A Shadow In The Storm (Open)

[Kat]

When Kat regained conciousness, she had expected to be in the middle of the woods where she had been ambushed. That wasn't the case. She had awoken under a lightning tower in a vast, dark landscape. The surrounding area seemed familiar, every strike of the discolored lightning let her see the old, broken towers that dotted the area. She sat up and continued to survey what she could see. There was no one in the distance and the only sound was the crash of thunder. She looked up at the tower she took refuge under. It looked as if it was going to fall apart at any moment and only served as a momentary safe haven. She stood up and brushed herself off. Might as well find out where I am, she thought to herself. deciding the risk was worth it she left the safety of the tower and headed off to look around this empty place for any sign of life. Her hand drifted to her sword, a sigh of relief escaping her. "At least I'm still armed," she said, the sound of the thunder drowning out her words.

[Gideon Uriela]

"What the hell is with this place?"

[/b] Gideon was attacked by a group of monsters who seemed hell bent on getting to him one way or another. During the battle he became disorientated about his headings and ended up in this god forsaken place. The desolate landscape found itself ravaged by a never ending storm of lightning. Upon entering the wasteland Gideon had an electrifying experience that left his hair on in. Suffice it to say he to the surprise attack rather well."Awe, that did not feel good."[/b] It seemed that his arm guard drew the attention of the storm, moreover he was a big target. Standing out in the open wasn't doing him any favors, he quickly realized that the warn structures scattered about were acting as lightning rods. Making an informed decisions Gideon opted to stay close to the structures lest he be struck down again.

Traveling down the dirt rod for awhile Gideon came upon a pavilion which made him realize something, people actually travel through here consistently."These Spira people are crazy."[/b] A deep velvety voice murmured as he neared the rest stop, a bright flash caught his attention and out of reflex he attempted to defend himself against the lightning with his arm guard only to get zapped again. "Damn it, this is getting old quick." the large raven haired man shook his arm trying to get the feeling back in his finger tips as he sat down. For awhile he ruminated on where he was going, it would be pointless to go back the way he came after coming this far down the road so he decided it would be best to just reach the other side of the planes. Just then he saw something, he stood up and wandered to the edge of the pavilion lingering under its projection. It was a woman with bright auburn hair."Hey, hey."[/b] His booming voice called out to her it could of easily been mistaken as lightning.[/justify]

[Kat]

"Hey, hey." a faint voice called out before getting drowned out by the crack of thunder. Kat stopped and looked in the direction the voice came from. There was a large shadow approaching from the distance, the lightning illuminating the man's features. He looked as though he had been in many battles and was well armed for such a cause. As the dark haired man drew closer, Kat's hand rested on her sword. She was unsure as to whether or not he was a friend or foe but decided it was worth the risk to find out. "Hey! Can you hear me?" She yelled to him as the thunder struck again. A bolt of lightning struck the man and Kat laughed at his frustration. It was quite amusing to see and it was evident that this man did not know much about the area.

[Gideon Uriela]

"That's right, laugh at my pain." He muttered to himself a little annoyed by the current situation. As the woman got a little closer Gideon could see that she was a little weary of her by the grasp she had on the hilt of her blade. One couldn't blame her for being skeptical, a bull of a man calling out to you in the middle of the storm with jade green optics that showed like phosphorus. Looming the entrance of the pavilion he was hesitant to going back out into the storm not wanting to get shocked again, instead he would try to get her to come his way. ” Come here.” He flagged her down with his left hand trying to get her to come closer. ”What is this place?” He ask hopping that she was within better range of his voice. The feeling was starting to return to his arm, it felt tingly at the same time it felt like something was jabbing him with needles

[Kat]

"Come here," she heard the man call out, "what is this place?" She looked at the man carefully and assessed the situation. He looked as if he didn't want to leave the safety of the lightning towers and by the way he favored his right arm, it was temporarily stunned by the bolt of lightning. Slowly and cautiously, Kat walked closer to the lightning tower he was under, keeping a hand on her sword as a safety measure. "I don't quite know but this place does seem to resemble somewhere I am familiar with," she replied, eying him warily, "who are you anyway?"

She stood at the edge of the lightning tower, ready to leave the protection it gave at a moments notice. She kept a close eye on this stranger and glanced around to see if there was any other people around. From what she could see it looked as though it were only the two of them in this wild place. She could vaguely see the shadows of monsters that prowled this area but decided to worry about them later because right now the strange warrior in front of her was the main threat.

[Gideon Uriela]

The woman complied with his request and ventured to the shade of the pavilion. She possessed an astute eye that scrutinized the one before her determining his threat level. In reality he posed no threat to her but he couldn't merely say so after all the words of a stranger carried little weight he had to demonstrate that he was a friendly party. However the woman seemed to want to guarantee her own safety the tactical buffer she kept between herself and the unfamiliar agent, as well as her grip upon her armament. After the first two strikes Gideon began to realize a couple of things, the first the lightning was attracted to his armguard and two there was always a flash of light before the peculiar bolts would crash down allowing a brief window to evade.

As the woman approached Gideon took the opportunity to step away from the entrance of the rest stop allowing the woman to enter more so with the same distance as before between them, even at the edge of the top there was a possibility of her getting struck. He also held his hands out to the side with palms facing towards her showing that he didn’t have a hidden weapon except the ridiculously large sword strapped to his back. He looked like someone who knew how to handle himself and his previous actions gave credence to that. The eyes of the large man observed the woman just the same as she did him, there was something unusual about them they had a green ember about them that extended beyond his natural eye color.

Ingesting what he could about her on appearance alone he figured that she was possibly from the Spira universe the way she dressed matched what he had previously encountered in Luca. His inquire yielded no results as she claimed to not know the area in detail she then requested a name without first giving her own which was rather rude in Gideon’s humble opinion she had an attitude to match her hair. Gideon spoke with a velvety deep voice it was the kind of voice you would here on the radio.”Don’t you think they lady should introduce herself before inquirin’ about someone else’s name?”[/b] His head tilted to the left slightly as he continued on to answer her question anyway.”Gideon….”[/b] The raven haired man had a distinct swagger about him as if her were in the military.

[Kat]

"Don't you think the lady should introduce herself before inquirin' about someone else's name?" the raven haired man had asked. She remained silent and waited to see if he gave her his name. "Gideon..." he told her. Kat let her grasp fall off the sword but was ready to draw it at any moment. She looked at his green eyes and noticed that they seemed to glow, the lightning enhancing this illusion. "I apologize if I was rude. Its not often that strangers venture out here," she said with a brief smile that lasted only a second, "my name is Katsume, but most who know me call me Kat."

As she continued to study him, she began to see that although he was a warrior he meant her no harm. The man before her was clearly not from anywhere Kat had been and it interested her. "You don't look as if you're from around here. If I may ask, where are you from?" she asked, her charcoal gaze regarded him as she awaited his response.

[Gideon Uriela]

After formally introducing himself it seemed the girl became less on guard but still tense. She looked him in the eyes undoubtedly noticing that they were a rare oddity, the glow came from being exposed to a radioactive energy source known as mako. Gideon accepted her apology with a slight nod then spoke with a wry grin as he averted his gaze for a moment to peer out into the gloom of the storm before another bolt of lightning struck down creating silhouettes of nearby monsters, what were they doing out there roaming in such a hostile environment? ”Yeah tell me about it…” His focal returned to the red head as she began to introduce herself. ”Pleasure to meet you.”

As with any proper introduction Gideon stepped forward and offered her his hand, moreover he resisted the urge to crack a joke about her nickname it was cute. She wondered of his origin but was more polite in her questioning this go around.”… I’m from Gaia but more specifically an Island nation called Wutai.”[/b] He felt that it was important to mention his realm after all in this great merger of worlds it was hard to differentiate where what came from.”I could kind of tell that you’re from Spira, I’ve been to Luca before. But where are you from more specifically?”[/b] He asked with a curious furrow upon his brow."Are you travelin' alone? It's pretty dangerous, I mean not that you can't handle yourself. It's just been a lot more monsters roamin' around since the worlds began to merge."

[Kat]

As the raven haired man began to reply, Kat began to consider some of what he said. She had never heard of Wutai and knew nothing about the worlds merging. To be honest she hadn't even known that there were more than one world. He had noticed that she was from Spira so there were most likely others from there in this strange world too.

"Traveling alone doesn't bother me and I'm not afraid of a few monsters" she said glaring at him. Truth be told, there were a few monsters that she would rather not come across but he didn't need to know that. It was bad enough he was trying to look out for her, considering what had happened to the last person who had done just that. "You were right to assume that I'm from Spira but I'm not from Luca. I'm from a place called Kilika"

She looked away from the man and watched the lightning dance around the area. He reminded her of someone she had known once, but whose name she had forgotten. She had read that there was never any rain here only thunder and lightning but how she wished it would rain. The rain would draw the lightning down faster and brighter than normal and it could serve as a distraction to hide her escape. She wasn't exactly afraid of the man, just afraid that he would only be someone else who would get hurt trying to help her.

[Gideon Uriela]

For a lack of a better term Spira was more of a backwaters world, it was only natural that they wouldn’t notice the merging of worlds as quickly as some others did unless they were well traveled. From what he could understand about them they didn’t believe in the use of machines it was ‘against their religion’? Yet they allowed the machine that makes blitzball possible in the stadium at Luca, it all was a bit hypocritical Gideon thought, he wasn’t much of a religious person either so who was he to judge. She stated that she wasn’t worried about any monsters, the way she was glaring at Gideon made him inclined to agree. Where did the hostility suddenly come from?

”Kilika… Kilika beasts that are right I’ve heard of the place.”

[/b]He learned many things about Spira while in Luca, he took a great interest in the sport of Blitzball and was even afforded the chance to practice with the Luca Goers for a week. Gideon had been walking for awhile, needless to say his dogs were barking thusly he took the opportunity to rest his feet and sat down on the floor leaning against the banister. He watched the young woman as she peered out into the vast lonely landscape. She seemed to be preoccupied with something, Gideon didn’t feel that it was in his place to ask but he didn’t want to just sit there and stare at her either.”So you know what’s on the other side right do you mind accompanying me there so I don’t get lost again? I could really use the help.”[/b][/justify]

[Kat]

She looked at him briefly before looking back at the landscape. "From what I know the Macalania Woods should be on the other side but since you say that the worlds are merging I'm not too certain anymore." she replied still a little preoccupied. She really didn't want to tag along with him because he would most likely get in her way but decided it would be worth it since he could be of some use to her on her travels. "I suppose I could travel with you as long as you don't get in the way" she told him, her gaze returning to him. She wondered silently how well this man could fight, after all there would be many battles in the future and she didn't want to have to protect him. Protecting him would be a waste of her time and if it came down to her having to do that she would finish him off herself. "You look tired, why don't you rest up and I'll keep watch" she said turning her back to him.

[Gideon Uriela]

He looked to her with curious eyes as she spoke, clinching and relaxing his hand the feeling was starting to return to the assaulted limb. He offered a nod acknowledging what she had told him but he could see it on her face that she wasn’t all there at the time, it made Gideon all the more eager to know what could have such a grasp on her attention at a time like this. Gideon began to wonder why the woman was traveling such a dangerous road even if she could protect herself where could she be going that requires this treacherous a journey to reach? He scoffed at her words, she was quite arrogant for someone so diminutive.”I’ll try to keep up.”[/b] He replied smugly, only if she knew who he was, judging by his make and build even the scars that marred his thick hide he wasn’t just an ordinary man.

Some of those wounds that he has suffered through would of killed lesser men instantly. Although still young He was a grizzled veteran of war who has seen a great many things in his life time, some he would never be able to explain, and some he would never be able to forget. Due to his exposure to radioactive material and the injection of cells from a creature known as Jenova Gideon sported a tremendous rate of recovery that made him appear more machine than man.”No, let’s get going the monsters have begun to congregate on our position. I don’t know about you but I’m not in the mood to be over run.”[/b] The hulk of a man stood up, no it was more like he rose up and made his way to the exit of the pavilion scooting past Kat, he already had a general ideal of which way to go as long as he kept the beaten path within his sights, a bright flash overcame him and he leaped to his right avoiding crashing bolt with relative is this go around.

[Kat]

"If you paid attention you would have noticed these monsters prefer the dark and avoid any source of light" She told the man as he began to walk away. He narrowly dodged the bolt of lightning and she realized he had learned the pattern of the bolts just as quickly as anyone from Spira would. "Get back here before the monsters eat you alive. There are monsters here far stronger than you." She called to him once again. "Fool..." she muttered quietly to herself. She looked down on the ground and saw a pieces of rather dry wood. She gathered it together and breathed a single word, "Fire." The wood ignited into a bright flame that made the monsters around them shrink in fear. She believed the man was rather naive, trekking off into the darkness without so much as a clue what kind of monsters these were. The shadows of the monsters were mixed between some she was familiar with and others that were strangely foreign to her.

[Gideon Uriela]

Kat called out to Gideon as he made his way past him. She explained that the monster avoid light preferring to loom in the darkness, she said it as if he was suppose to know that. But how could he, the monsters here had been dealing with the lightning for probably all their lives and only shrunk away from it if they knew it was about to hit them. He didn’t have any source significant light on him at the time besides a flashlight, it was just his luck the batteries were dead though. She called out to him warning him about the strength of the monster’s roaming the area; Gideon’s right hand lifted waving her off nonchalantly. ”I can take care of myself, remember?”

[/b] Something to the effect of what she said to him before.

Moreover he had made it this far on his own, since there was a rest stop it was likely that they were already halfway through passage. Gideon peered back at the girl over his shoulder as she picked up a piece of wood and it caught fire, so she was adept at magic that could come in handy. Another flash overtook him and he dodged the bolt of lightning that followed slipping closer to a nearby lightning tower. Up ahead he noticed something small in the road, it moved funny as it got closer it could see that it was green and covered in quills. Upon further observation he realized the eerie similarity it had to a cactuar. It drew closer, it’s dark button eyes and oblong mouth coming into view, it was a cactuar. Gideon was no stranger to this little dangerous things, it came to a surprise to him that they lived in such a place, after all they couldn’t move when they became saturated with water.

It was then he realized that although it was storming he didn’t feel nor see one drop of water, what a odd place this was. A distant sound caught the attention of the cactuar, the inquisitive creature about faced searching for the origin of the disturbance. A nefarious grin flashed on to the persona of the titan of a man as he lingered behind the safety of the lightning tower.”heheheh, fore!”[/b] Slipping the ridiculously large weapon off of his shoulder he kept it within its sheathed and cut the corner of the lightning tower rushing towards the cactuar in a low posture to the ground, it was quite the sight to see someone his size run that low to the ground it was almost ninja like. In fact he neglected to tell her that Wutai was originally a ninja village before the war.

Because of his size Gideon didn’t feel he had the right talents to become a proper ninja although he showed promise. Nearing the Cactuar the large man did something that very few people would have expected, he used his sword like a pseudo golf club knocking the cactuar high into the sky where it was fried by a wayward bolt of lightning. He did it for a couple of reasons the first being that cactuar are incredibly hard to hit, so he used the broad side of his weapon to make contact, moreover their skin is incredibly tough, even if someone was to score a direct hit on them it was likely they could survive and counter attack. Not even Gideon was brazen enough to try and stand up to a cactuar’s thorns. He had a unorthodox way about going about things a times but they were effective.[/justify]

[Kat]

She looked over at him and sighed as she flame flickered and died. She rose to her feet and ran after him. He hadn't gotten too far ahead of her and it didn't take long for her to catch up. She watched him vanquish a cactuar by using the lightning. Interesting as it was the cactuar should have been more of a challenge. This was a dangerous man, she had already known that but it seemed she underestimated him. She glanced around quickly and saw that there were other monsters moving in. "We had better get moving" she told him and drew her pistol. She checked that it was loaded and that there were a few fire bullets there as well. The way he looked at her reminded her that she hadn't told him that she had a gun. The bullets weren't for him and they were very effective on monsters like these.