Shanty City

[Bloodbayne]

As calm as he attempted to portray himself inside however would tell a different story as Leos mind was filled with his own thundering heartbeat as the men sat in brief silence. It was not very often that he found himself pitted against a man not only bigger than him and better armored, but also appeared to have spent a lifetime in battle. Though such thoughts ran through his mind, Leo made sure that his grip on his weapon was tight, his footing solid and his attention focused on the man. As the man spoke, it brought a brief look if surprise across Leos face, eyes widening a jaw dropping 1/4 inch, as it was not often a culprit admits to the accused crime but ones committed just before, but the look turned quickly to one of agitation. At that moment he saw the man staring at his chest plate, seeming to stare at the badge which was embedded with the armor but he did not know exactly why. "Yes, that's a badge. Shiny isn't it?." With that he let one hand come from his blade to point directly at his badge. "Under the power if this badge, I am placing you under arrest on 4 charges of murder and arson. Other charges pending investigation."

-

One thing Leo knew for certain after spending his time serving the police force, there was not a single criminal or wrong-doer in this city that would come quietly. With that thought in mind he quickly brought his hand back to the hilt of his blade, the impact seeming to dislodge the silver orb within its handguard as it suddenly rolled out, landing gingerly in Leos reopened hand. This orb was quickly placed behind his back inside the last knife which lay clasped to the back of his belt, which held a slot just like his sword had. In response to the Materia the surface of the blade sends of a surge of air that ruffles Leos clothes and hair before it dies down, Leos attention focusing back on the man. Lowering his body slightly to the ground by bending his knees, Leo began to prepare himself for the possible battle that would ensue should the man resist arrest.

[Rayn Night]

• The Khadorian soldier had yet to see what this man would do, found it quite odd that any peace officer would be equipped with such inefficient weapons for duty. A sword was nothing that could really help when men are equipped with even the smallest firearm. Only a fool would bring a weapon of melee so easily thrown away and dealt with. It now made him wonder what could was happening with the peace keeper troops in the area. Nonetheless, the man seemed prepared for a fight. And so, taking a deep puff of his cigar, he threw it on the ground and stomped on it. The peace keeper spoke of his badge and that under its power, he would be arrested. Strakhov knew he wasn’t in the Motherlands, but no one had the right to arrest him for his services, and so he looked at him with a serious, stern face.
  
  ‘I don’t think you heard me kid, I rendered you all a service. You going to arrest me, Kommander Strakhov, a 15 year war veteran, for helping you get rid of filth? How disrespectful of a Peace Keeper.’
  
  It was then that he noticed the glass object in the man’s hand, popping it into his knife . The man was ready for a fight, the stance told that much. It was quite a scene to see the young man make the air change. He maybe had the blood of a caster… He was now intrigued by the young man, wanted to see something. And so he reached within his satchel, pulling out what seemed to be three medals, and put them onto his armor. He then pointed at them before speaking again.
  
  ‘These are medals of Valor, given by the Queen herself. I needed to kill hundreds of men, destroy fortresses. And you thing simply represents Peace keeping duties.’
  
  And with that, he simply lifted his hand an inch from his side, the ground beneath the man shattering, creating an extremely unbalanced surface around him. It didn’t reach out to Strakhov, but a few steps and he would be in it. And the other was a flick of the finger, creating a slightly visible force rushing towards him… If he didn’t move, he would be knocked back pretty far… e wanted to see what the man could do.
  

[Bloodbayne]

A few seconds after the man blew out his last cigar puff, Leos face twisted into a grimace as the strong stench of burning tobacco flooded his nostrils and making him hold his breath as the smoke passed and the man spoke. Everything about this man even the accent on his words alone, exuded a raw power that Leo had only seen one other time during his training and hearing that the man was a veteran brought the fact to realization. The man he remembered as his commanding officer from a time before the joining had talked in the same manner, it was a voice that demanded authority simply because they had infact earned it. This was something that Leo could and did respect but the fact of the matter still remained that the man had freely killed in the walls of his city, and such a thing could not simply be left alone.

"I can understand the justice you see in what you did to those men, but the fact remains that there are rules in this city. And those rules dictate no man can freely kill another man on the streets. If anything that should be the job of an officer if the situation calls for it. I honor your service, I served for a short time myself before ending up here but rules are rules and if you don't come I will have to use force."

When Strakhov began to reach into his satchel Leos body visibly tensed until he saw that Strakhov was holding a series of medals which he explained were symbols of honor from the land he hailed from. Again this was something that Leo was able to respect, as well as caused a tinge of fear in the back of his mind for Strakhov had already killed a multitude of men before him. Nonetheless he had to focus on the situation at hand, and be prepared for whatever... At that moment, Leo could feel the ground beneath his feet suddenly change and felt his knees and ankles buckle slightly as they fumbled to regulate his balance, a complicated task as Leo didn't take the time to check his footing choosing to watch Strakhov instead. The changing landscape had brought him down to his knees, but he had been able to see a force suddenly charging towards him and as he fell he had begun to better channel the energy from the orb-equipped dagger on his belt.

When his body finished falling and his hands touched the ground he focused a little on the Earthen Materia within his body which allowed his fingers to sink with ease into the stone up to the first knuckle. With this new hold he throws himself towards the wall of the alley to his left, releasing his hold on the earth and expelling a large gust of air from his back which increased his speed and allowed him to dodge the charging force by a foot. This allowed him to move from the ground to the edge of the alleyway, one foot and hand on the side of the wall and the other foot resting on the roof with his blade now embedded into the wall, taking only 2 seconds of travel. Using another 2 seconds he focused now on a larger amount of Fire Materia inside his body, causing his eyes and right hand to glow dark red before his body lurched forward again, moving 10 ft through the air to the middle of the alleyway floor making contact in 3 seconds, now 20 ft away. Using the same process he charged down the middle of the alleyway for a 15ft gain, at which point his right hand suddenly burst into flame before Leo mocked a quick overhand baseball pitch, releasing a softball sized fireball which screamed for Strakhovs head. As soon as the fireball was released he leaped again, this time only traveling 3 feet to the right and planting his right foot on the side of the wall to press off of it and charge Strakhov on his left side, his left hand swinging his blade for the mans midsection. Protocol dictated however he could not show lethal force right away and so he swung with the flat and blunt side of his blade, swinging with 100lbs of force.

[Rayn Night]

• He had to see from his own eyes to believe what the young man had just managed to do. He had set his sight into that hand that melded with the ground, an exploit that impressed the Khadorian. And the peace keeper didn’t stop at that, narrowly avoiding a direct hit by slinging himself onto the wall. A young and very energetic combatant, something he hadn’t seen within his own ranks for a long time. He kept his gaze on the man as he simply kept onto the wall by piercing it with his sword… Strakhov immediately put his mask back on, a quick configuration and scanned the scene. Just with this quick adjustment, the man had already started to charge forth. The speed he had was inhuman… A fine soldier.
  
  Following the man’s eyes, oddly not the same color as before, he wanted to know what he would do. He wasn’t quite sure, since what came after was a pitch of a flammable material. Just like a Cocktail Molotov, wouldn’t want to be in its way. He reached down with his right hand to the hilt of his blade, noticing the dash towards the wall right on his left… There was an easy answer to this, but he wasn’t going to go with a conventional plan. He needed a threat, something to see how easily intimidated he could be. So he unsheathed the Trench sword and put his arm in front of him, the hilt about at his head level. The blast of flames hit him straight on, hitting part of the blade and spread on his right side… He could feel the burns of his exposed skin, such as his right hand and part of his neck, yet nothing major.
  
  Following this not-so-graceful tactic, Strakhov would use the lack of stable footing of the man against him. He lowered himself slightly and angled his blade so that when the blade would normally impact, would instead slide along Strakhov’s blade, going over him… and since the man didn’t have any footing, he would continue his flight.
  
  ‘Nice moves kid’
  
  Grinning under his mask, he dashed right towards the guy’s chest, using his left shoulder to try and tackle him hard onto the wall. Although it might not work, a hit like that would probably have enough of an impact to knock the breath out of him, especially with the uniform he wore. And just in case, he used his spare hand to reach for a smoke grenade, pulled on the pin to drop it on the ground, a 4 seconds delay would maybe give some time to do something after all this before it actually starts spewing smoke.
  

[Tantalum]

Upon a post-modern, crimson-decalled motorcycle, Carmen swerved daringly as she tailed Carl through linear, disorganised streets. It had been a year since her line of work had required a vehicle, yet the road made no difference to her ever-brimming confidence.
Her beige longcoat fluttered behind her, revealing the grey sleeveless shirt and black bulletproof vest she wore underneath. While having declined the weapons the HQ offered to her, she restocked on ammunition just in case; her pocketed steel revolver now held a full barrel of .357's, although she doubted she would be making use of it.
Thinking back, anyone more immoral than herself would easily take advantage of such few security checks - barely ten minutes through the door, and she had rifles and grenades at her disposal? It really raised concerns for how the faction was keeping together at all, but so long as they wrote her paychecks Carmen didn't care enough to question them. Rather, the lack of security was seen as beneficial for her in the long run - although little would stem from losing her trust so early...

" 'Carl's usual', she says... This job is even more laid back than I guessed." Behind half-rimmed sunglasses, the woman rolled eyes at her colleague - or more explicitly, the behemoth of a two-wheeler he was driving ahead of her. Laced with gold-rimmed plates, its interior filled with exposed bronze gears and pipes... Couldn't at all have been efficient, if the four bellowing exhausts behind it could be any more of a hint. It otherwise retained features of any other bike, albeit with unapparent displays and signal-lights falling far short of 'road-legal' - not that such trivialities had ever mattered in cities such as this.
Nonetheless, assuming the zombie knew his way, the two of them were nearing towards the source of the earlier detonations and gunfire. No further offences had been audible so far, but time could prove crucial while Leo was left without backup.

[makiaka]

Meow was on her daily strut around the city flaunting her tail and bell as children petted her, when she heard the cry of a female spirit. "It came from the west." she thought to herself. As she ran she was happy she had four legs instead of two because it seemed to be far away. Eventually the noise stopped and so did she attempting to figure out were the spirit was because she knew she was close. She looked around then finally looked up and saw it on the roof top to the left of her being attacked by another spirit. She quickly looked for a way up finding one in the nearest building. SHe pounced onto a nearby carts handles then its roof soon onto the houses sun roof. Giving out a meow to show off her awesomeness as she god ready to pounce onto the houses roof. It was a quick hop as she went up then slid back down against the wall barely missing it as she panicked falling down. She quickly tried again barely making it and latching on and pulling herself up. She soon looked over at the 5 ft gap between the houses. She stepped a few feet bakc then did a running dash into the jump. She barely had made it onto a curtain on the other side and had to climb her way up.

It was relativly simple once she had climbed her way up. The spirit was weak and not a demon nor a devil so it would take a day to consume the soul it would take nearly a day to eat it, and when she got up there she had quickly dashed to it hissing as chains rapped it up and dragged it off. Meanwhile the female spirit used to be human she calmed it with a meow letting her pet it giving it signals till it calmed down and dispersed into the air. Meow had been so busy she didn't notice something on the other road next to a cart. It was rolling along the road slowly as she watched. She thought to herself starting in awe "It's fantastic. No it's perfect. No it's a melon!" before jumping recklessly down. She soon roiled all over the lone melon in the road smiling as she teethed on it. Melons were proof that the guardians were not the only being because they were to perfect to be thought up by one of them. They made her ever teething jaws feel so good too. She rolled of it as she heard a noise and turned to look.

[Crazy Scion]

Carl was cruising down the streets of the city, and making remarkably good time to their destination. It was always the most fun to drive at night since next to no one, but bandits and thieves were ever out at this time. He looks back to see Carmen following close behind him despite her statement earlier about it having been a while since she last drove. His night vision really helped driving at night to. He could see everything so clearly, the roads, the houses, the cat...the cat! Carl rounds a corner in time to see a cat in the road along with something else big and round. He was on route for the cat, and didn't have much time to avoid, so decided that round thing "Probably a ball" he thought. Was the lesser of two evils to run over with his bike. Turning his wheel slightly so as not to swing the bike he steers right into the round object, but upon contact it turned out to be much harder than a children's toy. His front wheel bucked upward followed by the back wheel eatting threw the watermelon, and spraying juices and melon bits everywhere. Carl struggled to get control of the bike, but it started sliding and swerving after losing traction on the melon. He was able to see where his final destination lied in the form of an upcoming wall, so he decides to bail off the bike, but his timing turned out to be terrible since as he was jumping a part of the bike clipped a pole and the bike spun around, throwing him back into the road right in front of Carmen. He looks up in time to see the gleaming light of her bike in his face.

[Tantalum]

And thus, the unexpected was yet again proved inevitable. How he had lost control of such a large bike was anyone's guess, but whatever it was had caused his front wheel to curve off to the right, clipping the stand of a building shelter before spinning into the wall.
"Idiot!!" Carmen was driven to a sudden state of panic - not entirely for Carl's safety, but also her own. The line of smog tailing his ride had been a nuisance in itself, but now it directly crossed her own path as well, forcing the driver behind to travel blindly through it.

With vision obscured, Carmen could only guess at the safest path. Giving the benefit of doubt, Carl had most likely swerved to avoid something, which at this time of night could easily be a bypasser.
Brakes slammed on the front wheel, back wheel swung to the right. With left handle released, her body angled herself against the seat before the friction threw her off completely.
The bike rolled clean to the left before falling on its side, scratching beside a far stall. Carmen herself was sent ahead, landing on the road in a controlled tumble, until coming to a clean stop right before the incident's remains.

Without significant injury, the woman sat a moment, shaking off the shock. Carl's corpse was sprawled but a dozen feet ahead, with a remarkably-intact bike slammed against a not-so-intact brick wall, its engine beating as unsteadily as ever.
Carmen raised a hand to fan the endless fumes, and another to inspect the object straight in front of her. Reaching out, she picked up a fresh, yet haphazardly-broken piece of melon, before curiously raising it to her nose. Given where the rest of the debris had spread, there was little doubt Carl had driven over it head on - but even as airheaded as the zombie had proven to be, he surely hadn't crashed his entire ride for a fruit alone...

[makiaka]

It turned out to be a strange bike she observed as it got closer and closer. *baam* Shs watches in horror as her melon was sqaushed. The juices splashed on her face as her she let out kitty moans of sorrow. Ir wasn't long until she found the melons soul and tried to comfort it. It was hard for her to feel the soul of a deceased one she loved so much. Eventually no matter how much she struggled and cried managed to set it free. It requested she not let its life be a waist. It took a second but she realized she had to find the peices of the melons corpse in this smoke, and move on if nothing else for the melon itself. She snatched a smaller peice in her mouth but had to set it down as someone picked up a larger melon fragment. She ated quickly reactivly jumping onto there head and hanging off it with there front paws and nibbling at the hair. As a young girls voice echoed from the cat without it's mouth moving saying "Let go of that."

[Crazy Scion]

Carl ducked after seeing the light, and waited for the inevitable impact, but to his surprise it never came, instead he heard the sound of yet another crash. He laid in the street a few moments not sure how to put together what just happened, it was moments of disbelief like these that make him miss the clarity that sleep once gave him, but that was then and this was now. He tries moving his body parts to see what was working, and was happy to find that his body had only suffered some mild road rash. His head however was a bloody mess, literally blood covered his face and hair, and he seemed to have part of his skull showing. This was most likely due to the hard impact with the street he took after flying off his bike, but he now looked much like his name sake, because to any normal person he would be marked as dead.

He turns his head to looks over to where he thinks Carmen crashed, and is relieved to see she was alright, and seemed to be sampling a piece of Melon from the ground for some reason. He was also a bit surprised to see a cat suddenly jump on her head and start hanging from it. "When did she get so popular with animals" he thought, as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. He started to take a few steps towards them, but stumbled almost immediately and has to throw his arms up to keep steady. "Oh great I knocked out some of my motor functions." he mumbles as he start shuffling his feet keeping forward, hunching over slightly, and keeping his arms out in front of him to catch himself in case he fell. He made his way like this towards where Carmen and the cat where, and to anyone else would look like a classic zombie stumbling towards its prey.