Crater of Life [Open]

[Raki Zakros]

It had been several days since Toshiro had forced himself to survive in Crater Forest as part of his training regime, he had grown quite accustomed to his surroundings and even considered having the place become his new home for the being.

He sat cross legged hovering under a large waterfall in his usual attire; ragged white gi pants tied on by a red belt, with his trade mark red headband with a ying-yang symbol out front bound around his forehead. His eyes were closed, mind, body and soul deep on concentration, emitting his glowing green ki to act as shelter against the running water that slipped around his body as if it were glass.

“Someone’s here…” His senses then picked up a presence within the area, and then he found himself to be alert and almost hostile. While not meeting anyone where he was yet, sensing someone’s presence seemed quite suspicious. Unless it was Dynammo pulling a test visit on him, he did say he would check on him every now and then.

He exhaled calmly and levitated through the waterfall and landed his bare feet onto a rocky plateau that rose just a little above the connecting large lake. “Who’s there!?” he called to whoever it was, it would ever force them to show themselves or scare them off, either way it was to his advantage as he kept his senses on the alert.

[enoa]

It had been a couple of days since Eona's first adventure away from the school. She had been incredibly scared then, though meeting Drexx had helped with that. Though, she decided against going into a city for this exploration. So here she was, exploring the famous crater forest. Eona had heard many things about Mt. Paozu. Most of them of course being about the large fight five years ago that had destroyed the mountain. Walking through the lush forest, she was glad that the whole mountain hadn't been destroyed.

Unlike her last trip out, Eona didn't bother to dress in human clothes. Instead, she was dressed in her flowing blue gown, the very one she had awoken with over a month ago. The skirt was a light blue, stopping above her knees in the front and sloping down to her ankles in the back in a waterfall style.A dark blue undershirt peeked over the hem of her skirt, a dark teal waist sash and a light blue top finishing the look. Her feet were bare save for the silver bangles around both ankles. A quiver was slung over her back, silver and blue feathered arrows sticking out. A bow was also slung across her back, leaving her hands free.

And did she need them. Eona pushed through branches, steadied herself, and tried to move as gracefully around the forest as she could. And for one with no memories of ever being in a forest save for this past month, she was doing pretty good. As far as Eona was concerned, she was also moving quite quietly, not alerting herself to others that may be near. She had also heard of the Victory school and while she heard that the school was nice, she wasn't sure about the teacher. The students at the school had told her that he was Gurin's right-hand man, an avid hater of aliens. And seeing as she didn't know what she was yet, Eona figured that it would be best to avoid him.

She was about to slowly go down a small, but steep incline when a voice carried it's way to her at an alarming volume. With a little squeak of surprise, her foot slipped, sending her down the five foot incline ungracefully on her butt.

"Ow..." she murmured, rubbing her sore behind. Lifting her head, Eona found herself gazing at a large waterfall, and a boy that must have been the source of the yell from earlier.

"Um, hello," she called up, giving him a tentative smile.

[Raki Zakros]

It was a careless choice to act on his raw instincts, but at the point he didn’t know why nor did he care, he was just overly paranoid and cautious for some reason. Was the immense meditation he did? He did blank out all his sense of self to broaden his mental limits, it carried such a risk. Did it open his emotions up a lot more than he wanted to? And that made him prone to his suppressed feral side that took the chance to show itself?

Maruca had kept him in training to supress the inner beast within him while making him strong as a martial artist, he had not gone on a rampage in his beast form ever since her training, yet Dynammo mentioned the inner beast within in while they sparred, and the forest was the key to taming it. While it was the key, it was like a double edged sword, he could gain better control or lose control again, and he’d be right back where he started.

It seemed his call did the trick, as it surprised his foe and caused them to slip and show themselves. Like a pouncing tiger, Toshiro leapt at the girl and had his upper arm pushing down onto her neck to pin her to the ground. He raised his other hand and clawed it, ki like extensions then sprout out from his fingers like they were real claws, this man was serioius. “Gragrh! Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?!” He demanded, golden feline eyes glaring at his potential foe. Who was this person? A spy for the organisation that funded the experiments his father forced on him? Was she a spy for Geurin? She had better come up with a good explanation…

[enoa]

Upon her awakening, Eona hadn't met too many people. There had been Jorlaxl, of course, who found her and the students at the Crane School. There had also been Drexx, Mia, Dale, and the strange man Orenji. Her meetings with them had all been interesting ones, and quite different from what she expected. But the "greeting" by this man was nothing she had imagined.

She hardly had time to look at him before her literally pounced! She was pinned to the ground, his arm on her throat hard enough to make breathing only slightly difficult. She lay there for a moment, staring up at his golden eyes with her cool silver ones. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest and she was frozen in fear. Keeping her eyes locked with his, Eona swallowed nervously and spoke.

"My name....my name is Eona.... I'm just a wanderer, I'm sorry if I've trespassed..." she said nervously, not daring to move. Her eyes darted to the green claws on his hand. They looked sharp, like they could rip right though her. She turned her gaze back to the man on top of her. She didn't dare move, hardly dared to breath. Her looked like he would kill her without a moment's hesitation, and Eona would rather that not be the outcome.

[Raki Zakros]

Once Toshiro heard her voice, it had some sort of calming effect on him. Maybe because it was female and thus probably a motherly feel about it, or that her words and tone spoke the genuine truth. She was just as she said; she was no threat to him clearly. Actually, it was the other way round seeing as she didn’t even bulge under his threat; she was either smart of scared. Either way, those preying eyes softened into more human like orbs, and then the young man came to the realisation to his horror, what the hell was he doing?

With a small gasp he leaped back quickly, he could have sworn he was in a sort of daze, like someone who had dozed off after listening to a boring lecturer. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I’m not usually like this, really…” he said, seemingly mortified at what he had done. As a normal human highschool student, he wouldn’t have dreamed he could do something like that on an innocent girl, he was truly like he once was, still a monster.

He shook his head slowly and then walked up to the girl, then extended his hand to her to help her up, and to make amends. “Here, let me help you up, did I hurt you?” He asked, a guilty and concerned look on his face. Thank Kami he didn’t see any blood, so maybe he somehow stopped himself before going that far. From that brief black out, he could only remember him almost killing the girl for whatever reason, what she said didn’t even register in his mind at that point.

After that he walked to the edge of the water and went to wash his face, he felt himself cleansed and refreshed enough to talk more. “I don’t know why you are here, but this forest as a whole is not entirely safe, though there are varying degrees of safety threats depending on the area. Fortunately this place is one of the safer spots, it is ideal for solo training, which is why I’m here.” he went on to explain.

After that, he rose back to his feet and faced the girl once more, wiping the water off his headband, he might as well introduce himself. “My name is Toshiro Rei, may I ask you yours?” He said, trying to keep a friendly manner, actually he was always like this from the beginning. He was brought up to be respectful to anyone, strangers and superiors alike, a good first impression was always best.

[enoa]

His eyes softened, becoming less feral and more human. A look of shock came over his face before he leaped back. Eona, believing herself to be safe, sat up, hand to her neck. It was slightly sore, like whenever a throat was pressed hard upon. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the man came over to her once more. He seemed much calmer now, a good sign. With little hesitation, Eona slipped her cool hand into his, standing.

"It's alright, no harm done," she said with a shaky smile. Eona let go, taking the opportunity to brush the dirt off her dress when his back was turned. Yes, she knew this place could be dangerous, he just proved that. But, she needed to explore this world, to try and find any hints of who she was and where she came from. But right now, Eona was just glad that he wasn't attacking her anymore. Her gaze turned to him as he spoke.

"My name is Eona. It's a pleasure to meet you, Toshiro," she said, repeating her name. She could only guess that it didn't get through to him the first time she said it. Eona stepped foreword, only to have pain rush up her leg from her ankle. She gave a small cry before leaning against the tree beside her. Her left ankle was starting to swell, a bruise forming on the outside of it.

"I think I twisted my ankle when I fell," she said softly, slowly sliding down the tree so she could sit again.

[Raki Zakros]

“That’s good, I’m glad,” He replied, a little relieved that she wasn’t hurt, well supposedly anyway. “Eona, that’s a nice name.” Toshiro commented with a smile at her name, it had quite the tranquil ring to it, just like her voice. He soon frowned when she reacted to her injured ankle, no harm done, right?

“I apologise, it must be from my hostility from before.” Toshiro then knelt down beside her and hovered his hands above the ankle, light green energy then began to glow from his fingers as he donated some of his ki into it to help. “I’m no healer, but I’ve been taught basic ki manipulation. This will at least help with the pain, it’s not much but it’s all I’m capable of at the moment.” he explained, he then stood up and glanced at the waterfall and lake.

“Generally the water is much colder nearer to the waterfall, it’ll have to do if you want to give it some cold compression.” He continued on, then he let himself hover above the ground a little. “I can float you over to the edge if you’d like, it is best not to put any further pressure on it if we can help it,” he offered.

Whether she accepted it or not, he found himself wanting to help her more any way he can, he did feel responsible. “If you don’t mind me asking, I don’t suppose you’re here to train as well? Are you travelling somewhere through this forest?” He asked her curiously, it was why he explained himself first. It was rude to ask of things first, and he wanted to keep things friendly if possible.

[enoa]

"Oh, no. I think it's from when I slipped, not your fault at all," Eona said quickly. She saw the look in the man's eyes when he jumped back. He obviously felt horrid and she didn't want to make it work. As he knelt down, she was about to tell him not to worry, that she would heal quickly, but she stopped. Eona didn't really know that for sure. The bullet wound she had taken healed in minutes, but that might have been a fluke of some sort. She was curious however when his hand glowed green over her ankle. It didn't do much, but it helped a little. I wonder if he's a healer too...

"That would be very nice, thank you," she said with a smile. She couldn't believe her eyes as he hovered off the ground before her. She had to say, Earth was truly full of fantastic creatures! Robots that look human, green men, and now Toshiro! Maybe she was from here after all. If they had remarkable abilities and came from Earth, why shouldn't she? Maybe she wasn't an alien after all.

"No, actually. I'm afraid I'm not much of a fighter. I'm actually just wandering...exploring these woods to be more accurate I suppose," she said with a slight shrug. While the students at the school found that she was gifted with a bow and arrow, she hadn't displayed any real knack for fighting. She was too clumsy, too afraid she'd hurt anyone. Eona was sure they had given up on trying to teach her by now. Toshiro however did look like a fighter. With his broad, muscular chest covered in scars, it was easy to imagine him in a fight.

[Raki Zakros]

“Really? I see, ah my misunderstanding, but let me help you either way.” Toshiro insisted, even though it was not his fault, he still felt somewhat responsible still. He had the ability to help, though he admitted it did little, it was the thought that counted he hoped.

“Not a problem, you’re welcome,” He replied brightly when she accepted his offer, now that was more like it. He gave a slightly puzzled look after though, what was the best to do it? It’s not like he did it on a daily basis, though he noted the sitting position she was in, best to keep it that way. Phew, he wasn’t completely naive.

Toshiro then floated his way over to her side and the lightly pressed his arm against the middle of her back as he wrapped around it securely. “Okay, just keep your body rested against my arm, I’ve got you.” He said while giving her a reassuring smile, he’d probably die of shame if he somehow dropped on her the way, oh the horror.

To make sure she didn’t slip off his hold, he his other arm behind her knees. Raging fanboys aside on his approach, Toshiro genuinely only thought of taking care of her injury. “All-right, good.” he was mentally relieved after that part was over, the rest of was easy, he floated over to the edge of the lake at a steady pace and then placed her gently down so she could sit on the edge. Sitting beside her, he noticed his reflection in the water, funny he never did that until now, it made him free nostalgic.

“Oh, so you’re wandering too huh. Well actually, I was, seeing as I have more direction in where I want to wander.” He was mildly surprised, though a little concerned. She stated herself she wasn’t a fighter, it wouldn’t be entirely safe for her to explore. “I used to wander to become stronger and to challenge people to sparring matches, it’s a pretty generic goal but it helped me get by.” He found himself talking about his past again, then again he rarely had an opportunity to do so over the past year. "But even it if it is just wandering, it serves a purpose. Do you know what you want the wandering to lead to?" he asked, curious still.

After a brief sense of silence, a ferocious roar echoed from the trees behind them. This was followed by loud echoing thumps of stomping feet, almost sounding like a stampede. The roars came again as the thumping grew louder, the ground below soon steadily shook as whatever it was got closer, it didn’t take an idiot to realise it was either mad or hungry. “RAWRIMBARNEYRAWR!!” Then out came a purple skinned Tyrannosaurus Rex that stood around double the height of the trees behind, it’s roar was able to send menacing vibrations through the air towards the duo.

[enoa]

As Toshiro wrapped his arm around her back, she was a tad confused but when he slipped his other arm under her knees, she understood. Eona wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on as he lifted her from the ground. She trusted him not to drop her, but she still held as still as possible. Being dropped in the water in front of him would be mortifying. Her face however, was a bright red and she kept her eyes averted. She was incredibly aware of him, and the warmth of his bare chest against her lightweight fabric.

Eona relaxed as he set her down by the water's edge, carefully lowering her ankle into the cool water. Oh, it felt wonderful! With a soft sigh, her body visible relaxed. Her ankle was already starting to feel better. It was warm, that same warmth that she had felt when she was shot. Maybe, like her healing, that wasn't a one-time fluke after all. Rotating her ankle slowly, she turned to look at Toshiro. So, he was a fighter. Then he asked why she was wondering. Tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear, Eona turned her gaze away nervously.

"Well...you see-"

She was cut off by a loud roar that caused a small cry of alarm to escape from her. Turning, Eona's eyes widened. If she had been a woman of weaker heart, she would have fainted right then and there. But as she was a woman of slightly stronger heart, she could only stare in shock and fear as a purple dinosaur came into view.

[Raki Zakros]

Toshiro didn’t even notice the position he was in until Eona wrapped her arms around his neck, he didn’t understand why he did see that coming, it was only natural. He couldn’t help but glance at her when she did and realise how close she was, and how much prettier she was too. “Hold on…” he said sort of distractively. Now very conscious of the situation, he did his best to not let it sway his balance as he made his way to the side of the lake. He kept his eyes focused on the lake before him, a light tinge of pink on his cheeks in embarrassment, she pretty much felt as much as she looked, light and delicate.

“Tch, I forgot…” Toshiro frowned a little at himself, turning to the roaring dinosaur. Of course, he forgotten the fact that meditating had emitted ki, and that he was doing it to lure one of the ki sensing dinosaurs to him, he had ran out of food last night so needed a new supply of meat.

“I’m sorry Eona, while I did say this is one of the safer places, I forgot I lured this guy here earlier. These dinosaurs can sense out energy, which is how he found us. But rest assured, you are safe here I promise, I will protect you. Just wait here for me, this won’t take long.” Toshiro placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and gave her a kind smile, before he stood up and walked towards the dinosaur to confront it head it, confident.

It seemed really reckless, but he had been surviving against their kind for about a week for food, so they were no threat to him anymore. “Hey! If you’re mad about the other day, I’m sorry for cutting your friend’s tail off! If it’s any consolation, he gave me a nice supply of meat, so thank him for the food for me when you get back!” He looked up and called at the dinosaur, who suddenly stomped one of his feet to intimidate him.

Toshiro stood his ground, unaffected as dust blew at his feet from the impact. “That’s not very nice, friend. Now I’m going to tell you just once nicely, get off my home area please, I have a guest here, thank you come again soon when I'm alone though!” He continued on forcefully friendly in an almost mocking tone to taunt it, then turned his back to the dinosaur and give it a back hand wave in dismissal, walking away back at Eona's direction.

The dinosaur was definitely not happy and let out another roar in anger, it then raised its arm, the sharpness of its claws shone briefly off the reflection of the sun before it swung it down in an attempt to attack the young man in a rage. “This is it, this is the best opportunity to test the fruits of my training here, the heightening of my ki sense.” Toshiro thought as he stopped and stood still, then closed his eyes and focused on his senses, to ultimately test himself.

[enoa]

"TOSHIRO!!!"

She tackled him, pushing him out of the way of the dinosaur's claw. A rip was heard as the reptile caught the end of her skirt, creating a nice long rip from her knee down. She immediately turned and stood, arrow trained on the creature before her. She was scared, terrified in fact. But her hands didn't shake, her gaze didn't waver. Her brows were drawn and her lips turned in a determined frown.

"Go away!" she yelled, letting loose the arrow. The entire thing shimmered in her silver-blue ki as it flew at the dinosaur. It struck the tree next to his face, the ki giving a slight explosion as it hit. She notched another arrow, pulling it back and keeping it trained on the creature.

"Are you okay? What were you thinking, just standing there!" she asked him, worry evident in her voice. She didn't turn her gaze to him though, keeping her silver eyes locked on the dinosaur before them.

Short post is short, sorry. ^^;; Let me know if i need to add more.

[Raki Zakros]

OOC: It’s all good, don’t worry ^^ sorry for being a RP hog though, this ended up being a lot longer than I thought, lol

Toshiro was about to evade and counter the dinosaur’s claw, yes he could clearly sense it from behind him through his ki sense like he had eyes at the back of his head, he told Eona to stay by the lake for that reason, she was to rest while he dealt with it. “H-hey!” He yelped suddenly finding himself tackled out of the way, his eyes widened as he heard something rip before the claw slammed into the ground with a loud thud, the impact sending them sliding away and out of its range. He was amazed at how she had conjured up what seemed to be a ki arrow or sorts, and she said she wasn’t much of a fighter too, that was pretty cool. He then realised what kind of position he put her in as he saw her point her arrow at their foe, of course, she had no other choice…

“You fool! That was dangerous! Don’t do something like that ankle like that, I already caused enough trouble for you as it is!” Toshiro raised his voice a little in a panic at the danger she was in before he calmed down and sighed as he walked on and past her. “That’s enough, lower your weapon. I don’t want it targeting you too, so don’t move and just watch while I explain.” he said firmly, walking in between her and the dinosaur and then faced his back to it once more, closing his eyes and then focused, hopefully uninterrupted though so he’d explain things to her as he did.

“I apologise, I didn’t tell you everything despite me saying for you to stay where you were, I just didn’t want the dinosaur to know what I was planning just in case. You see like I mentioned before, I’m training in this forest…” He started to explain as the dinosaur went to swipe at him from the side this time, with him nimbly jumping over it, bouncing off the claw and the giving it a back kick under its chin, it almost seemed effortless. “The ki in this forest is immense, so training my ki sensing ability is very ideal in such a place, it’s like I have eyes at the back of my head. This is the best way to test myself, for better or worse.” he continued on as he floated in the air after the kick and shifted to the side as the dinosaur’s big jaw tried to bite him. He then quickly thwacked a backhand at the side of its bottom jack in a reacting counter and made it stumble to the side with a groan of pain, and all this was the whole point of his training up until now.

Toshiro continued to dodge and lightly counter the dinosaur as he moved around it, and it was evident soon enough it was getting tired and sloppy with its assaults before, and Toshiro himself felt himself getting a decent work out from it. “I know it seems like a very reckless way of training, but it works for me. I’ve been injured before too, but I’ve healed over the past week. It has made me plenty stronger and more skilled I’d like to admit…” he said before his voice got interrupted by the angry roar of the dinosaur which suddenly went to swing its tail at him from behind.

“There are a lot of things I want to protect, and the only way to do that is to gain as much power to do that as soon as possible…” He suddenly opened his eyes and turned around just in time to catch the tail with his hands and then kept a firm grip on, grinning. “Sorry to have to do this to you buddy, but play time is over, it’s lights out for you.” The hybrid said with a smirk before he let out a yell, his muscles bulged significantly as he swung the dinosaur up and over so it slammed hard on its back against the ground with a loud dust rising crash.

The human then bounced off into the air fast before flipping over and kicking off the air above him and diving at the foe just as quickly, he cripped his wrist with one hand with the other hand palming forward, charging green energy into it. “White Tiger’s Force Palm!” He yelled, tucking his thumb in and then released an shockwave burst of wind that slammed hard against the dinosaur’s forehead as if it was hit by an invisible brick wall, it let out another groan before its eyes rolled to the back of his head, effective knocked out at last.

He let his arms fling into the air as he did another flip before landing on the ground again next to the fallen dinosaur, he gave Eona a smile before walking to her, frowning once she saw the rip in her skirt “I’m sorry about your skirt, Eona. I know you meant well and I’m very grateful for that, it was a good wake up call for me I admit, I was careless once more.” Toshiro apologised with a slight bow of his head, he felt bad and wanted to make it up to her, he wanted at least have them part on good terms.

“So dinner is on me at the very least, I insist you also stay the night as well, at least until your ankle is healed properly too.” Toshiro offered the rest of the day’s hospitality. He had brought her a lot of trouble since they met, and that was the least he could do, aside from not making things worse. Yeah he wouldn’t feel right to let her go on her way until she had fully recovered at least, from what he had seen she was cautious enough to stay safe. He hoped she would accept, because her company so far was nice, and he could have sworn she was about to say something before the dinosaur interrupted their conversation.

[enoa]

He was incredible...

She could only sit there, watching as he defeated the creature with such ease. Eona lowered her bow, knowing that she truly had no need for it. Training, training, training. He had told her that was his his reason for being in this forest. Even now, he spoke of that as he beat down the creature mercilessly. He almost seemed to toy with it. Eona hadn't realized just how strong Toshiro was. But he even picked the thing up by it's tail and slammed it into the ground! What kind of being was he? He wasn't human, she knew that. Whatever he was though, he was incredible.

Eona could only sit there in wonder as Toshiro fully knocked out the dinosaur. Did he really just do that? Taken down that creature with such ease? It was reckless! She replaced the arrow in her quiver and slung her bow back over her shoulder. She didn't really mind that her skirt was torn, she could sew it back up. What she was concerned about was the silly man before her who so recklessly took on that creature by himself.

She stood up, no pain in her ankle. She didn't even notice though, too concerned with the man before it. It was obvious now how he got all those scars that cris crossed his chest. Eona walked over to him, standing before him. In a way that must have looked quite silly to him. She began looking him over, making sure that he wasn't hurt in any way.

"You should really be more careful! What if you had gotten seriously hurt?! You can't just go picking fights left and right!" she scolded, hands on her hips. She was happy to see that he wasn't hurt. That didn't mean that she was happy with him though. Toshiro needed to learn to be more careful.

[Raki Zakros]

He was expecting some kind of amazed praise for how he defeated that dinosaur, that wasn’t what happened though. “Eh?” Toshiro blinked, he didn’t understand… why he was being scolded and being worried over? He told her to wait by the lake while he dealt with the dinosaur seeing he had lured it there for food after all, he obviously knew what he was doing, and well that’s what he thought anyway.

Well to think he probably scared her before, Toshiro comically sweat beaded at the back of his head at the scolding, and she was fussing over him like a mother actually, like his own did in the past. “Ahah, I’m fine, really. I was careful despite how it looked, I'm really am sorry for worrying you like that…” He tried to reassure her that he got the message with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

“Never mind that though, let me just set the perimeter and make some food first at least.” He said, a little hurried and distractively so they’d be off on a more comfortable subject of conversation. He walked past her and kept focused on the tree that had collapsed due to the dinosaur’s rampage from before. Though he decided not to use any of those kinds of since they were especially beautiful, he took the opportunity to use the fallen one to give it some use.

He then casually walked up to the tree and picked it to carry it over his head, then walked back to where they were and dropped the tree behind Eona with a loud dust rising thud “There we go we go, now we have food and wood to cook it with,” he said with an accomplished smile, dusting his hands when he noticed the jagged end of the ripped tree trunk and the dinosaur’s tail were pointed perpendicular to each other.

“Anyway, did you say anything before we got interrupted by this fellow?” Toshiro continued their conversion from before as he walked up to the base of the large tail and then formed his knife hand as a light green aura shrouded it, he then karate chopped the full height of the tail in front of him and cut it off the dinosaur harmlessly.