Munching Through [Zaku/Cecil/Ricky's Awakening]

It was a quiet moment in this night. Many might have taken it for a peaceful evening. They wouldn't be entirely wrong, but they were far too ignorant of what crawled underneath. The utter chaos that slumbered and turned in the City was sleeping, but alive. It writhed, but it didn't stir. Not yet, at least. Tonight, there would be a number of people whose paths would cross...

Zaku was in her Dojo Late that night cleaning up after her students had left, thankfully the place was large enough to also have a living area for her to sleep in rather then head home at such a late hour, however her stomach growled and she looked down at it a moment gently rubbing it as her cowlick drooped a bit "Guess Zaku should get something to eat Zaku" she said to herself as she got dressed in her street clothes and headed out, taking her large metal backcase with her as she intended to buy a few things from the late night convenience store and this just made it easier to carry, though the night did feel odd to her...

It was a quiet night, ricky was fucking depressed as usual. After all, he had to maintain a certain aura of depression, he could not be any more depressing, nor any less depressing and BROODING as his backstory was.

It could have been worse, Ricky could have been cursed to a fate worse than death, doomed to like 9 inch nails the band and wear jingo jeans all day, but no he was doomed to like SAOSIN instead while wearing LEVIS. (Was that even a thing in Endymion)

Ricky was conveniently minding his own business in the backlight just in time for his inner relevant powers to be activated, he couldn't feel it at that moment yet, but life was about to take a big shit on his perception of reality. He would never be the same after this night, as he conveniently his character for totally in character reasons in the bank... Brooding over uh, something.

Headphones on, Cecil wanders the Backlight, walking about with little in the way of direction as the music fills his ears. His necklace drifted back and forth slightly from his chest with each step, a sword with two snakes coiled about it, topped with a loop to run the cord through. He'd been out and...kinda lost track of time.
Hope Dad and Rydia aren't too worried...I wish they wouldn't, but after what happened with Sis...
...I miss her.
His hands dig into his pockets as he continues on, one footfall after another. Normally, being outside now would be nice. He liked the night. But he couldn't feel the same peace under the darkened sky tonight, for some reason. It wasn't like he had any idea why. Everything seemed normal to him.

...wait, what's that?
There was a positively tiny girl with a large metal case on her back. And...what on earth was her hair doing? He barely caught it in the darkness, but there was a little bit of it that acted like it was possessed or something. How...this had to violate the laws of physics somehow.
If you ignored the motion of her hair though, she seemed uneasy - at least, to Cecil. He could have let her be, but...
...better safe than sorry. One's more than enough.

Removing his headphones and stopping the music, Cecil approaches her, ignoring the way myriad factors were making his stomach churn. "Gahh...hello?" He calls out as he walks up, giving a small, brief wave. He stops a little before he gets close, a concerned look on his face. "Everything alright? Something up?"

James was heading home through Blacklight, though he was also looking around at night, mostly just enjoying their stroll through the area, mainly thinking about what he was going to do tonight once he got home, he then noticed the girl walking along with the case on her back. To be honest, whatever she was doing, it wasn't his buisness.

Quietly, but surely, the people in the immediate area felt a sense of malaise. Something that felt awfully wrong. For one of them present, it was a familiar and worrying sensation that reminded them of the moment when they first summoned their potential. But for the rest, it was enticing them and whispers could be heard within a nearby alleyway. It was as if it was asking them to enter. But so was the sound of something crunching under pressure...

Zaku reached a cross section and as she got there she felt this weird feeling creeping up her spine, as as she felt it her cowlick was waving about as if trying to get away from the area and pull the girl it belonged to with it, but as she looked around for what was causing her that uneasy feeling someone suddenly spoke out and she let out a sound almost like a squeak as she crouched down and put her hands over her head while her Cowlick seemed to also cower in fear from the sudden voice. After a moment though She looked up as she heard the person asking if she was okay and she nodded a bit her face red in embarrassment from her reaction as she stood back up

"Zaku is okay...j...just...you..s..surprised Zaku is all...Zaku" she said before her cowlick started to look around as if it was keeping an eye out for anything else that might try to sneak up on her taking note of the other two males in the area as Zaku looked around a little as well "d...do you hear that....Zaku?" she asked as she could swear she could hear something like a voice calling out to her, but also....in the back of her mind....something like...an alarm? a buzzer? it was weird it started the same time the voice started to call, and she looked around for the source of the voice, eventually her eyes falling on the alley where she could hear the crunching sounds.

Her cowlick stood up as she didn't like the sound of whatever it was as she put her safe backpack down opening it a little and looking like she was ready to just jump in to protect herself, the large safe like object easily large enough for her to fit into Z....Zaku doesn't like this....Zaku..." she said in a worried tone but she could still hear a buzzer or something, and that voice...

Putting that aside, the girl definitely wasn't feeling alright. Even to his eye, something was bothering her. She spoke strangely...he'd yet to hear anyone talk about themselves in the third person seriously before her, not to mention that her own name seemed to have become a verbal tic for her. And as for her hair...well...how to put this...?
THAT WAS NOT HOW HAIR WORKED. THAT WAS DEFINITELY NOT HOW HAIR WORKED.

Still, more to the point...
"Yeah...I hear something too." Voices, calling from the alleyway as the sound of crunching echoed out from it. "I'll...I'll check it out."
It was tempting to come closer - so very, very tempting - but he wasn't a complete idiot. Rather than approach the opening to the alleyway directly, he moved along so that he aligned himself with it horizontally, letting him see that way. A feeling of emptiness fills him as he does, a deathly chill of absence that calls to mind a pair of older women with a certain resemblance to him. ...I'm not letting that happen. No way.

Oh no. That's... That's that same feeling.... This isn't good. This isn't good at all! I have to find where this... Demon is gonna be! Before too long, he had started hearing the voice from the alleyway as well, and decided to stay nearby. Just in case.

The noises and unintelligible sounds continued, as if drawing them further and further towards the alleyway. When they close enough, it was easy to see some hulking shadowy figure leaning and looming over a bleeding corpse. Each crunch fell in line with each bite. Scarlet dripped and drizzled down to the asphalt ground in the alleyway. If they were thinking thoughts of retreating, it was far too late. As if alerted by their footsteps, the monstrosity turned its looming head towards it. The whispers began to flood their very brains, as if seeking to overwhelm their very senses as the creature began to take on a more visible form.


The entire party would hear the same whispers that penetrated their brains, excepting one of them. Though it was hoping to sway them to the government's aid, the whispers did the complete opposite. The small seed of mania, that was implanted within their brain during the effects of the Eternal Divide five years ago, would be released. It would be released in full splendor, without any sort of isolation, and would cause their inner selves to become prevalent. With a burst of power, all three of them would find themselves face to face with their alter egos, and their bodies masked to protect themselves from toxic whispers of the demons.

It seemed Reality was really gonna take its shit on Ricky's sense of Perception now.

As the demon loomed over, Ricky could feel something start to take hold inside of his body, he didn't know yet, but his relevant powers were about to activate. As Ricky felt the sudden change try to effect his body, he would take cover immediately from plain view of the others. As he felt his shadow weapon start to become prominent, the normal human like jaw he originally had was beginning to distort.

What's happening to me!The thought flared itself out as Ricky's jaw began to manifest some form of strange odd stinger, the sight of watching himself becoming an eldritch like abomination in spirit was a little too much for him to take. First everyone he knew was dead, now he might as well be as good as dead.

Strange predatory like instincts took over Ricky's mind, he was acting completely different now, and unsure on what to do. Reappearing now in a completely different visage Ricky would prepare to confront the demon before him, a very large and unusual stinger protruding from his mouth.

Stats:

He'd come too close.
And now, he'd come face to face with a corpse eating monster.
"Get back!" He tries to move away, but his steps falter as the whispers assault and torment him, terrible memories and long suppressed stresses flooding his mind. His breaths turn uneven, and tears fight to pour out. Is...is this what...and are we...? I...I don't want to...

The year has yet to turn. Your fate is not yet decided. The voice rings through his mind. Haunting, morbid...but not cold.
What...? Who are you? Where are you?
Turn your eye within, and find your answer there.
Before his eyes, the spectral shackles that bound him appeared, chains arcing over his body and dragging him into the dirt. Each and everyone pulled taut, their invisible weight a prison. I am the one whose path you walk now, and your guide to a better road. So call for me now, wayward soul, and I shall show you the way.

Gritting his teeth, Cecil heaves against his bindings, before letting out a great yell as the chains shatter into pieces. "ANKOU!"
With that, spectral hands manifest from the air, rapidly armouring his body. In a black under-layer they clad him, and with crimson bindings they apply dusty metal plates over it. The dust is wiped away, revealing dark metal highlighted with gold, before a last pair of hands place a stoic helmet crowned with four golden wings over his head.
Behind him looms a gaunt and ephemeral figure, seemingly a man made of nought more than skin and bones, dressed in ragged red robes and a wide brimmed hat that shadows a pair of piercing white pinpricks that might be called eyes. Held in its skeletal hands is an upturned scythe as it stares impassively at the monstrosity that was feeding just moments ago.

Cecil felt...good. Like for once, he might make a real difference. He, together with this being...Ankou.
First things first, though. He stretches out and manifests a blade as long as he is in his hand, and takes up a stance with it. And then, he speaks, the most confident he'd ever been.

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As Zaku followed, she didn't know why she followed, she just...did...though as they advanced into the alley she was dragging her large safe with her, with one hand, not that anyone noticed, but as they got closer to the source of the whispers that buzzing, that warning sound kept going off in her head, slowly getting louder and fighting the whispers for her attention, and as she got closer she pulled the safe with her leaving it slightly open in case she needed to hide from whatever it was making that awful sound, and then she seen it, the creature standing there chewing on a corpse.

Unlike the man in front of her Zaku said nothing, scared silent, but in her mind the buzzing and warning sound changed to a Klaxon of warning, her vision was flashing red and normal constantly as if some warning lights were going off, what she didn't know was that the lights were actually coming from HER, her eyes to be specific, but she still stood there looking terrified before she slammed the door to her back pack safe with her inside.

"N....no...no.......s..stay away......Zaku" she mumbled as the whispers continued but the Klaxon only got louder blocking it out....and then Zaku passed out Darkness taking her.

Shadow Detected, Anti Shadow Systems activated, situation Extreme, applying armor" Zaku's eyes opened glowing a bright red as she spoke with a voice that was different then her normal voice, more robotic, and panels opened in the large safe walls as she grabbed armor and even a gun from the hidden cabinets as her body seemed to deploy some sort of armor over her skin for the plates to attach to, her body locking the armor plates in place as the personality seemed to take full hold, the helm coming down and covering her face from view and only a single glowing eye could be seen in the visor, "Unit Zappa ready for combat, initiating combat protocol Shadow".

With that the large safe opened and out walked...a machine, and out of the mist and darkness of the night a second stepped up looking exactly like it but larger it however wielded the same weapons as it's owner "Mission...Suppression...execute..." with that the machine walked forward machine gun in hand.

Zaku's mask:

Zaku's Persona:

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Zappa looked to the creature and as she did so she took a grenade off the armored belt she wore "Grenade keep back" she called as she tossed the grenade out at the creature, she would work to try to blind it first if possible. "Get in formation, when it comes at us I will intercept" she said to the others.

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