear, he feels something amiss in his body. A discomfort churning beneath his skin, tempered by the grounding weight of Verai’s hand on his arm.
So when Verai turns him, looking at him for a long moment before saying, "Still don't know when to quit?"
Kazuki only snickers at the tease. “Do you know who you’re talking to?” No turning back. Regardless of their differences, of things that have yet to be said, they will see this fight to the end.
Pulling out his UI, he takes notice of a new subclass on his profile. Equipping it causes the armor around his body to disappear and a barrage of pink hearts slap him in the face. There are violins. He has to disable the class flavor before he goes insane, but he keeps it on. Good bonuses.
After an impassioned speech screamed to the heavens by Kitten, Verai dives into the thick of battle brandishing his swords, and Kazuki is back on his own.
There is nothing more he’d want than to join them—to take the fight into his own hands again. But he’s not the one deserving of a second chance. He’s been part of this battle every step of the way.
Dragonair pops out of her pokeball, her serpentine body weaving through the skies, unnerving featherless wings spearing the gale. “Dragon, I need you to Revive Waffle.”
The serpent’s gaze moves across the pandemonium to land on him. <One soul for another. May this grant you strength.> She envelopes herself in bright light, disappearing in a gentle flash. The remaining glow hovers over Waffle’s pokeball.
<FRESH BATCH!>
Waffle bursts out of the ball, landing cushioned in his trainer’s arms. <Hi! What’d I miss?> His eyes are flicking here and there over Kazuki’s shoulder, distracted by the sheer amount of stimuli—teams flying in and out of the storm. <I didn’t fall asleep, did I? I remember doing my Z-move, and then everything went POOF!>
<Aw, my armor’s gone…> The kitten blinks, tilting his head up. <Pawzuki?>
Kazuki has been silent, brows furrowed as he thinks. “Do you think you’re ready to take him on again?” He tilts his body to let the sprigatito see the current state of the fight. Zapdos struggling for and against his opponents.
<Of course I am!> Waffle cries. <He beat me! I can see Purrai and Kitten fighting him! I’m not going to leave my friends to fight by themselves. I want to help them! I want to fight!>
Kazuki exhales. He didn’t know what else he expected. “Fine. But you’re not going in there defenseless again.” The way Waffle had fainted the first time—yeah, no. Not happening.
Kazuki crouches down, patting the metal under his feet to catch Steelix’s attention. “Snake, you need to SACRIFICE yourself.” The behemoth had served him well; had endured one more round than he anticipated, thanks to Verai’s Doublade. But it’s in the red now. “What do you think?” He raises a brow. “You can be angry, you know. Zapdos damn well is.” It’s a little concerning, how well Steelix has taken to everything that’s happened to him with barely a complaint.
He’s met with a loud, thundering guffaw.
Angry?
Formidable as he may look, Steelix is a young pokemon. Life since he emerged from the Tree of Worms has been a rollercoaster. Never would he have imagined back then how he would change, how he would soar the skies, how he would witness gods, how he would have friends, or see love bloom right on his back!
It is a glorious day!
<I. AM. HAPPY!> Steelix booms, a declaration, a permission, and a swan song.
Waffle takes the helm, standing on Steelix’s crown as they hurtle through the storm like a bullet train. <ONE HAPPY MEAL—Hiii Kitten!—TO GO!>
Kazuki holds on for dear life on Steelix’s back. The wind is whistling loudly by his ear. He can see the Giant Shrine rushing into view—a glaring target. The start and end of it all.
It has taken a train wreck to get to this point, of course, it’ll be a train wreck getting out.
GOAL (ALTITUDE 2): 357/5141
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 15, 2023 9:45:41 GMT 9
Fast AttackPokemon: Sprigatito Move(s) Used: Quick Attack Move Type(s): to Move Target: Zapdos' Shrine lQg5RtnDsweeper4sweeper4
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 15, 2023 9:44:50 GMT 9
Charge AttackPokemon: Steelix Core Ability: Sacrifice Ability Target: Sprigatito Move(s) Used: Tackle Move Type(s): never normal to Move Target: Zapdos' Shrine d4ghxIettank3tank3
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 14, 2023 8:44:55 GMT 9
He swerves, only to hit a fucking ditch.
Verai addresses him as if he’s a captain watching his entire ship sink to the depths—exhausted, resigned, and slow.
It is a stupidly simple question.
Why does he care so much about Verai?
The impulse answer sits on his tongue. Something about the ease at which he can mess with him, something about how it’s annoying to see him martyr himself over and over, something about how long they’ve been at this, or a hundred more little excuses that have added up until it’s all clogging his throat.
Verai had only just betrayed him. He thought he was done. He had turned from him—and yet he’s here, clawing to make him come to his side. No excuse can justify it. It goes beyond reason.
He hates this feeling; of being paralyzed by nothing. He's used to speaking his mind. He's used to moving. “I care, because I chose you.”
Every word is spat out and punctuated with a step forwards, his voice rising to best the winds. There is no waver or stammer to it, only bite and resolve. “And it’s a choice I refuse to regret. I made it when you fucking elbowed me in the face on that first day—” and he can’t help but laugh at the memory “—because I knew you’d be worth it. And I was right.”
He grabs Verai by the thin chains of underplate around his collar, pulling him, always demanding full attention, always refusing to let go. “Ver, you are a self-righteous, stubborn, tough son of a bitch. You've gone through hell and you keep coming back for people who don't deserve it, and your heaven is just an afternoon with cats. You are ridiculous.”
He snorts, amazed he’s been pushed to this point, having to lay it out on the table. “And you are my favorite. I. Like. You.”
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Kazuki
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You Can't Take Me
The Creed
Posts: 883
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Himura Atsushi
OOC Username: Sleepy
Arena Points: 113
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Post by Kazuki on Jul 14, 2023 6:25:03 GMT 9
Kazuki does not rush him. He waits, because he knows Verai is of harder stuff, until the man coughs through the rest of his words. “You fight.” Kazuki scoffs. “I doubt Ash has the full picture either. She’s not a player. But right now, what we need is to bring him down, and like hell am I letting you pull the same bullshit you did at the start of the battle.”
The consequences of it linger, amplifying as Kitten pops out from her hiding spot and decries Zapdos for his terrible playground manner. It makes Kazuki snort, laughing a little. She’s frizzed up from the rain. The mention of Waffle makes his fingers twitch, touching cold air instead of fluff. His mind helpfully reminds him that he still has one support on reserve.
His thoughts are arrested by the question Verai asks next.
Green eyes are wide as they stare at him, the answer taking too long.
“About what? This fight? The game?” Swerving from oncoming traffic. "Be specific."
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