((Please see my post in the OOC thread.))

After a much needed rest, the gamers met in the inn's common room the following morning for breakfast.

"Guys, I had a dream last night." David spoke up before any real conversation could get started.

"Something important?"

"Well, maybe... I just... There was a place in the desert, an oasis, somewhere to the north and there were kids there. One of them, she was special somehow. I felt like she was calling for us. Um, that sounds weird doesn't it?"

"Not at all." Simeon was quick to speak. "I think an incarnation may be calling out to you."

"An incarnation?"

"An incarnation of one of an aspect. Embodiments of the virtues and guardians of the Aesper Weapons. We already met one back in the mountains, even if you didn't recognize her as such."

"Then I suppose we should start searching for that oasis."

"Sounds that way. We'll head out after we eat, see if we can find out anything about it's location from the people in town, and then, if we have to, fan out and start searching."

((We're basically starting the quest for David's Aesper weapon. In a nutshell, Lust was capturing children from the nearby towns and imprisoning them at the oasis for an unknown reason (let's say there's around ten prisoners). Naturally there's some nasty stuff guarding them too... Like I've said before, despite the whole plot thing, addlibbing is welcome. I'd love to see ROM get really active again.))

Summary:

The main group got to the town near the desert and spead out in the town to find any info on the missing children. Simon stopped by at a local toy store and bought a gift for the little girl (name slipped from memory atm) and gets info on what had been going on from the owner. Simon goes and tells the group and they head out towards the desert.

Meanwhile Josiah and Virgo meet up with Lust and defeated her.

Zanther was still feeling like something wasn't right and seemed to be feel something missing with Tsuekasa getting worried for him. Also there was some activity going on in the Dark Forest.


Think that sums up most of everything.

((Guess it's luck ROM was kinda dead for a while...))

Following the information that Simeon had gotten from the toy maker, the group once more headed off into the desert. The moved quickly, flying for a good portion of the journey. They landed and made camp in the middle of the day and camped till nightfall, when they began walking the rest of the way.

"Remind me never to hike across huge mountains of sand if I can avoid it." David muttered and they climbed a dune.

"Can't be helped. We need to be stealthy." Jeff replied. "If we just storm the place there's no telling what they'd do to the kids. The longer it takes them to notice that we're here, the better."

"Shh..." they topped the dune and Josiah pointed to a cluster of lights at the bottom.

The compound wasn't too large, maybe the size of two or three football fields. There was what looked to be six buildings, two large and four small. The whole thing was surrounded by a roughly eight foot high wall. It was hard to see any details in the dark, but there were a hundful of inky black forms prowling around the area.

"Ok, remember the plan. We split up, sneak in, and try to find the kids. Until we know they're safe, we don't want them knowing we're here to either avoid the guards or get rid of them very quietly. Ready?" the others nodded. "Then let's go." Josiah transformed into Shadow Master and headed down towards the compound, with Virgo in close pursuit.

((Here it goes again. I'll post again soon...but I'd really like it if other people posted a bit too.))

The whole stealth thing went surprisingly smoothly. About ten minutes after the group had infiltrated the base, a brilliant blast of light momentarily lit up the dark sky.

"That's Neo's signal." Josiah turned in the direction of the light. "He must have found the kids. And, with him protecting them, it's time to get serious." he transformed back to normal and summoned Electriblast while sending a mental message to Virgo. "The kids are safe. Let's take these guys down!" With that taken care of, her charged towards the nearest guard...

((Well, here we go again guys. I'm going to try to advance the plot fairly quickly for now. Though if anyone wants to slow it down, I'm fine with that.))

Caught completely by surprise, and lacking Lust's leadership and power, the guards fell quickly. Most never even had time to summon their monsters and those that did were no match for the gamers.

"Static Surge!" Josiah yelled as Electriblast sent a large blast of eletricity careening into a turtle-like monster and its training, sending them both flying.

Nearby, Virgo and David's Supreme Golem broke through a large group of enemies, opening a path to the building where Neo stood, protecting the children inside.

Before long the rest of the group had arrived as well. The guards who were still conscious, seeing they were outmatched, turned tail and fled into the desert.

"Shouldn't we go after them?" Jeff watched their retreating forms, one hand straying to the Yuki Revolver on his belt.

"Let them go." Josiah replied. "By the time they're able to warn anyone, we'll be long gone."

Entering the building, the gamers found over thirty children staring at them with a mixture of hope and fear.

"It's alright now." Neo smiled at them warmly. "We're here to take you home."

***

As it turned out, taking so many children back to the town was easier said than done. It took every flying monster the group had but, in the end, they made it back to town in mid-morning. As they landed, several children immediately ran off towards their homes but the remainder clusted into small groups and peered about uncertainly.

"What's wrong?" Virgo asked a small girl. "Don't you know the way to your house?"

She shook her head. "I'm not from this town. We," she indicated three other children, "are from Oasis Ridge."

"And we're from Clandez." another group chorused as the rest of the children began to name their homes.

"Don't worry." Virgo smiled. "I'm sure we can find people to help take you home. In fact, I'll go look right now." With a nod to Josiah, she headed off down the street.

"What about you?" Josiah approached a group of six children that had so far remained silent. "What's your home town?"

"Each of us is from a different place," the oldest boy replied, "but we cannot return home yet."

"You..." David suddenly stepped forward and addressed one of the girls in the group. "You're the one from my dream, the one who called me to that camp."

"Yes, that me. The six of us are incarnations, each the guardian of an Aesper weapon."

"That may be the reason why they took us." another boy joined in. "But none of the bad guys was able to tell who we really were, so they kept taking more kids."

"You, you, you, and you," the girl indicated Josiah, David, Shauni, and Neo, "have each been chosen to wield one of the weapons as he," she pointed to Jeff, "already does. And I sense that the ones chosen for the remaining two weapons will join with us soon."

"We can lead you to our weapons." the first boy spoke again. "After we were brought to this place we sensed them being taken, but we can still feel their location. They're together now, all gathered in once place for the first time in centuries. It may be a trap, but you will need their power to stop the darkness that is covering this land. When you're ready, we will show you the way."

((And that's a start. If you're not sure what to post you could react to what has happened, talk to the kids, do things in town (since the group is naturally going to want to take a day or two to rest and prepare before heading out again) or whatever. Silver, you and Opal should probably start working on rejoining the main group. Long story short, Greed is the one with the remaining six weapons. Totally makes sense for him to be hoarding legendary items and that will also kill two birds with one stone. David's backstory and Jeff's returning powers can beat dealt with on the trip to Greed's place. Sound good?))

Simeon glanced at his iron staff and then at the Virtue Spell Card he drew from his belt pouch. Jeff was nearby, inspecting the Yuki-Revolver with a facial expression that showed that he was still clearly puzzled by what the ammuntion for the Revolver was.

"Master Jeffrey." the Lion-man spoke in a soft-rumbling tone, "I have no need for this card. I believe you can put this to better use than me."

Jeff could only managed a blank nod as he accepted the card and slid it into his belt pouch, his attention returning to his revolver.

Mahri, meanwhile, decided to play tag with the remaining Incarnations to help pass the time while everyone else was deciding what was to be done next.

The group set out the next day across the desert sands to the distant eastern coast. They used their flying monsters whenever the weather permitted, making good time. The aspects seemed happy to be free from their captors, behaving more and more like ordinary children. They enjoyed soaring through the skys on the back of the different monsters and playing games with Mahri (and occasionally the gamers as well) in the evenings.

"All this time and we still haven't been attacked. It's kind of odd." Virgo commented one day as she sat behind Josiah on Midnight Wing.

"I know what you mean, but with only two sins left there's probably being cautious. We've already proven that we can take out nearly anything they throw at us in a straight up fight. If I were the enemy, I'd be trying to come up with a new strategy right about now."

"Like using the Aesper weapons?"

"That's certainly a possibility. This next battle will probably be a lot different than the last."

***

As they continued to talk, David (who was on his own monster nearby) was lost in thought. His dreams had been getting stronger lately. They were strange dreams. Dreams of a world he didn't recognize and people he didn't know. And pain, there was always pain in the dreams, and blood... He could sense that there was something important hidden in the dreams yet when he woke the slipped away, leaving only vague hazy memories behind. Though disturbing, they also attracted him in a way. Their meaning taunted him, flittering back and forth across his mind, always vanishing just before he could catch it...

((Pausing here in case anyone wants to do something during our journey or if Silver wants to catch up now, as opposed to when we're actually closer to Greed. I have no obejcts to slowing things down here but, if no one posts anything soon, I'll moving things further ahead pretty quickly.))

After a week of travel, the gamers reached the coast. Following it a short distance to the south they came across a bustling town set on the rocky cliffs by the sea. The temperature had cooled considerably since leaving the dessert, and the sea air carried a slight chill. A castle towered over the town set amidst a particularily jagged cluster of rocks.

"There..." the oldest of the aspect children pointed towards the castle. "That's where our weapons are."

"Are we going to attack directly?" David stared off towards the imposing structure.

"Slow down a bit." Josiah shook his head and directed the others to land near a short distance from the town. "We don't know who took the weapons, or why. For all we know they may have been gathered here to protect them from Vanderbilt. Let's ask around town and see what we can find out about the place."

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up later." Virgo slid to the ground, stepped away, and let her own wings appear.

Even Josiah looked surprised. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go scout the castle itself. I'm small and faster than most of the flying monsters you guys have so I can easily zip over and get a good look at the place. They probably won't even know that I'm there."

"You don't have to,"

"I know, I want to. Don't worry, you know that I can take care of myself."

Josiah smiled at that. "Ok, just be careful. Teleport back here if you run into any trouble."

"You worry too much." she leaned over and gave him a kiss. I'll be fine. Later!" she jumped into the air and flew off.

Josiah cast a last look in her direction then turned back towards the town. "Well guys, let's look for an inn and see what we can find out about this place."

Simeon, as expected, volunteered to watch over the Incarnations and Mahri while the others spread out across town to gather information. Discreetly urging the children along with a light brushing of his wings, Simeon and his wards arrived at a small, wooded park near the town square. There, the children were free to play and be children again for the fleeting moments of peace they had been given... save for one.

The eldest Incarnation child didn't leave Simeon's side. Instead, he was inspecting Simeon's Iron Spear, seemingly intrigued by the "Spirit Cards" etched into the blue-black metal. Simeon paid no mind to this unusual fixation; rather, his mind was more focused on the well being of the other seven children who were gleefully playing a simple game of tag on the soft grass of the park.

After a few moments, the eldest Incarnation child spoke. "You. You are the Guardian Father, aren't you?"

Simeon turned his attention slowly to the boy. The child was an Aslanis, "Lion-folk", another one of the native peoples of Orcannon... The thing was, the Aslanis were nearly extinct, and thanks to his glitched coding, Simeon was (or at least part of him was) an Aslanis.

Simeon's navy-blue eyes met with the golden eyes of the Aslanis cub and answered, "Yes. I am the Guardian Father... But you may call me Simeon."

"May I call you 'Father Simeon'? It's odd for me to just address you by name..." he bowed a little, then added, "You may call me Aeron."

Simeon returned the bow, realizing now that honorifics were integral to the Aslanis. After 8 long years trapped in this world, he now knew where this compulsion for addressing others by their honorifics came from.

"A pleasure, young Master Aeron."

Aeron did his best to maintain his composure and not to blush being addressed by a title, but he ultimately failed. He was still a boy, no matter how grown-up he was trying to be. Clearing his throat, Aeron pointed to Simeon's Iron Spear.

"Father Simeon, since you are the Guardian Father, you're the gathering the allegiances of the seven Aesper Spirits, right?"

"Yes, and I have the allegiances of three Aspers already, young master." was Simeon's reply, "And I take it that you're the descendant of Amethyst, the Violet Tiger?"

Aeron nodded. "I am. ... You will need our help to find the remaining four spirits of our Ancestors, Father Simeon. You and your friends will need their help in order to use the full potential of the weapons they are about to retrieve."

Simeon sat in the grass, realizing how weary he was, and offered Aeron a spot next to him as he turned his gaze back to the remaining Incarnation children still playing in the field.

"I am listening."

((Ran out of juice.))

((I gotta update this more often...))

Virgo soared towards the castle, looking for anything that might offer a hint as to its purpose or inhabitants. Seeing little from outside the walls, she rose up, intending to cross over and investigate the towering spires more closely. A bit reckless perhaps, but she had yet to spot anything dangerous and she doubted that there were any defenses she would be unable to handle. The sound of birds that had been present in the air for the past for minutes began to grow louder but she ignored it. At least, she did until a beam of rainbow energy hit her in the back, knocking her painfully against a stone outcropping.

"What the?!?" she groaned and turned to see that the birds she'd been hearing were actually a large group of flying monsters. Very powerful flying monsters. "An Acro Isis?" she dodged another rainbow beam. "A Golden Phoenix?" she was singed by the edge of a massive fireball. "They're all really rare monsters. What as they," she was cut off by a loud roar. Looking down, she spotted a group of equally rare monsters below her. "Damn... Even I can't take them all at once... Heavenly Spear!" she deflected a blast of electricity then turned and knocked back the approaching birds with a Mecha Overdrive. "Tch... Fine, I'll be back." a moment later she vanished.

A mysterious figure watched her vanish from a nearby window. "Fascinating... A monster I've never seen before and a powerful and intelligent one at this. I should prepare for her return. I wouldn't want to miss the chance to add such a rare creature to my collection."

***

As Josiah and the others wondered through the town they found it rather unnerving. While everything was neat and in good repair, the people looked tired, hungry, and depressed. Very little was being sold and the few things there were selling for far more than they were worth. The citizens seemed unwilling to say much to any of the travelers, other than vague murmurings of a Lord Greed and his taxes.

"Well, I guess we know who's in the castle." Josiah filled Simeon in on their findings after arriving in the park. "Not that I'm too surprised."

Virgo appeared as they were talking. "Guys, we've got a problem. Getting into the castle isn't going to be as easy as I thought..."

"We'll have to take the castle." Jeff paced back and forth in Josiah's room in the inn, where the group had gathered to discusses their next move. "Now that we know that the ruler is one of the sins, that rules out any chance we may have had at negotiating for the weapons."

"Haven't we assaulted enough castles already?" David sighed. "Josiah could probably sneak in and steal the weapons."

"It's not like we really have any other options. We need to defeat Greed sooner or later anyway, and we can't just leave this town under his control." Neo pointed out.

"Josiah might be able to get in with his shadow transformation," Virgo interrupted, "but security was very tight and there was an entire army of rare and powerful monsters there. Sorry," she turned to Josiah, "but I don't think even you could fight them all of if you were discovered."

"Well, regardless, Neo is right. We have to stop Greed, not just get the weapons. Jeff, you have the military experience so, if you've got any particular advice or strategies for this type of situation, go ahead."

***

The sun rose upon a still and clear sky. High above Greed's castle, the gamers' attack force hovered on their flying monsters, waiting for the order to attack. After some discussion, it had been decided that the children would be left behind under the case of Ivy and Tsukasa. ((And Shauni, if she feels that would be more appropriate due to her character's current condition. Or, if she prefers, she can be part of the attack.))

"Just remember what we talked about." Jeff peered down at the tiny castle far below. "Now, attack!"

With a shout, the gamers dove down towards the castle. As, almost as if they'd been waiting for this exact moment, Greed's arial monsters rose up to meet them...

The fighting was intense. Greed had enough monsters to constitute a small army and most of them were nova level. To make matters worse, many were rare monsters that few of the gamers had encountered before, leaving them unsure of what types of attacks and battle styles they'd be facing. But, slowly, the tide turned in favor of the gamers. Having faced off against the most legendary forces Orca had ever seen, they wouldn't be defeated by ordinary monsters, no matter how many there were.

Suddenly a large shimmering silver dragon shot up into the midst of the battle. On its back stood a handsome man with a greedy glint in his eyes. The fighting suddenly ceased as the enemy monsters broke off and reformed behind him. "Very good." he applauded as he surveyed the gamers. "Your skills are even more impressive than I've heard and you monsters and weapons... They'll make very fine additions to my collection. I promise you that they'll be well cared for after your deaths."

"I didn't know greed went hand in hand with overconfidence." Josiah replied from his perch atop Midnight Wing.

"Oh, it's not overconfidence." Greed calmly continued. "But, as you can see, I have quite the collection. And this is only part of it. Monsters, weapons, spell cards, magical items... I've scoured this continent, collecting the best and the rarest of all I could find. There power flows through me, fuels me, and make me stronger. A power that far eclipses that of those other so called sins. And, once I've taken your monsters and items as well, even Vanderbilt herself won't be able to stand against me! Allow me to give you a small demonstration." Greed smiled as a glowing aura surrounded him. He raised his hand lazily and a lighting fast beam of energy shot out, striking Midnight Wing before Josiah had time to react. Its health completely depleted by the single blast, it immediately vanished, returning to its card. Josiah reacted quickly, pulling out another card and transforming into Perfect Light, but Greed only laughed. "Do you understand now? And that was only the beginning."

((This would probably be a good time for Silver and Opal to rejoin.))

((... It's hard climbing back into a Lion's skin after playing a Druid and a supersoldier for a year...))

Simeon, meanwhile, was unusually absent from the fight. He was in the catacombs below the citadel, following young Aeron's instructions via a temporary telepathic link they established with the help of Aerobreaker. Because of Aeron's connection to the Aesper Amethyst, the Aslanis cub sensed that his Aesper Ancestor was being held in Greed's menagerie.

If that was the case, then it was also likely the rest of the Aespers were here as well.

Simeon could only hope he could reach the Aespers in time. If they were unleashed upon his comrades fighting above... Simeon didn't want to think about it.

((... dah. I'll finish this when I get back from work. ^^;;))