*Enters topic. Sings to story and fans of said story. voice blows away the dust*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfTMl8Fc554Oh man oh man. started writing and stuff started happening. the only problem is that I have a bunch of homework and studying to do despite it being break and damn i really should get on that. so I wrote a chapter and change but I have to stop for the sake of my grades but here's some progress!
personally I think it's some of the best stuff I've ever written. at least at times. trying to write descriptions in a way more befitting some of the great writers out there (here's looking at you Neil Gaiman)
ALL WASHED OUT
Everything had changed in an instant. Kyle’s vision blurred, and soon he wasn’t seeing at all
anymore, not with his eyes at least. He possessed a faint, yet brutally powerful awareness of
what was transpiring around him. Katsumi was holding back the massive power of their enemy,
Jaska was bearing down with every last ounce of strength he had. She knew she was nearly
beaten, and so did he. And he knew he was nearly tapped out, but prayed she did not notice
before the end. But the rage he felt in each of them was equal, both were committed, ready to
tear into the other with only their teeth if they had to. The two were the same, but neither could
see it. Their dedication blinded them to their similarity, to their mutual truth, and nothing they
could do would ever change that.
Neither could Kyle though. The realization slowly came upon him that this strange
second sight was not his own. He felt drunk, lost, like he was sitting on the edge of sleep, just a
moment’s notice from falling off into the black. There was another rising from the darkness.
They also were the same, but they were distinctly set apart. Kyle sensed that he was a part of the
other. No, the other was a part of Kyle, two parts of a whole, one to sleep, one to dream. They
too were equal. No matter the greatness of the other, nor the smallness of Kyle, in the eyes of the
universe, both were equally insignificant.
Kyle felt his hands tighten into fists, they were only half his, but half was enough, one
last yawn, one last breath, one last sting of pain through his tired muscles. They weren’t two, not
really, they were just opposite sides of the same coin, still in the air, free falling towards an
unknown fate. He sensed it was enough, and slipped into a deep sleep once more.
It was no longer Kyle that stood behind Katsumi in that dilapidated school. This was a
different man, a man who savored the pain shooting through his nerves, the air in his lungs, the
sweat stinging his eyes. Coryn Sken walked free in the universe once more, and before him stood
an old friend who needed his help, and an old foe which could use it as well.
He breathed in, his eyes adjusted to the light, pupils tightening. Air left his lungs, hot and
moist, pouring back out into the world. Coryn raised his arm, and energy poured from it, fast,
and free and fluid. It cooled his skin as it moved over it. He didn’t even bother to concentrate his
power, he didn’t feel the need to. It flooded out from every pore, crawling up his arm until
finally falling upwards towards the sky, a wave of light to push back the menace above. Coryn
breathed, and it was as if his whole body was melting, defrosting for the new spring after a long
winter.
From Katsumi’s perspective, there had been no great scene to behold, she had sensed
Coryn, only it was Kyle, and then Kyle had ceased to be, and only Coryn remained. A moment
later she felt the great weight of Jaska’s attack lift off of her, and a blinding light was building
behind her back
With the force of the spinning blades no longer bearing down on her, Katsumi could only
let her arms fall and dangle useless at her sides. There was no power left in them, and she could
hardly believe that they had lasted as long as they did. She turned to confirm with her eyes what
her other senses had told her. Coryn stood behind her with an arm stretched out, the limb
glowing white with energy. Katsumi had never seen nor felt anything quite like it. She had
always thought of enix as something that was to be concentrated, controlled, and concise. But
looking at the way Coryn was using it in that moment, she couldn’t help but feel that that was the
correct way, the only way that it should be used. It was smooth, fluid, free. Coryn was
controlling it as much as it was controlling him. He was imbuing it with no great force of will,
but it moved as it needed without command. Both of them were in symbiosis, working in a form
of harmony that she had only read about in old scrolls.
Katsumi tried to pin down his emotions, but his face was ambivalent, somewhere
between rage and joy. Then quite unexpectedly, to Kastumi’s mind at least, he spoke to her.
“You’re looking good Katsumi, nice outfit. Was starting to worry you had forgotten
about me.”
Katsumi shrugged her tired shoulders.
“Oh believe me I wanted to leave you here, but Jack insisted. ‘He wouldn’t want to miss
out on this’ he said. ‘He’s probably too busy creepily hitting on high school girls’ I said.”
“Geez don’t pull any punches would ya?”
She smiled at the ground.
“Just kick his ass and let’s go home.”
“Right-o”
Coryn’s arm flashed and a pulse of energy travelled up and slammed into Jaska’s saw.
There was a great shrieking of metal on metal, and Coryn took the opportunity to fling himself
into the air, straight through the weakened blade.
Jaska had been blinded from the bright light that was building up around his saw. It felt
like he was trying to cut through sand, the deeper he pushed, the more resistance he met. He
puzzled over what was happening, as the shear mass of the blade blocked whatever was below,
until finally his senses caught up with him. It had taken him a moment to detect the subtle
change in his prey’s energy signature, but when he did it shook him to the bone. Coryn had
returned, but he had already used up almost all of his reserves fighting the damn girl. The
realization that Jaska couldn’t continue the fight took hold of him, yet he knew equally well that
he wouldn’t be able to run either. He had seen Coryn in the avenging mood before, and it was
not a force he wanted to contend with at that moment, but unfortunately he soon found that he
had no choice in the matter.
His saw blade buckled, and then shattered completely in half as Coryn jumped straight
through it, a blanket of energy shielding his body. The blond warrior was bare fisted, but even
unarmed as his opponent was, Jaska knew he had already missed his opportunity. Coryn had
closed in too fast, he was already inside of Jaska’s defense. A blow to the chest sent Jaska reeling
backwards. His sternum was shattered, and the wind blew out of his lungs. He began to fall, and
the rest of his energy reserves left him. Jaska could no longer hold his own transformation, and
as he fell he could feel himself reverting to normal size once again. Halfway down however,
Coryn caught up with him once again, and taking the now shrunken spider by the collar, towed
him behind himself.
The two collided with a building, and Coryn slammed Jaska’s back against the glass side.
Jaska’s spider limbs were sheared off nearly immediately by the jagged glass. The pain was
horrendous, but he knew they would grow back given time, but looking up, he wondered if that
time would ever come. Coryn’s mouth was smiling, happy to be awake, but his eyes told a
different story. They were wide and furious, filled with fire and anger. A beam smacked into the
back of Jaska’s head and it directed his vision downwards. Coryn’s feet were hemorrhaging
energy, burning his skin and propelling him forwards like a rocket. He wasn’t concerned with
precision, only power and speed.
Jaska’s stomach flipped as Coryn latched onto a flag pole with one hand and sent the
Spider sailing up into the air with the other. As Jaska flew up he lost sight of Coryn, but as he
began to fall and his vision once again turned towards the Earth, Coryn appeared from
nothingness directly below him. He immediately launched into a volley of blows with both arms
and legs. Jaska made as many moves to defend himself as he could, even managing to launch a
few explosive blasts with his one still functioning cannon, which thankfully hadn’t been
destroyed with Coryn had broken the rest of the saw. After landing a blast directly to Coryn’s
face, Jaska found his vision blocked by a thick field of smoke, but it quickly gave way to
Coryn’s own face, hardly scathed by the impact. Jaska braced himself as Coryn’s head impacted
his face. The blow separated them, but Jaska found that they had fallen quite far, and noted that
they were both about to impact with the ground.
Turning his cannon towards, The Spider fired at the last second. The blast scorched him,
but it was successful altering his trajectory, deflecting him off to the side and away from Coryn
who smashed down not a second later. Sailing over the roofs of abandoned cars, Jaska craned his
neck to regain sight of his opponent. Coryn was still blasting energy from his feet to propel
himself along, but he seemed matched with Jaska’s own velocity. But Jaska’s lead was quickly
dying off as gravity dragged him back down and into the pavement. Not wasting the opportunity,
Jaska flipped in the air, leveled his cannon at Coryn’s approaching form, and waited.
When Coryn was within half a foot from Jaska’s canon, he pulled the trigger. The
cigarette lighter like barrel flared with yellow energy as excess power was vented along its
porous shaft. But before the blast could hit him, Coryn disappeared. The explosive sailed
harmlessly away, and Jaska felt a gust of wind as Coryn reappeared just a few feet below Jaska’s
outstretched arm. His eyes swiveled down just in time to watch Coryn uncoil, launching a
powerful uppercut to Jaska’s chin, sending him flying up towards the sky. He blacked out, and
Jaska had ascended several hundred feet before he regained consciousness. Already however he
knew Coryn was behind him, holding him in a grapple. Jaska knew that the battle was over. A
sliver of sun broke through the clouds, illuminating him in what may be his final moments. He
breathed in, tried to relax, and began his conjoined descent with Coryn still gripping him tightly.
Katsumi had been barely able to keep up with the battle. She might have done better were
it not for her high level of exhaustion, but even then, it would not have been easy. The two
combatants had nearly disappeared after leaving the school, only appearing to her as clouds of
dust thrown up into the air or flashing points of light in the sky. Finally however they seemed to
slow down, starting up high in the air, and beginning a sharp descent towards the Earth.
Katsumi used kuupu to transport herself to where she figured their approximate landing
site would be, and she found that her estimate was spot on. What had become nearly a single
dark figure slammed down in front of her, a wave of force blasted out from their landing, and
Katsumi finally got a clear picture of the action. Jaska was on his knees, Coryn was behind him,
grappling his right arm, still gripping his remaining canon, against The Spider’s back. What
happened next Katsumi could not see, but the results were undeniable.
With one instant Jaska was on his knees, Coryn stood behind him, and in the next Jaska
was flat on the ground, but he had lost his right arm. Coryn had relinquished his hold of him
completely, but in one hand he held Jaska’s right arm aloft, its now randomly firing nerves
causing the cannon to fire sporadically into the air. In his other hand Coryn held on of his
swords. It was devoid of blood, and Katsumi had no idea where he had gotten it from, but it was
almost certainly what Coryn had used to sever Jaska’s arm from his body.
Tossing his blade aside, Coryn gripped Jaska’s arm with both hands, and slammed the
still hot barrel against the side of Jaska’s head, pushing the right side of his face hard against the
ground, scratching his face and grinding dirt into his features. Katsumi took in the putrid smell of
burning hair and flesh, and recoiled as she heard a slight sizzling. She was about to speak out in
opposition to executing their opponent, but Jaska beat her to the punch.
“Alright, alright, alright, let’s not get hasty Coryn! You wouldn’t want to do something
you’ll regret right?!”
Coryn adjusted his hold on the arm and what seemed to be small bolts of electricity
crackled on his finger tips.
“You know if I just give the right muscle a little jolt, I could blow your head clean off. So
tell me Jaska, what’s one good reason that I shouldn’t do that?”
“You’re a good guy remember! You’re supposed to be the big damn hero! Heroes don’t
just go around executing people right?!”
Coryn screamed directly into his ear.
“Try me!”
Katsumi yelled out at him, her voice breaking slightly.
“Coryn!”
He looked up at her and some of the rage drained out of his eyes. Coryn took a deep
breath before turning back to Jaska.
“You killed a lot of people today Jaska, good chances are that I can’t fix this mess, that
this day can’t be reset. They can’t be brought back to life! What do you have to say to that?!”
“What do you?!”
Jaska’s reaction caught Katsumi off guard, but Coryn seemed unfazed. The Spider
continued on.
“You know why I’m after you Sken. You know why I can’t stop until I kill you. It’s not
just what you’ve done to me personally. It’s about everything you’ve done your whole damn life!
I can’t stop until I reconcile that!”
Katsumi couldn’t make sense of Jaska’s reaction, but it caused Coryn’s body to slack,
and for a moment it seemed like he was about to pull way. But then a bolt of energy leapt out of
his fingers and into Jaska’s severed arm. The cannon roared to life, and blasted straight down.
Dust and dirt clouded Katsumi’s vision, but as it cleared she could see a small crater now existed
before her, Coryn stood in it above Jaska’s body, silent and still. But as the dust continued to
clear observed that Jaska’s head was still attached to the rest of him, and he was still perfectly
alive. Coryn had altered the barrel’s aim at the last second, and shot right next to Jaska. The blast
had burnt the back of his head, but otherwise he seemed unharmed.
Coryn tossed the arm into the air and with a flick of his and an orb of concentrated enix,
turned it and the cannon to dust. Jaska slumped into the crater, breathing heavily, on eye swollen
shut, the other focused on Coryn.
“Just going to leave then? Not ready to finish me off yet?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
The Spider smiled. “Guess I can’t complain.”
He lifted up his remaining arm to his ear, and seemed to speak to no one but himself.
Shortly afterwards was looked to Katsumi like a flying brick appeared swooping down from a
nearby building. It was shedding off some sort of invisibility field, and Jaska took no time
clambering inside as fast as his broken body would let him. The craft lifted off before closing its
rear doors, and Jaska shouted down at Coryn as they slid shut.
“Dasvidaniya ublyudok!”
The doors shut and the shuttle rocketed off into the atmosphere, quickly disappearing into
nothing. With the threat gone, Katsumi turned around to find Coryn. He was sitting quietly on an
upturned vehicle, smoking a cigarette as his features aged back to a man of his early twenty’s.
None of the clothes he was wearing fit quite right anymore, but they were so torn to hell that it
didn’t seem to matter to him anymore.
Coryn looked down at Katsumi, who was eyeing him suspiciously.
“Wondering why I let him go?”
“Among other things.”
He took a long drag of his cigarette and let the smoke billow out with each word of his
response.
“Jaska and I share a rather intertwined past. As it just so happens though that’s only half
of the reason.”
“And the other reason?”
Another long drag.
“Killing people isn’t what makes someone evil. It’s why they kill people. I’ve killed
people, you’ve killed people, and not all of them have necessarily been evil people either.
Sometimes they’re just unfortunate.”
Katsumi wasn’t satisfied with the answer she was getting so far. It wasn’t like Coryn to
be so callous when it came to death.
“So what about the civilians who died today? Were they just unfortunate?”
Coryn eyed her.
“Yes! But their blood is on my hands, not Jaska’s! Jaska is a monster, the way he fights
causes destruction on its own. I can’t blame the predator for being true to its nature, but I can
blame myself for putting others in the way of the predator.”
He smashed his cigarette butt against the car to extinguish it.
“I should have chosen a better place to hide.”
Katsumi shifted her weight, carefully calculating Coryn’s current mindset.
“So you’re saying that Jaska really isn’t evil because he’s just another animal and it’s all
your fault because you’re a *censored*ty planner.”
“Well I-”
“Get over it Coryn!”
Coryn was about to say something but cut himself off as Katsumi clearly had something
to say.
“He’s a monster! You said it, I thought it, he confirmed it! People kill monsters because
they are monsters damn it! That’s just what you do with them! And don’t give me some *censored*
about you being a pour planner! I know you well enough to know that you considered the fact
that you would be putting all of these people in danger, and that you thought what you were
doing was important enough to risk all of their lives! I know what all of that is just a big excuse
so that you don’t have to tell me what is really going through your convoluted head, so just come
out with it and tell me!”
Coryn was taken aback by the verbal onslaught, but it seemed to ease his mind, and he
cracked his first genuine smile all day.
“I think Jaska has the potential to do more good for the universe than he ever did bad. He
just needs to figure a few things out first. I just want him to have good direction.”
Katsumi fell back onto the ground. She couldn’t stand to keep holding herself up, but at
least she had finally gotten a straight answer out of Coryn.
“That’s good enough for me. I may not like the idea of unwilling sacrifice for the greater
good, but I get it.”
Coryn lit another cigarette and collected his thoughts as he smoked it. Katsumi remained
quiet, save for the sound of her heavy breaking slowly returning to normal. After a few slow
minutes, Coryn finally asked what was weighing on his mind.
“So then, why did you come to get me?”
Katsumi lifted herself back up, and met Coryn in the eyes. She wanted to put a positive
spin on the news somehow, but she couldn’t find the words. Finally she resolved to simply say it
as it was.
“The Kurousen is open. We failed.”