Reprise! Act 1!

[Carthrat]

"Sir, if you believe you are above the law, you are greatly mistaken," replies the guard, oblivious to the rumbling of the ground. "I can't let you in before the dagger is appraised, it's more than my jobs worth."

At this instant, behind Ryoma, the ground erupted, showering dirt over both him and the guard. Then there was a huge rush of wind and noise..

[Rezantis]

Relm looked up as she felt a small tremor, and sighed as she closed the book.  She'd sensed, and ignored, a bit of earth magic being used to the South.  Elemental mages weren't all that common, but one being a little noisy wasn't anything too unusual.  

But the tremoring implied trouble on the horizon, because whatever was going on out there, it was big.  And if it got any bigger, things would probably start falling down, and it'd be safer not to be inside when it happened.

On the one hand, the book was interesting, and she might actually get somewhere with her research in the near future if this was any indication.

On the other hand, this could be fun.  Or interesting.  Or anything, really, but recently (apart from last night's brawl, which she'd carefully avoided) there hadn't really been much happening.

Boredom and curiousity.

Never a good combination.

--

Stowing the book she was looking at carefully back on the bookshelf, Relm stepped quickly through the library and out onto the street.

[Carthrat]

It was big. And tall. And it appeared to be better armoured than most Knights, and that was pretty well armoured.

It was essentially a giant centipede, which was taller than the town by a good 20 metres and looked to still be growing. However, it had made a somewhat inaccurate calculation, as all it's centipede feet were waving vainly in midair, trying to get some purchase.

It was, of course, a Googlepede, a rare kind of critter that tended to decide that the time to morph in a butterfly was right after it waded through a nearby town. The result of such a transformation was a little-seen kind of dragon, which is notably prized for the great fabric it's wings are made of.

They were also known to possess a modicum of intelligence and shape-shifting powers. They are similar to barghests in that they must drain energy from human beings to build up enough energy for their transformation.

Which explains why they transform after trashing large cities.

The beast finally managed to extricate itself from the ground.. and started to fall onto the town, casting an omnious shadow over the people..

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma facepalmed. "Oh, holy cow..." he exclaimed. Well, moaned, really. "All I wanted was something to eat." he said flatly, to the guard behind him. "I try to be nice, abide by the rules, hoping for a quiet day. Instead, I get stupid bureaucratic shit, and a giant snake with legs. Well, I've got your damn union pass. Bug off, pal, because whatever happens next, I'm not going to be happy to see you. "

Ryoma closed his eyes, and a brilliant green corona of energy flared to life, surrounding him resembling nothing so much as a crackling fire. He dropped his duffel, and the long, wrapped bundle, and raised his hands over his head, concentrating.

Yui...Kami, how long has it been? A vision of a quiet, smiling black-haired girl, with a smile he'd do anything to see formed in his mind's eye. The familiar ache returned as regrets and hurts he'd give anything to fix surfaced...I miss you, Yui-chan...

His eyes snapped open, and a ball of green energy about half again as big as a man glowed near his hands. With dead, listless eyes, Ryoma looked up at the falling centipede...and smiled.

"SHI SHI HOKODAN!!!"

A green lance of energy, large enough for an adult man to fit into without bending over, erupted from Ryoma's hands, headed straight for the 'googlepede's' head...

[Carthrat]

The brilliant beam of energy lanced towards the Googlepedes head just before it landed on the town. This had the added benefit of forcing the beasts body just above the townsfolk and turning it slightly to the left.

Thus, instead of crushing the town square and the middle-class district, it promptly smashed into the slums. Despite the power of the blast, it looked relatively unhurt.

The thing was still long enough to be directly next to Ryoma, as he soon found out when it's end-section whipped towards him with surprising speed..

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma frowned, and hauled a fist back, planting his feet. The thing was too small to hurt him seriously, but it COULD knock him a fair distance if he wasn't careful.

As the tail came within reach, he swung his fist in a technique learned from his father's grandfather, connecting solidly with the beast's tail, in a rapid, double impact punch, and he growled, funneling ki into his fist to further encourage the armour to shatter...

[Carthrat]

The armour didn't look like it was shattering anytime soon, but Ryoma *did* manage to stop the tail swinging into him, in fact causing it to bounce off him.

The impact *did* send him back a few feet, though, gouging out a pair of feet-tracks along the ground.

The thing was practically reeking energy, now that he had a few close encounters with it. It seemed to be a fair bit more powerful than your average 170-or-so-footlong giant worm.

After it's fall, it seemed to have regained it's footing, and was now rearing up once again, turning it's flexible neck to point the head in Ryomas direction.

It started to speak in some alien tounge..

[Rezantis]

Standing on top of the roof of the bar, Relm looked down onto what could only be described as a scene of carnage.

"Oh."

A man battling it out with a massive centipede wasn't quite what she'd expected to see, although she supposed it did count as interesting.

"Shit."

Come to think of it, that probably summed up the situation better.

Concentrating, Relm felt around for water sources around her . . . and in short order, all the water she could pull from the village's fountain and well came rushing towards her, spinning into a whirling vortex above the roof she was standing on.

As Relm could handle quite a lot of her chosen element at a time, it was a fairly spectacular show.

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma blinked, staring at his fist. "Hm. Tough bastard." he mumbled, pulling his feet out of the trenches they'd carved in the ground, ignoring the head of the beast for the moment.

[Carthrat]

A black bolt of energy lanced out from the things mouth and curved to hit Ryoma, who couldn'tve dodged even if he tried.

He felt a rush of energy.. leaving him, being dispersed to the winds. He felt suddenly weaker and less.. competent than he was a few moments ago.

Still plenty strong, though.

<->

Relm's display was quite amusing, though she thought she heard someone saying '..no permit!' throughout all that.

<->

Carthrat-chan, who was sitting on top of a building across the other side of town, whistled over Ryoma and the big-bug-things little fight.

"That'll leave a mark.."

[Rezantis]

Relm drew an arm back and whirled it forward, concentrating on the water as she did so.  

The practical upshot of this was that the watery vortex was now flying towards the head of the creature . . . and that it didn't seem to be a spinning vortex of water anymore, but more a spinning vortex of razor sharp shards of ice.

Hey, it'd proven effective before.

[Carthrat]

The thing promptly closed it's mouth after it's spell was cast, but that didn't entirely save it from Relm's assualt, which bit and cut at the inside of it, opening some wounds.

A fair bit of the icy shards didn't do any damage, bouncing off it's armoured shell. Only the interior of it's mouth was really damaged, and the extent was difficult to tell.

<->

Carthrat-chan produces a case from somewhere, and opens it, revealing a snap-together rocket-launcher.

"Oh, the memories.." she mumbles, starting to put the thing together..

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma scowled a little, walking over to the body of the centipede, even as he felt the stolen energy begin to replenish itself. Walking directly beneath the beast, (crouching a little, it wasn't that tall) He concentrated until he could see a very specific spot...and he touched it with his forefinger.

"Bakusai Tenketsu." He told the monster conversationally.

[Carthrat]

An entire plate of armour promptly shattered, revealing the soft skin of the creature.

Though hitting that 15cmx15cm hole might be a challenge..

[Bean Bandit]

Ryoma began summoning mana, though it was with some effort, as his reserves weren't very large to begin with, and it was a lot slower to replenish than ki and fighting energy. Quickly, he forced half through his arm, tainting it with his ki to heat the mana to blue flame temperatures, and firing a wide fan of intense heat at the gap in the armor.

With his other hand, Ryoma cast the simplest spell he knew, and as soon as the mana flame had spent itself, his body shimmered and vanished...