Glory, Justice, Vengeance

The child shook her head. This guy was very very very very stubborn. Was fighting that important to him? What would he gain by beating someone in battle? And what would happen when he lost to Raven?

Ima hadn't the slightest doubt that Raven would win.

Speaking of Raven...

She looked up at her friend. "Do you want me to help?" Ima asked him.

"This guy can't take both of us........let's do it."

Raven never looked down to Ima, but he knew she'd understand. He couldn't take his eyes off of the opponent.

"Two on one?"

The stranger calmly shook his head, holding the sword out now.

"More victory to claim, then."

The man then seemed to vanish into a haze, his speed amazing as he pushed closer and closer to the two, his sword held blade to the ground, ready to strike.

"Damn it, this is all your fault, I swear..."

Zora walked along the streets of the town, her hands behind her head, an irritated expression on her face. Walking beside her was Kuro, the 'shadow' cat. His ears were flat and his head was low as he walked.

"If you're gonna play with my glove, make sure you use one that ISN'T on my right hand, got it?!" she snapped at the cat. Kuro meowed softly, to which the girl sighed and lowered her arms. "I'll go try to find another one...try not to get lost or anything." She headed over to a nearby building as Kuro's ears perked up, watching his master walking away.

Seeing as how he had nothing to do, he bounded off in a random direction. After walking but a mere few feet, he blinked and raised his ears as he could smell two familiar smells with an unusual and strange smell. He made a mad dash over to the source, seeing Ima and Raven. He saw Raven had his gun out and knew something was up.

Kuro trotted up to Raven and pawed at his shoe lightly, looking up and meowing innocently.

Raven looked down to the cat, wondering what the hell was going on. The perfect distraction. The stranger swung, teeth of the blade aimed directly at his ribs. Raven's supernatural reflexes kicked in, his hand gun coming down, blocking the sword by the barrel firing a shot to dislodge the blade and turning, ready to level up for the head shot.

As he pulled the entire turn, the gun was leveled.............and nothing was there. A hazey mist fluttered around him, Raven trying to figure out what was going on.

"That's quite a skillful shot."

A voice spoke behind him, Raven's eyes widening. A cold face looked over his shoulder, another slash following only to be dodged matrix-style by Raven Blair, a full 360 turn followed by another bullet, hitting smoke yet again and riccocheting off of the wall.

"What the hell?"

Kuro tilted his head as he saw what was going on before starting to hiss at the strange voice. He launched itself over and attempted to find the man by biting at it.

Ima was just as confused as Raven and Kuro. The man could turn into smoke? She had never heard of anything like that before. How strange...though, Ima couldn't help but think, very very interesting.

Still, she knew better than to ask questions now.

Later though.

...Would her gun help if he were made of smoke?

Ima pointed her gun at the mist, firing a few red shots, making sure to avoid Raven and the cat that had suddenly appeared.

The rays hit nothing as smokey holes within the man's body opened up, the stranger not even taking the time to move from his original position. It was like he was there, but wasn't at the same time. The air curled, thickened. A sense of demise fell upon the heroes, the somehow invulnerability of this swordsman was unlike anything they had ever seen before.

Raven racked his brain trying to figure out a solution. Magic? No, there would have had to been a process, some words or hand motions, even just summoning the power. There was nothing, it just happened. Was he a demon? Not any kind Raven had encountered before, and he couldn't pick up the scent of any demonic entity on him. This man..........this thing, was strange.

"That's quite the impressive weapon."

The stranger looked to Ima's blaster. While his expression was void of emotion and his eyes were locked dead upon it, this was the most effort he had made in conversation yet.

"How a child such as you acquired it is a mystery."

A slight turn and he brought his sword up to his side again, teeth tilted, blood thirsty.

"I'll enjoy defeated such a unique weapon."

Raven spun his gun within his right hand, taking aim again with iron sights directly on the head of the target.

"Don't try to end this party so quick now. We got a couple more games to play!"

Kuro launched himself at the man again, only to pass through his smoke-filled body, rolling on the ground before hitting a tree, slumping back down the ground.

".........What the hell is this, I don't even...."

Zora blinked as she looked at Ima, Raven, Kuro, and the mystery man. Her annoyed expression stopped at Raven as she raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of freak of nature did you bring this time, bird boy?"

"Oh shut up, do I look like I know this guy?!?!"

Raven yelled at Zora with utter annoyance, dodging another slash by the stranger as he did so.

"Just break out the freaking psycho arm and let's kick this guys ass!"

He fired a shot, going through the stranger's head with a smokey dodge.

"He found us!" Ima told Zora, a confused look on her face. She would have been far more ecstatic to see Zora had they not been in this situation. "Well, he found Raven. It was weird. And thank you Mister Smokey, I made it myself."

The last part was aimed at the stranger, as were several more most likely useless shots of her gun. Ima also tried to make the man heavier, unsure as to if that would work.

The child wished they could just go back to playing tag.

Zora blinked...and blinked...and blinked again before letting out a heavy sigh, scratching her head with her bandaged right arm.

"I would LOVE to help..." she said, the words seeping OODLES of sarcasm. "...But I fucked up my arm the other day...so the only thing I can do is beat the hell out of him without my 'freaking psycho arm'."

"You all bore me."

The stranger simply walked through the remaining attacks, crouching down and picking up the cloth with which he wrapped his weapon in.

"Battle is supposed to be taken seriously. You all bicker like scolded children."

He placed the smooth end of his sword on his shoulder, rolling his neck.

"You've wasted enough of my time. I'm sure someone else in this town can give me a better fight."

The stranger held the sword up, smoke generating from his body and encircling the hilt of the blade like a ghastly hand. He removed his own grip, the sword now hovering on it's own. It charged at them, swinging like a buzzsaw.

*CLANG!*

The sword was knocked back, recovering from the deflection.......but not by any of the original three. A second sword stood in a blocking position, lowering down with ease to the movement. The wielder was dressed in black from head to toe, a white fur outlining the top lining of his jacket. He moved his head to the right, swinging the hair from his face with a less than entertained scoff.

"Oh? A challenge?"

The newcomer said nothing.

Ima blinked. That was unexpected. Maybe this stranger would be nicer than the other one? She certainly hoped so...and if he wasn't nice, she at least hoped that he would be much more hittable.

"You seem to have things under control, but.."

Oddly enough, the new voice had not come from the other stranger. A metal arm appeared in-front of Ima as two eyes snapped open, a red coat waving in the newly formed torrent of wind. Sparks ran down the arm as it snapped up, the light clearing to reveal a new figure standing guard over the alien girl. A spasm shot through the arm with steel fingers clenching, a fist coming to form within a flash. Blond hair parted with a shatter of wind to show a serious amber gaze, a small smile licked with intelligence over pale lips. He was certainly not very tall, shorter than most of those in the current vicinity, yet something whispered around him spoke of chilling courage and untapped potential.

"...Mind if I help?"

A shudder of light span over the metal arm and quickly began to warp the mass of the steel, a sword forming within the crafted palm with a whisper of certain Latin words. Lightning licked the air and shattered the earth below him, the sword coming to wield in the one hand as the short unnamed man held up the fleshy arm straight at the smoke swarmed stranger. Yet, he made no move to attack, suiting to smile as a flickers of sparks formed over his entire body. Suddenly, those unusual amber eyes were filled with the view of the ocean, the color blue burning brightly within the entire depths, erasing amber without a single word. With the dust and light set, the identity of the man had been finally shown to on-watchers at last.

Takato Rutherford merely held up his sword and grinned,

"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life."

OOC:.....give me one resaon why i shouldn't bite your head off :V