[GAME] Vanguards of Hope

[thunder]

"So much for protecting and serving." Draco said as Dumas laughed at what Steve said about exposing Rosencrantz. No truer words could be said.

"So, this rosencrantz guy is part of the problem? that means he isn't the dark evil that the wizard told me about." Steve spoke as a red glow appeared in his back-pack, Steve took out the sword of the glow and pulled out a red ring that seems to be meant to go on the right hand, A "Utility ring".

"I have no idea what the hell that ring does. That's the first time that's ever happened." Draco said after looking at it.

"That's because it's too powerful for your friend to use." Dumas said to draco as he inspected the ring. Dumas turned to Steve. "It seems that the ring can only be used if you can find a way to evolve your magic with your dragon's powers."

"How the hell do we do that?" Steve asked Dumas, finding the part about evolving his magic interesting.

"Oh, it's in a book if i can find it" Dumas said as he began searching his bag for the book. "No....Not here....No......Not what i'm looking for.....No.....This could take a while Steve." Dumas said after he started searching his bag some more.

"Well, Dude, hope you and your talking sword are ready, We're going to a mansion to kill a corrupt man who probably used magic longer than i have. It would probably be a good move to go find some help before we step into the lion's den." Steve said to Ryan as the wizard walked to the door. "Oh almost forgot." Steve wrote down his cell number and gave it to Dumas. "Give me a call when you find the book."

 

[gamergeekfather]

"Where did.. what?" Zach looked around for the tavern he was just in, only to find nothing but an abandoned building. Being a man of intellect, he normally relied on cold hard, logical facts provided by science, as such an entire building cannot simply disappear. But then again, having a strange device givin to you by a spiritual representation of your childhood hero that turns you into a sparkling superhero wasn't anymore logical, so he decided it was best to just drop it and move on.

It was too late at night to look for the local high school mentioned by the barkeep. Though his own education was already above college level, it would be a convenient cover so he doesn't look like a strange kid wondering around the city. Getting a place to stay also shouldn't be difficult since his mother provided him a credit card, but finding a place, especially in this dense mist, was another matter.

He tried to ask passerby's for assistance with little results, "Excuse me- pardon me- if you could- I need-" everyone seemed to be in a big hurry, and those who would even give him a passing glance seemed honestly terrified of something. "Well, rude people aside," he said aloud, not caring who was in earshot. No one reacted, "looks like this is the place I was meant to come. Something's going on here, and I intend to find out what." He heard strange sounds in the distance, and could've sworn he saw figures dashing by on the roof. Either something was going down tonight, or he was more tired than he thought. He got on his bike and went in search of a place to stay.

 

[The_Bladesman]

Hayato carefully examined the results of the spectrometers results, the key info like the atomic number and molecular weight made sense but everything else was practically gibberish. It seemed his only option now was to investigate the source of the key and hope he could find out something about its origin Right now it would seem that investigating the origin of the key. With that in mind he used his phone to do an image search on the photo he took of the key before stuffing the phone back into his pocket.

“It sound good but while I take a look at the lab, I don’t mind checking the garage as well. Even If you can’t sleep you should probably try to get some rest and maybe look at the spectrometer data a bit more, you might spot something both of us have missed. Besides something about the name alone has caught my attention I think I’d like to see this power dizer.â€

He said sounding concerned at first before shifting to a more casual tone in a effort to help her calm down, he could tell Milli was more than a little shaken after the attack and he knew from experience that pushing herself wouldn’t really help.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Reika as looked back and forth, the figure had vanished leaving nothing but a tangerine and his wise words. Pondered the meeting as she stored the fruit away, if the scarfed stranger was right and the sunny magical girl could find her friend then she would be invaluable to the search, some back up against whatever was in there would be nice too.

Left with little option but to contact Binos, Reika changed to mega pink responding to her desire to communicate with him, the telephone emblem on her masks forehead lit up as her screen filled with the now familiar multicoloured digits.

“You know….I was hoping you wouldn’t figure out how to contact me for a bit longer.â€

Binos spoke with the same self important tone, as if Reika had interrupted him in the middle of some great work.

“I need to find the blonde magical girl that was fighting with me sooner.â€

“What makes you thi-“

“I know you can, I met one of your....co-workers.â€

Reika smiled smugly under her mask, as the digits glowed red for a moment.

“….Ordinarily you wouldn’t need my help but since you’re trying to find a magical girl who’s depowered at the moment you need to know what she looks like normally to find her. Here’s an image of cure shine as she is now, just think of finding her and mega yellow's digicam search will do the rest.â€

The digits vanished as an audible beep sounded out from the digitizer as a small passport sized image of Melinda was displayed on the top right side of her visor. Reika focused on the image as she dialled for her board, within moments a small arrow appeared on her visor pointing the way. Reika hoped on the board and sped away toward the depowered cure shine and her companions. Mega yellow left her cyber slider and approached the group feeling hopeful.

“Umm Cure shine? Don’t be alarmed but I knowwhere your friend’s been taken and I could use your help.â€

 

[Ziginz Zegell]

The harpy screamed as the many colored lights enveloped her form. She didn’t want to hear the words spoken by the strange fairy, and she couldn’t believe they were actually the words of Abbey. Yet as the lights surrounded her, the harpy could feel what Abbey felt. Abbey…she had been through so much hurt yet was still willing to fight for the sake of one who hated her. She was hurting so much on the inside yet was able to stay strong. If Abbey was willing to fight back against her well grounded despair, then so could she against her false sorrow.

Minotaur watched in terror as the Harpy began to return to her human form. He was afraid, truly terrified at the thought of being human again. As Kamen Precure caught the healed woman in her arms, Minotaur backed away before breaking into a full on sprint out of the building.

“A-Abbey…I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…I didn’t know…I never realized how much you were hurting. Please…please forgive me for being so weak, and thank you…thank you for…for helping me…helping me realize…I can hope for strength.â€

The girl passed out, but was otherwise alright. A huge crash came from outside as Minotaur bashed through the side of a building in his made dash. He might be a big monster, but he was definitely quick. Perhaps following him would lead to whoever sent him after the Fairy Tones in the first place. Either way leaving him on the loose was probably a bad idea.

--------------------------------------

Savion would hear the sound of something stampeding from behind him. It was like the loud sound of crashing hoofs and the mad wailing of a bull. Turning around he would have just enough time to get out of the way of a tall, blue, Minotaur like monster. It seemed to be running from something, though it wasn’t clear what. Either way, it would be no easy task catching up to the monster, though it would be plenty easy to track it.

Following the trail of destroyed pavement would eventually lead the martial artist to a grave yard entrance a ways outside of town. The trail of knocked over tombstones and damaged monuments was most likely the work of the same creature. In the distance sat a mansion, the only other building for miles. Strangely the structure emitted a heinous glow that dragged up a familiar sensation within Savios. He had felt such evil before.

------------------------------------------

â€Aye…for now you and that Ryan boy should-“

A loud noise echoed from a short distance away. It sounded like a stampede of bulls crashing through stone and turf. Dumas ran out to where Isis and Ryan were talking and watched as a figure pummeled through the graveyard like a freight train. It was hard to tell in the mist what the thing was, but that didn’t stop Dumas from screaming ever obscenity he could think of at it.

â€Damn son of a bitch! Who do you think has to fix those you ugly bastard!?!â€

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As Zach watched the shadowy figures jump from roof top to roof top, one of the beings stopped suddenly and turned its head unnaturally fast to look at the young man. As it did, several of its ilk stopped and did the same. It was clear they had sensed Zach; or rather they had noticed being noticed. The figures descended like quick shadows before him and were hard to see at first, but then became rather clear in the street lights. They looked almost like ninja, but their faces and limbs were more monstrous. They drew their swords and rushed Zach without provocation, though it may have been they were out hunting for someone like him. The ten ninja were quick, but their skills seemed rudimentary at best. For someone like Zach they would be no problem to deal with.

After several of them were defeated, the remaining three seemed ready to continue the battle when they began acting strangely. They looked about as if hearing something that Zach could not. The three suddenly turned tail and ran, returning to the roof tops before making a beeline for some unknown location. Should Zach follow them he would eventually catch up to them at the entrance to an old graveyard. Getting off his bike to face them, the beings would suddenly turn to dust right before him. The glowing dust blew away toward the direction of a building in the distance. It looked like an old mansion…

-----------------------------------------------

Milli was reluctant to take Hayato’s advice, but she knew he was right. She wouldn’t be any good to her students if she didn’t try to get some rest. Her students…she needed to try and contact them and make sure they were all okay, though she was scared to. If any of them had died in this fiasco…

â€Y-you’re right…I keep a cot in my office up stairs so I’ll hit that up. I’ll see about the test results to. Sorry we couldn’t find out more about that key tonight. Listen…thanks for distracting me from all this. I’ll see you come morning.â€

Milli nodded to her friend and then walked away. She had a lot to think about, but she would try to rest even if only because Hayato asked her to.

Entering the lab it was clear Milli had exaggerated a bit about the level of equipment available to her and her students. While it wasn’t as well equipped as his former lab, it had more than enough to maintain and develop his armors and any potential vehicle he might build. Then he saw it, though in an incomplete state it was a massive machine. Vaguely humanoid, bright yellow, and powered by a massive generator was the sort of machine a mechanic dreamed of. The Power Dizer: even in its prototype stage it was beautiful. Accessing a nearby computer would show major ambitions for the machine including a transformation capability. More surprising was the unit could be piloted by remote control, or more proficiently from a cockpit. The major problem was the amount of power the system needed. The current generator was too big for practical use, and even then the run time was limited to around ten minutes. Still, if a new power course could be found then this machine could be a major advancement in robotic support vehicles and suits alike.

By far the transformation technology was the most intriguing aspect of the machine, and it could probably be transferred to other vehicles. This technology and the metal from the key could produce something very interesting, especially if combined with Hayato’s armor tech. Now if he could only find a reliable source for the metal and a viable power source he could create something very…unique. As he continued reading over the technical specs of the Dizer, the young machinist would find info on one of the major backers for the project. A small company in Cold March called Briar Tech. Looking up info on the company revealed it was a technology company that had its fingers dipped into multiple avenues of research. Not the least of which was robotic research and development. One of their prototypes on display would catch the researcher’s eye and fill him with a troubled feeling. The picture was of a set of robotic armor that looked strikingly like one of his earliest prototypes for the Generation series. They dubbed it Victory 1, and it left a horrible taste in Hayato’s mouth just saying the name.

 

[thunder]

Steve walked out of the crypt after hearing Dumas curse the **** out of some creature. It appeared to have smashed through the tombstones leaving a trail.

"I think that thing was Rosencrantz's handy work." Steve said as he saw the monster smash through more tombstones.

"What makes you say that?" Dumas turned to Steve.

"Because does't that thing look like it's headed to Rosencrantz's mansion?" Steve said as Dumas further inspected the trail. It was sure enough headed to Rosencrantz's mansion. Dumas turned to Steve and Ryan.

"You know what to do." Dumas said as Steve ran the connect ring through the hand-scanner.

"CONNECT! PLEASE!" the red magic seal appeared and Steve pulled his motorcycle from the seal and ran his Driver on ring through the hand-scanner.

"DRIVER ON! PLEASE!" Steve shifted the hand-mode from right to left.

"SHABADOOBIE TIME TO CHANGE!" Steve ran the Flame ring through the scanner. "Henshin"

"FLAME! PLEASE! HI! HI!! HI HI HI!!!" the burning red magic seal appeared and changed Steve into his Flame Wizard Form.

"Let's Roll." Steve said as he revved his bike.

 

[gamergeekfather]

As Zach approached the mansion, he saw not too far off in the distance another man heading there from a different direction. Pretty well built and carrying a dufflebag, he seemed eager to get to the mansion as well. Oh crap, He thought to himself, I better stop that guy. I wouldn't be much of a hero if I let a civilian get hurt. Unless he's involved somehow... Well, only one way to find out. He drove his bike up to the graveyard towards the larger man.

Savion heard the sound of an engine, and turned quick as lightning to see someone riding up ina motorcycle. It came to a hault before him.

"Hey, take it easy, old man!" said the teenager dismounting the bike. "I'm not gonna hurt you, I just want to let you know that this is not a safe place to be." Savion put his fists down and eyed the kid who seemed to lack respect for his elders. But apparently his intentions were good.

"I'll be fine, kid," Savion said, turning back towards the mansion, "You should probably turn around. I'm tracking something big and nasty and you probably don't want to be around once it reappears."

"You just said what I said." said Zach, somewhat annoyed. He was about to say something else when one of the ninja-monsters suddenly reappeared right behind Savion, ready to strike, but before Zach even let out a warning, Savion turned with wicked speed and with a straight punch to the abdomen so hard, Zach thought he felt it. The monster crumpled. "Wow," stated an impressed Zach. "I guess you can take care of yourself."

Savion just smirked, but as he did, another ninja-monster appeared behind Zach. Zach wasted no words as he spun with a kick and a loud WAHTAH to the head of the monster. The strike looked fierce enough to break it's neck. Whether it did or not, it certainly wasn't getting back up. Savion found himself just realizing something that should have been obvious from the get-go. "I think you and I have something." He held up his wrist, revealing his gong-changer.

Zach's eyes went wide. "You're... like me?" He revealed his meteor driver.
"Seems like it." responded Savion, giving the device a quick look, but then returning his attention to the task at hand. "If you're here to save this city, than you're welcome to join me." He started heading towards the mansion again.

"I was about to say the same thing to you." said Zach.

Savion didn't respond to that comment, and instead offered his hand. "Savion."

Zach took the hand and shook it heartily. "Zachary Tsurugi, but call me Zach."

As they proceeded towards the mansion Zach towing his bike along, he found himself somewhat fascinated by his newfound martial artist friend, being somewhat of a martial arts enthusiast himself. "So... you from around here?"

"No."

"Just get here?"

"Yup."

"Was it the same way I did."

"Probably."

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"No. Is that a problem?"

"Not really." Zach smiled inwardly. As they got closer to the mansion's front door, Savion suddenly stopped. "What is it?" asked Zach.

"Others approach." Savion responded, making sure his senses were up this time. "Be ready."

 

[Icefish]

Cam sighed a bit as he carried Raye into the store. He was tired and sore and hardly in the mood for dealing with a mysterious stranger who was apparently aware of what he was doing somehow. He was also, conflictingly enough, not quite the sort to leave a stranger near death just lying about in the street. As it turned out, he desire to help outweighed his desire to just pass out on the couch.

The bookstore was what one would expect an old bookstore to look like- shelves full of books, not quite as much walking space as one would really like, and lighting that was just a bit too dark for practical use but wasn't quite dark enough to be worth replacing. Cam gently placed Raye's wrecked body on the counter, making sure that it wasn't leaking all over the place and that there weren't any important bits sticking where they weren't supposed to.

Part of Cam wanted to leave and go home. Most of him wanted to leave and go home. Really, there was only one part of him that wanted to stay and find out more about this strange woman and how she knew so much. That part was in his ear. The folks at Indigo were busy trying to find out as much as they could on their end- they wouldn't be much help. Cam plucked the earpiece out and dropped it in his pocket, cutting off his phone for good measure. He'd probably get a bit of flak for it tomorrow, but it was probably the only way he'd find out anything.

Besides, he was just a little curious about this woman and her connections.

"Okay, I've had a rough night and I'm not really in the mood to do the usual conversation song and dance. Let's just skip to the part where you explain everything, yeah?"

 

[G.K.]

"I should be ok for one night." Gin said nonchalantly. "Especially while we're here." Gin reached for the phone in his pocket, expecting to see the name of his more than likely angry ex-wife on the screen. What he saw instead was an almost equally familiar name. John. Officer John Randal. A street racer turned cop. He and Gin managed to stay tight. Going from friends to kindred spirits as their respective day jobs slowly drained the life out of them. Unlike Gin however John was still married with a kid on the way. Far more content then his long time friend. John was technically a cop but ultimately a desk jocky. Filling out and filing paperwork 80% of the time and getting coffee and takeout orders with the remaining 20. He'd run background checks for Gin on his various clients and in exchange Gin would sometimes handle his takeout runs. So much had gone on with Gin between their last face to face visit that Gin had nearly forgotten that he'd asked John to look in a bit on smart brain.

"One moment kiddo." He said with a smile. He handed Molly the Faiz gear instructions. "See if you can get everything working while i take this."

Gin stepped through the doors of the black moor standing just outside of the front door. He manuvered a ciggarette into his mouth as he clicked the button on his phone to accept the call.

Gin?
"John...whats up"
"Where the hell are you man. Nat's been asking about you."
"Just out of town. Looking into something."
"That something got anything to do with smart brain?"
"Yeah......"
"Well I wish you weren't."
"To late for than buddy but thanks."
"I means it Gin theres some shaddy with them. Something ain't right."
"What do you mean?"
" I mean i looked into them like you asked. Things already look sketchy on the surface but it gets really bad when you notice the gaps."
" Gaps?"
"Like prominant positions within the company that just go vacant for years at a time. Or high ranking indiviudals with no desernable position with the corperation. Periods of time where R&D hours are clocked 2 times over with no data on what they're actually working on. Basically their files are full of holes."

There was a pause where the two didn't say anything. Gin could feel that he'd need to ready himself for what came next.

"So I asked around the station and a few case files worked their way to my desk. Among them was one losely connected to a suit being filed agianst the smart brain company. The party in question didn't realize said company had gone under and their suit was redirected to another company. One that bought up a sizable chunk of smart brains resources before it went down. A place called Briar Tech out in maine. In some backwoods shithole called Cold march.

A chill ran down Gin's spine. It was like his blood had suddenly gone cold. His growing fear, That insidious dread that his actions were no longer his own compounded at the sound of the words uttered by his long time friend. Before a full blown panic attack could set it a small thump from within the Inn alerted Gin.

He let the half smoked ciggarette fall from his mouth as he opened the door and stepped back into the black moor. As John called out to him on the found Gin would Molly lying on the floor a few feet away from the belt.

"Gin. Gin!"
"John do me a favor."
"Ye...yeah what?"
"Dump everything all the info you picked up on smart brain."
"Are you gonna?"
"No?"
"Then why do I-"
"Cause i don't want any of this getting back to Nat."
"......****!"
"Sorry buddy. Look after Nat for me."
"Gin!"

Gin hung up and pocketed phone. and moved towards Molly. Helping her up if she wasn't aready to her feet by then. He'd endure any frustrations she had after the belt literally ejected her before offering a reply.

"Sorry bout that kiddo. Didn't know this thing would be picky. So thats out but we still can't have you going into dreamland all alone." After a few seconds of thinking Gin's eyes lit up agian. He threw the belt on hastily then opened the briefcase taking what looked like a flash light and a camera and attacked them to portions set aside for them on the belt. You can take out and bring in things so what about people? If I'm with you and have this then I should be able to fight off anything that comes gunning for ya.

Gin had alot of his plate. Too much to try and tackle in one night. He could save inquiring about Briar tech till tomarrow. Better to have to contend with mutants monsters and whatever the hell else cold march in the light of day.

 

[Havoc Knight]

Ryan pulled Byakko out of his bag. The talking sword didn't often show emotion, but it seemed almost happy to finally be free. Steve had started his transformation process in order to follow whatever had just wrecked the graveyard. Ryan was still slightly confused as to what was going on, having missed most of the conversation with Isis's grandpa, but he knew that there was another monster out there, threatening lives.

However, part of him couldn't help but feel that it was all just a trap. If the monster knew they were here, why didn't it attack? Either way, he knew it was a threat, mainly due to Byakko's ranting.

"What are you waiting for, Ryan?" Byakko said in Ryan's mind. "Transform and hunt down that beast. It stands no chance against two warriors."

Despite Byakko's reassurance, Ryan still didn't feel 100% about the chase. But if there was a trap, he wanted to be the one to spring it.

With a flick of both wrists, the key and kibachanger took form in his hand and wrist. Inserting the key, he shouted out "Kibachange!" and was engulfed in a white light. When the light faded, he was covered in his now familiar armor.

"Byakko, Kiba Machine." Ryan said, his voice slightly distorted behind the helmet. The motorcycle took shape in front of him. He looked over at the students and the old man as he mounted it. "You guys stay here. Especially you." He was pointing as Isis.

She began to dispute his order, but he cut her off with a rev of his engine. He followed behind Steve to hunt down the creature.

 

[thunder]

"OK. Here is the mission: We have to go to that mansion and kill a corrupt man named Victor Rosencrantz. Dumas, the old guy you saw earlier, says that Rosencrantz has been here since before this city settled. He should have a black book that he draws power from and I believe that it's a dark magic spell book according to what i know about magic, That is our target if we are to kill this guy." Steve explained to Ryan as they continued riding through the graveyard. The closer they got, the more of an ominous feeling that Steve got.

"I see 2 more guys. One is a kid with a motorbike, and the other is a guy with a dufflebag." Draco said after looking through the smoke to the front door of the mansion.

"Are they Rosencrantz's guards?" Steve asked his dragon spirit.

"I don't think so, they we're killing some ninja monsters a second ago."

"So, I guess they're here to do the deed too?"

"Maybe, I saw a weird-ass belt on the kid and an equally weird bracelet that had a boxing bell on the older guy."

"So they aren't regular civilians."

"Doubt it."

"Well, Didn't really expect more heroes but i'm not complaining." Steve said and then realized that Ryan doesn't know about Draco and figured that now would be a good time to explain.

"Before you ask who i was talking to, I have a Dragon spirit that came in with my magic rings and belt. The dragon can only be seen or heard by me, or other certain people since Dumas can see him too. This Dragon tells me what the rings do when he looks at them. And when i need his help, I use a ring to makes him visible and tangible to others for a short period of time but it's a last resort because it makes my rings become weaker after my Dragon get's forced into his astral form and forces me into human form after a short amount of time." Steve explained to Ryan as they Finally arrived at the doorstep. Steve and Draco looked at the ninja-monster corpses and from the look of it, it looked like these 2 don't **** around.

"Before you start unleashing the same kind of whoop-ass that i guess you used on those wanna-be ninjas, we're not here to pick a fight with you. We're just here to kill a dark-magic-using corrupt man that lives here. And a monster that's been smashing through some of the tombstones if you seen one." Steve told the 2 strangers.