[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.