Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

[cross_grave]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Jonathan nearly jumped when he noticed the weird flash going off so close to him. Fortunately, it seemed that no one had noticed him, which allowed the darkling to take a look at the person who appeared. He was disgusting - and quite likely undead, if he was to be judged by his appearance. Still, that unholy feeling he gave off and the fact that the demons obviously served under him spoke volumes about his power - it was quite likely that among those things, might makes right. This guy was either the leader or one of the commanders... And he did match the description Jonathan managed to recall. His presence could mean only bad news.

The girl, however, caught the darkling's attention the moment he noticed her, in spite of the appearance of her captor. The shredded uniform was a clear sign that she was most likely the target of the rescue operation. If he had been in human form, Jonathan would have let out a sigh of relief. Good. He managed to confirm the presence of two key targets. Noting that they've entered the building through the entrance he saw earlier, the darkling set off towards the place where he separated from the rest of the group. The necklace was merely an interesting detail, but that green glow was enough to make Jonathan worry. It was probably some kind of magic at work, probably a bad one. He had to let the group know... And he had to return to his human form soon. What he did earlier weakened him more than he had thought, and the transformation would soon wear off.

 

[Copper]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

"Ask Grace. She did the shoppin'," he chuckles, but he'll swing the bag around and dig into it. "Energy bahs, drinks, some sweets. Few sammiches. What's ya poison?" He'll toss whatever Siphon requests to him and actually take out a bar for himself, stuffing the wrapper in his pocket once he's finished eating it.

Sho keeps herself close to Siphon, actually looking as though she's checking her pace. She's anxious enough to hurry after the other two, but is holding back, not wanting the group to get too split up, especially with three of them already having gone ahead.

 

[SirOni]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Emily, unaware of Ellisia tailing her soon slows her pace down as she nears the location she had left Jonathan, finally stopping not too far away just in case the area has now been occupied. It is only now that Emily realises she had been followed.

"Where's the rest of them?" Emily asks, her voice a hushed whisper as she notices no one else had come with Ellisia. "Jon, you there?" She calls out in the same quietened tone, not waiting for an answer from Ellisia.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

"The others are still together and should catch up any minute now." Ellisia says quietly slowing and stepping up beside Emily. "I just didn't want to let you run off alone, even over a short distance." She continues, looking out ahead as well as surveying the area trying to spot any sign of Jon, which she assumed most likely meant looking for a wispy black puddle lurking in a shadow somewhere. A tricky enough task even if you knew what to look for. It reminded her of trying to track down Simon when she had first come here.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Jonathan, to be honest, didn't bother to lurk as he retreated. He prioritized speed over stealth this time, considering that he was moving away from the enemy. Of course, it didn't take him long to finally reach Emily and Ellisia, who weren't too far away. He was rather relieved when he noticed the two of them - it seemed that the main group was doing ok. The darkling quickly crawled into view, rising from the ground and shifting into his human form. He wanted to tell the girls - anyone, really - about his discoveries.

He was already up and back in his regular form when he finally recalled that, due to certain things he did earlier, transformation was not a good idea. The realization hit him at the same time as fatigue caused by loss of mass and the shock resulting from lack of balance between his two forms. Before he had a chance to react, Jonathan fell to the ground, twitching as pain struck him in a short, sharp blow that sent ripples across his entire body. Trying to gather some strenght and communicate, he didn't even realize that he was rapidly losing consciousness, while his body struggled to cope with the abrupt change.

 

[SirOni]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

"I can protect myself, I'm not useless as you'd think someone of my age would be," Emily replied to Ellisia, annoyance in her voice at being treated like a child.

"Jon, than goodness you're alr- oh crap!" Cutting herself off midsentence Emily rushes towards Jonathan as his body undergoes its bizarre effects ready to catch the boy should he fall, worry on her face. "Get someone now!" Emily orders Ellisia, a little louder than she had meant to as she looks Jonathan over for any way to stop or at least slow down whatever was happening to him.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Ellisia would have briefly explained her motives for not wanting Emily off alone a bit further, but Jonathan's emergence brings a more pressing matter to hand. Stepping forward also she tries to get a look at Jonathan to see if there was anything visibly wrong with him, but sees no wounds. She was already considering the others before Emily had gave her order, whether any of them were suited to help. Al perhaps, but even then his healing abilities might not co-operate with Jon's physique properly. She herself was likely one of the next most skilled in general first aid, but being unable to even identify the problem thus far made such things irrelevant.

She looks him over once more, a look of deliberating concentration on her face, before quickly pulling out the water bottle from her pack and setting it down near Emily and Jon. "This might help. I'll be right back." She says as she turns on her heels and runs back to the group, not far off now.

Seeing Ellisia again Harrel begins to speak, "You just met Jonathan didn't you? I just picked him up aga..." however is cut off by Ellisia. "Yes we found him, though he collapsed the moment he transformed back. Harrel, Aloysius, could you follow me back quickly?" She says turning back yet again. "I'm not sure if you can help or not, but as a precaution."

Harrel simply nods and quickly moves to follow. In any case, by the time the three got back to Jon and Emily it wouldn't take much more more than a minute for the rest of the group at large to fully reunite at Jon's positional.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Taking a sandwich from Ian, Siphon quickly downed it, seeming to relax slightly after he did.

"Well now that's a good sign I guess and oh hey ..."


He cut off at Elissia's words, then nodded to the others and moved with the best speed he could manage in his still somewhat weakened state.

"Let's go."


He would follow Elissia's lead as she knew where they were going. However as they drew nearer, his movements seemed to take on a more stealth like pattern, as if for some reason his ancient training was kicking in.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Jonathan groaned as pain began to subside, his body adjusting to the after-effects of his actions. He stopped spasming, but his strained consciousness took the pause as a sign to go out for a bit and catch a second breath. The darkling didn't even notice the moment he had fainted, just glad that he managed to get some reprieve. His body went limp, all muscles relaxing. However, from time to time, certain parts of his body seemed to start shifting into dark form before stabilizing in a second. This didn't seem to cause any sort of damage or pain, though, looking more like an unconscious reaction. In the end, however, the darkling didn't even manage to utter a word, in spite of his intentions.

 

[Bartnum]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Al nods and follows Ellisia and Harrel. He wasn't the most athletic of people, but the extra strength brought by the red eco allowed him to keep up. Although concerned about Jonathan, he was also a little excited at the prospect of being useful to the party in some way, especially since he'd been called upon specifically.

"How long will it take us to reach him? I need to wait for my current power to wear off before I can use another."

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

"Not long." Ellisia replies, "I see. Well we'll just have to do what we can. I don't actually know how he got like this or if your healing could actually help him, given his unusual nature. But we'll see." See says moving on, though not having to put as much effort into it this time since Harrel is the slowest of the group, running along behind Al and beginning to get out of breath. "Y'know, this... is why I stopped... going on runs... with you..." He pants out doing his best to make good time without collapsing himself.

Soon enough they could indeed see Emily and Jon up ahead.

 

[Copper]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

As Ellisia jogs back to the group, Sho looks even more worried, especially since she's calling for the one in the group that's as close to a healer as they get. Those three take off and it's then she realizes Siphon's going into 'stalking' mode. She paces herself between him and the remaining two: Ian and Grace, the former remaining beside the girl, matching his pace to hers. If she was going to run faster, he'd manage, but it seemed like he and Sho weren't going to leave her to bring up the rear alone. They'd likely both relax a bit more once the group was together again, finally.

 

[SirOni]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

As Ellisia went off to fetch someone to attempt to heal Jonathan Emily waited impatiently, fidgeting silently until finally the group got within her field of vision. An idea then came to the young girl as she saw Ian, and the bag he carried, remembering something Jonathan had said to her earlier she immediately got up and ran towards the older boy. "I'm going to need the food in that bag, I have an idea." Emily suddenly ordered, a serious expression on her face and her arm outstretched. "Jonathan said earlier that he had lost a part of his body before while practicing with his powers and had to wait until it regenerated. Maybe this is the same thing? And maybe it could be sped up by making him eat."

 

[Copper]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Ian stops, so as not to collide with Emily as she approaches. At her request, he swings the bag around and hands it to her. "If you think it'll help, be mah guest. Might want to save a bit or two for folks that haven't eaten yet, but otherwise, help y'self."

 

[SirOni]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Emily quickly thanks Ian before taking the bag and rushing back to Jonathan. "Here, try some of this," She says to the darkling, though it comes out more as an order as she hastily rummages through the bag pulling out handfuls at a time though leaving some left for the rest.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Jonathan didn't reply, still unconscious and showing no signs of coming back. For a moment, however, as Emily pulled out the food, his body seemed to finally stabilize, a final ripple going through it before returning to full human form. This was only a momentary pause, though - without warning, the darkling's stomach suddenly shifted, becoming a pool of darkness. Black tendril slowly peeked out of it, moving like a creature checking out it's surroundings. It took it less than a minute to "notice" the treats that Emily was setting aside. Then, some really freaky shit happened.

The tentacle's behaviour changed as soon as it sensed it's "prey". It quickly shot forward, it's tip changing shape into a large hand with a set of claws that'd make a demon envious. It was unlike Jonathan's regular transformation - it looked more like flesh than liquid. It quickly snatched the nearby food, tearing through the packaging and forcibly extracting the contents before drawing back, taking the food with it. It vanished inside the darkling's body as the food quickly was absorbed by the darkness. Nearly immediately after the mysterious appendage disappeared, Jonathan's body returned once more into human form, showing no further signs of change.

The darkling did, however, begin to show signs of waking up, groaning and slowly starting to move a bit. He opened his eyes, looking very tired and having trouble focusing for a moment. He felt strangely full, and for all he could tell his body was returning to normal. He'd need some rest, though. Turning his head around, Jonathan managed to notice Emily. "Ugh... Ow." The boy winced as his stomach rumbled once before settling down. "I'm not doing that again... Did you feed me something, Emily?" He was pretty sure that the answer to that question was yes, and felt grateful for it. How did she know what to do?

 

[SirOni]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Emily, unaware that Jonathan had fallen unconscious assumed it was the a conscious Jon attacking the food. "You might want to go easy on th- JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE HELL?!" Emily suddenly blurts out as she turns around to check up on Jonathan, crawling away several feet as the clawed tendril tears at the food. The young girl watches in shock until Jonathan returned to his human form and woke up.

"Uh... Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that," Emily replies, slight shock still on her face. "Um... you do realise a clawed hand-tentacle thing came out of you right? Does that happen often?"

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Jonathan wasn't at his best, so he failed to realize that Emily was shocked. Before he could say anything, however, the girl asked him a question that suprised him. "A... What?" He frowned. "What do you mean, clawed tentacle thing?" He had a nagging feeling that there was something he couldn't recall, but he had no idea what exactly. It was frustrating enough, and having to deal with another puzzle - a body-horror themed one, oh joy - was not something he felt particularly hot about. "I don't have a power like that... I mean, I could do a clawed tentacle, but it'd be just my liquid form shaped like one... That's what you saw, right?" He hoped she'd answer yes. That way, at least he could pretend it was his subconsciousness acting...

 

[SirOni]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

"Um... you know, a clawed hand tentacle-thing," Emily quickly realises that Jonathan had no idea what she was talking about, and doubted that her snake-like arm movements were helping to resolve the matter. "I wouldn't have said it was liquid, it looked pretty solid to me the way it was tearing into the wrappers on the food. Thinking about it, it looked like it came directly from your stomach, or at least in that general area. Though it disappeared once it dragged the food into your stomach."

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Mainland (Rescue Isabella Event)

Jonathan turned his head towards the sky, laying on his back. His expression was a mix of worry and concentration as he tried to figure out what Emily was talking about. It didn't sound like his ability at all, unless... "A solid tentacle with claws, right? It... dragged the food into me?" Was there something about his own powers that he didn't know? The description - and the pieces of wrappers - suggested that the tentacle was pretty brutal, but not necessarily malicious. It acted as if it wanted the darkling to get back up on his feet as soon as possible, providing him with what he needed in the fastest way possible.

Jonathan closed his eyes and focused. He could feel his body work actively on the food, doing what he could describe as "rapid absorption and digestion" - ah, the wonders of osmosis. Still, he couldn't notice any change happening, at least nothing outside of what he could do consciously. It had to be an subconscious reaction... And he had no idea why or how it happened. "I... I just don't know. First time I've heard about something like this... And I don't feel any changes now. Whatever that was, it had to be my dark side acting on it's own. There's no other explanation that'd make sense." Still... Was a solid form something he could actually pull off in such a manner? He had a theory that he could achieve a solid state by crystallizing his liquid form, something he had no idea how to do. He was pretty sure that whatever the results would be, tentacles weren't going to be it.