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"description": "I tried to make it sound like an anime title. :P So yeah here you go. \n\nI've been trying to use different formats to see what works. If you're wondering why the Iron Man qwops...let's just say this: It's very hard to make things walk realistically. Ask Honda how long it took to make ASIMO walk. ",
"description_bbcode_parsed": "I tried to make it sound like an anime title. :P So yeah here you go.
I've been trying to use different formats to see what works. If you're wondering why the Iron Man qwops...let's just say this: It's very hard to make things walk realistically. Ask Honda how long it took to make ASIMO walk. ",
"writing": "\tJourney was back in her room, looking at all her various stuffed animals. It \nwas amazing – did they really come to life and save her? And did Leopold, the plush \nleopard she made herself grow to a massive size and fight for her? Anyone else \nwouldn’t believe her, but she saw with her very own eyes, and she felt Leopold \ngrowing and blocking for her. She had to do something…to replicate this.\n\tJourney held the plush leopard in her hands, making eye contact as well as \nanyone with button eyes could. She imagined the plush leopard growing bigger and \nbigger still. Nothing happened. Journey shook the plush a little, and nothing \nhappened.\n\t“Leopold, grow!” She said to the leopard. Still nothing didn’t happen. \n\tJourney looked over at the panda plush that was still on the ground. Gently, \nshe set Leopold to her side and picked up the Panda. Despite being able to send \nsomeone to the ground, it was just as light as any other stuffed animal would have \nbeen, if not a bit bulkier than others. \n\t“…Attack!” She ordered to the panda. Nothing happened. \n\t“I must have made it up,” Journey though, flopping back on the bed, “I must \nhave been studying so hard…” \n\tUnbeknownst to her, Despair had made his way back to the base in the island \nand had pulled a few strings. Already, Journey dorms were busy being surrounded \nby small figures, most of which were invisible to normal people. Journey herself \ncouldn’t see them…unless she looked out the window. Which she unfortunately \nfailed to do.\n\tThe only person who could be seen by normal people seemed to be sitting on \na bench, looking at an old fashioned stopwatch, then up at the sky dotted with \norange and pink clouds. It was a college campus after all. Almost nobody would \nidentify somebody who did not belong. \n\tWhat this intruder failed to notice was that he was not the only “foreign \npresence” on the campus. Two other targets had walked right onto campus. They \nwere familiar with him, however, and managed to stay just outside of his range. It \nwas Alana and Mara. \n\tBoth of them were on the other side of the dorm, where they were not only \noutside the intruder’s range of detection, but where they were more easily able to \nhide from his foot soldiers, the vengeful spirits. Both of them could see numerous \nfigures patrolling around the dorm building, waiting for something. \n\tNormal ghosts were simple repeat ghosts, simple apparitions that were \nmerely manifestations of someone’s consciousness after they departed, and had a \nparticular attachment to that spot. Repeat ghosts were rather benign, rarely even \nacknowledging that there are living people. But not vengeful spirits. \n\tVengeful spirits were the spirits of people who had died and were afraid to \nmove on for some reason or another. Most of the time it was because of a grudge, or \ntruly unfinished business. Very rarely was it anything good. Vengeful Spirits were \nalmost always angry of living people, and were much more likely to fall to demons \nor malicious entities that sought to control their powers. \n\tIt so happened that these spirits were working for the same master as \nDespair and the intruder…Gregor Topham. All of them had looks of anger on their \ntwisted visages. Some of which even looked physically deformed, bearing injuries of \ntheir deaths for the entire world to see. Vengeful Spirits rarely recognized \nthemselves in a positive light, remembering only pain and agony inflicted upon them \nby the living. \n\t“Were you able to detect her?” Alana whispered to Mara from their hiding \nplace. \n\t“Yes, she’s upstairs. Sharlow is looking towards where she is. She’s not in any \ndanger of being outright killed, but you know what’s to happen if they sent Sharlow. \nDid you disrupt the doors?” \n\t“Yes,” Alana said, “We don’t have any other one of those other dolls though – \nand you’ll quickly lose it when you open the door. Nobody else seems to have \ndetected it.” \n\tAlana pointed to the door where she had ‘disrupted’ earlier. She remained far \naway from the dorm, not wanting to get too close to where people would catch her, \nespecially if any scouts were sent to search for her or Mara. Lodged between the \ndoor and the frame was a small “paper doll” made out of an old expired credit card. \nIt had firmly attached itself to the frame, preventing the door from fully locking \nagain, thus “disrupting” it. \n\t“Perfect…I’m going to go in. The vengeful spirits are going to attack when it’s \ntruly dark out. That’s their cover. If things go awry, throw the summoning card. At \nleast you can distract the vengeful spirits.” \n\tAlana nodded, while Mara begun to dash to the door. The vengeful spirits \nthankfully didn’t notice her, or if they did, they looked towards her and thought she \nmight have been a student. Some of them were easy to fool, but that didn’t apply to \nothers. \n\tMara quickly opened up the door, “doll” falling to the ground as she closed \nthe door behind her. Getting in was the easy part, but now they had to get the \nperson out before Sharlow did. It was getting darker and darker, lights were already \ncoming on. \n\tMara ran to where she was detecting the signal. They weren’t trained enough \nto hide their “auras” from others, benevolent or not. Must have just awakened at all. \nWith literally superhuman speed, Mara zipped up the stairs and down to the hall, \ngoing to where the aura was getting stronger and stronger. For some reason the \nhalls were surprisingly empty…as if everyone was tired. \n\tEveryone but Journey, that is. Journey jumped up when she heard someone \ntrying to open the door. Grabbing her panda plush, she carefully walked to the door. \nNow would have been a great time for these stuffed animals to actually do \nsomething. Rather than let them break in, Journey pulled the door open with one \nhand and then tossed the panda right on out with her other. \n\tIt was a direct hit, as Mara was sent right to the ground by a mixture of shock, \nand the stuffed panda suddenly gaining a surprising amount of weight. The wind \nwas knocked out of Mara, as the plush held onto her torso tightly. \n\t“You’re not that guy from earlier,” Journey said, not recognizing the \nambiguously Korean woman with the plush firmly attached to her abdomen.\n\tShe seemed to mouth a few words, having no breath to her at first. \nEventually, Mara took a few breaths and managed to gasp out a few words. \n\t“You have to get out of here,” Mara finally gasped, “They’re coming for you. \nIt’s almost dark! They’ll be in here any minute.”\n\t“Who’s going to be in here?” Journey asked.\n\t“The vengeful spirits – there’s no time to explain. But they’re trying to kidnap \nyou because of what you can do. Can you get this…thing off me?” \n\tJourney reached out and pulled the stuffed panda off of Mara, who quickly \nstood up. \n\t“No time to explain – grab that thing and anything else you can and follow me \nout of here.”\n\t“And how do I know you’re not leading these ‘vengeful spirits’ to me?” \n\t“Because,” Mara said, “I’m here to save you. And there happens – to be one \ncoming right through your window!”\n\tOne would have assumed this was a trick to get someone to look behind \nthem, but the growing distress in Mara’s voice made Journey look behind her. Right \nthere was someone who looked like a half-decapitated person reaching right \nthrough her window into her dorm room. Journey couldn’t help but scream at the \ncreature, and instinctively threw her panda. Rather than push him to the wall like it \ndid that person earlier (And Mara), it went right through the man, bouncing off the \nclosed window and landing on the floor. \n\t“Physical objects aren’t going to work on them!” Mara shouted, and then said \nsomething in a foreign language. Ropes appeared from nowhere and then wrapped \naround the creature, tying him up. \n\t“Grab anything you can use and get out!” Mara shouted, “There’s not much \ntime before the rest come through and bring Sharlow with them.”\n\t“Who’s Sharlow, and why is this so bad?” Journey asked. \n\t“You’ll find out soon enough,” Mara said, “We don’t have much time!”\n\tJourney looked around, quickly stuffing her armadillo and snake into her \nbackpack. She looked for Leopold, and stuffed him into her purse. She knew she \nforgot something but what was it – aha! Her rabbit. She quickly grabbed the rabbit \nand put him in her backpack with the other two stuffed animals. Journey laced the \nbackpack around her shoulders and then held her handback, looking down at the \npillow-sized panda that was on the ground.\n\t“Uhm, stand and follow us?” She ordered the panda.\n\tSurprisingly, the panda actually stood up and ambled into the hallway.\n\t“Why do you have to bring so much baggage? We have to get out here FAST!” \nMara said.\n\t“Well I’m sorry, these things saved my life!” Journey responded. \n\tSuddenly, she got an ominous feeling and lookd behind her, unbeknownst to \nher, so was her rabbit. Right there were two more vengeful spirits climbing through \nthe window. \n\t“Stay in the hallway,” Mara said, pushing Journey into the hallway, almost \ncausing her to trip over the still waiting panda, “I’ll ward them off!”\n\tJourney watched as these ghosts were bound with more ropes, the first one \nstill struggling to break free of the ropes. The Korean woman then walked out, \nappearing to change a tad as she grew nine white foxtails and two silvery ears. \n\t“If you’re taking that…tackle thing with you, you might want to pick it up and \nhold on carefully,” Mara warned. Journey obliged and picked up her panda by the \nhand.\n\t“Here we go!” Mara shouted as she took Journey’s free hand and rushed out \nof the hallway to the dorm. It was too silent, as she was rushed down the stairs. \nThankfully, Journey couldn’t feel the load on her back lightening, meaning her \nplushies were still with her. She held onto her purse and panda for dear life too, \nsomehow unable to let go of Mara’s hand.\n\t“We’re almost there, but be ready to fight,” Mara warned, opening the door. \nIt looked too silent…but right after they walked out, Mara stopped, almost sending \nJourney and her load flying right into her. \n\t“We’re spotted, he’s nearby,” Mara said. \n\tAs if on cue, several more men and women walked over, some of which \nlooking like angry soldiers that were unarmed. They looked just like the three that \nclimbed into Journey’s dorm room. \n\t“Any time you want to do that rope thing is fine with me,” Journey said \nnervously.\n\t“Wait,” Mara said, “Sharlow! Come out!” \n\tNot a minute later, a man walked right up in front of them. This must have \nbeen Sharlow. However, he didn’t look like he sustained a horrific accident at all, he \nactually looked perfectly normal. Slightly unshaven face, around average height…yet \nhe seemed to be carrying a somewhat pastoral looking staff, like you would expect a \nshepherd or a priest to have, even wearing a brimmed hat.\n\t“Well, a good catch, I saw you on the island. Just come with us and I won’t \nhurt you too badly.”\n\t“He can’t kill you. Whatever you do, do not attack him – he can’t even touch \nyou unless you attack him. I’ll hold these vengeful spirits back. Run over there, I’ll \ncatch up.”\n\tMara immediately held her hands out and some small blue flames appeared, \nforming a circle around her. \n\t“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Sharlow warned Mara, “One of those flames \ntouches me and you know what happens.”\n\t“Run,” Mara said, as she sent her foxfire towards the vengeful spirits. Rather \nthan trying to attack, they actually jumped back, as if it was real fire. Sharlow \nseemed to be running towards the foxfire, only for it to stop before it actually made \ncontact with the man. He was trying to goad her into attacking him – even by \naccident. \n\t“This way! There’s a path!” Mara shouted. \n\tJourney took off to where this path was. However, Sharlow seemed to notice \none of his targets trying to get away, and instead of trying to take foxfire hits, \nseemed to run towards Journey. She didn’t catch it, but she started to slow down \nwhen a vengeful spirit stepped in her way. She could run through them, but it was \nprobably not safe to even try. \n\tHowever, before she could phase through the spirit, Sharlow appeared right \nin front of her, right in place of the spirit. He was smiling, waiting for her to do \nsomething. Journey managed to stop just inches away from the strange man…but \nmomentum worked against her. \n\tWhile she managed to stop, her handbag kept on going, hanging from her \nwrist. Time seemed to slow down for her as the handbag swung forward, eventually \nmaking contact with Sharlow. Did that count as an attack?\n\t“Thank you, you fool,” He said, raising his staff and beginning to chant \nsomething in latin. \n\t“RUN!” Mara shouted again, immediately dashing towards Journey and \nSharlow. But Journey had another idea. Instinctively, she tossed her panda towards \nSharlow and gave him a command.\n\t“Hold him down!” she shouted.\n\tThe panda seemed to grow a little and tackled Sharlow right in the chest, \ninterrupting him. He fell to the ground, panda holding him down. The vengeful \nspirits now turned towards Journey and Mara.\n\t“Good move! RUN!” Mara shouted again, grabbing Journey’s hand as she \ndashed past.\n\t“Panda! Come!” Journey shouted, as the panda seemed to roll off of Sharlow, \nhopping back to her as they ran into the brush. \n\t“Alana, throw the card now!” Mara shouted to nobody in particular, “Sharlow \nwas mistakenly attacked.” \n\tBefore Journey could get an idea of what was going on, Sharlow was getting \nback up, and ran after that panda that had tackled him. He could smite them with \nwhatever he wanted. Even if he couldn’t kill anyone who wasn’t undead, the Light \nwas good enough to weaken people to where they could be taken to Topham. \n\tSharlow’s staff glowed in the faint light, and he saw Mara running away with \nJourney, the fat little panda plush not far behind them. However, he was intercepted \nby someone else…who he also recognized from the island, it was Alana. \n\t“Wow, what an idiot, she brought you too? Let’s wipe out the whole house \nwhy don’t you!” Sharlow taunted.\n\t“Not yet! Come to me iron man,” Alana shouted as she tossed down a small \nTarot card, then promptly tore after Journey and Mara.\n\tBefore Sharlow or any of his vengeful spirits could even react, a large \nhumanoid figure made of iron appeared right in his path. He simply stood there, \nbefore he received an order from the one who summoned him.\n\t“Iron Man! Run them over!” \n\tImmediately Sharlow was sent back as the iron man raised his knee in an \nalmost comical walk. The iron man then set his foot down, making a similar motion \nwith another. Before he could get up, the Iron man seemed to step right on him, \nknocking the wind right out of him as it took more and more exaggerated steps. \n\tSoon, the iron man’s “skip” seemed to miss a few beats as he begun to sink \ndown. The vengeful spirits were soon distracted by the sight of the Iron Man who \nhad hit their commander now raising one leg to walk only to fall forward, balancing \nitself on its outstretched leg and its other knee. The creature still attempted to walk, \nalmost comically as it uselessly slid along its outstretched knee and leg, before \nfalling to its side uselessly. \n\t“Inexperienced controllers…mana is mana!” Sharlow said after he managed \nto get up, while the Iron Man continued to try to qwop in vain, before eventually \nvanishing. Sharlow looked down at the small card that was used to summon the Iron \nMan and impaled it with his staff. Even if they came back for it, Alana couldn’t \ncontrol it. \n\t“Find them, search the entire campus,” Sharlow commanded to the spirits, as \nthey all set off in separate directions. \n\n\t“I hope the at least distracted them by qwopping,” Alana gasped as Mara had \nbrought both of them to one of her usual modes of transport, her car. It as a truck, \nthat belonged to Heiss, but he wouldn’t be using it anytime soon. Mara let go of \nJourney and quickly dashed into the driver’s seat.\n\t“There’s no time, jump into the back!” Mara shouted, starting the car up \nimmediately. \n\t“But isn’t that dangerous?” Journey asked, “And what about my panda?”\n\t“Leave it!” Alana shouted, climbing right back in over the back rail, pulling \nJourney up, but not quite making it. Journey climbed in as well, looking back at the \ndorm in the distance. Right as Mara tore out, suddenly something came at them from \nabove. It was Journey’s panda – still having followed them and had somehow gained \nan impossible acceleration rate. \n\t“Whoa, it’s following us still!” Journey shouted, holding her hands out to \ncatch the panda. \n\t“Wow, you’re good at control-“ \n\tThe panda landing right on her face interrupted Alana, sending her to the \nfloor of the truck immediately. A few blocks later, Mara managed to slow to a \ncomplete stop.\n\t“We’re safer now, get in the front, both of you,” Mara said, “Alana, you’re in \nthe middle.” \n\tBoth of them obliged, as Alana squeezed into the middle of the seat in the \ntruck, and Journey into the end, keeping her backpack and purse on the lap. It was a \ntight squeeze, what with all the stuffed animals, but Mara could thankfully drive \nthem both to safety.\n\t“Where’re you taking me now?” Journey asked.\n\t“To the one place where they can’t get you – the Manitou House.” \n\t“Provided I don’t suffocate first,” Alana said. \n\n\tOne long drive later, all three piled out of the car. Alana made sure to \noverdramatically gasp for air after having been crushed between Journey and all her \nspare luggage, like the backpack full of stuffed animals.\n\t“Well, at least that saves us one trip of having to go back for all your \nbaggage,” Mara said, “Here we are…your new home. The Manitou House.”\n\t“Excuse me, when did I say anything about wanting to move here?” Alana \nsaid, looking over the rather tall boarding house. \n\t“You cant’ exactly expect to go back to the dorms at the university, can you? \nThey saw your face. All of our faces, really. This is one of the few places where \nTopham’s magic can’t reach. They’ll have placed sentries there looking specifically \nfor us, and if you do, they’ll capture you or worse.”\n\t“And how do I know you’re not working for this Topham person yourself?” \n\tMara reached into a pocket and pulled out something that looked like a stone, \nengraved with something. \n\t“This is an ‘Oathstone’. When you hold it, you cannot tell a lie. My…husband \nmade it to control me. Not that way, he’s no domineering man. I am a Gumiho…Lying \nis like, ninety five percent of what I do; this oathstone keeps me from deceiving \npeople when I do not mean to.” \n\tJourney just stared at it as Mara put it into her pocket again. \n\t“Right right right, you owe me some explanations now. Who was this Sharlow \nguy? And was he related to the emo person I saw who turned into some guy who \nlooked like Dr. Victor Von Doom?” \n\t“That was De-“ \n\tAlana had a mouth covered by one of Mara’s silvery tails. \n\t“Don’t say it. You may inadvertently get their attention and we’d have \nIncarnations waiting for us to leave. It’s bad enough that he got in…what did you call \nhim?”\n\t“Skeleton Head,” Alana said, pushing the tail away. \n\t“We’ll just give them nicknames. Who was this person you faced?”\n\t“Someone with a metal mask, like I said they looked like Dr. Doom if…well, \njust some robed guy in an iron mask.”\n\t“Well let’s call him Dr. Doom,” Mara said, “I’ve…never met anyone with that \nname.”\n\t“Right, so who was he?” Journey asked. \n\t“An Incarnation. He’s working for Gregor Topham, the minister of the occult \nand head of the Twentieth House.”\n\t“Incarnation? Like some kind of Demon?”\n\t“Exactly,” Alana said, “Come on inside.” She unlocked the door to the \nboarding house and walked in, turning on some of the lights. \n\tMara lead Journey inside, who still held onto her backpack full of plushies \nand her purse that had Leopold inside. Almost immediately, Journey could tell that \nsomething was up there. She had almost never been to any place with magic before, \nyet in this house, she could identify it right off the bat. \n\tAlmost everything seemed to have some kind of magic energy pulsing out of \nit. There was a large chandelier that seemed to light by itself, random pieces of \npaper with some kind of Asian language sticking to the wall, and a tapestry. \n\t“So this is this Manitou house? Where are all your other friends then?” \nJourney asked. \n\t“You’re looking at them,” Mara said, “Just about everyone in our little \nresistance has been captured by Topham and his cohorts. See?” \n\tMara led Journey over to a wall, beyond a rather large room that could have \nbeen the dining room. For some reason, Journey thought she could have smelled \nsome kind of animal as they passed another room, but she couldn’t quite place her \neyes on it. Mara gestured to the wall, and Journey looked over it. \n\tSimilar to how most families have a wall dedicated to showing off \naccumulated art or family pictures, the Manitou House had a wall dedicated to \nshowing off its various ‘members’. Journey looked over some of the pictures, before \nAlana turned on the lights and gave her a better view. \n\tJust about every picture displayed some person, as well as their name. \nJourney looked over some of them. One picture showed someone who had a shaven \nhead, yet also had a rather nice smile to him. For some odd reason, it was completely \ngreyed out. Journey looked the name on the picture.\n\t“Keith Stockman – MIA” \n\tJourney looked over at some of the other pictures. Another picture showed a \nrather unusual looking person – someone who could only be described as a bull-like \nfigure. Like Keith Stockman’s photo, this one was also greyed out.\n\t“Vyron Papoulias – MIA”\n\tJourney looked over the other photos. Some of them appeared to display \nhumans, while a few others seemed to show somewhat animalistic ones, maybe they \nwere those were-beasts she had heard so much about. Despite the diversity of the \nfigures represented in the photos, almost all of them were greyed out with a “MIA” \nnext to their names. All of them, except for three. \n\tOne of which was a picture of Alana, which didn’t have anything listed next to \nher name. Mara was another, right next to a picture of an Asian man labeled, \n“Daisuke Sakuraba”. However, she looked at the third picture and her eyes raised. It \nwas of Sharlow. \n\tSharlow looked to be a few years younger in the picture, however instead of \ngreyed out like everyone else’s, his picture was covered in red, and there were a few \nother marks on it, one of which being some kind of sharpie. Instead of a simple \nname, the word “Traitor” graced the spot where the label went.\n\t“It’s better you find out now than later,” Mara piped up, “Sharlow used to be \none of us. He’s an exorcist. It’s a bit ironic that he’s embracing forces of evil, really. \nThere’s no way he’s there under mind control…if there is, it’s got to be more than \nmind control. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I assume that he was \ntempted by an Incarnation for more power. All of a sudden, we have two \nIncarnations right in the house, having followed him right on in, and he tried to \nexorcise all of us. It’s been eleven years since that day.”\n\t“Why do you still have his picture up here if he turned traitor?” Journey \nasked. \n\tAlana looked away and walked into another room. She wanted to leave Mara \nalone with their new recruit. Plus, it was a bit hard on her, remembering Sharlow’s \nbetrayal. \n\t“You can just say we were lazy, but his picture was left on the wall as a \nreminder to what not to be. We have had people who left Manitou House of their \nown accord, like Delia. However, we’ve never had anyone so…callously turned their \nbacks on us and take down two of our own members. Over here.”\n\tMara turned Journey’s attention to the other wall – once again it was aligned \nwith photographs, yet these were all in colour. In the dead centre of the wall, there \nwas a plaque with words inscribed on it. Thankfully, they were in English.\n\t“To all of our fallen comrades – may you never be forgotten.” \n\t“This is where we honour our fallen friends. Sharlow’s not…worthy to be \nplaced on here. Even if he were killed, we’d sooner place his photo in the fire than \non this wall. He took these two people with him when he turned his back on us.” \n\tMara pointed to two photographs on the wall – a man and a woman. \nDisturbingly, they had a familiar name: Miller. Journey knew she saw it somewhere, \nand fairly recently too. Journey turned around and her eyes went immediately to \nAlana’s picture. There it was – Alana Miller \n\t“Let me guess,” Journey said, “Sharlow killed Alana’s parents.” \n\t“Exactly,” Mara said, “Well, it was not actually Sharlow, but a few \nIncarnations who had entered the house with him. Sharlow is actually unable to kill \nany living person, and he cannot use his powers to harm, only in self-defense. That’s \nwhy he was goading you to attack him. He is proof, if any more is needed, that good \npowers can have bad people wielding them.” \n\t“…I see,” Journey added, “So, I’m now fighting with you it seems. What good \ndo you think I’m going to be? I threw freaking stuffed animals.” \n\t“From what I’ve seen, you might be what we call a ‘controller’. Like Alana is. \nAlana? Care to demonstrate?” \n\t“Sure thing!” Alana called from the other room. A few minutes later, Journey \nheard a bit of a metallic sound tinking to her. She looked down to investigate it, and \nspotted a toy soldier. Yet it did not have a wind-up key like normal others. \n\t“Controllers are essentially able to control inanimate objects, such as \nchanging them, or summoning them. You know, such as Alana’s tin soldiers.”\n\tJourney suddenly remembered – Leopold grew to a massive size, and moved \nas she commanded him to. The Panda Bear plush even tackled people and rolled \nafter them. Just like the elephant did. But why did Leopold change so much? \n\t“Wait, I have this stuffed animal, Leopold. When I fought Dr. Doom, he grew \nto like, over fifty times his normal size and I was able to ride on top of him. But I \nhaven’t gotten him to do it again.” \n\tJourney reached out and took out Leopold. Thankfully he was still intact. \nAlana had by this point walked back into the room to observe the events.\n\t“This doll?” Mara asked, looking at Leopold.\n\t“I made him when I was young – I take him nearly everywhere. When Dr. \nDoom showed up, Leopold pretty much beat the hell out of him. So much that I \ncracked his armour or something. I don’t remember what I did…uhm…Grow!” \n\tLeopold did nothing. \n\t“You cracked his armour?” Mara asked. \n\t“Yes…maybe he has to be on the ground. Let’s try this! Grow!” She gently \ntossed Leopold on the floor. As he did so, he soon got bigger and bigger, eventually \npushing Mara and Journey back as the plush grew so much larger. \n\t“That’s it?” She asked, “Wow…I did it!”\n\tMara stepped back and looked over the giant stuffed leopard.\n\t“Yep, definitely a controller alright. Now, what was this about breaking his \narmour?” \n\tJourney looked over at Alana and Mara. \n\t“Well, Leopold gave him the old one-two, repeatedly threw him around, and \nthen all of a sudden he’s on his back with something glowing in there. Is that like his \ncore or something?”\n\t“Holy shit!” Alana said, “You exposed his stone. All you needed to do was \ncrack it and then you’ve sent him back out of the world. Topham couldn’t have \nsummoned that guy for another decade or so!” \n\t“Well, next time, I’ll have to crack it!” Journey said.\n\t“It won’t be that easy,” Mara said, “He must have not had his guard up when \nyou fought him. He’ll have his guard up if he comes after you again. We’re likely to \nneed more firepower, too.”\n\tJourney sighed, as Leopold bent his oversized head over a bit.\n\t“Joy…” \n\t“Let’s just get down to business,” Mara said, “Will you join us? Will you join \nthe Manitou House?” \n\tJourney looked over at Alana and Mara. It was rather hard to believe what \nshe went through – yet she was being offered some kind of hope.\n\t“I’ll do it,” She said. \n\n",
"writing_bbcode_parsed": "\tJourney was back in her room, looking at all her various stuffed animals. It
was amazing – did they really come to life and save her? And did Leopold, the plush
leopard she made herself grow to a massive size and fight for her? Anyone else
wouldn’t believe her, but she saw with her very own eyes, and she felt Leopold
growing and blocking for her. She had to do something…to replicate this.
\tJourney held the plush leopard in her hands, making eye contact as well as
anyone with button eyes could. She imagined the plush leopard growing bigger and
bigger still. Nothing happened. Journey shook the plush a little, and nothing
happened.
\t“Leopold, grow!” She said to the leopard. Still nothing didn’t happen.
\tJourney looked over at the panda plush that was still on the ground. Gently,
she set Leopold to her side and picked up the Panda. Despite being able to send
someone to the ground, it was just as light as any other stuffed animal would have
been, if not a bit bulkier than others.
\t“…Attack!” She ordered to the panda. Nothing happened.
\t“I must have made it up,” Journey though, flopping back on the bed, “I must
have been studying so hard…”
\tUnbeknownst to her, Despair had made his way back to the base in the island
and had pulled a few strings. Already, Journey dorms were busy being surrounded
by small figures, most of which were invisible to normal people. Journey herself
couldn’t see them…unless she looked out the window. Which she unfortunately
failed to do.
\tThe only person who could be seen by normal people seemed to be sitting on
a bench, looking at an old fashioned stopwatch, then up at the sky dotted with
orange and pink clouds. It was a college campus after all. Almost nobody would
identify somebody who did not belong.
\tWhat this intruder failed to notice was that he was not the only “foreign
presence” on the campus. Two other targets had walked right onto campus. They
were familiar with him, however, and managed to stay just outside of his range. It
was Alana and Mara.
\tBoth of them were on the other side of the dorm, where they were not only
outside the intruder’s range of detection, but where they were more easily able to
hide from his foot soldiers, the vengeful spirits. Both of them could see numerous
figures patrolling around the dorm building, waiting for something.
\tNormal ghosts were simple repeat ghosts, simple apparitions that were
merely manifestations of someone’s consciousness after they departed, and had a
particular attachment to that spot. Repeat ghosts were rather benign, rarely even
acknowledging that there are living people. But not vengeful spirits.
\tVengeful spirits were the spirits of people who had died and were afraid to
move on for some reason or another. Most of the time it was because of a grudge, or
truly unfinished business. Very rarely was it anything good. Vengeful Spirits were
almost always angry of living people, and were much more likely to fall to demons
or malicious entities that sought to control their powers.
\tIt so happened that these spirits were working for the same master as
Despair and the intruder…Gregor Topham. All of them had looks of anger on their
twisted visages. Some of which even looked physically deformed, bearing injuries of
their deaths for the entire world to see. Vengeful Spirits rarely recognized
themselves in a positive light, remembering only pain and agony inflicted upon them
by the living.
\t“Were you able to detect her?” Alana whispered to Mara from their hiding
place.
\t“Yes, she’s upstairs. Sharlow is looking towards where she is. She’s not in any
danger of being outright killed, but you know what’s to happen if they sent Sharlow.
Did you disrupt the doors?”
\t“Yes,” Alana said, “We don’t have any other one of those other dolls though –
and you’ll quickly lose it when you open the door. Nobody else seems to have
detected it.”
\tAlana pointed to the door where she had ‘disrupted’ earlier. She remained far
away from the dorm, not wanting to get too close to where people would catch her,
especially if any scouts were sent to search for her or Mara. Lodged between the
door and the frame was a small “paper doll” made out of an old expired credit card.
It had firmly attached itself to the frame, preventing the door from fully locking
again, thus “disrupting” it.
\t“Perfect…I’m going to go in. The vengeful spirits are going to attack when it’s
truly dark out. That’s their cover. If things go awry, throw the summoning card. At
least you can distract the vengeful spirits.”
\tAlana nodded, while Mara begun to dash to the door. The vengeful spirits
thankfully didn’t notice her, or if they did, they looked towards her and thought she
might have been a student. Some of them were easy to fool, but that didn’t apply to
others.
\tMara quickly opened up the door, “doll” falling to the ground as she closed
the door behind her. Getting in was the easy part, but now they had to get the
person out before Sharlow did. It was getting darker and darker, lights were already
coming on.
\tMara ran to where she was detecting the signal. They weren’t trained enough
to hide their “auras” from others, benevolent or not. Must have just awakened at all.
With literally superhuman speed, Mara zipped up the stairs and down to the hall,
going to where the aura was getting stronger and stronger. For some reason the
halls were surprisingly empty…as if everyone was tired.
\tEveryone but Journey, that is. Journey jumped up when she heard someone
trying to open the door. Grabbing her panda plush, she carefully walked to the door.
Now would have been a great time for these stuffed animals to actually do
something. Rather than let them break in, Journey pulled the door open with one
hand and then tossed the panda right on out with her other.
\tIt was a direct hit, as Mara was sent right to the ground by a mixture of shock,
and the stuffed panda suddenly gaining a surprising amount of weight. The wind
was knocked out of Mara, as the plush held onto her torso tightly.
\t“You’re not that guy from earlier,” Journey said, not recognizing the
ambiguously Korean woman with the plush firmly attached to her abdomen.
\tShe seemed to mouth a few words, having no breath to her at first.
Eventually, Mara took a few breaths and managed to gasp out a few words.
\t“You have to get out of here,” Mara finally gasped, “They’re coming for you.
It’s almost dark! They’ll be in here any minute.”
\t“Who’s going to be in here?” Journey asked.
\t“The vengeful spirits – there’s no time to explain. But they’re trying to kidnap
you because of what you can do. Can you get this…thing off me?”
\tJourney reached out and pulled the stuffed panda off of Mara, who quickly
stood up.
\t“No time to explain – grab that thing and anything else you can and follow me
out of here.”
\t“And how do I know you’re not leading these ‘vengeful spirits’ to me?”
\t“Because,” Mara said, “I’m here to save you. And there happens – to be one
coming right through your window!”
\tOne would have assumed this was a trick to get someone to look behind
them, but the growing distress in Mara’s voice made Journey look behind her. Right
there was someone who looked like a half-decapitated person reaching right
through her window into her dorm room. Journey couldn’t help but scream at the
creature, and instinctively threw her panda. Rather than push him to the wall like it
did that person earlier (And Mara), it went right through the man, bouncing off the
closed window and landing on the floor.
\t“Physical objects aren’t going to work on them!” Mara shouted, and then said
something in a foreign language. Ropes appeared from nowhere and then wrapped
around the creature, tying him up.
\t“Grab anything you can use and get out!” Mara shouted, “There’s not much
time before the rest come through and bring Sharlow with them.”
\t“Who’s Sharlow, and why is this so bad?” Journey asked.
\t“You’ll find out soon enough,” Mara said, “We don’t have much time!”
\tJourney looked around, quickly stuffing her armadillo and snake into her
backpack. She looked for Leopold, and stuffed him into her purse. She knew she
forgot something but what was it – aha! Her rabbit. She quickly grabbed the rabbit
and put him in her backpack with the other two stuffed animals. Journey laced the
backpack around her shoulders and then held her handback, looking down at the
pillow-sized panda that was on the ground.
\t“Uhm, stand and follow us?” She ordered the panda.
\tSurprisingly, the panda actually stood up and ambled into the hallway.
\t“Why do you have to bring so much baggage? We have to get out here FAST!”
Mara said.
\t“Well I’m sorry, these things saved my life!” Journey responded.
\tSuddenly, she got an ominous feeling and lookd behind her, unbeknownst to
her, so was her rabbit. Right there were two more vengeful spirits climbing through
the window.
\t“Stay in the hallway,” Mara said, pushing Journey into the hallway, almost
causing her to trip over the still waiting panda, “I’ll ward them off!”
\tJourney watched as these ghosts were bound with more ropes, the first one
still struggling to break free of the ropes. The Korean woman then walked out,
appearing to change a tad as she grew nine white foxtails and two silvery ears.
\t“If you’re taking that…tackle thing with you, you might want to pick it up and
hold on carefully,” Mara warned. Journey obliged and picked up her panda by the
hand.
\t“Here we go!” Mara shouted as she took Journey’s free hand and rushed out
of the hallway to the dorm. It was too silent, as she was rushed down the stairs.
Thankfully, Journey couldn’t feel the load on her back lightening, meaning her
plushies were still with her. She held onto her purse and panda for dear life too,
somehow unable to let go of Mara’s hand.
\t“We’re almost there, but be ready to fight,” Mara warned, opening the door.
It looked too silent…but right after they walked out, Mara stopped, almost sending
Journey and her load flying right into her.
\t“We’re spotted, he’s nearby,” Mara said.
\tAs if on cue, several more men and women walked over, some of which
looking like angry soldiers that were unarmed. They looked just like the three that
climbed into Journey’s dorm room.
\t“Any time you want to do that rope thing is fine with me,” Journey said
nervously.
\t“Wait,” Mara said, “Sharlow! Come out!”
\tNot a minute later, a man walked right up in front of them. This must have
been Sharlow. However, he didn’t look like he sustained a horrific accident at all, he
actually looked perfectly normal. Slightly unshaven face, around average height…yet
he seemed to be carrying a somewhat pastoral looking staff, like you would expect a
shepherd or a priest to have, even wearing a brimmed hat.
\t“Well, a good catch, I saw you on the island. Just come with us and I won’t
hurt you too badly.”
\t“He can’t kill you. Whatever you do, do not attack him – he can’t even touch
you unless you attack him. I’ll hold these vengeful spirits back. Run over there, I’ll
catch up.”
\tMara immediately held her hands out and some small blue flames appeared,
forming a circle around her.
\t“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Sharlow warned Mara, “One of those flames
touches me and you know what happens.”
\t“Run,” Mara said, as she sent her foxfire towards the vengeful spirits. Rather
than trying to attack, they actually jumped back, as if it was real fire. Sharlow
seemed to be running towards the foxfire, only for it to stop before it actually made
contact with the man. He was trying to goad her into attacking him – even by
accident.
\t“This way! There’s a path!” Mara shouted.
\tJourney took off to where this path was. However, Sharlow seemed to notice
one of his targets trying to get away, and instead of trying to take foxfire hits,
seemed to run towards Journey. She didn’t catch it, but she started to slow down
when a vengeful spirit stepped in her way. She could run through them, but it was
probably not safe to even try.
\tHowever, before she could phase through the spirit, Sharlow appeared right
in front of her, right in place of the spirit. He was smiling, waiting for her to do
something. Journey managed to stop just inches away from the strange man…but
momentum worked against her.
\tWhile she managed to stop, her handbag kept on going, hanging from her
wrist. Time seemed to slow down for her as the handbag swung forward, eventually
making contact with Sharlow. Did that count as an attack?
\t“Thank you, you fool,” He said, raising his staff and beginning to chant
something in latin.
\t“RUN!” Mara shouted again, immediately dashing towards Journey and
Sharlow. But Journey had another idea. Instinctively, she tossed her panda towards
Sharlow and gave him a command.
\t“Hold him down!” she shouted.
\tThe panda seemed to grow a little and tackled Sharlow right in the chest,
interrupting him. He fell to the ground, panda holding him down. The vengeful
spirits now turned towards Journey and Mara.
\t“Good move! RUN!” Mara shouted again, grabbing Journey’s hand as she
dashed past.
\t“Panda! Come!” Journey shouted, as the panda seemed to roll off of Sharlow,
hopping back to her as they ran into the brush.
\t“Alana, throw the card now!” Mara shouted to nobody in particular, “Sharlow
was mistakenly attacked.”
\tBefore Journey could get an idea of what was going on, Sharlow was getting
back up, and ran after that panda that had tackled him. He could smite them with
whatever he wanted. Even if he couldn’t kill anyone who wasn’t undead, the Light
was good enough to weaken people to where they could be taken to Topham.
\tSharlow’s staff glowed in the faint light, and he saw Mara running away with
Journey, the fat little panda plush not far behind them. However, he was intercepted
by someone else…who he also recognized from the island, it was Alana.
\t“Wow, what an idiot, she brought you too? Let’s wipe out the whole house
why don’t you!” Sharlow taunted.
\t“Not yet! Come to me iron man,” Alana shouted as she tossed down a small
Tarot card, then promptly tore after Journey and Mara.
\tBefore Sharlow or any of his vengeful spirits could even react, a large
humanoid figure made of iron appeared right in his path. He simply stood there,
before he received an order from the one who summoned him.
\t“Iron Man! Run them over!”
\tImmediately Sharlow was sent back as the iron man raised his knee in an
almost comical walk. The iron man then set his foot down, making a similar motion
with another. Before he could get up, the Iron man seemed to step right on him,
knocking the wind right out of him as it took more and more exaggerated steps.
\tSoon, the iron man’s “skip” seemed to miss a few beats as he begun to sink
down. The vengeful spirits were soon distracted by the sight of the Iron Man who
had hit their commander now raising one leg to walk only to fall forward, balancing
itself on its outstretched leg and its other knee. The creature still attempted to walk,
almost comically as it uselessly slid along its outstretched knee and leg, before
falling to its side uselessly.
\t“Inexperienced controllers…mana is mana!” Sharlow said after he managed
to get up, while the Iron Man continued to try to qwop in vain, before eventually
vanishing. Sharlow looked down at the small card that was used to summon the Iron
Man and impaled it with his staff. Even if they came back for it, Alana couldn’t
control it.
\t“Find them, search the entire campus,” Sharlow commanded to the spirits, as
they all set off in separate directions.
\t“I hope the at least distracted them by qwopping,” Alana gasped as Mara had
brought both of them to one of her usual modes of transport, her car. It as a truck,
that belonged to Heiss, but he wouldn’t be using it anytime soon. Mara let go of
Journey and quickly dashed into the driver’s seat.
\t“There’s no time, jump into the back!” Mara shouted, starting the car up
immediately.
\t“But isn’t that dangerous?” Journey asked, “And what about my panda?”
\t“Leave it!” Alana shouted, climbing right back in over the back rail, pulling
Journey up, but not quite making it. Journey climbed in as well, looking back at the
dorm in the distance. Right as Mara tore out, suddenly something came at them from
above. It was Journey’s panda – still having followed them and had somehow gained
an impossible acceleration rate.
\t“Whoa, it’s following us still!” Journey shouted, holding her hands out to
catch the panda.
\t“Wow, you’re good at control-“
\tThe panda landing right on her face interrupted Alana, sending her to the
floor of the truck immediately. A few blocks later, Mara managed to slow to a
complete stop.
\t“We’re safer now, get in the front, both of you,” Mara said, “Alana, you’re in
the middle.”
\tBoth of them obliged, as Alana squeezed into the middle of the seat in the
truck, and Journey into the end, keeping her backpack and purse on the lap. It was a
tight squeeze, what with all the stuffed animals, but Mara could thankfully drive
them both to safety.
\t“Where’re you taking me now?” Journey asked.
\t“To the one place where they can’t get you – the Manitou House.”
\t“Provided I don’t suffocate first,” Alana said.
\tOne long drive later, all three piled out of the car. Alana made sure to
overdramatically gasp for air after having been crushed between Journey and all her
spare luggage, like the backpack full of stuffed animals.
\t“Well, at least that saves us one trip of having to go back for all your
baggage,” Mara said, “Here we are…your new home. The Manitou House.”
\t“Excuse me, when did I say anything about wanting to move here?” Alana
said, looking over the rather tall boarding house.
\t“You cant’ exactly expect to go back to the dorms at the university, can you?
They saw your face. All of our faces, really. This is one of the few places where
Topham’s magic can’t reach. They’ll have placed sentries there looking specifically
for us, and if you do, they’ll capture you or worse.”
\t“And how do I know you’re not working for this Topham person yourself?”
\tMara reached into a pocket and pulled out something that looked like a stone,
engraved with something.
\t“This is an ‘Oathstone’. When you hold it, you cannot tell a lie. My…husband
made it to control me. Not that way, he’s no domineering man. I am a Gumiho…Lying
is like, ninety five percent of what I do; this oathstone keeps me from deceiving
people when I do not mean to.”
\tJourney just stared at it as Mara put it into her pocket again.
\t“Right right right, you owe me some explanations now. Who was this Sharlow
guy? And was he related to the emo person I saw who turned into some guy who
looked like Dr. Victor Von Doom?”
\t“That was De-“
\tAlana had a mouth covered by one of Mara’s silvery tails.
\t“Don’t say it. You may inadvertently get their attention and we’d have
Incarnations waiting for us to leave. It’s bad enough that he got in…what did you call
him?”
\t“Skeleton Head,” Alana said, pushing the tail away.
\t“We’ll just give them nicknames. Who was this person you faced?”
\t“Someone with a metal mask, like I said they looked like Dr. Doom if…well,
just some robed guy in an iron mask.”
\t“Well let’s call him Dr. Doom,” Mara said, “I’ve…never met anyone with that
name.”
\t“Right, so who was he?” Journey asked.
\t“An Incarnation. He’s working for Gregor Topham, the minister of the occult
and head of the Twentieth House.”
\t“Incarnation? Like some kind of Demon?”
\t“Exactly,” Alana said, “Come on inside.” She unlocked the door to the
boarding house and walked in, turning on some of the lights.
\tMara lead Journey inside, who still held onto her backpack full of plushies
and her purse that had Leopold inside. Almost immediately, Journey could tell that
something was up there. She had almost never been to any place with magic before,
yet in this house, she could identify it right off the bat.
\tAlmost everything seemed to have some kind of magic energy pulsing out of
it. There was a large chandelier that seemed to light by itself, random pieces of
paper with some kind of Asian language sticking to the wall, and a tapestry.
\t“So this is this Manitou house? Where are all your other friends then?”
Journey asked.
\t“You’re looking at them,” Mara said, “Just about everyone in our little
resistance has been captured by Topham and his cohorts. See?”
\tMara led Journey over to a wall, beyond a rather large room that could have
been the dining room. For some reason, Journey thought she could have smelled
some kind of animal as they passed another room, but she couldn’t quite place her
eyes on it. Mara gestured to the wall, and Journey looked over it.
\tSimilar to how most families have a wall dedicated to showing off
accumulated art or family pictures, the Manitou House had a wall dedicated to
showing off its various ‘members’. Journey looked over some of the pictures, before
Alana turned on the lights and gave her a better view.
\tJust about every picture displayed some person, as well as their name.
Journey looked over some of them. One picture showed someone who had a shaven
head, yet also had a rather nice smile to him. For some odd reason, it was completely
greyed out. Journey looked the name on the picture.
\t“Keith Stockman – MIA”
\tJourney looked over at some of the other pictures. Another picture showed a
rather unusual looking person – someone who could only be described as a bull-like
figure. Like Keith Stockman’s photo, this one was also greyed out.
\t“Vyron Papoulias – MIA”
\tJourney looked over the other photos. Some of them appeared to display
humans, while a few others seemed to show somewhat animalistic ones, maybe they
were those were-beasts she had heard so much about. Despite the diversity of the
figures represented in the photos, almost all of them were greyed out with a “MIA”
next to their names. All of them, except for three.
\tOne of which was a picture of Alana, which didn’t have anything listed next to
her name. Mara was another, right next to a picture of an Asian man labeled,
“Daisuke Sakuraba”. However, she looked at the third picture and her eyes raised. It
was of Sharlow.
\tSharlow looked to be a few years younger in the picture, however instead of
greyed out like everyone else’s, his picture was covered in red, and there were a few
other marks on it, one of which being some kind of sharpie. Instead of a simple
name, the word “Traitor” graced the spot where the label went.
\t“It’s better you find out now than later,” Mara piped up, “Sharlow used to be
one of us. He’s an exorcist. It’s a bit ironic that he’s embracing forces of evil, really.
There’s no way he’s there under mind control…if there is, it’s got to be more than
mind control. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I assume that he was
tempted by an Incarnation for more power. All of a sudden, we have two
Incarnations right in the house, having followed him right on in, and he tried to
exorcise all of us. It’s been eleven years since that day.”
\t“Why do you still have his picture up here if he turned traitor?” Journey
asked.
\tAlana looked away and walked into another room. She wanted to leave Mara
alone with their new recruit. Plus, it was a bit hard on her, remembering Sharlow’s
betrayal.
\t“You can just say we were lazy, but his picture was left on the wall as a
reminder to what not to be. We have had people who left Manitou House of their
own accord, like Delia. However, we’ve never had anyone so…callously turned their
backs on us and take down two of our own members. Over here.”
\tMara turned Journey’s attention to the other wall – once again it was aligned
with photographs, yet these were all in colour. In the dead centre of the wall, there
was a plaque with words inscribed on it. Thankfully, they were in English.
\t“To all of our fallen comrades – may you never be forgotten.”
\t“This is where we honour our fallen friends. Sharlow’s not…worthy to be
placed on here. Even if he were killed, we’d sooner place his photo in the fire than
on this wall. He took these two people with him when he turned his back on us.”
\tMara pointed to two photographs on the wall – a man and a woman.
Disturbingly, they had a familiar name: Miller. Journey knew she saw it somewhere,
and fairly recently too. Journey turned around and her eyes went immediately to
Alana’s picture. There it was – Alana Miller
\t“Let me guess,” Journey said, “Sharlow killed Alana’s parents.”
\t“Exactly,” Mara said, “Well, it was not actually Sharlow, but a few
Incarnations who had entered the house with him. Sharlow is actually unable to kill
any living person, and he cannot use his powers to harm, only in self-defense. That’s
why he was goading you to attack him. He is proof, if any more is needed, that good
powers can have bad people wielding them.”
\t“…I see,” Journey added, “So, I’m now fighting with you it seems. What good
do you think I’m going to be? I threw freaking stuffed animals.”
\t“From what I’ve seen, you might be what we call a ‘controller’. Like Alana is.
Alana? Care to demonstrate?”
\t“Sure thing!” Alana called from the other room. A few minutes later, Journey
heard a bit of a metallic sound tinking to her. She looked down to investigate it, and
spotted a toy soldier. Yet it did not have a wind-up key like normal others.
\t“Controllers are essentially able to control inanimate objects, such as
changing them, or summoning them. You know, such as Alana’s tin soldiers.”
\tJourney suddenly remembered – Leopold grew to a massive size, and moved
as she commanded him to. The Panda Bear plush even tackled people and rolled
after them. Just like the elephant did. But why did Leopold change so much?
\t“Wait, I have this stuffed animal, Leopold. When I fought Dr. Doom, he grew
to like, over fifty times his normal size and I was able to ride on top of him. But I
haven’t gotten him to do it again.”
\tJourney reached out and took out Leopold. Thankfully he was still intact.
Alana had by this point walked back into the room to observe the events.
\t“This doll?” Mara asked, looking at Leopold.
\t“I made him when I was young – I take him nearly everywhere. When Dr.
Doom showed up, Leopold pretty much beat the hell out of him. So much that I
cracked his armour or something. I don’t remember what I did…uhm…Grow!”
\tLeopold did nothing.
\t“You cracked his armour?” Mara asked.
\t“Yes…maybe he has to be on the ground. Let’s try this! Grow!” She gently
tossed Leopold on the floor. As he did so, he soon got bigger and bigger, eventually
pushing Mara and Journey back as the plush grew so much larger.
\t“That’s it?” She asked, “Wow…I did it!”
\tMara stepped back and looked over the giant stuffed leopard.
\t“Yep, definitely a controller alright. Now, what was this about breaking his
armour?”
\tJourney looked over at Alana and Mara.
\t“Well, Leopold gave him the old one-two, repeatedly threw him around, and
then all of a sudden he’s on his back with something glowing in there. Is that like his
core or something?”
\t“Holy shit!” Alana said, “You exposed his stone. All you needed to do was
crack it and then you’ve sent him back out of the world. Topham couldn’t have
summoned that guy for another decade or so!”
\t“Well, next time, I’ll have to crack it!” Journey said.
\t“It won’t be that easy,” Mara said, “He must have not had his guard up when
you fought him. He’ll have his guard up if he comes after you again. We’re likely to
need more firepower, too.”
\tJourney sighed, as Leopold bent his oversized head over a bit.
\t“Joy…”
\t“Let’s just get down to business,” Mara said, “Will you join us? Will you join
the Manitou House?”
\tJourney looked over at Alana and Mara. It was rather hard to believe what
she went through – yet she was being offered some kind of hope.
\t“I’ll do it,” She said.
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