Somewhere I Belong ((Closed))

[Arai]

Overhead, a sunny autumn day was starting to turn gloomy as the clouds gathered above into a solid gray mass, looking menacing and beginning to block out what sun had been showing most of the day. Warning signs that rain would soon make a presence in the land of Corone; which at the current time seems to be in a tranquil state--A complete contrast to the activities that go on inside the building at the end of the steps ahead of the dark-eyed, skyward looking Arai Kaosu.

The silence was broken by the sound of metal impacting stone--

klank *pause* klank klank

Bringing his gaze down, Arai noticed a figure in gold full body armor trudging his way slowly down the steps on the left side of him. This mountain of a man dragged his massive broadsword behind him in his right hand, and clenched his helmet by the faceplate in the other. His face, full-bearded, and while showing signs of aging, was not without the charming looks of his youth. The stench of defeat was clearly evident in his posture, mannerism, and the sullen look upon his face. Though no audible sounds came from his mouth Arai could tell he was talking to himself--More than likely cursing his own ability to triumph against his recent opponent.

The man passed by without so much as giving Arai a glance. He thought to himself, “Size ain’t everything. Better luck next time big guy.” He chuckled inwardly and shaked his head in amusement and continued his ascent.

He approached the doors of the building towering above him. He stands at the entryway countless others had time and time again. Among them Arai's own footsteps were imprinted in time immemorial. He had been here before, many times before in fact.

Briefly glancing down at his own feet placed upon the final stone step as if it were a welcoming mat, Arai then looked forward with a look of slight amusement and spoke to himself, "It feels good to be home."

With that statement, he pushed on the large-framed double doors with both hands and stepped inside as the first drops of rain began their fall to land.

__________________________

As he passed the threshold a breeze followed him through; blowing his jacket and silverish hair slightly askew. Several dozen drops of water wet the back of his clothes before he quickly gripped both edges of the door and flung his arms backwards, promptly closing the doors behind him. He was instantly glad he came when he did. Not having anywhere to stay in a rainstorm was never pleasant.

Arai inhaled slowly, taking a deep breath and recalled his first battle here. An opponent with a spade as a weapon is all he can really recall about his worthy adversary.

“Was his name Ranger or something like that? Was he human, or an elf? I can’t remember really.” He mumbled quietly to himself.

“Master Arai Kaosu.”, said a voice to his right.

Arai snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his name. He turned his head towards the voice to see one of the Citadels mystical monks standing before him. The Monk placed an open palm over a fist in front of him and did a slight bow. Arai responded in the same manner.

“You remember my name?” Arai asked, while at the same time, trying to place a memory of this particular Monk.

The Monk smiled at the question. “Many may not remember who you are, but us Monks here are wise beyond our years.” The Monk then leaned in and said in a lower tone. “Besides, I in particular have the memory of an Elephant.” He said this with a light chuckle.

Arai couldn’t help but laugh. The Monks here usually aren’t known for their sense of humor, or attempt at such anyway.

The Monk continued. “Anyway, formalities aside I believe you’re here for your usual? You don’t seem to the type to merely come in here to avoid the rain.”

“You are indeed wise.”, Arai stated. “I wish to partake in a skirmish. Lead the way kind sir.”

_______________________________

The Monk leaded Arai down one of the great buildings many branching hallways, each seeming to go on forever--Or perhaps that was just part of the magic that was The Citadel. A raid on this place would just leave any attackers lost for almost an eternity. Arai looked back and sure enough the way he’d come looked just like where he was going, and not like the Main Hall from whence he had come.

He is gestured into an open doorway. No light emanated from this void, and any that attempted to enter just became part of the emptiness. Arai stepped inside and is engulfed by the darkness. As he surveyed his surroundings he found that even the door he just stepped through had disappeared.

“Now for the fun part.”, he said as he closed his eyes and let his imagination go to work.

Almost instantly, the smell of fresh vegetation enters his noise, sounds of birds letting loose their calls, and the feel of humidity on his skin.
Arai opened his eyes and is met with the Tropical rain forest he envisioned. Lush trees bearing fruits towered over him at all sides. Not too far off he heard the sound of the rushing water of a river as it emptied down a perilous waterfall. Vines hung from the trees connecting them like wires of a clothesline. From one of these vines, a furry animal resembling a monkey swings from a nearby tree and off into the direction of the river. The ground felt as authentic as a real forest. Not too dry, but not too damp that it could compromise ones footing this far from the bank.

Arai smiled and said, “Heh, just like riding a horse. You never do forget.”

[The Daredevil]

"I've never been here before," sighed a rather skinny and tanned young man from the Citadel's main waiting room. "Is there any sort of... Procedures?"

"Procedures?" Replied the monk, who was (un)fortunate enough to usher the young newcomer on his first citadel outing.

The tanned young man, Craven, had really never been there. Or Radasanth for that matter. The big city lifestyle wasn't really an option for the black haired daredevil. However, he had promised himself he would fight in the citadel, just once, before leaving for promising endeavours in Scara Brae.

"Yeah, procedures..." Craven replied, "like if I were to die, would there be paperwork in place to notify my next of kin?"

"You can't die."

"Oh." Craven finally said, his cheeks red from embarrassment. "That's interesting. So am I to follow you?"

The monk impatiently nodded in response before turning to a archway on the citadel's western wing. It gave Craven a moment to regain his posture and recover from his inability to hold a normal conversation.

"So, anything you can tell me about the arena you've created?!" Craven questioned, trying to ease the awkward tension he had just created.

"Not much. It's a tropical forest," the monk paused to give a fake smile to another passing combatant. "It's got a waterfall too."

"How special." Craven sarcastically hissed in a tone just low enough to go unnoticed by his monk usher.

~~~~

It wasn't more than five minutes later that Craven "The Daredevil" Donovan found himself enclosed on all sides by lush greenery. His black jumpsuit would surely eliminate any element of surprise he could've hoped for. Among the green trees he would stick out like a stain on white cloth.

Upon further investigation to his surroundings, Craven found that there was a river not far east from where he began. He also concluded that his best course of action would be to attempt climbing one of the nearby trees, possibly tightrope walking one of the vines that stretched across the violent river, and even going as far as punching the swinging monkey in the face-

-because he was a daredevil, after all, and he sure as hell couldn't be having a monkey outdoing him.

[Arai]

Arai felt a presence. He quickly turned to his left and dropped his left leg back into a stance, gripped one of his swords with his left hand and gripped one of his knives placed in his left arm guard. His eyes changed to his usual battle ready red.

He quickly scanned over his opponent as he had honed his his mind to do after being ambushed so many times in his travels. The man was wearing all black, more than likely perfect camouflage for a night raid. There seemed to be little to no give in the fabric of the clothing, so the chances of hidden weaponry were pretty slim. From what Arai could see from the right side of the man was one dagger on the hip, though a second wasn't completely out of the question. His hair spiked in all directions like a child's rendition of the sun, except in it were streaks and green here and there.

Arai released the grip he had on his sword, but not the throwing blade, and stood up straight once he noticed that the man wasn't paying him any sort of attention. He was surveying the battlefield, a very smart tactic seeing as stealth was out of the question for either of them in their current states. Although following his gaze the man's eyes seemed to be eyeballing the monkey for some strange reason. Arai felt it was best not to inquire for the time being.

Arai spoke out to the mace hair-styled man before him," Hello there. Glad to see you could join me. My name is Arai Kaosu. Might you present me with your name so that our duel may begin?"

Arai awaited a response while placing his left hand into his jacket sleeve. In his right he twirled his throwing knife on his index finger through the loop on the end. It was a nervous tick he had developed, but he hoped it made him look cool anyway.

[The Daredevil]

Whatever thoughts of battle Craven had prior to scanning his arena were gone. Lost to the endless depths of his mind. What replaced them were burning images of a monkey swinging carelessly from vine to branch, and the mutt that was now standing between them.

"Hey buddy, I don't want any trouble." Craven responded to the silver-haired man's call, trying hard not to lose sight of the nimble primate.

Damn that son of a bitch knows his onions. Craven thought as he watched the rascal transfer flawlessly from a broken branch to a dangling vine.

"Hey," called Craven to his dark-skinned opponent, pointing at the primate in disbelief. "Are you watching this guy, he's got serious skills. It would be wise to take notes."

Amidst thoughts of being bested by an ape Craven didn't much care to fight anymore. At least not at this moment. With a wide grin, one that split his face in half, he looked to his real opponent one last time.

"The names Craven." He said just before turning to the web of vines bridging the river. "If you can catch me, you'll have your fight."

Without hesitation, and within a second, Craven picked up his speed to a full sprint. His obvious intent was to catch a vine, ride it to the next vine, repeat the process until he caught up to the monkey. What he didn't intend was the river bank giving way under his weight and hurried steps.

"Aaaaah!" Craven cried while plummeting the five foot drop into the coursing river below.

"Thayne Damn it!"

The next thing that resounded in the jungle was a splash, followed by violent gasps for air. Between failed attempts at composure, and possibly the worst doggy-paddling ever preformed, Craven caught sight of the monkey. It took Craven a second before he finally realized that the fur-coated acrobat was giggling, literally.

"I'll kill you, monkey!" Craven shouted, his voice peaking in anger.

The furthest thing from the young daredevil's mind was his real opponent, the demon half-breed, whom he had now lost sight of due to the rivers bucking current.

[Arai]

"Hey buddy, I don't want any trouble." said the man in the black tight fitting suit.

"No trouble?!", Arai repeated inside his own head. Did this man not know what he was getting into by stepping into the citadel? The man before never broke sight of the wild animal heading towards the riverbank.

He then pointed towards it and addressed Arai. "Are you watching this guy, he's got serious skills. It would be wise to take notes." Arai decided this guy was absolutely nuts, or very close to it. Either way his lackadaisical attitude towards the fight Arai was starting to tick him off.

Just as Arai was about to draw his weapons and make the first move, the spikey-haired opponent looked at him directly for the first time since his arrival. He announced himself as Craven, and asked Arai to catch him before they began their battle.

"Ah, a challenge! I'll be more than happy to oblige." Arai said. He barely finished his sentence before the guy had took off running at top speed towards the river--presumably after that monkey he'd been sizing up the whole time as if Arai held little to no importance.

Arai started after the man, then watched in amazement as the ground gave way beneath Craven's feet and he went careening into the river below. Arai smacked his forehead in disbelief.

"What an imbecile!" he exclaimed.

His opponent resurfaced struggling in some vain attempt at swimming that made Arai just stand there and shake his head.

"Well if I'm to catch him, now would be the perfect time."

He accessed his options. Going around to the other side of the bank would take far too long, and jumping in after him was out of the question. He then looked above and took better note of the intertwining vines over the river connecting the two banks. "Perhaps taking notes isn't such a bad idea."

He jumped up and grabbed a branch, hoisted himself up and cut free one of the green ropes before replacing his knife it his wrist harness. Saying a quick prayer to himself, Arai jumped and flew through the air. He cleared the trees without a hitch, then reached out to another vine ahead of him. He ended up having to stretch out his arm to reach it, so when he made the transfer his whole body weight yanked down on the vine. This caused the vine to slightly untangle from the ones above, making his descent lower than he had planned.

"Son of a b--"

Water shot up into the air as Arai smacked in the water only three feet from Craven, who was still trying to stay afloat. Luckily he still held onto the vine. Cursing himself, and feeling like quite the fool he dragged himself out of the water and climbed up and through the bridge-like network of vegetation about.

"Climb up!" He yelled down to Craven. "Unless you wish to see the river's end. I can tell you this...it don't sound pretty!"

Behind him, Arai could hear something laughing in a squeaky high-pitched tone. He turned and saw a monkey--probably the same one from before--sitting on a branch of a nearby tree. And if Arai didn't know any better he'd think that it was pointing at him.

"...Fucking monkey" He snarled.

[The Daredevil]

The vine rope dangled from Craven's opponents hands into the water, not far from the daredevil's reach. It puzzled him why a foe would make an attempt to save him, but he shrugged the thought off and stretched his arm outward, grabbing onto the vine. In a matter of seconds Craven scaled the rope and found himself in the vine canopy over the river, face to face with his dark skinned enemy.

"Just so we're clear on this, it took me far less time to make it up that rope than it did you." Craven said in a tone of self-accomplishment.

Before adding anything else the daredevil remembered the goal at hand. Where'd that little, zippy bastard, badger off too? He pondered while scanning the tree canopy above. As he tried to locate the primate an airborne object came hurling into his vision. It was long and yellow, about three inches thick.

"Watch out, incoming banana." Craven stated as he watched the projectile whiz closer to his foes head.

Arai turned, instead of ducking, causing the thin banana to smack against his nose. Instead of comforting his opponent Craven took a gander in the direction that the flying object had came. Sure enough there the primate was, standing erect, with a whole hand of bananas dangling from his wrinkled fingers.

"First things first," Craven started, never once removing his rage-induced stare from the fur-covered pest. "Let's kill that damn monkey."

[Arai]

"Caught you!" Arai said to Craven as his opponent scaled the vine right behind him with a quickness Arai himself couldn't match.

The man even took time to make note of his achievement. Before Arai could comment back he heard his adversary say,

"Watch out, incoming banana.".

"Huh?" Arai asked as he turned and caught the aforementioned banana to his face, hitting him square in the nose.

The fruit bounced off him and fell into the water below through one of the cracks in the vine bridge. Arai looked up, completely furious. The red of his eyes grew deeper as he glared at the monkey standing in a tree on the other side of the river from where they originated.

"This bastard is interfering with my fight and I'm not having it any longer."

Arai reached behind his coat and grasped his blades in a reverse grip and charged towards the monkey as best he could on the unstable ground.

"Looks like we're having fried monkey meat tonight!"

Craven had said something about the monkey. He seemed to have the same feelings about the situation as Arai, but Arai didn't hear him. He was already gone, already picturing how he was going to dismember the furry, laughing, banana tossing cretin before him.