[BITPR2] Extra Episode 3: Intelligent Design

[Frozen_Feet]

The air is still. On the ground, nothing moves. Sand is perfectly still between stone monoliths basking in midday sun. Yet, white clouds hang lazily above, very slowly drifting over the sky. Reddish stone dust reaches as far as the eye can see. Not a single plant or animal breaks the monotony - the desert is perfectly devoid of any living being, its inorganic majesty untainted and pure.

... and then, a hatch opens in the sky, and a black ladder is lowered down.

"This", Mikael Rautiainen remarks, lifting up his shades, "is the second most awesome basement I've ever seen. Quite amazing something like this can be hidden in the middle of a city."

Mikael doesn't bother using the ladder. He jumps down, freefalling almost fifty meters before rapidly slowing down just before touching the ground. He causes a small cloud of sand to billow around him when he hits it. He is still wearing his modified military uniform, that is now quickly altering its color to fit the sand, as well as his shades and black leather boots. His bandages, though, have been changed for new ones a couple of times during the past week.

He walks a few steps away from the ladder, listening to the sound of his own feet. The vastness of this space is but an illusion - oh, the stone formations in near vicinity are real, but based on echoing sound, the real dimensions of this... cavern, you could call it... is a half-dome, around hundred meters in radius. Overall, size of good sports arena, but not limitless. The clouds and the blue sky above are nothing more than paint, or perhaps a hologram, as are the rocks that seem to dot the horizon. The "sun" is just a high-power halogen lamp, though to give such even illumination there must be other light sources hidden in the wall.

It is, indeed, a very peculiar place to have under one's house. Did the war veteran teacher and his onmyoji friend build it? Or did they just embellish an existing natural cavern? Or is this place even of this world? Behind the walls, Mikael can still feel presence of an Onmyodo barrier, a spherical force slightly larger than the actual cave. From its shape, Mikael can deduce the cave, too, is spherical, but its bottom has been covered in this dust... he kneels down and sweeps some of it to his hand. Hmmm. Iron oxide. Explains the reddish color. Just like on Mars, huh?

Mikael rises and glances back up. "Come on. We don't have all night." Above, in the old Onmyoji's house, is Haroda Tamaki. They asked for Hasunaga's permission to use this as a training field to explore their respective powers. Of course, while the Old Snake is not present himself (at least, not yet), they're not completely unsupervised. His friend is certainly keeping tabs on what the two are doing. Should he want to, he could activate his barrier and block any attempts to use Reiatsu within it.

Whether that would be enough to contain the bandaged man is another question, but hopefully it is one that doesn't have to be answered.

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki looked down from where Mikael had made his fifty meter free fall. He had not been idle in the week since his last meeting with the man. Having finally figured out what Mikael meant by speaking to the world, at least somewhat, he had been training with what he could do. It was mostly small things like 'pulling' on water through a straw to help him drink it, bending his pencils into complete circles, making a hat stand rigid even when pressed down upon, and other feats of prestidigitation. He had moved up to doing more complex things only yesterday and as such did not fancy his chances of replicating the man's feat. As such he clambered onto the ladder and then slid down it until he reached the bottom, 'asking' the metal he slid down not to heat up his hands.

When he reached the bottom he turned around and walked out to Mikael while also looking around in mild amazement. Like Mikael he could see scientific and logical reasons for most of the things here. However he was also not going to obsess over it. After all, it was what they could do here that was the real wonder of it. Well that, and if they had permission to use it then it had to have some supernatural stuff going on to prevent excessive damage. Finally focusing his full attention on the man he pushes his glasses up his nose as he says, "So, what are we going to be doing here? I can guess training our powers, but how do we start?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"That scarf", Mikael points at the red cloth around Tamaki's neck. "I've been wondering about it ever since we met. It acts unlike any other item I have conversed with. Why does it go through such extensive metamorphosis? And how? It seems to conjure matter out of nothing. That's something that doesn't happen when I alter an item."

"So the first thing I want to test is whether I can use it in the same way you do. Could you lend it to me for a moment?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki nods as he takes off the scarf and hands it Mikael. As he does so he says, "I don't know about my powers as a whole, but I do know about how my scarf, Red Joker, works. I know you probably think my armor is stupid, but Red Joker responds to me and who I am as a person. It's...my memories in a way. I've had it for years. I almost never take it off. However I'm losing the line of thinking I was on. I always wanted to be a hero, help other people who might have gone through things similar to me and perhaps even worse. However that's not the whole of it. The armor was just the first thing I materialized with my power unconsciously. My power has to do with how I see the world.

I've always tried to be a person who saw the world as a glass half-full. To try to see the better things that weren't always there to counteract the negative things that were oh so apparent. As such I always saw things that could be done, created. Just for a while I used to pretend that the world was without logic. That for just a while, anything was possible. All you had to do was imagine it. Hence the armor. It was the first thing that I imagined for myself, just the way I wanted it to be if I was a hero. My imagination used to be the one thing that I had for myself after....certain circumstances. I didn't interact with people much after those circumstances had happened. So I created my own little world in my head.

*sigh* What I'm trying to say is that I can, make things. Just about anything I think. However, there is only so much I can make. It's like my brain is a memory card and I only have a limited amount of space. The more complex or unrealistic the things I make are the harder it becomes to edit or delete them. Somethings like my armor of Plasma Vulcans are outright undeletable. I can't say for sure why it works like that. Just that it does. Is this making any sense to you?"

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael listens silently as Tamaki explains his case. He feels a little sting in his heart at the obvious blight of this young man. "Circumstances, you say?", he mutters as he takes the scarf. "Yes, it does make a certain amount of sense. Give me a moment."

Mikael feels the scarf, running it through his fingers, smells it, rubs it against his bandaged cheek, stretches it a bit, then curls it into a ball between his hands. Tamaki can hear him say... something, but it is not quite intelligible to him. There's a flash of blue light, and when Mikael moves his hands, Tamaki can see the scarf has changed color a bit. It's more red than it used to be. It also seems to be of different material - something smoother and finer, like high-grade silk.

Mikael feels it again, the grabs it firmly and - to Tamaki's horror - starts stretching it again, with much greater force than before. But the scarf doesn't tear, instead it stretches to double of its lenght. Mikael keeps it that way for a few seconds, then relaxes. The scarf snaps back to its original lenght, apparently no worse for the wear.

"Hmm. That's not how it works, apparently", Mikael mutters and hands the scarf back towards Tamaki. Its color fades somewhat as it returns to the material it was before. "You. Try to invoke its powers a couple of times. I'll see if I can learn something from that."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki nods stiffly, quite happy that his greatest treasure is unharmed. Taking the scarf back form Mikael the man can easily see Tamaki's posture relax from having the material back in his hands again. Indeed, if he could sense it the piece of fabric seems to almost reciprocate the feeling. Reaching out to the familiar bond he had with the scarf Tamaki called upon it's power. Deciding that transforming would be a bit too much for a small demonstration he instead lifts his left and forward and uses the little bit of free space that he leaves himself for smaller, simpler items. His Reiryoku builds as within Tamaki's hand there is a small flash of light before a round metal ball is there. Tamaki hands it to Mikael as he says, "Here, my imagination made real."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael has assumed a ponderous stance, left hand on his waist while his right holds his chin. He nods at Tamaki's demonstration. "Interesting. You just had the idea for that ball, didn't you? It indeed seems the scarf is responsive to your thoughts and wishes."

"But I need more to confirm my hypothesis. Can you detach one of those miniguns from your armor? Or create just a single gun? I want to dismantle one and see what it looks like on the inside."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki nods at Mikael as he says, "Okay then, but first a more complete demonstration. After all creating the ball was just one thing I wanted to show you." With the Tamaki turns his hand over to let the metal ball fall to the ground. The metal ball hits the ground and... it bounces! It hits the ground and then bounces up high, above the two's heads and then comes back down and lands back in Tamaki's hands. He lets it fade from existence as he lets out a small sigh. However he does comply with the second request.

Tamaki closes his eyes as he fully concentrates this time. His armor was something he never tried to conjure in parts before. He also never tried to conjure it as not a part of himself. However it should be simple if his power worked like he though. He just had to use...his imagination! With that another bright flash of light shined in Tamaki's hands, this time a bright crimson red. When it faded one of his Plasma Vulcans would be in his hands. Once more he hands his creation to Mikael.

[Frozen_Feet]

The bandages man blinks behind his shades as Tamaki drops the ball down. He isn't quite grasping what the younger man is trying to show him. Then, it bounces... no, jumps up, and Mikael lifts his shades and whistles. "Wow. Neat trick. You changed elasticity of both the ground and the ball, didn't you? You're getting quite good at speaking with things. I bet you've been experimenting behind my back."

After being handed the gun, Mikael promptly places the weapon on the ground and picks it apart. It takes him a couple of minutes to figure how - he somewhat needlessly pulls off part of the outer casing with sheer brute strenght, only noticing the nuts and bolts that kept it shut after the fact. "Oops."

After the gun has been separated into its component parts, Mikael lays them on the ground into neat rows, before picking one small piece (one of the broken bolts) up into his hand. Once more, Tamaki can hear him speaking, but the words don't quite translate. And just like that, the piece vanishes, leaving nothing behind.

"Hmmm. Just like I thought. Good thing I didn't try that with the whole gun." Mikael kneels back down next to the parts, and starts putting the gun back together. The broken parts fix when he holds them together in his hands and speaks to them, so the whole weapon can be reconstructed.

Then, he aims it away from Tamaki, towards one of the big rocks around. "Stand back", he commands - and pulls the trigger.

There's a click, the protective sheath pulls back and the barrel starts to roll... but not a single shot is fired. After a second, the barrel stops, and the gun lets out a sad beep. "Huh? Out of ammunition?" Mikael would quirk an eyebrow, if he had any.

He tries again, but the weapon just beeps and does nothing.

"Hmmm. Interesting. You. Give it a shot." Mikael points towards the rock with the Plasma Vulcan, then hands the weapon back to Tamaki.

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki smiles a little as he nods at Mikael's question. "Yeah I have. It just clicked when I saw and talked to you a week ago. I've been practicing ever since. However changing the elasticity of the ground is something that I had been doing subconsciously. I just thought I was a power I had. SO at least that's one thing our powers have in common."

He then watches as the older man takes apart the weapon with great interest, wondering what he could be looking for. He looks interested at what Mikael is speaking and when parts of the gun disappear. He looks surprised when Mikael is unable to fire the gun though. And then he mentions ammo. It suddenly becomes clear when he mentions ammo.

He takes it from Mikael as he says, "Ah, now I get it. It doesn't use ammo. Instead the gun takes, shapes, alters, and then fires spiritual energy as a sort of plasma like substance. So to use them I channel my power like so, and then...." Letting actions speak louder than words Tamaki fires at the boulder with the weapons that he has become so familiar with over the months, ripping it to pieces in short order.

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael watches contemplatively as the molten-hot plasma bullets slowly reduce the boulder to dust. After the demonstration is over and the sound has quieted, he speaks. "Where did you get the idea of this weapon? Did you design it yourself, or were there existing blueprints?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki shakes his head as he says, "Well, not anything exact really. I basically knew about how gatling guns worked, but I worked the rest out though my imagination, and what I thought would be *sigh* cool at the time. That's just it though what I imagine, not what is logical, is what seems to be important. I honestly have no idea how it takes my spirit energy to make the bullets nor do I understand the process that is used to turn the energy into bullets other than a vague understanding of what it should be be like."

[Frozen_Feet]

"I see..."

The bandaged foreigner starts rummaging through his pockets. He pulls out a pen, a small flashlight, a pocket knife and 1 € coin.

"The reason I can't fire that gun is because I don't have your imagination. I could pour all my spiritual might into it and it would make no difference."

Mikael lays the objects on the ground before Tamaki.

"Before I started walking the Earth, I did quite a bit of testing. To see what I could or couldn't do. But it was inconclusive. I had no point of comparison... So I stopped, out of fear what might happen."

Mikael picks up the pen and holds it up between his fingers. "But now, I think I have identified one common limitation to our powers. It is information."

Mikael utters a word, and the pencil falls apart, its pieces falling down to the ground. "I can bring an item up, or break it down. But only by one step. For a long time, I wondered why. How does the item know what to do? When to stop? It can't be just about what I want, because then, why would there be such arbitrary limit? But now I have a working hypothesis."

Mikael picks up the knife. One word, and its blade changes shape, its handle becomes of less flimsy construction. The sheen of the metal also changes.

"Each object, when made, gains a purpose and becomes mystically linked with it beyond its mere physical form... You could call it a Platonic ideal, or perhaps a soul. And that's what limits me. No single object is made to do everything. That's why, say, a pen never turns into a knife."

The knife returns to how it was. "I can neither destroy or create that purpose - not without physically destroying or creating an item myself. When I reduce an item, I can only... I mean, they must stay in such form that their original form or purpose can still be recreated or at least deduced. And likewise, when I improve them, I can only make them closer to ideal - to perfection. But only so far as laws of physics allow."

Mikael points to Tamaki with his free hand. "That's why that part of your gun vanished. There is no information for what it is made of - because you never imagined it in such detail. I think the same would've happened had I tried to improve it - because you never imagined a better version of it either. The only spirit your gun has is that which you supply - everything else is just... Non-existence."

"But there's a cave-at - why I think you can't delete your armor. Once an idea has been put forth, it can't be destroyed - and since your imagination is only place where it exists, you can't remove it from there. That would be like destroying., part of your own soul, I suppose. Not before your armor is recreated through some other means, at least. Which might be impossible."

[AnimeKid]

After Mikael's explaination Tamaki nods with a contemplative expression on his face as he whispers to himself, "Naru-hodo."
he rubs his china little as he thinks about Mikael's words further and nods his head once more as he says, "That could be also why I can delete more mundane things like a concrete block. I know exactly what it's made of and it in fact does exist in the real world. So my imagination doesn't latch onto it as tightly, because it is real and not purely fictional and my mind knows that. Interesting." Tamaki frankly looks fascinated by this as seems to be thinking at a mile a minute.

Thankfully he shakes himself out of it as he looks to Mikael once more. "So now we know about my powers. What about yours? So far it seems that you can break things down or build them up. Should we see if I can do things like that to see if I can replicate the effect?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"You've already began doing it. The way you altered the ground is an example. It will just take time and experience before you can talk to every item. It's like learning new languages. Those you grew up with are easiest to understand."

"Which brings me back to your scarf. Can you borrow it to me for a bit again?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki nods as he hands over the scarf, replying to the man as he does. "I see, so even breaking it down is something I can eventually learn to do. Though if you can't do what I can with my scarf, then that implies that people that have powers similar to us have a set of general abilities as well as something they specialize in or only they can use. So if my is Red Joker, then what's yours?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"That is a good question." No elaboration follows. For a moment, Mikael just holds the scarf and watches it silently. "Tell me... This scarf appears to be very precious to you. Almost as if it was a person rather than an object. I saw your horror when I stretched it."

"For what little time I've been here, I've never seen you without it. It can't be just for fighting Hollows, because that is not its basic function. Your armor and guns, are really just afterthoughts. So what makes it so important? What does it symbolize to you?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki is silent for a moment, looking down at the ground. He looks at the man before him with his usual eyes as he decided to give him a censored version of what he is asking for. "This scarf was a gift from my uncle that I got 3 years ago. Due to the 'circumstances' I hinted at earlier I had begun to detach myself from the world. Forced myself to not care about many things, convince myself that the real world didn't matter to me and that nothing in it affected me. When I moved in with my uncle he gave me this scarf as a welcome home present. He got it for me just because he wanted to and thought I needed something to be happy about. By that time I hadn't expressed emotion in so long that I imagined I looked quite stoic and ungrateful. However he didn't comment on it nor did it change how he treated me. He [Connected] me to the [real world] again after I had retreated to my [inner world] after having been there for a while. This scarf symbolizes that to me. He helped me get over and deal with the 'circumstances' that led me to him. Got me to start living in the real world again and interacting with people. In a way I guess I saw my uncle as a hero."

(OOC: If it feels like Tamaki is being a little too forth coming this is a very censored version. He is telling about the results of the 'circumstances' and not about them himself. He has gotten over them but doesn't talk about them so easily. He is essentially telling the pg version of his story.)

[Frozen_Feet]

"... If you'd not been given that scarf, do you think you would still be alive?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki looks a little surprised at the question before he answers. "I would still be alive. However I would probably not be the person that I am today. "

[Frozen_Feet]

Tamaki's surprise relieves the foreigner somewhat. "Yeah, you would probably be much worse off. The kind of disillusionment you describe is typical of depressed people. It usually doesn't end well."

He nods towards the scarf. "But as food for thought, it could be said this scarf is your lifeline. It is what ties your heart to this world. What would you do if something happened to it - or your uncle, for that matter?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki gains a look of extreme anger on his face for a moment, the most emotion that Mikael has ever seen from him, before his expression calms down but is still visibly angry at the scenario he was presented. "I would be...very upset if something were to happen to my scarf. As for my uncle....as long as it wasn't intentional I think I would be okay. He always told me to try to live my life to the fullest. He wouldn't be happy if I stopped living just to mourn him. I wouldn't want to dissapoint him like that. However, if someone ever...intentionally harmed him? They had better sleep with one eye open if they don't want to go to sleep and not wake back up."

That last statement from Tamaki is met with a deadly seriousness. He thinks for a moment as he says, "I realize how that must sound, however I don't know if I could forgive anyone who would deliberately try to take him from me."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael places the scarf on his shoulders, kneeling to pick up pieces of the pen and the other items as he listens. "... I understand why you feel that way. But does it occur to you that is how a soul must feel a moment before it becomes a Hollow?"

Mikael pockets the items and straightens up. "I've been thinking about it... when I first saw a Hollow, the kind without a mask, I thought it was like me. That we were of the same species. I was informed I was wrong, but I do think our kind, you and me, are similar to them in many ways."

"A Hollow's mask... that which gives it its power... is a remnant of its heart. As almost anyone could become a Hollow, this implies the heart of even the plainest human contains a great deal of power. But for some reason, it isn't ordinarily available. A trigger is needed, for it to manifest himself. And I theorize the answer lies in suffering."

Mikael takes off his shades and hangs them from the chest pocket of his uniform. "I admit my sample population is a bit small in this regard, but no-one with abilities seems to have led what I would call a happy life. Think about it. Hasunaga-sensei is a war veteran, with all the horrors that implies. Your friend Chuck had his family attacked by Hollows. You, obviously have your issues. I don't know about the rest... but I think the point has been made."

Mikael pats the scarf. "You probably know the saying. 'What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.' And to an extent, it is true - hardship and your ties to the world, can be a source of strenght. But only if you learn from them. Only if you don't let them overcome you."

"Because even if something doesn't kill you, it might leave you broken and crippled. Inability to let go of things you hold dear will turn them into obsessions, and that way leads to madness. You must remember what I said earlier." Mikael points at Tamaki.

"The difference between you and a common Hollow is not in your morals. It is not in your powers. In almost every respect, you are just one feeble step away from becoming one. The difference is that you are still alive. You can take a step back and choose differently. Choose to let go, choose to forgive."

"I don't fault you for thinking you might not be able to do that. If anything, it shows a healthy degree of humility. There's a reason forgiveness is held in such high regard. It is not easy. It is always easier to hold a grudge. It is always easier to meet violence with more violence, evil with more evil. In a way, it is fair too. But if you think 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' is the highest paradigm, you will soon end up in a world where everyone is blind and toothless."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki looks down at the ground, seemingly wrestling with Mikael's words. He thinks them over for a moment before he slowly nods. "Well that does make a certain amount of sense. SO our powers are closer to that of hollows because of how they manifest? Because of our connections to the things we care for? I have to admit is sounds far fetched but at the same time makes a great deal of sense. Many stories on the supernatural tell of ghosts that haunt and wreak havoc on this world because they can not move on thanks to attachments to this world. If my powers come from my bond with my scarf I could see how that would translate.

In a way it's kind of similar to how people say when a person you love dies, sometimes the other wants nothing more than to die in order to be with their loved one again. As for 'eye for an eye'...It's one of the most basic lessons that we learn. However it's also the hardest to put into practice. I recognize the need to abandon that kind of thinking, for it usually only breeds more of the same. However some times that kind of solution is inevitable. I do agree that it should not be the modus operandi though."

[Frozen_Feet]

"Inevitable, maybe. But that doesn't make it right. Necessity is good' greatest enemy."

"The way my Hollow friend formulated it made it sound like it is natural fate of all souls to eventually become Hollows. But I don't think even he really desires it. It is just end result of how the world is, like heat death of the universe."

Mikael begins unbuttoning his jacket. "But enough rambling. You wanted to see my powers. I'll have to take this off to do that. A question, though - how did you receive my message a week ago?"

[AnimeKid]

"Inevitable, maybe. But that doesn't make it right. Necessity is good' greatest enemy."

"The way my Hollow friend formulated it made it sound like it is natural fate of all souls to eventually become Hollows. But I don't think even he really desires it. It is just end result of how the world is, like heat death of the universe."

Mikael begins unbuttoning his jacket. "But enough rambling. You wanted to see my powers. I'll have to take this off to do that. A question, though - how did you receive my message a week ago?"

"That's just the thing isn't it? Sometimes such a thing may even be the best option. For example Genghis Khan. Would it had been better if he had been killed before he could start the dynasty? I don't know about you but if it would have saved all of those people I would have done it. However there are probably a lot of people who wouldn't. The line blurs when it's not just one person being affected. Still, maybe you're right.

As for you message? Well other than the fact that when you actually flair you Reiryoku you light up like a Christmas tree there is also the act that I have this nifty little device. It picks up spiritual power and translates it into a type and then assigns a color to represent it. The brighter the light the more powerful the signature. It picks up Hollows pretty reliably and also you when you flair your power." To prove his point Tamaki points to a little watch that is attached to his wrist.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Interesting. I'll have to take a look at that device once we're done." The method of detection Tamaki uses has been bugging the hell out of Mikael for a week now. He meant to ask about it then, but Chuck made him lose his train of thought.

After the buttons are open, Mikael unzips the jacket. "Brace yourself." He takes it off and folds it on a nearby stone.

Immediately, the watch starts beeping.

Mikael stands, taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes. His torso and arms are covered only by a layer of cotton gauze, while Tamaki's scarf hangs loosely around his neck. And there, with his eyes shut, the mam imagines - or more accurately, recalls - a landscape.

A shadow grows around his feet, and soon Tamaki is swallowed by darkness. The sand and stones turn from rusty red to bone white, the sun becomes silver sickle of the moon and the blue heavens fade to show a cold, starlit nightsky. The air becomes heavy with pressure and howling, like a million lost souls screaming for vengeance.

But the scarf still remains. When the stranger opens his eyes, he pulls it from around his neck and grabs it with both hands...

... And tears off one corner of the cloth, the ripping sound echoing through air like a scream of pain. Mikael crumples the shred inside his right fist, while throwing the rest of the scarf to Tamaki's feet. Activate your armor.

[AnimeKid]

"Interesting. I'll have to take a look at that device once we're done." The method of detection Tamaki uses has been bugging the hell out of Mikael for a week now. He meant to ask about it then, but Chuck made him lose his train of thought.

After the buttons are open, Mikael unzips the jacket. "Brace yourself." He takes it off and folds it on a nearby stone.

Immediately, the watch starts beeping.

Mikael stands, taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes. His torso and arms are covered only by a layer of cotton gauze, while Tamaki's scarf hangs loosely around his neck. And there, with his eyes shut, the mam imagines - or more accurately, recalls - a landscape.

A shadow grows around his feet, and soon Tamaki is swallowed by darkness. The sand and stones turn from rusty red to bone white, the sun becomes silver sickle of the moon and the blue heavens fade to show a cold, starlit nightsky. The air becomes heavy with pressure and howling, like a million lost souls screaming for vengeance.

But the scarf still remains. When the stranger opens his eyes, he pulls it from around his neck and grabs it with both hands...

... And tears off one corner of the cloth, the ripping sound echoing through air like a scream of pain. Mikael crumples the shred inside his right fist, while throwing the rest of the scarf to Tamaki's feet. Activate your armor.

Tamaki's eyes widened at the metamorphosis that occurred before him. The area had become completely different and now exuded a pressure that wasn't there before. The Mikael ripped his scarf. Suddenly everything else that had happened before didn't seem as significant and the cut of cloth was thrown to his feet. His eyes displayed a great deal of anger, though he appeared to be trying to restrain it as he tied the scarf around his neck once more. He did his best to assume that there was a method to the madness that Mikael had done.

He was still mad as hell though. So it was with that he activated the scarf and donned his armor with the usual fair. Standing before Mikael was the armor clad figure that had assisted him in battle before.

[Frozen_Feet]

As Tamaki dons his armor, something else also changes. Mikael's bandages unravel and rise to the sky before burning in black flames and evaporating as smoke. Underneath...

... There is no human skin. Instead, there is a pattern of black and white scales, akin to some northern serpents. The stranger's face becomes obscured by a smooth, bone white mask, only leaving his eyes visible - but they are no longer eyes of a man, they are color-inverted eyes of a snake, pitch-black with slit pupils of pure white. One stretch of bandage stays behind, wrapping around the stranger's neck, eeriely resembling Tamaki's own scarf. He can see a stripe of red in it, as if the shred of his scarf had been woven into it.

And through the stranger's left shoulder, there's a hole. Tamaki can see the altered landscape right through it! Around the hole, is a bone ornament - a snake or a dragon gnawing it's own tail, forming a neat circle around the hole.

Oh, that part's just got to be Tamaki's imagination, right? Right?

What are you staring at? Come at me! This fearsome figure points a hand at Tamaki and tauntingly flicks its fingers, gesturing him to attack.

[AnimeKid]

As Tamaki dons his armor, something else also changes. Mikael's bandages unravel and rise to the sky before burning in black flames and evaporating as smoke. Underneath...

... There is no human skin. Instead, there is a pattern of black and white scales, akin to some northern serpents. The stranger's face becomes obscured by a smooth, bone white mask, only leaving his eyes visible - but they are no longer eyes of a man, they are color-inverted eyes of a snake, pitch-black with slit pupils of pure white. One stretch of bandage stays behind, wrapping around the stranger's neck, eeriely resembling Tamaki's own scarf. He can see a stripe of red in it, as if the shred of his scarf had been woven into it.

And through the stranger's left shoulder, there's a hole. Tamaki can see the altered landscape right through it! Around the hole, is a bone ornament - a snake or a dragon gnawing it's own tail, forming a neat circle around the hole.

Oh, that part's just got to be Tamaki's imagination, right? Right?

What are you staring at? Come at me! This fearsome figure points a hand at Tamaki and tauntingly flicks its fingers, gesturing him to attack.

Tamaki clenches his fists as his Plasma Vulcans fold out of their sheaths in the armor. The stirrup grips that feel so familiar in his hands are now being gripped tightly as the barrels start to spin rapidly, a pale blue light building up in them. "Hello misplaced aggression." With that Tamaki starts firing on Mikael, however he is not stupid enough to remain stationary. He immediately starts running to the side while firing, all the while keeping his sensors tuned for Mikael's probable counterattack.

[Frozen_Feet]

The... alien's... right hand moves to cover its eyes. Other than that, it stays still. A mocking sigh emanates from under the bone mask. Weak. You know your bullets can't injure me. Through this armor, I barely feel a sting. The creature moves its hand and turns just enough so it can follow Tamaki's movement.

You think you can win like this? Even the basest Hollow has more and deeper reasons to be angry at the world than you do. Try to fight them in that game, and you'll be outmatched every time.

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki heard the creatures words as he slowly started to calm down. Even if they weren't hurting him much, just the fact that his bullets were hitting was therapeutic. Now he could start thinking a bit clearer. Okay then, from what his sensors could see, those scales weren't just for show. They were actually a kind of armor. From there he could extrapolate that when Mikael took that piece of his scarf, that he was able to somehow use Tamaki's powers, or at least imitate them since he didn't seem like the type to go for armor.

So then the best way to approach this was to continue doing what he was doing. Don't let him bait you into doing something stupid. Even if his bullets were doing only the minimal amount of damage they were still doing something, and the rapid fire meant that the damage could build up. Even metal will break if you pound it for long enough. So he kept to his strategy of playing the long haul. Fire and evade. Every so often he would stop firing from one vulcan to perform a sort of charged shot for a burst of increased damage. He had to make sure that he played it safe until he could properly analyze what Mikael could do.

[Frozen_Feet]

The continued hail of bullets knocks of a couple of the creature's scales. It doesn't seem to mind. Instead, it starts to slowly walk towards Tamaki, always turning around just enough to keep facing him. What's this? Think you can just run around in circles around me all day? The sparkling blue plasma bullets richochet from the creature's body and veer wildly in different directions. You may have limitless bullets, but how's your legs? Keep jumping around like a bunny and you'll just tire yourself out.

[AnimeKid]

Beneath the mask of his armor Tamaki narrowed his eyes. He was deliberately trying to wait him out as well. That or this was solely to see what Tamaki could do rather than actual sparring. This thought flew through Tamaki's head as he continued to fire. When the creatures next words came Tamaki had to admit he had a point. Even though his armor was specifically made to assist with agility and mobility the technology could only help his body's efficiency so much. It was then that Tamaki would take his last leap, placing himself a bit of a ways away from Mikael and stop firing. He wasn't tired, not yet but sometimes you just have to adopt a new strategy, to experiment.

As such he materialized his Adjudicator. The kite shield was brought to bear in a defensive position on his left hand. He then activated the beam emitters on it to create the plasma-like blade of spiritual energy. Having readied himself for any melee or ranged attacks Mikael might pull Tamaki's right hand vulcan started continually spinning but not firing anything. As it did this a light blue glow started to collect in the chamber, readying for the release of a fully charged blast. His HUD was constantly helping him keep track of his adversary as well as try to predict it's moves.

[Frozen_Feet]

The creature stops sideways to Tamaki, observing him materialize his shield. The blue glow gathering inside the barrel of his gun is also noted. For a second, it looks like the creature is just going to wait for him to take the shot... and then it vanishes.

Well, that's not quite true. There's a clear line of dust being kicked up as the creature charges out of Tamaki's line of aim - and then sharply changes course and heads straight for him! The motion sensors in his helmet beep frantically to alarm him to the danger a split-second before it kicks his right arm.

[AnimeKid]

Reacting as fast as possible to his armor's motion sensor Tamaki attempts to take the creatures strategy as his own. Counter high speed movement with the smallest amount of movement necessary. As such Tamaki attempts to turn when his motion sensor and HUD detects the change in attack angles in an attempt to have the attack hit the Adjudicator shield. After all the strategy wasn't exactly ground breaking. Actually the dust cloud provided adequate hint as to what the creatures plan was. Part two involved pulling on the soul of the ground to stick tightly to his feet, to keep it and him rooted. Part three involved shoving the right hand vulcan into the creatures torso for a point blank charge shot. Three simple steps, he just had to perform less movement in less time, but could he do even that?

(OOC: Basically I'm leaving this in your hands for how this engagement plays out. Mostly because I'm not quite sure how fast Mikael is moving.)

[Frozen_Feet]

Tamaki is quick enough to shove his shield to the way of the kick... but the rest of his plan could use some working. Not because the plan is bad. Not, even, because he is too slow. He's simply too light! The creature's foot impacts the Adjudicator, the shock painfully reverberating from the shield to Tamaki's arm. Even with his feet rooted, his upper body is pushed back, the shot that was supposed to hit the creature's chest going wide and hitting the ceiling.

It doesn't press its attack, though. Instead, it jumps back using the shield as a foothold, landing on top of one of the stone monoliths. It observes the Red Joker while waiting for him to regain his balance.

[AnimeKid]

As his shot goes wide Tamaki curses to himself as he awaits the inevitable follow up. He thanks his lucky stars when it does not come and the creature retreats to a nearby stone monolith. Tamaki pants a little from the slight rush he got at nearly getting hit by that much power. It was clear to him now, in terms of sheer ability he was outclassed. He had to do something, anything to get an upper edge. Unfortunately he didn't have anymore space to create another weapon like his Adjudicator or his Plasma Vulcans. The only thing he had practiced was interacting with the world around him, and that couldn't help! Or.....could it?

The mask of the armor hides Tamaki's contemplative expression as he regains his balance and stands tall against the creature. To pull at the world, manipulate it. Who said he had to think conventionally to do that. Why not shoot for the stars? Even if you miss you'll hit the moon. So concentrating, not on his readouts but on the world around him Tamaki reaches out in all directions. A slight tug at first, and it is then that he knows this will work. The only question was, would it provide the surprise and the advantage he needed? Time to find out, it was experimentation time!

Tamaki crouches his legs as he jumps into the air, a flash of bringer light accompanying his boosted jump. For a moment his above Mikael, who might be waiting for the inevitable moment that he comes down. Only that moment would never come. With the same green energy that precluded his jump swirling around him before disappearing, he would find that Tamaki was standing, seemingly, on air! There's that flash again as he moves forward, and he is far faster than he was on the ground! He shoots forward, the Adjudicator brought forward so that it's plasma-like blade was brought to bear. About halfway way though there would be another flash of light at Tamaki changed directions shooting to the side as he brings forward the Vulcan which he attempted to hide behind himself and fire another charge shot at Mikael, and then keep on the pressure with regular shots.

[Frozen_Feet]

The creature waits patiently for Tamaki to make his move. He can't see it, but the stranger behind the bone mask is smiling. The creature braces itself as the blade is aimed towards it, but then Tamaki changes directions. The creature's eyes dart towards Tamaki. As the charged shot is fired, its hands move in a blur, and the shot just...

... disappears?

Well, it's not like either it or Tamaki have time to focus on this fact, as soon the hail of plasma bullets descends on it again. It jumps off the monolith... and suspends itself in midair. Oh. It can fly as well. That's c...

There is a flash of green light as the creature accelerates towards Tamaki, attempting to ram him against the wall of this space and pin him there.

[AnimeKid]

Oh, Oh that's just lovely. Tamaki watches at the creature advances. Even with them traveling in the same direction through the air he can't escape. So he might as well use the creatures on own speed and strength against it. That is what runs through Tamaki's mind when his sensors tell him of the encroaching wall. There is a green flash of light from Tamaki as he reorients himself so that he is facing Mikael fully and accelerates as hard as he can in the opposite direction that he was just going. As he does this the Adjudicator hefted in front of him as he speeds forward Superman style. This time there is no feint as he attempts to shove the blade into the creatures abdomen. Should he manage to get in a good enough hit he would attempt to use the pilebunker to do some damage.

[Frozen_Feet]

Colliding with the fast-flying near-indestructible Hollow-thing? Maybe not the best idea Tamaki's had today, but as the black-and-white figurine crashes against him with bone-rattling force, he can feel his blade pressing against something... if he wants to use his Pilebunker, it's now or never.

[AnimeKid]

Well, he was already going to collide with it at high speed. Now it's just on his terms....sort of. When he feels the impact he knows now is the time. He triggers the mechanism and lets it ride on this one move. The pilebunker disengages from it's sheath to shoot forward thanks to the high powered spring loaded mechanism to slam into Mikael. Hopefully this was going to hurt the creature as much as the impact had hurt him. He somehow doubted it though.

[Frozen_Feet]

The collision doesn't quite stop the two fighters - the Hollow-thing has greater momentum, so they still get carried towards the wall, albeit much slower. Then, Tamaki launches his secret weapon. The creature's eyes widen in shock and it instinctively grabs Tamaki to hold itself in place.

There is only one thing Tamaki underestimated: he toughness of the beast. As the pneumatic spike is shot forward, it impacts with the black-and-white armor scales, but they are too hard for it to pierce. So it follows path of least resistance, snapping under the stress, with sharp metal fragments ricocheting to the sides and towards Tamaki's own arm and face. Hopefully, his shield and armor are strong enough to protect him from the shrapnell.

As the shock wears off, the creature lets go of Tamaki.

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki's eyes widen in shock as his pilebunker shatters, which was a first for him. Luckily the shield deflected the shrapnel that soared towards his arm, which had the least protection. Somewhat less luckily the armor around his face was not as durable as the shied, but not a thin as the armor around the arms. The result of this was Tamaki's mask shattering and his face taking quite a bit of bludgeoning force. Thankfully his face is not shredded as the two of them impact the wall behind, Tamaki's body taking some more blunt force trauma before the creature lets him go and he falls to the ground, his armor cracked in several places. He manages to weakly sit himself up as he looks at the creature that bested him. "*cough, cough* Oh, I'm going to feel that one in the morning. So I'm guessing that's a wrap then? *cough, cough*"

[Frozen_Feet]

The creature floats down before Tamaki. Its breathing sounds labored and it is holding its stomach. It looks down on Tamaki's battered form, then straightens up and lets its hand fall to the side. Tamaki can see a hole where the pilebunker hit, but now the creature's scales are moving and adjusting to cover it. Even the cracks on the creature's mask are sealing shut. In the end, it doesn't seem like he did much damage at all...

... and then the picture flickers, a light shining through the darkness. And in one moment, the gloomy environment is gone. Everything is back to the way it was before. Mikael stands wrapped in bandages before Tamaki, the only peculiar thing being a growing black spot around his abdomen.

"... yeah, you kind of overdid it. Was something wrong? For a moment there, it felt like you were honestly fighting for your life. Didn't expect you to get so angry about that scarf..."

[AnimeKid]

"It was partly the scarf, the other part was that there were moments that I forgot that you were you. It was almost like I was fighting an actual Hollow. There were points where I thought of you as a creature instead of just Mikael. Didn't help that you seemed to warp this entire area. A few times I did think that my life was on the line. Though you could have warned me how much I was going to get my ass kicked." The last line is said with a slight joking air as he dismisses his armor as well.

He is more bruised up than Mikael but he isn't near crippled either. More like he just came off worse in a street fight. He brings himself to his feet as he says, "So that's your power? You can kind of imitate others?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"No. That was your power - or rather, the power of your scarf - I borrowed." Mikael opens his palm and extends it towards Tamaki. The shred is still there. "I wanted to test if just part of it could replicate the whole effect. At close proximity like this at least, it appears to work."

"But a Hollow, you say? Tell me, what do you think the landscape you saw was?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki pushes up his glasses as he says, "If I had to make an intelligent guess? I would put my money on Hueco Mundo. It seems the most likely, as the landscape definitely didn't looking like any earthly place."

[Frozen_Feet]

"That is correct." Mikael puts the shred of the scarf to pocket of his trousers. "I tried to replicate it the best I could, down to the feel of the atmosphere. It helped this place is already reminescent of it."

"As you can see, I fit right in. Though you are not far from that, either. Did you realize? When you put on a mask and go bump in the night, you act much like a Hollow. The mask, it dehumanizes you. Your armor might make you more in some regards, but it also makes you less. Through it, one can't see a 'highschool student'. One only sees armed and dangerous person."

Mikael grabs his stomach again. The stain on his bandages has stopped growing, but they're still wet with something inky and black that supposedly is Mikael's blood. "Urgh... what's that spike weapon made for? Piercing tank armor? It's a good thing you were sparring against me. You could've killed someone with that. Something to keep in mind in the future."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki rubs the back of his head in an embarrassed manner as he says, "Well nothing else was doing any damage what so ever. And the pilebunker is more of a desperation all or nothing attack. It's kind of slow to retract so it leaves me open for a bit after I use it. Though you are right in that I should be careful who I use it against. Still, at first I didn't think even that did any damage to you.

As for the dehumanizing part of my armor, well that was somewhat intentional. I wanted it so that no one would connect Tamaki, the proper and intelligent high schooler, to the Red Joker. At least I know it works in that respect."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael stays silent for a moment, watching Tamaki with a concerned look in his eyes. "Desperation attack, you say?" Mikael beckons towards few small rocks nearby, before walking to them and sitting on one. He expects Tamaki to sit down as well.

"Remember what Hasunaga-sensei said about humanoid Hollows? How he considers them the most dangerous of all? Well, in almost all respects that matter, I am one. I am as strong as the strongest of them, or at least that's what my experience and words of my Hollow friend suggests. That is why I find his concerns for my safety... well-meaning, but somewhat misguided. My Hollow friend, too, warned me of going to his city, but if I take his other words at face value, then I should be in little or no danger."

"I am not a sardine, going to swim among sharks - I am another shark, or a dolphin."

"The question you should be asking, is what are you?"

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki sits down as well as he listens to Mikael's words. He understands what he is saying and could quite frankly see what he was talking about. Even his pilebunker had only done minimal damage to the man. "Well at this point at best I'm a remora if we were to be there now. I would mostly be looking towards you for being the 'muscle' as it were. Of course changing that is at the top of my priority list. Though I do get what your saying. I'm not a top dog over there. Then again that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm not strong. Just not as strong as their strongest. But ignore that part, that was my pride speaking up. I get that I need training is basically what I'm saying."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael lets out a small laugh. "If you are a remora, then you could go to the city no problem. Sharks ignore such fish." He resumes a more solemn tone. "More seriously, being weaker than them might be a boon. It means you won't be perceived as a threat. That is... something I think your friends may be missing in this conflict."

"Remember what Hasunaga said, of Hollows leaving this world? Becoming dissatisfied? It's because they can no longer gain sustenance from mere ghosts of humans. That's why they are so rarely seen here. They have no stake in this world."

"That is also why I think that Chuck guy is absurd to think of this as a war. Each Hollow like me has destructive power comparable to modern fighter plane. If they actually took war to you, a city like this would be reduced to a rubble in days. It would take an army - a real army, with tanks, artillery and air support - to really combat them."

"What you've been doing so far is picking on strays. The Hollows you fight on this side of the border are invidual occasions. They have no unified goals, no chain of command, no logistical structure. They are not combatants, not an army - they are just beasts, emerging from misery of the world. If you kill one, it is almost irrelevant to others."

Mikael points a finger at Tamaki. "But what if you were to kill a citizen of this Hollow city? What if the Hollows really did organize against you? Your armor and guns are nice, but while they are impressive for infantry gear, they do not place you above even highest levels of conventional warfare. They do not make you a one-man army."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki seriously contemplates Mikael's words before nodding slowly. It did make sense with what they already knew. Hollow's weren't seen here that often, and that they were weak enough to pick them off. He had often wondered what the stronger Hollow's were like, and if they fed on spiritual energy, how did they sustain themselves? These ran through his head rather quickly as he says, "That makes a lot of sense actually. It is also a little disheartening. But c'est la vie I suppose. I get your point though. I'll make sure to be on my best behavior around them. Wouldn't want to inadvertently start WW3 after all."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael sighs from relief. "Yes. You're starting to get it. It is a recipe for trouble to paint an entire species as your enemies and treat them like such regardless of how they act. It's one thing entirely to defend yourself, to do what is necessary to stay alive - and another to go fight Hollows on purpose."

"From what Hasunaga-sensei has told me, that is the root of the hostility between Shinigami and Hollows. The former relentlessly hunt the latter - it may be for a good or necessary purpose, but it should be no wonder if Hollows resent them. They are afraid for their existence. It is the exact same feeling you feel towards them, when you are being hunted."

Mikael shrugs. "... but, it seems the city of Las Noches, at least, has made its peace with Shinigami. I hope it will last. But that's also why I feel the need to go and see it myself. These are new developments - they are not in books or photographs for us to read. I want to witness them, and the ground they stand on, with my own eyes. That's the only way to confirm their veracity - and if they have no veracity, then musing like ours are meaningless."

Mikael leans his elbows on his knees and sighs. "When I couldn't confirm the depths of my strenght alone, I became... afraid. I stopped. If not for... all this, I would've been content to spend the rest of my life not knowing anything more than I did then. Well... maybe. It's impossible to confirm now."

"But the time for being afraid is over. Even if it means travelling to other worlds and risking my neck fighting gods and ghosts. There is no other option." The man lets out a bitter chuckle. "Of course, it helps I have already destroyed my life. Burned the bridges behind me. It would be impossible for me to return to the life I had before. It's not the same for you. You still have your uncle... and your friends. If you wanted to, you could let go of your powers. Or maybe use them for something more constructive... become a firefighter, maybe? Or a policeman? Something like that."

[strawberryman]

There's a swift sliding noise, then a crunch as a humanoid form drops down the ladder leading to the gym. As the dust clears, Katsuo looks over to the pair. "...oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were using this."

It doesn't appear he heard any of the conversation, however he may just be acting overly polite, as usual. "...should I go back up?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"Meh. Make yourself at home."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki looks at Mikael, a bit thoughtful at what the man had revealed about himself. He is about to answer him when Katsuo drops down into the area. Figuring that this was a subject that shouldn't be discussed around others he lets it drop naturally. It also doubled as a chance for him to think about why he would be doing this anymore if all Hollows weren't some blight that was going to ravage their world. Then again, do you need a reason to help people?

If Katsuo decided to sit with them Tamaki would ask, "So how's your training going? Any major breakthroughs?"

[strawberryman]

Katsuo doesn't sit, but he remains close enough to the pair at first that it's easy enough for Tamaki to just ask. Katsuo pauses for a moment, thinking. Then, without a word, he moves to a nearby boulder, granite, easily over 200 square feet.

At first, he grasps at it to get proper leverage... then, with an easy heft, he lifts it above his head. From there, he starts practiced lifting exercises, only made awkward by the shape and size of the rock.

A rock that size had to weigh nearly 20 tons.

"This... is my usual... warmup.", he notes with some strain, but really, he's taking it about as well as a normal man doing an overhead press.

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael observes Katsuo with mild curiosity. "Have you told Hasunaga-sensei yet that you can do that?"

[strawberryman]

Katsuo blinks. "...why wouldn't I? He's trying to... help me learn... to control this... I may as well know my... limits, right?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"Here's a question for you: in your everyday life, what are you going to do with the ability to lift twenty-two-thousand kilos?", Mikael asks and snorts. "I've been observing our sensei's methods, and I can guarantee you: if he actually wanted to, he could easily find a way for you to 'control' your powers that didn't involve lifting giant boulders."

"He's grooming you for something. I don't know precisely what, but one thing is certain: he is treating it as a foregone conclusion that you will be fighting someone, even against his wishes. It's too bad you weren't here to hear the discussion me and Tamaki had just a moment ago."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki looks at Mikael with half-lidded eyes as he says, "Man were you always this cynical? It could just be a simple matter of starting big and the working down to something smaller. Besides know his limits is something helpful to Katsuo. He is an upstanding citizen after all. If you don't know your limits then you might find that you might rapidly find yourself reaching them, possibly in a dangerous situation. That could lead to Katsuo getting hurt or possibly others getting hurt if he is trying to help or save someone.

Admittedly that might not be the case, but you don't have to phrase it in such a way that makes him sound like the bad guy."

[strawberryman]

Katsuo sets the boulder down after a few more reps, frowning. "...I know that. T-to be honest, it's not just about that."

"I've always been different. I think I've seen these hollows, and 'soul reapers' before. Most of my family didn't believe me. My mom tried to understand, but it's hard to really believe in those k-kinds of things when you're normal, right...?" He gives a nervous smile.

"...but as silly as it was, after she died, I wished I could do something to stop it. I knew there wasn't, but she was the only person who tried, who didn't judge me. I thought I wouldn't be able to live without her propping me up, that I was t-too weak, that I was a disappointment to her."

"And if she knew, maybe this isn't the life she'd want for me. But what I want isn't to hunt those things. The first one I fought... it was like a giant bull. It nearly destroyed a big part of the park, and hurt one of my classmates. And though it makes things hard on me, though I know that it isn't really helping me to be normal..."

"When I stopped it, when I jumped in the way, I felt like it was worth it. Not because I want to be a hero. But because... I know how it feels to lose someone because you're not strong enough. And even if I'm not able to bring my mom back, I can do what I can to make sure a few people don't have to go through that."

[Frozen_Feet]

If Mikael had a notebook, he would likely cross an item off a checklist. Through his confession, Katsuo has the questionable honor of joining the people supporting Mikael's theory on how suffering begets power.

He can't help but chuckle at Tamaki's comment.

"Cynical? I'd say realistic. But no, I haven't always been so. I have been so longer than I've had my abilities, though." Mikael stands up. "Though in the end, I'm just applying the same doubts to Hasunaga-sensei, as he and that hot-head friend of yours applied to me. Oh, I don't think he's a bad guy. He offered a helping hand to me, a complete stranger. I'm not questioning his morals."

"But I am questioning his wisdom."

Mikael gives both young men present a stern glance. "He said he doesn't want to 'coddle' you. Yet, he considers you kids still. Typical of older people, really. I could be fifty years old, and I bet he would still call me a 'young boy' or some such."

"But there's a saying, in military circles. I don't remember the exact quote, but it was put forward during the American civil war. The key idea was: a good officer has to be like a parent to his men. Because even grown men can lack sense to clothe and feed themselves."

Mikael fetches his uniform jacket and puts it back on. Immediately, the cave feels like it has more air to breathe, as if a weight had been lifted from Tamaki's and Katsuo's shoulders. "This conflict may no be war, but you could still be soldiers. But that would require a certain sort of discipline that Hasunaga-sensei is not teaching you. Now, I can somewhat understand him. He has a life beyond this ghostly realm. He probably wants to enjoy his cigarettes occasionally without having to worry about setting a bad example. It's an awful lot of responsibility to watch backs of people you barely know."

"But honestly? Tamaki, you own a machinegun, but I doubt you have a permit for it. In fact, I doubt you've ever had any real firearms training, seeing how you often get to almost melee range to get your aim. Katsuo, you might not own weapons per se, but your strenght is comparable to a bulldozer. Your powers are weapons. Technically, just having them makes you criminals."

"Now, I'm not against teaching kids how to shoot, or to wrestle, or to hold a knife. But ordinarily? Those weapons are skills are put away when the training is done. The trainees are told to never use them unless absolutely necessary. Your teacher leaves a lot to be desired in that regard."

Mikael puts on his shades. "Remember what he said of the hot-head? How his attitude is a 'growth-thing'? Chuck-boy expressed a belief that he might kill another human if he found that person to be in the wrong. If he isn't put on a much tighter leash, whether he will do that will cease to be a hypothetical question really soon. He is not a high-school student, he is a warrior, armed and trained to kill. If he is a child, then he is a child soldier. It might make his fate more tragic, but it doesn't make him any less dangerous. He is one bad day away from turning from an exorcist to a murderer."

"As far as I'm concerned, Tamaki, you stopped being a kid the moment you chose to find and fight a Hollow yourself. You, Katsuo? Well, I don't know your situation as well, but you are getting there. You are making a choice that could alter your whole life. Think carefully."

[AnimeKid]

If Mikael had a notebook, he would likely cross an item off a checklist. Through his confession, Katsuo has the questionable honor of joining the people supporting Mikael's theory on how suffering begets power.

He can't help but chuckle at Tamaki's comment.

"Cynical? I'd say realistic. But no, I haven't always been so. I have been so longer than I've had my abilities, though." Mikael stands up. "Though in the end, I'm just applying the same doubts to Hasunaga-sensei, as he and that hot-head friend of yours applied to me. Oh, I don't think he's a bad guy. He offered a helping hand to me, a complete stranger. I'm not questioning his morals."

"But I am questioning his wisdom."

Mikael gives both young men present a stern glance. "He said he doesn't want to 'coddle' you. Yet, he considers you kids still. Typical of older people, really. I could be fifty years old, and I bet he would still call me a 'young boy' or some such."

"But there's a saying, in military circles. I don't remember the exact quote, but it was put forward during the American civil war. The key idea was: a good officer has to be like a parent to his men. Because even grown men can lack sense to clothe and feed themselves."

Mikael fetches his uniform jacket and puts it back on. Immediately, the cave feels like it has more air to breathe, as if a weight had been lifted from Tamaki's and Katsuo's shoulders. "This conflict may no be war, but you could still be soldiers. But that would require a certain sort of discipline that Hasunaga-sensei is not teaching you. Now, I can somewhat understand him. He has a life beyond this ghostly realm. He probably wants to enjoy his cigarettes occasionally without having to worry about setting a bad example. It's an awful lot of responsibility to watch backs of people you barely know."

"But honestly? Tamaki, you own a machinegun, but I doubt you have a permit for it. In fact, I doubt you've ever had any real firearms training, seeing how you often get to almost melee range to get your aim. Katsuo, you might not own weapons per se, but your strenght is comparable to a bulldozer. Your powers are weapons. Technically, just having them makes you criminals."

"Now, I'm not against teaching kids how to shoot, or to wrestle, or to hold a knife. But ordinarily? Those weapons are skills are put away when the training is done. The trainees are told to never use them unless absolutely necessary. Your teacher leaves a lot to be desired in that regard."

Mikael puts on his shades. "Remember what he said of the hot-head? How his attitude is a 'growth-thing'? Chuck-boy expressed a belief that he might kill another human if he found that person to be in the wrong. If he isn't put on a much tighter leash, whether he will do that will cease to be a hypothetical question really soon. He is not a high-school student, he is a warrior, armed and trained to kill. If he is a child, then he is a child soldier. It might make his fate more tragic, but it doesn't make him any less dangerous. He is one bad day away from turning from an exorcist to a murderer."

"As far as I'm concerned, Tamaki, you stopped being a kid the moment you chose to find and fight a Hollow yourself. You, Katsuo? Well, I don't know your situation as well, but you are getting there. You are making a choice that could alter your whole life. Think carefully."

Tamaki rubs his shoulders as the pressure that Mikael had been exuding relieves itself from him. Looking over at the man he says, "Perhaps so, but if an accident of birth or a rare circumstance makes me criminal even with what I've decided to do with my powers then I'll take that if it lets me defend other people. Maybe I can't be considered a child anymore. However I am still a person, who wishes to protect those that are unable to protect themselves. The human body itself is a weapon. An in depth understanding of anatomy can make you dangerous to other people as well. As far as I can tell people put to much stock in lables like child, adult, high school student, or elderly. I personally think that such things are too broad to classify people properly.

Charles-san might be hot-headed, but I think he has a sense of justice too, though he does need that tempered by something more grounded as well. His is a warrior, but he is also a high school student. If you want to get down to brass tacks though he is Chuck. And none of us properly understand him. One of the cons of humanity I guess." Tamaki shrugs as he finishes his thoughts.

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael snorts. "'Protect'. You both use that word too lightly." He points at his uniform. "True protection is a mutual decision. Not only must the protector be willing to risk his life, the protected must choose to trust them. Soldiers, policemen, firefighters, they all go through a long process to earn that trust, to show they are capable of doing their job."

"So who chose you? Who even knows you exist?" Mikael paces around, looking at the younger men through his shades. "There's a word for those who licentiously choose to go outside the law to 'protect' something: vigilante. And quite often, they end up being as bad as other criminals, something a society needs protection against."

"I'm not necessarily telling you to not do it. I just want you to think about the ramifications. In the long run, fighting Hollows is very likely to be incompatible with anything resembling normal life. Doing so places you outside society, in the dark where monsters roam. It's the part of the map reading 'Here be dragons'."

"If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, you might want to consider protecting people in a more ordinary way, from more ordinary threats." Mikael nods at Tamaki. "Find a way to replicate your armor and patent it. Sell it to army or law-enforcement, become a policeman. God knows there's lots of good to be done there. Just because there are ghosts, doesn't mean the rest of the world has vanished."

[AnimeKid]

"It also doesn't mean that I need to forget about it either. Police officers are a dime a dozen, there are always going to be police officers. However this supernatural threat isn't something we can just ignore. To see and then look the other directions because that is what is 'legal' or expedient when 'legal' is extremely hard to define in this kind of situation. You keep citing law and pulling things in when we are clearly dealing with something the majority of the world can't. The rest of the world hasn't vanished, but that doesn't mean the other one has either.

That is a bit different from vigilantism. As for the bit about protection your laying it on a bit thick. The people trust the title, not the people within the organization and even that goes so far. Crooked cops, deserters in war, budget cuts and inadequate training. All of these things lower the peoples trust in those titles. The normal people don't choose the people who join those organizations. They have to hope for the best that people who deserve to be there get in. Even then they are suspicious and sometime even adversarial. However they can show appreciation and gratitude, but it's not as cut and dry as that. As for a normal life? Being able to see spirits like I can ensured that. I can, however, live the best life that I can. The rest of the

[strawberryman]

Katsuo smiles sadly. "...You're right and wrong. No one chose us. I won't act like what I'm choosing is the right t-thing, all things considered. But I never claimed that."

"And... I never said protect. It's what I'd like to... aspire to, I guess. But it's silly to think that anyone normal will really be able to understand what I am."

"...to be absolutely honest, I might have a choice. But... For the first time in a long while, I have people who I hope I can call friends, who don't judge me. And that is more than I had in that normal world."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki looks at Katsuo and feels a sort of kinship with the boy from what he said. They at least knew what that felt like. He put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder as he said, "That' right, and don't you forget it. I know I've got your back."

[Frozen_Feet]

If Mikael could, he would smirk. "Listen to yourself. Can you hear it? You are thinking. That's what I wanted you to do, really. Too many people hear just rhetoric where there are questions. They've forgotten how to answer them." The amusement in the man's tone fades. "But there's one thing you're forgetting. Stories of ghosts and ghouls are old news. Shamans and exorcists have existed as long as mankind. I know now, and you know as well, that we are not alone. You can't just assume the world is clawless and toothless against these things. When there are real dragons, you have to reconsider meaning of stories of dragons."

Mikael kneels down and scoops up a handful of dust. "More to the point, there are Shinigami. If modern world is helpless against Hollows, it's because they have decided to not give us weapons to fight them. But don't think we're blameless, either. I know I've never tried to give my nature to anyone else, and I have good reasons to think I could. By choosing to fight in secret, we might be perpetuating the problem."

Mikael shapes a perfect sphere of the sand. "Or, we might prevent a lot of disorder by keeping our mouths shut. Both could be true, or maybe neither is. The best we can do is guess."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki sighs as he nods to Mikael to admit he does have a point. "So we'll have to play it by ear as much as that annoys me. I generally like to have information about a situation but we can't remedy that at the moment. So like you said we'll just have to guess and try not to f*ck things up to badly....These kinds of situations suck."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael makes another sphere. "That's why when I got my powers, I ended up doing nothing. I thought of how easily... I might break my society. My... friends." Mikael holds the second sphere between thumb and index finger of his right hand, then crushes it back to dust.

"Your friend Chuck made a big deal of my name. How it was so ironic to him I am named after protector of mankind. As if I chose that name." Mikael starts scraping the dust back together. "I wonder if he'd been happier if I'd told him what I told people in Europe - to call me no-one."

Mikael makes a third sphere, then stands up. He casts a sad look at Katsuo through his shades. "What your friend forgot was that angels of old were scary creatures. There is a reason the host said 'Fear not!' to the shepherds. Because most other times, angels were sent as messengers of God's judgement, to destroy those who'd wronged him."

"But no God has made itself known to me. In his absence, who am I to decide who should live or die? Protection of one often requires destruction of another."

Mikael twirls the spheres on his palm. "It may sound counter-intuitive, but in lack of knowledge, using great power for idle amusement or some petty gain may be better than trying to better the world. The higher you aim, the harder you will fall if you fail. Even my namesake would have been dragged down from Heaven along with the Snake, if not for God's helping hand."

[strawberryman]

Katsuo frowns. "Well... The first hollow I fought, I didn't really finish. But I think if it comes to hurting those around us, or souls of other people, it might be natural, but that doesn't mean we should let it happen."

"We shouldn't decide who lives or dies... but we do. And the world sounds a lot more complicated than most normal people think. I still don't want to do this to fight, but if it comes between a hollow wanting to do harm and a normal soul, then I'm willing to make that decision."

[Frozen_Feet]

"Then do it. But if you do..." Mikael drops the balls down and leaves them in the dust. "... When they come for you, remember you have their blood on your hands. Don't feign innocence. Don't pretend you are just a victim. When you do violence to another, you become a perpetrator. The same reasons you use to fight them, they can use to fight you. It doesn't matter if 'they started it!' - what matters is when someone stops it." The stranger falls silent for a moment.

"... Tamaki. I'm sorry I damaged your scarf. I'll sew it back together in a moment. But before that - I've been thinking. Animals and items are made of the same substances. There should be no reason why I couldn't use my power on a living creature. Would it be okay if I tried it on you?"

[strawberryman]

"...if it comes to that, I'll face the consequences gladly. But I've already said I won't go hunting for them, just to stand in their way if it means someone else's lives. Or soul." Katsuo looks at Mikael with sudden intensity. "And nothing you or anyone else says can make me regret or reconsider that. If I'm going to be punished for stopping those hollows when they hurt people, not because they do, then... I guess that's just how it is."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael gives Katsuo a nonchalant look and shrugs. "It's your life."

[AnimeKid]

"Then do it. But if you do..." Mikael drops the balls down and leaves them in the dust. "... When they come for you, remember you have their blood on your hands. Don't feign innocence. Don't pretend you are just a victim. When you do violence to another, you become a perpetrator. The same reasons you use to fight them, they can use to fight you. It doesn't matter if 'they started it!' - what matters is when someone stops it." The stranger falls silent for a moment.

"... Tamaki. I'm sorry I damaged your scarf. I'll sew it back together in a moment. But before that - I've been thinking. Animals and items are made of the same substances. There should be no reason why I couldn't use my power on a living creature. Would it be okay if I tried it on you?"

Tamaki silently agreed with what Katsuo said. When he looked at Mikael he thought over his words as well as he said, "A sort of experiment then? Well if you're sure. Your powers seem very developed in that area. Maybe just try something simple and extraneous to start with. Like my hair or fingernails."

[Frozen_Feet]

"I'm not actually sure if it's possible to affect just a part of you. To do that with items, I usually need to tear them apart first. I don't think that's something you would want to undergo." Mikael takes a few steps towards Tamaki and extends his right hand towards him. "It shouldn't really make a difference. Whether you will change in part or in whole, I can always return you to the way you were before. Provided anything happens in the first place."

So are you willing to risk becoming inhuman?

[AnimeKid]

"I'm not actually sure if it's possible to affect just a part of you. To do that with items, I usually need to tear them apart first. I don't think that's something you would want to undergo." Mikael takes a few steps towards Tamaki and extends his right hand towards him. "It shouldn't really make a difference. Whether you will change in part or in whole, I can always return you to the way you were before. Provided anything happens in the first place."

So are you willing to risk becoming inhuman?

Tamaki sweatdrops a little as he says, "Do you have to be so cryptic about it? *sigh* Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. After all, I'm risking death just by continuing along this path. Uncertainty has no place here. Do your thing Mikael."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael simply shrugs at the question. In his mind, he isn't being cryptic - he is stating exactly how the situation is. If there is any ambiguity, it's because he, himself, does not really know what will happen. He grabs Tamaki's hand and utters a single word:

Reduce.

For a moment, the air electrifies. Even Katsuo can feel it, as every hair on his body stands on their end. There is a flash of blue light...

... and nothing happens. Oh well. After a while, Mikael let's go of Tamaki's hand... then he realizes the younger man has just become shorter by an inch.

And then, he shrinks down by another, and another, and... Tamaki's physical development seems to be going backwards at accelerated pace. His clothes become loose, then fall off. In just ten seconds, he's shrunk to size and shape he was as a 10-year-old... and then his body starts breaking down, steam rising from his pores as his body-water evaporates, his skin flakes off, his teeth drop, his muscles melt into goo to reveal his bones at ever-accelerating pace.

Simultaneously on the spiritual plane, Tamaki can be seen just as he was - even his hand is extended, as if still holding Mikael's. There is one key difference - a chain hangs from his chest, connected to his degenerating earthly body. But then, the chain breaks - no, that's not it. Rather, it is unmade. The invidual links slide through each other, becoming separate. Then, the links spread around the room, as if scattered by some invisible hand. Clothes on this ghostly Tamaki start to vanish, one by one, and then a light appears on his chest, where his heart should be. It is red, like a spark of fire - and then it grows in intensity, transilluminating his spiritual body, becoming so bright it it prevents Katsuo from seeing the rest of the transformation. Tamaki's spiritual energy explodes forth, feeling like heat radiating from a bonfire on bared skin.

Mikael, however, is lucky enough to wear darkened glasses. For a brief moment, Mikael just stares at what's happening in shock. Then, he tries to grab ghost-Tamaki's hand again to reverse the process - but his hand slips through the transparent figure, as if it was no longer there. After a second futile attempt at trying to grab the fading spirit, Mikael drops down, kneeling besides the pile of clothes that's all that's left of earthly Tamaki. Time slows down for the bandaged man as blood flows into his eyes. Rapidly, he searches through the clothes, being rather surprised at what he finds.

On his hands, Mikael holds what looks like a human embryo, just few weeks old. Wisps of steam rise from its chest, forming links of a chain. One is just forming, sticking partially out of its tiny chest like some bizarre umblical cord. Briefly, Mikael thinks the transformation has now reached its limit, but then he realizes that's not the case - the embryo is still shrinking, it is Mikael himself who has accelerated to a matching pace so that he can perceive it happen! It is likely that if he doesn't work fast, Tamaki's physical body will be reduced to just its DNA, or the zygotes that created it.

Improve! IMPROVE!

Mikael's panicked shout echoes through the cave like two thunderclaps. Bright blue light erupts from his back, clashing with Tamaki's. A whirlwind picks up, throwing around dust and even tossing around smaller boulders around Tamaki and Mikael. Katsuo too feels a force pushing backwards.

And then the wind calms, and the light fades. Mikael is on his back, holding himself in half sitting position with his elbows, staring wide-eyed at Tamaki. Tamaki, or rather, his raw materials are floating inside a transparent sphere, one half of which is red, another which is blue. His body is reforming inside it, growing from an infant to adult in mere seconds, absorbing the goo the rest of his body was reduced to through his skin and mouth. Above this, Tamaki's naked spirit floats, appearing to be asleep. The scattered links of a chain arrange into a neat line and then link back to each other, reconnecting the spirit to its body. Then, the spirit floats back down into the body, and the clothes wrap around his body. The glow fades, and Tamaki descends back on the ground, looking exactly like he was barely a minute ago.

Of course, Tamaki doesn't see any of this. Instead...

---

[Inside Tamaki's mind] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYdHPpryCxw)

When Mikael says the word, it is like a command coming from God. Tamaki's consciousness freezes, his first instinct being to reject it. But then he remembers, he told him to do his thing. This eases his mind, and he relaxes. What's the worst that could happen? Besides, Mikael promised to return him to how he was.

And with that, Tamaki's consciousness shuts down. It's like falling into deep, blissfull sleep. Mikael and Katsuo disappear as everything fades into black...

... and then Tamaki awakens. But he is not in the cave anymore. He can not tell where he is at all, as there is nothing but darkness around. He tries to squint and strain his eyes to see even smallest glint of light, but realizes it won't work - because he has no eyes!

In fact, he has no body, no form at all. He is just energy floating in pitch-blackness. It doesn't actually feel that bad. After a while, he begins to feel something... a current of energy, coming from nothing and ending nowhere, like a wave washing over him periodically. How easy it would be to just let it carry you and... fade... away...

But then, a change occurs. Another current arises from the opposite direction and clashes with the first one, creating turmoil. Tamaki feels like he is being torn apart, but then, something reaches through the chaos, forming a solid path through the void. Without thinking, he begins walking it, towards light.

When he reaches it, he realizes the light is the Earth. He looks around and sees the Sun, the planets, and the stars glinting far away. Looks like he's arrive in space, or maybe he was there all along and only now realized it.

As he returns his gaze on Earth, or maybe something pulls his attention there like a magnet, he realizes that despite being this high, he can see the tiniest detail occurring on the surface. He peers closer and can see... himself. Himself as he was when he just a baby.

As he continues looking, he can see other phases of himself, familiar place, familiar phases. Memories both good and bad repeat themselves before him - even many things he thought he'd forgotten, but he forgets of them again as the display continues.

And it continues for a long time. A lifetime, to be exact, that of Tamaki's own. As it nears his present, however, a foreign element intrudes in his mindscape. Despite trying to look away and returning to his own past, something keeps drawing his attention again, to places he's never been in, to faces he's never seen.

He sees an infant, sleeping in the middle of four other babies who are all bawling. He sees a small kid, four years old at most, pointing angrily at a baby (his brother?) who is eathing his Legos. He sees the same kid, now older, playing hide-and-seek with his grandmother, when a snake bites him, and he is rushed to a hospital. He sees him standing on a rock, playing alone with an imaginary friend, seemingly oblivious to other kids playing soccer just a dozen meters away. He sees the kid cutting cardboard, gluing stickers, playing with legos, carving wood, making fire, crafting chairs, welding together slabs of metal as he progresses towards adulthood. He can see the joy and pride he takes in every knife he forges, every piece of plumbing he puts together, every hull he makes for a car, so on and so forth. He can see him wearing an uniform (the first even faintly familiar trait of this character), marching in line, shooting a rifle and shouting orders to other men. He can see three golden chevrons on the collar of his uniform.

But as this puzzling sequence of images of this unknown man proceeds, Tamaki starts to feel something is wrong. Something is troubling this man. He is dissatisfied with the world and how it works. Tamaki can see people speaking ill of him behind his back. He can hear sounds of quarrel coming from the house this man identifies as 'home'. The man enters a long period during which no-one seems to need for him anything. He seems sad, lonely, and useless. He tries struggling against the tide, meeting a lot of people and going to lot of places, but for all his efforts he never quite succeeds. Tamaki sees him face rejection after rejection, growing increasingly frustrated. Yet, after each time, he picks up his broken heart and moves on again.

Finally, things start to look decent. The man has a house. He has a job. He is tall, and strong, and skilled, or at least he feels so. Something is still missing, though... but maybe, it's just ahead? From the grey masses of people, an image emerges. A girl. It might be the prettiest girl Tamaki has ever seen, with her curly her and bright smile and frilly dress... okay, that might be exaggerating. Maybe it's this unknown man who feels like that, and not Tamaki himself. Maybe he is just seeing his point of view?

But, as the man reaches for her, both he and Tamaki see that she's with another man. Tamaki can see the protagonist of this tale hesitate. He can guess what's going on in his mind - is it worth it to get to know this person, when it's clear he'll just face another rejection? It's hardly realistic to expect her to abandon her boyfriend for him.

He decides to give it a shot anyway. She goes and talks to the girl, and they become friends. When one is going through a rough patch, she helps him, and he helps her. Tamaki sees that it's her this man goes to, more than anyone else, when he's had a bad date, or when he's having a hard time at work, or when his family life's stressfull. Even after he reveals his crush to her, and she turns him down, nothing changes. There is no awkwardness, no aversion, no severing of times. The man's respect for her just grows. He feels he can tell pretty much anything to her.

But there's an ominous undertone to these pictures. A sense of growing dread that Tamaki can't pinpoint the source of. The pictures are becoming blurry and indistinct. One day, he can see the man reach for the girl again, to tell her something... when a truck crashes to him and knocks him out of the picture! There's a sound of shattering glass as he lands on his back just next to Tamaki! It's rather startling - wasn't he supposed to be above the atmosphere???

Painstakingly, the man gets back up. He is bleeding all over, but somehow he crawls back to Earth through the crack between dimensions. He reaches for her, intent to tell her something... but she shakes her head in horror, and turns her back to him. The picture halts and loses color, becoming a black-and-white photo floating in the void.

Then it catches fire, and when it's gone Tamaki can perceive a new scene before him - a dark silhouette of a man (?), standing in front of and facing a raging conflagration, apparently a burning house. It might be the shadowed figure has just emerged from the wreckage. The scene ripples and distorts due to the heat, and Tamaki can even feel it through the crack in space.

When the fire dies down, only white ash is left behind. Silver sickle of the moon shines from the night sky, casting its pale light on the figure. Then, a man dressed in white jumps down from the sky, standing imposingly before the forlorn figure. A fight breaks out between them, that of white against black, a horribly destructive fight exceeding even those Tamaki himself has fought. The White Devil fights like a legion of men, spawning guns and cannons from his very flesh. The shaded figure doesn't really feel like a match to it, fighting only with its hands and feet. It is knocked around helplessly, trampled to the ground and shot, its skin and body torn away piece at a time.

Yet, against all expectations, it triumphs. It catches the bullets and artillery shells and shoves them down the barrels that shot them. Then it grows fangs like those of a snake and swallows the White Devil whole.

Then the figure turns and looks at Tamaki, and he can finally see clearly who it is. It is Mikael, bandaged from head to toe, wearing an uniform devoid of all the emblems and insignia he was once proud of. His face is disfigured, capable of only unblinking stare and a skeletal grin. His eyes are color-inverted eyes of a snake, white slit pupils staring coldly at Tamaki through the crack. It seems nothing's left of the man he once was.

Then, a cold wind blows through the crack and pushes Tamaki further into space. Once again, he can see all of Earth, but it looks rather different now. It is... alive. Like a giant snake coiling around itself, biting its own tail. Eternally dying, yet eternally renewing itself at the same time. And the creatures on it follow the same pattern. From plants to fishes to humans, every second is a struggle, with someone's benefit being someone else's detriment. Even Hollows and Shinigami are no different in this outlook - they are just another pair of prey and predator, hunter and hunted, fighting over the right to exist. That they are souls instead of matter makes no difference.

Tamaki can see what would happen if the Hollows win. He sees a tall, majestic man dressed in black leather, with a hole through his collarbone, standing above all others. He sees him slaughter everyone, devour everyone, untill he alone is left amidst white sand. And then, with nothing else to eat, he turns into a serpent and devours himself, and from the blood of his dying body, new plants and animals emerge.

It's the great cycle of life, and at the same time, the great cycle of suffering. It has no beginning and it has no end; from creation comes destruction, and from destruction comes creation. In the void it spins, going on and on and on, grinding everything and everyone to dust so that from that dust, new things can be made. The only thing that lasts is change...

... or is it? Surely, there must be something more than this depressing world! As Tamaki muses on this, he realizes he is not alone in space. As he looks behind, he sees two other figures. One is that black-clad Hollow. Second is a gentle-looking brown-haired, green-eyed man wearing a leather jacket, who Tamaki at this point can recognize as Mikael as he might be if not for fateful encounter with Hollows. Behind Mikael, there is a second window in space, from which bright light shines. Tamaki can feel himself pulled toward it. As he nears it, he sees an array of pictures - a God of Thunder fighting against the World Serpent, a Knight piercing a Dragon's snout with his lance and roses blooming from the blood of the beast, and an Angel standing on top of a Serpent, stabbing towards it with a spear. Written under them is a message: "We all have our dragons to slay."

The light washes over Tamaki, drowning all other things from sight. It sears him, it fills him, and it remakes him, revealing and burning away weakness in him. It is painfull to look at, so he instinctively tries to close his eyes...

... and then he wakes up.

---

[Back in the training cave]

Tamaki is standing right where he was. His clothes are just like before. Even his hand is extended still, as if to grab Mikael's. It really doesn't feel like more than a second has passed... yet, the stones around him are in completely different position, Mikael is meters away from him and on his back, and it looks like he has difficulties picking up his jaw from the floor... figuratively speaking.

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki blinks as his vision returns to normal from what he had seen before. It was a bit disorienting to be honest and how short it seemed was baffling. He slowly looked around at how many rocks were in a different position and Mikael looked like he just saw a ghost. "Well, that was a bit unsettling. However it seems that everything worked out okay. Out of curiosity what did it look like on this end?"

[strawberryman]

Katsuo just stands there dumbfounded for a while. One might expect that he would attack Mikael, but that was actually the furthest thing from his mind. With a few stuttering starts, the boy responds to his peer.

"You... I t-t-think you were r-r-reborn..." He looks rather disturbed as he admits this, looking over to Mikael in awe, like some sort of godly monster.

[Frozen_Feet]

The "godly monster" doesn't have much to add. "... What he said", Mikael mutters weakly after collecting himself. He tries to stand up, but falls back down. Bemused, he opens his jacket part way to look at his stomach. "Urgh. Maybe we shouldn't have done that so soon after I got an anti-tank weapon launched against my chest." The black stain has grown larger. "I'm gonna climb upstairs and get some fresh gauze. You two can do whatever." Mikael crawls up and heads for the ladder.

[Frozen_Feet]

Some thirty minutes later, Mikael painstakingly descends the ladder back into the cave. Once he's at the two younger men, he draws a small sewing kit from his uniform jacket's chest pocket. "Hey Tamaki. Hand me that scarf of yours for a moment."

[AnimeKid]

Tamaki sees the sewing kit in Mikael's hands and nods to him, a grateful look on his face. He hands the scarf over to him with a soft, "Thank you."

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael takes the scarf and sits down on a nearby rock. Despite the bandages covering his hands, he is surprisingly nimble. Also, very apt at sewing. But if Tamaki listens closely, he'll realize it's because Mikael has help - he is whispering to the items, asking for their aid, and they respond, the thread moving through the eye of the needle on its own, and the needle slipping through the tiniest gaps in the fabric without damaging it further.

After ten minutes, the torn corner is reattached, the scarf almost as good as new - it would take a magnifying lens to spot the patch. Only one short piece of red string can't find its place anymore. Mikael leaves it hanging from the needle and tugs it in his pocket. "There. I think I'll catch some sleep now. You and Katsuo-kun, be careful. If he slips with one of those rocks, I don't think there's anyone else who could lift them off of you." Mikael turns away to climb back up and head at Hasunaga's place.