In The Shadow of Mnt Vesuvius (Sparrow & Ymir)

[fiction]

The night fell fast upon the city ruins of Pompeii, the full moon rising above the huge sleeping volcano, watching over the empty ruins, and the bustling city built around it. The sky was cloudless, and the air was warm and heavy, not a breeze. The heat of the day still hung around, and the silence of the ruins was eerie as crickets played softly in the background.

Normally, the Ruins would be closed to everyone but the park rangers at night, but today, tonight, was different. Two other people, teenagers, had been allowed to roam the City, but for one reason and one reason only. To investigate whatever was happening to the people who had been killed here. Shibusen Students, here under orders of the Shinigami, and the demand of the City’s Maintenance and Tourist board. After all, a place where people were known to be murdered is not a place travellers want to visit. There were normally around 2-8 Night Guards at once, at any one time, so the pair were not alone, but on this mission, the guns in the holsters of the guards, wouldn’t prove all that useful.

They had been wavered off into the ruins by the Head of Security, who had then taken his post at the entrance of the City, handing them a booklet with a map on the back and a few words of hasty encouragement. If they’d remembered the Mission Brief, then they should be headed to the Amphitheatre, but looking around the whole place wasn’t anything off a bad idea. It would be nice if they didn’t break or destroy any of the old ruin, but when there is a listed possible Kishin in the area then anything could happen. Until the killer was identified, however, it remained a mystery.

The time was reaching 10am, and the night was dragging on, the silhouette of Mount Vesuvius towering on the horizon in front of the pale moon. Nothing had yet showed up. Not a rustle or a creep, or even another person, let alone a Kishin Egg. For a long while, the Mission had seemed to be fruitless, and in short ‘a waste of time’. It could have been an ‘average’ murderer, who had moved on, or had steered clear. Or at least, that was until a bone chilling scream echoed around the whole ruin, before it settled into silence once more. The sound had come from the area where the majority of the murders had taken place, the Amphitheatre. Whether it was a Kishin or a Murderer, it was up to the students to find whoever, or whatever it was before it got away, or even worse, killed any of the other people in the City.

When the students would arrive, they would see an empty space, a patch of crimson blood on the ground, no soul to be seen, and only one set of foot prints. How very…curious.

(OOC- Yes, this is copy+pasted from FS. what ya gonna do? XD)

[Sparrow Lionheart]

Sparrow's dumb grin was wider and dumber than usual. Why? Because it was finally time for the young meister to head out on his first mission. The moment he had been looking forward to since the age of three, when his grandfather started telling him stories of several adventures of not only his own, but his mother, and his ancestors. Every dream of his had been about the adventures he would pursue when he would be enrolled in Shibusen and have a partner. Today was that day.

After convincing his partner to hold off on looking at girls until the mission was over, the two of them headed off to Pompeii. According to the briefing, the two would have to investigate the amphitheater. Thankfully, the guard had provided them with a map of the place. Otherwise, Sparrow would've been tragically lost.

"So Ymir, what do you think the Kishin Egg is like?", asked the boy excitedly.

Sparrow himself was dressed up in his traditional garb. A blue tunic with a white cross on the front, and the family crest on the back, along with a beige undershirt covered his upper body. A simple pair of loose, beige pants covered his legs fully, with a pair of black boots on his feet, along with a matching pair of gloves covering his hands.

When the two arrived, Sparrow saw the blood and footprints on the ground. "Come on, let's follow the footprints!", called out the Knight Meister as he started out on the trail recklessly.

[hrimturs]

"So Ymir, what do you think the Kishin Egg is like?"

_{Current Theme: [HERE]}

The Weapon shot his partner the foulest of leers, sweat dripping down his brow as he followed along at a sluggish pace that seemed nothing short of a volatile and intentional crawling speed. Despite being dressed in a lightly woven orange poncho and beige slacks to suit the night air of the Pompeii climate, Ýmir was still feeling like he was being slow-baked in an oven. The humidity alone was killing him.

But that wasn't what had him in such a foul mood..

"Helvítið hafi það.. I can't fuckin' believe you got me here instead of hanging out by the pool where all the cute girls are.."

That was his big issue with his partner right now. Ever the do-gooder, instead of them being able to take some time and finally allow him a chance to score with some sexy beach or pool honeys at the hotel areas, Sparrow had insisted upon them taking the route of 'work first'.. it was irritating him to no end as he allowed his mind to wander back to the hotel they'd passed not a mere hour ago on their way here.. such fine, well-figured women, just waiting for him to win them over..

..already he was drooling at the possibilities that such a place would invite for him. Drooling, and utterly not paying attention as a step came up, causing him to trip over it and plant his face plain on the pavement, coaxing forth an agonized groan from him just before he heard Sparrow's voice again.

"Come on, let's follow the footprints!"

Ýmir groaned again, raising his head which was now mingling scrapes, sand and dirt all over his face to look at his highly enthusiastic partner, "Fff.. why're you so happy anyway? It's probably just some squatters. Squatters that like to bleed a lot. And stuff. In fact, since it's really not even that big a deal, you can check things out and I'll go back to the hotel." he commented, proceeded to push himself back to his feet and dust himself off, making a thumbing gesture over his shoulder to emphasize his point of leaving.

[Sparrow Lionheart]

((Watch Ymir get slapped in the face, while Sparrow gets gangbanged by several girls at the hotel after this XDD))

"Helvítið hafi það.. I can't fuckin' believe you got me here instead of hanging out by the pool where all the cute girls are..", muttered the Demon Dragon Slayer. Sparrow looked towards his partner and sighed. "We can look at the girls after we're done killing the mean Kishin Egg that's been hurting people around here. . .", said Sparrow as he continued onward.

His partner tripped over something while Sparrow looked on. After suggesting that they follow the trail, his partner looked up. "Fff.. why're you so happy anyway? It's probably just some squatters. Squatters that like to bleed a lot. And stuff. In fact, since it's really not even that big a deal, you can check things out and I'll go back to the hotel.", Ymir said as he tried to slip out of this one. Sparrow looked at his partner, his stupid grin turning into a surprisingly serious look. Sparrow would have none of that, no sir.

"Oh no, we are checking this out together! We have a job to do, more people could get hurt by the mean monster unless we kill it, and I need you to help me kill it!", he stated to his weapon sternly as he grabbed at his wrist, in a surprising moment where he wouldn't be conned. To him, this assignment meant everything. He was determined to stop the Kishin Egg from claiming future victims, and to get a good start as a Meister in Shibusen. If he let his partner screw things up like this, his mother would be mad at him, and he knew it. "And besides, this battle means everything to me!", he exclaimed, his eyes lit up with passion and determination.

He then followed the footprints, storming down the trail. If Ymir didn't follow him by choice, then Sparrow would have to drag him down to the battle. "When this is over, I promise to take you to the hotel, and stay there until you find some girls. . .", he said to his partner, unaware of the world of regret it might bring him.

[fiction]

When the two students arrived, there seemed to be no one there at all. It would have been silent, yet the two students had been making enough noise to coat over the eerie silence that would have been. They mused at the blood, or, one of them did, following it to a source, perhaps.

There wasn’t a trace of anyone or anything that could have killed the owner of the scream, and the dark around the open-toped ruin could be hiding anything. But lurking there, something watched, with narrow eyes as the two students entered loudly. Watching them as they went about trying to follow him or find out something about by following tracks that weren’t even his. How amusing. He doubted they proved any threat at all. They’d just be his second course. Why would people send children after him? Were they really that stupid or were they just desperate because no one else had the guts to come along. Pf. This would be too easy.

The pair tried to figure something out, well, the Meister did, anyway. His partner, well, he didn’t seem all that bothered about what was going on. The figure had seen a City vanish in seconds, nothing much surprised him anymore. Besides, it was people like these, kids like these, the disturbed the sleep of his people, his family, his friends. He’d fought in the area many a time, long ago, but his soul was forever attached to this place, like so many others, or so he believed. It was up to him to cease the arrival of these new people, and let the inhabitants of this city sleep in piece again.

A grim smile swept a face that couldn’t be seen, and in a moment notice, the Kishin Egg materialised almost too close to the pair, the sound of metal scraping metal was heard as a sword was drawn from its ancient sheath, and raised above the head of a humanoid clad in old roman armour. Gold Metal plates and bright red cloth, plated shin guards, leather boots and a helmet that covered a face until it was nothing but a grim shadow, and two bright red eyes gleaming with a row of dagger sharp, white teeth. He was a gladiator, and he’d prefer to go and get the fight, then wait for it to come to him. Tonight was a good night, and the only light there was aided him.

The Gladiator held the gleaming sword above his head, before bringing it down towards the two boys. Hopefully these two would prove more of a challenge if they were sent here to get rid of him, even if they were messily kids. Unfortunately, he doubted it. After all, a mighty Gladiator such as himself needed more of a challenge then this.

"Good Evening, children"

Enemy Health
Gladiator

[/b] ~ Unhurt
[/right]

[hrimturs]

"Tsch, really, why'd I hafta team up with the straight arrow..?" the Weapon muttered to himself retrospectively, being half-dragged along by the scruff of his poncho's neck as he backtracked with a pining look at the site's exit, groaning and complaining miserably the whole way there. Even as they eventually made their way unto the main crime scene itself, that of the arena, the white-haired delinquent continued to struggle against Sparrow's insistant pulling, drawing forth a belligerent, "You owe me, y'know!" from the Meister's partner.

"I mean, really owe me.. chances are all the girls'll be gone by the time we get back to the hotel after this crap.. all of my hopes and dreams of an Italian summer babe.. gone!" he begins to overdramaticize his lamentations, still not paying much attention at all as he fixates on his complaining while Sparrow seemed to be preoccupied with investigating the area.

"Farewell, busty beach girls.. farewell, my summer love..!" he continued to moan, effectively at the point where he'd be trying to guilt his partner into letting him go, attempting to up the ante even moreso, "Who knows, I might've found 'the one'..! My one, true babe who would just let me sink my fingers into her hot, juicy melo--"

Before he could continue his tirade, he felt that gut feeling just before someone would take a swing at him.. as he threw his leg out behind him, aiming a punt at Sparrow's back, "Færðu þig frá, bændadurgur!!"

_{Current Theme: [HERE]}

As he attempted to shove the Meister's arm out of the dropping blade's path, he went about pulling himself free at the same time with enough force to tear a chunk of his poncho away to get some distance between them, stumbling forward before spinning around on his heels to face the armored spectre, or whatever it is, "Oi, oi, oi!! You owe me a new poncho, asshole!"



The white-haired youth glared petulantly at the armed, red-eyed figure, seemingly unphased and full of bravado, as he began to crack his knuckles.

[Sparrow Lionheart]

Ymir’s attempt at a guilt trip went unregistered by the young Meister as he proceeded to search the area of the Kishin Egg. So far, the boy had seen nothing. However, the answer would quickly be found by the Gladiator materializing nearby, and attempting to bring his sword down on the duo. But before Sparrow could react, his partner already pushed him to safety, with enough force to rip his poncho off. The meister then corrected his footing, and ran over to his weapon.

“Good Evening, children!”, said the Gladiator.

"Oi, oi, oi!! You owe me a new poncho, asshole!", shouted Ymir angrily. The weapon cracked his knuckles. Meanwhile, Sparrow got into position, holding out his hand to signal Ymir that it was time for him to transform. "Prepare to be vanquished, foul demon!", shouted the knight meister, a look of almost uncharacteristic intent to kill on his face.

This was the moment he had been waiting for. Fourteen years of waiting lead to his first battle; a sword fight with this gladiator. But how would Sparrow do with his partner, an insanely huge sword? Would the size of the Dragonslayer get the better of him, and allow this Kishin Egg to kill him in the end? Sparrow didn't believe so. He would defeat this Kishin Egg, he would avenge the fallen and prevent more from dying by this monster's hand.

[fiction]

If the Gladiator had had a large enough emotional range, when his blade failed to cut into the flesh of one of the two students, he would have felt something akin to disappointment. Instead, the sword sliced through fabric, which enraged one of the children in his presence, one who dared to challenge him. Of course, he had no idea what a poncho was, then again, nor did he care. When the boy was dead, it wouldn't matter to him, anyway.

The two young boy yelled and howled at him. A little too cocky for his liking; he would enjoy taking them down a few notches, that was for sure. Within the shroud of the helmet he wore, a smirk crept across his face, twisted and demonic. The glowing red eyes narrowed at them both, before he raised the sword towards the white haired opponent. He seemed like the kind who simply needed a lesson handed to them, and probably their own head later on.

"How pathetic!" The sword swung towards the boy with red eyes. "You think children stand a chance here?!" Once the sword completed its journey, the Kishin quickly swung the blade back, in an attempt to catch the other boy. Full of himself, it seemed. Though, the Gladiator had been without a fight in years. Too many it seemed. The prospect that these two boys might pose a challenge to him was an exciting one, but, for now, unlikely.

The light of the moon set the stage for their fight, and the Volcano of Vesuvius, their audience. He could almost hear it now, as clearly as before, the cheering of the crowd. A crowd appeased by blood and death. As he had done countless times before, they would leave the ring satisfied.

Enemy Health
Gladiator

[/b] ~ Unhurt
[/right]

[hrimturs]

"Prepare to be vanquished, foul demon!"

The Demon Weapon let out a mournful groan over his Meister's overenthusiastic display, looking at him with a look of distant dejection and embarassment over being associated with him, "..Seriously? We're going with that as our opener..?"

Before he had a chance to comment further on his partner's overdisplay of knightly bravado, however, the gladiator was already making its next move. A life thankfully led getting into constant fights had at least afforded him with enough instinctive talent to recognize an attack and the right amount of reflexes to react in a timely manner, as the white-haired youth hastily ducked his head to the side and kicked off against the sandy surface of the arena, propelling himself sidelong and in the direction of his Meister's outstretched hand.

"Get movin' and mess this fucker up, Sparrow! I wanna hit on some women already!!" he yelled, even as he felt the skin crawling up the back of his neck at the sense of the blade following close behind him on a collision course with his partner. Tutting to himself at that, he ducked onto his knees and began to skid along the loose sands, at the same time beginning his transformation into a Weapon - a groaning, scraping noise resounding throughout the entire arena as the white-haired student manifested in the form of the seven-foot slab of metal, partly embedded in the rocky floor beneath the arena's sands. It tore up sand and rock along its path, using the momentum of his prior skidding and leaving a gash in the ground itself before it came to a grinding halt just short of Sparrow's hand, at the same time serving as the equivalent of a large, metal shield against the gladiator's blade that was closing in on them.

From the black, metal slab the Weapon's voice echoed forth, "Hold on tightly, eh?! I don't want you flingin' me off to the other side of this dump like some lil' pussy just because you got shitty grip!"

[Sparrow Lionheart]

Ymir's reception to such an opener was less than pleased. However, whatever expression Ymir used completely flew over the meister's head. "..Seriously? We're going with that as our opener..?", he said in an embarrassed manner. "Yeah, you like it?", said the idiotic boy, the stupid smile plastered on his face.

However, before he could hear a response, the Gladiator slashed towards Ymir. However, the white-haired teenager managed to duck out the way in time. He then ran along the sandy and rocky earth towards Sparrow, blade on his tail. "Get movin' and mess this fucker up, Sparrow! I wanna hit on some women already!!", he said to the meister. While Ymir raced against the blade heading for him, Sparrow got ready to duck himself, having been trained for such situations.

However, Ymir started to slide against the ground, and transformed into his full weapon form, the giant "sword" that Sparrow awkwardly, yet proudly wielded. As the blade traveled along the ground, the the sound of metal grinding against rock resonated throughout the arena. The blade itself stopped inches away from his head, and most importantly in his reach. "Hold on tightly, eh?! I don't want you flingin' me off to the other side of this dump like some lil' pussy just because you got shitty grip!", echoed the weapon. Sparrow sheepishly grinned and nodded as he grabbed the slab of metal from the ground with his gloved hands, his strength allowing for him to rip his partner from the earth he was partially embedded in. Sparrow wasted no time in slashing at the Gladiator horizontally with the slab of metal.

Whether it hit or missed, Sparrow's footing would immediately go off, and he'd end up stumbling momentarily.

[fiction]

The foul mouthed white haired opponent seemed a little more with his senses than the Gladiator had first assumed, dodging his sword a little too easily. The crimson eyes narrowed at the poncho clad boy. Out of the two, he seemed more the fighter...

But that wasn't the case when he shot himself towards his companion, and seamlessly transformed into a huge slab of metal. A sword of the likes this warrior had never seen. It blocked the second sweep of his sword with a clang that echoed throughout the whole Amphitheatre. Not that it mattered a whole lot right now, the Kishin would have plenty of times to strike the boy wielding the unconventionally sized weapon. It was easy to tell that the Meister had to be careful with the force of the swings, or he'd be on the floor, and the fight would be over.

The Demon weapon was a hefty one, and the time taken from the block, to the Meister heaving the weapon from the ground and attacking was sufficient enough for the Gladiator to put enough space between them in a long, powerful dash to miss the swing, and notice the wielders stumble.

The weapon the boy wielded would make it hard for close range attacks due to its sheer size and it weight prevented him from faster strikes. Right now, this seemed like an easy win for the ancient Warrior, who then went in, sprinting to close the gap as quickly as he could, for another slash at the noble sounding Meister, who too boldly wielded the lumbering Dragon-Slayer.

"With a weapon like that, you'll never stand chance, boy!"

Enemy Health
Gladiator

[/b] ~ Unhurt
[/right]

[/blockquote]

[hrimturs]

Ýmir was growing restless. The enemy was right there in front of them, and yet his partner was oafishly clowning around with such clumsy swings. He felt the Meister's loose, weak grip and knew full-well that he wasn't using the full extent of his strength to hold on - the knowledge of which annoyed him.. after all, it seemed to be through mere luck for that single swing that Sparrow hadn't thrown him off to the side like some kind of klutz taking a swing at a golf ball.

"The hell're you doin', Sparrow? came the echoed voice across the shared link between Meister and Weapon, sounding as irritated and impudent as always, "Swing it like a man, dammit! Like a man!!" in that same instance the loose cloth wrapped around the Weapon's handle would start to move of its own accord, sneaking and slinking up around the knightly Meister's dominant sword-arm before tightening just enough to firmly attach the large sword to his limb, but with room to spare that would allow him to move his arm freely, effectively securing the Weapon's place in his Meister's grip. In that same moment, however, the Gladiator would come at them again, spurring the white-haired, transformed youth to bark orders into Sparrow's head over their link.

"He's comin' at ya again! Up! Swing up!"

[Sparrow Lionheart]

Sparrow's first mistake was going in for the slash before he could get the best grip on his partner. The second was making such a sloppy swing towards his opponent. In the time Ymir blocked off the Gladiator's slash towards him, and the time Sparrow took to attempt to slash at the Kishin Egg, it managed to gain some distance between the two.

Meanwhile, Sparrow struggled to regain his footing. Hell, it was a miracle that the lad didn't lose his grip on his partner. "The hell're you doin', Sparrow?", questioned the Dragon Slayer in an irate manner. He was right, he shouldn't have been so reckless with that swing. "Swing it like a man, dammit! Like a man!!", shouted his partner, as the cloth extension wrapped around his dominant arm. In that moment, Sparrow finally got his footing straight, and his sights were back onto the Gladiator, who had charged the duo.

"With a weapon like that, you'll never stand chance, boy!", bellowed the Kishin Egg. However, Sparrow was now determined to prove the monster wrong. His grip reformed on the handle of the Dragon Slayer, his eyes narrowed. "He's comin' at ya again! Up! Swing up!", barked out Ymir over their link. For a while, the Knight Meister was silent, still as a statue, amd focused on the gladiator.

But once he was in reach, the youth slashed upward, his grip on the sword much improved from the last attempt, and his body moved in conjunction with the attempted uppercut slash on the Gladiator. This vertical slash, focused on the forward charging Gladiator, would hopefully get in some damage on the Kishin Egg.

[fiction]

As he charged at the two children, he saw the grip in the Meisters' had stabilise. He had closed enough distance to be hit, if the huge bulky sword didn't take so long to swing. Momentum was it's power, but the wielder didn't seem to have enough power to hid his attacks so well. Evasive action was easy. The sword was headed up.

In a natural reflex of his time alive, the Gladiator rolled sideways, shoulder first; the Dragon Slayer passed just near his head. Any closer and the blade should have won them the first hit. Sparrow had needed to be just a little faster. The three were throwing routine attacks, now, the pair just needed to get a strike on the corrupt and anguished soul.

He stood back up from his roll, bring the sword to slash diagonally upwards at the boy, whose huge swing and hefty sword had left his body almost completely open for numerable attacks, and the after the upwards strike, he swung the sword once more towards his neck.

This would leave Sparrow with few options. The Gladiators' strike were precise and trained, his experience showed through. He had purposely planned to get the boy to expose himself to any amount of attacks and take advantage of the opening he created for himself. It was clear that Sparrow and Ymir would need a more tactical approach to dealing with this foe other than to hack and slash.

Enemy Health
Gladiator

[/b] ~ Unhurt
[/right]
[/blockquote]

[Sparrow Lionheart]

Much to Sparrow's dismay, the uppercut would miss. The gladiator rolled to the side of the blow, and once he got to his feet, would be on the attack once again. A diagonal slash followed by a slash at the neck would be the Gladiator's moves of choice. However, thanks to the weight of the sword, Sparrow had an answer.

As the Dragonslayer continued to move upwards, Sparrow jumped up, balling up and traveling the same path as the massive hunk of metal. This was all in an attempt to get out of the way of the gladiator's range.

After his attempt to evade, Sparrow held up the Dragonslayer forward, pointed towards the Gladiator. He would then charge up his wavelength for three seconds. After three seconds, he would end up using Soul Ram to lunge towards the Gladiator, sword intent on ramming through him.