Train the Lonesome Loser (S. Cyril/Gabby)

It was like walking into a new world altogether. He quite clearly remembered this world as his home, where he was created. The veins in his body seemed to heat up as if recognizing where this place was. He let out a calm sigh, seemingly at peace despite his annoyed expression. “It’s as though I never left…” he said aloud. Though he did not come in for simple nostalgia. Now that he had a job to do in order to bring the Ideal World, he had to get stronger. Nothing could stand in his way for this, and the only way he could do so was by consuming other Shadows. It was his only option. The sooner he got stronger, the better. Though, he finally let some things hit his skull over time. With his failures with the foolish pink woman, and the horde of Shadows in Nokawia, he realized simply fighting on his own was now not really going to work. He had to begrudgingly accept any help given to him. What was worse is that for now, he basically had to rely on this person to help him. He was not alone in his job to bring out the new world. Indeed, it seemed a young woman was also given a gift of power and was ready to serve the God. He would have to listen to not only a woman, but someone much stronger than he himself was. He would clench his fists and hit his thigh in frustration, several steps away from practically throwing a fit. But eventually, he would sigh and calm down again. Getting annoyed at that would not solve anything. He really just had to make friends with this person. She just better not be ordering him around, as that would not fly for Cyril Vaans.

Starting Point:

Limbo was as dull as Gabby had remembered it. Crawling with shadows and full of hallways. At least she could reasonably say that she would have taking the annoying little things out. The only problem was her companion. The entire reason she was here was to teach him how to fight. She couldn’t be going into such dangerous situations with a weakling. For the time being, the fighting would have to be her duty while he bettered himself. She found him and walked over, “If you are here already, we may as well get going. If you see anything you feel like fighting, just tell me.”  She didn’t want to be here any longer than she needed to be. Even if she could probably take these things on, if anything went wrong they would be in trouble, “What can you do, anyway? Need to know just who I’m going to be working with and what I’ll have to do for now.” She hoped that he would be able to take care of himself for now. She wasn’t ready to take care of him completely.

Finally she showed up. “Took you long enough. But nice to meet you as well,” he said chuckling lightly. At the very least he could get on with this and finally get stronger. But her last bit bothered him to the point that he had to say something. “What are you, my older sister? Please, I am sure this will work out for the both of us. At least you understand not to order around,” he said with a slight grin. So this person wasn’t a complete fool. Though, when she asked what he was capable of, he sighed a bit. Snapping his fingers, his veins would suddenly grow hot for a brief moment before his Reverse Persona appeared behind him. It took the form of a serpentine demon with molten skin, as though the skin itself was shifting lava. Even the wings seemed to be dripping molten liquid, though the liquid vanishing before it hit the ground. This was the power that the God had given to him, which was quite the gift indeed. “You may be tougher…” he began with a grin, though slight annoyance in tone. “….but I will be alright. I have some physical prowess and an ailment to hurl. I can help no matter how weak you may think I look,” he said. His Persona would disappear before he turned around to the bridge that lead to a pathway. “Seems those Shadows are a prime target. Shall we?” he said looking back lazily before walking forward a bit slowly, both waiting for the girl to catch up and at least being careful in case the Shadows decided they wanted a fight.

Movement:

It was clear that these two were not going to get along very well. Two self-interested people having to put up with one another… This was going to either be a comedy or a drama with a horrible ending. As it stood, Gabby was ready to end him based on the way he spoke to her alone. She had to cover up her annoyance with a smile, “Remember that was are partners. I’m only trying to help you. As soon as you don’t need me anymore, I’ll stop acting like an older sister. Until then, you’ll just have to rely on me.” She wasn’t going to tiptoe around his feelings, if he wanted to get angry, he could. She would just hit him back. With a much harder punch. At least he knew she was stronger than him, “As long as you can defend yourself, we won’t have a problem. The first strike is all yours, so take them out if you want.” She wasn’t going to hold his hand, just watch him and judge if he needed her.

Of course she had to remind him about that. His mouth was closed, but his teeth were gritting like a grinder at a mill. But regardless, she had a point. Talking like a fool will not get him much of anywhere. He sighed as he walked and turned to her. “Yeah I understand. I am not out to start a fight with you at all. You are smarter than most,” he said shrugging his shoulders. That for now would be the only compliment. But he had to at least attempt to be on his best behavior with this girl. He knew not of what she could do. In fact, he should probably learn what she was capable of. Working together at least could be attempted by Cyril if it was for one person. “I am curious, what do you have in your disposal?” he said, attempting a more polite tone in his voice, as poor as it was. Regardless of her answer, he would continue forward, being mostly silent. He could try and talk to her a bit more, but he was lost in thought. He was mostly thinking of possible strategies for the upcoming fight. He did not know what he could possibly say to her. The only thing that he could hear was the footsteps of the two walking to the group of Shadows up ahead. Though it had hit him in his thought that he had remembered what she said earlier. “I am sure for the time being I can take out the small fry,” he said. He would continue on, his paces fast for a normal walk. He could not help it, he was just naturally a rushy person. Hopefully she would be there to follow so these battles would go by quickly.

Strength:

Movement:

At least she could say this much about him: he was smart enough to realize the position he was in. For now at least. She could only imagine how his personality would change as he finally got enough power to take care of himself. She could already tell he was just barely putting up with her, “Don’t worry. I don’t mean to get into a fight with you either. I had enough of that with my last team. As long as you aren’t as foolish as those last boys, you have nothing to worry about.” She meant it. She wouldn’t throw a heavy wind spell at his head so long as he was able to stay on her good side. So far though, men seemed to always pull off stupid plans and get themselves caught, killed, or out of the picture completely. She couldn’t have this one pulling that stunt on her. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, and she never would out loud, she needed him to stay alive and get stronger so that her choice to change sides didn’t end badly.

She only started cursing under her breath as she realized the guy was unbearably faster than her. There was no way she could keep up at her normal pace, and she ended up having to rush behind him. She was an acrobat, not a runner. He then turned her question around and asked her what she could do. She shrugged her shoulders and laughed a little, “I can make things die, so long as I can hit them.” She had learned through experience that she had a bad habit of either missing or of things avoiding her attacks, “I don’t think I need to be able to do much else. Although, I’ll tell you know that my favorite thing to do is to stand far enough away that I become a pain to hit.” She giggled as she sped up a little to keep up with him, “I wasn’t born to fight, so I prefer to play it safe.” She realized how that may have sounded and waved her statement away, “Don’t worry, though, I also have the ability to put the wind back in your sails if you fall down, but I can’t wake you up.” She needed to make sure he understood that what she had at her disposal was not an arsenal of team-helping abilities. Just a very powerful, almighty smack to the face.

Spoiler:

He laughed while walking. “I like to think I am decent as far as intelligence goes,” he said running a finger on his chin, as if contemplating what he said. Was he truly intelligent for doing what he is doing now? If he went in on his own, he could easily be defeated again yes? ‘Not sure why I am still thinking about that….’ He thought. Most likely he was still annoyed. But Cyril actually was doing rather well in getting over something like this; one of the few cases where he would. He would remain silent until she began to speak once more about her ideas. “Clearly you don’t look battle ready. Though, neither am I so I will shut my mouth,” he said, slowing down a bit looking back to her catching up to Cyril. He would remain a bit quiet until coming across a trio of beetles ready to strike. Cyril gave a grin that looked almost manic before turning to Gabby. “Well, I am rather curious to see what these powers do,” he said. In a short moment, the veins on his body that were visible began to glow bright red. Even the black tarot card floating in front of him that depicted the Hermit looked as though it had cracks in it, glowing crimson as well. In an instant, his soulbound weapon, a black katana appeared in his right hand and Cyril would slash the card with uncanny quickness, causing the card to Shadow and his Reverse Persona appearing behind him. Unlike what Gabby saw before, Cherufe now also showed similar crimson veins glowing, and even sported an obvious red aura that was constantly shifting as if struggling to hold itself in. Even as weak as he currently was, the aura was a bit oppressive to those near him.

‘A lovely gift indeed…’ he thought now fully turned into his Shadow Massacre form. Immediately as if on cue, Cherufe would crookedly point to the group of Shadows, and from the sky from a new red opening, sharp thin projectiles would drop down on all of them attempting to hit them like a maelstrom. Cyril would hold his hand out and again, another wave of sharp projectiles rained on his foes.  When the attack was finished, Cherufe would point to him and Cyril would glow white for a brief moment, now fully healed of the light taxing that the attacks had given him before. As weak as his attacks were, they came in quick succession and to Cyril, were rather menacing.

Shadow Massacre Turn 1:

Skills Used and Damage:

Miss Chance:

Critical Chance:

Current Stats:

Gabby was ready to get out of here, even though she had just entered. If Cyril had one thing right, she was not battle ready. Sure, she had a few good attacks, but she didn’t like getting hit. All in all, she was not a born fighter, just a performer with a bit of experience fighting big, scary monsters. She was ready to call forth Hippocamp when she saw the shadows. But, she remembered that he wasn’t with her anymore. She scratched her head in a moment of embarrassment as she called forth the correct name, “Garuda.” A moment later, a flaming man-bird appeared next to her. She went from water to fire in less than five minutes. She was going to have to get used to this, “Can you take care of our little guests?” The bird appeared to nod. It flew up into the sky above the beetles and seemed to call a bright light down to itself. It gathered the light to its hand and brought it down to the ground to decimate the creatures.

attack:

miss:

stats:

((OOC: Forgot to put miss for all three of them. I went to edit it, forgetting that I should have just made a new post. Hence, the little part that says it was edited.))

It would not take long for the two to finish off the Shadows and end their battle. He would watch as the Shadows seemed to fade, their tar at the last minute moving towards Cyril. Though the tar vanished, he could feel the consumption of the Shadows and the power that flowed within him soon after. Truthfully, Cyril was more than happy with the results, and even more so now that Gabby indeed proved herself much stronger than him. Though the gap would soon be lessened as Cyril suddenly felt an invigorating feeling rush over him, as though the mere battle was enough to give him strength. Once more, he had a particular item he had found that could help increase his power. Maybe he should use it after leaving Limbo. Cyril laughed a bit and flexed his fingers. “Well then, I certainly got what I wanted. I am plenty stronger now,” he said with an enjoyed grin plastered on his face like it was always there. His Reverse Persona would disappear and the crimson lights on his body would slowly fade, as he ended his current Shadow Massacre form. “I very much appreciate this. I am sure for now, I will be just fine. At the very least, I will not die so easily anymore.” He would smirk a bit and begin to walk back the way they both came. He was moving a bit faster than Gabby, ready to leave the place and plan the next move as soon as possible. It seemed that Cyril was satisfied with what happened. Only having to fight a small group of Shadows to get sudden strength? Who knew this battle would be as easy as it was? Assuming Gabby was walking with him, he would turn his head to her a bit lazily and sigh. “Good work. You certainly showed me up. I am rather tired,” he said. He would rub his hands together as if heating up his hands on a cold day; though it was mostly from eagerness. He would turn back to check on the area where they fought and saw nothing. ‘Good, thought so,’ he thought. Returning to the room, he would see the red door leading back to the human world. If Gabby made it in time before he left, he would turn to her and give a tired grin. “I am probably going to contact you in the near future. I cannot wait for the fun to begin. Be well,” he said before giving a two-finger salute and leaving the world quickly. For once, things were going right.

Movement:

Gabby called Garuda back to her as soon as the shadows before her and Cyril vanished. She had to grin at her ability to kick butt. She would have done a tiny cheer, but that would make her seem like a child. Granted the situation these two shared, she didn’t want to seem as if she couldn’t handle herself or support Cyril. She turned to him, only to see him absorb the other shadows. She was speechless at this act. She could hear him speaking and see his lips moving, but she couldn’t understand the words coming out. Did all shadows just cannibalize each other? As soon as Cyril started walking, Gabby would follow after him. He was much faster than her, but she pushed herself to keep up, “I don’t know how much better you’ll be now, but, hopefully, you’re a bit better. I mean, I assume that’s what I saw.” She still didn’t know what cannibalism had to do with that, but she didn’t want to question it. If she did, it would probably drive her insane, or maybe just mad. Was there a book on this kind of thing? Could she check it out at a public library? Was the person who wrote it put in a nice, small, comfy asylum for the remainder of their life? She could only assume the answers were no, no, and yes.

By this point, whatever Cyril seemed to say would just get a nod in response. She didn’t know how to make this conversation a bonding experience. At least he was satisfied with what they had just done. Gabby, on the other hand, felt indifferent. Taking down shadows wouldn’t make her any stronger. If anything, it only served as a means for her to realize that there was something else she should be doing. She knew what that something was, but she didn’t know how to go about doing it. She groaned under her breath. She was a smart girl, so why was this causing an issue for her? It should be obvious what the next step was. She just had to do it. If only life were so simple. She finally came back to reality as Cyril was saying his goodbyes. She nodded once more, “I understand. Don’t hesitate to call me if you need me. I get bored just sitting around. After all, the red zones have made it harder to just travel for the sake of it.” She was ready to leave too. There was nothing in her way. All she had to do was keep moving forward.

Spoiler: