The mountains of the Loftarasa range are often host to cold weather, and today is no exception. The sun high overhead does nothing to alleviate the temperature, though oddly that does not seem to bother one man in particular. A large, almost completely undressed Giganto makes his way through a lightly traveled mountain path with very little in the way of effort. The only noise he gives off is the occasional scuffing of his bare feet against the ground.

Alcatraz the pumpkinhead had his hands in the pockets of his denim vest and was making his way through the mountains alone. Echo had taught him about soul gem repair, and then left to do whatever it is Echo did. Suddenly, the green gem attached to a chain on his belt began pulsating, signaling either the arrival of a witch or a wishborn. His eyes flickered a bit as he looked around, seeing only a... almost naked man.

Tyrranis takes his eyes off the road as well, though less because of a prompt and more a feeling. Looking around, he notices the pumpkinhead, and after a few moments of confusion he spots the chain attached to Alcatraz's belt. "Ah. A wishborn." Tyrranis turns to face him, and nods in acknowledgment with the man. "It is good to see another one out and about. Have you been fighting long?"

"Not long, actually," Alcatraz responded. "Just a few months since umm... Kyububble I think the girl said his name was. Anyway, yeah, witches and yoma and shit." After his last encounter with a wishborn, Alcatraz had no idea what to expect. Seems that the cat was gathering people from all walks of life. "What's your story then? Name's Alcatraz."

Tyrranis shoulders his bat, and scratches at his chin. "Kyuubey. The Wishgranter. My story is a simple one. My job is to fight. My life is to fight. He allowed me to do so in a way I never considered. Since then I have been learning... Other things however. Regardless, you may know me as Tyrranis. I and Crossroads run an organization of Wishborn based in Truce."

"I'm not even that good. I'm just a poor asshole down on his luck that took any way to get out of his hometown he could. Worked pretty well so far." Alcatraz thought for a moment about what you was trying to say. "So there's an entire organization? I thought everyone was kind of a wanderer."

"Some of us wander, some don't. I and Crossroads have a small base that we operate out of, along with other Wishborn when they are around the town." Tyrranis eyes Alcatraz for a moment, and apparently decides to try something. "Would you like to come down, see what the Knights Magi is about?"

Alcatraz considers the offer. On one hand, he'd appreciate the bed and consistent lodging. On the other hand, the Devilish Gourds always pushed him around simply because he was the new guy. If those guys were mean, he didn't want to be at the mercy of others with magical powers. Especially those ten feet tall. "Alright..." he said, hesitantly,"I need a gang, I suppose. What do I need to do to join?"

"Nothing. We ask no dues of you, simply that you do your job and try not to mess up the house. Though. I personally would like to see you in action." Tyrranis pulls the cork from the bottom of his bat, letting a dark grey gem tumble from the hidden compartment into his hand. Next after it, a seed tumbles into his hand. "Think you can handle it?"

Alcatraz nodded. "Alright. I'm not the best fighter, but I can hold my own." The Gangster picked up his soul gem, and as he activated its power, smoke fell from his head to surround his body, quickly weaving itself into a high class grey pinstriped suit and a fedora. He pulled his gun from his pocket. "Ready when you are."

Tyrranis presses the seed into the surface of his gem, and the darkness floods out of the gem, leaving it still frustratingly grey. "I hope you are." The seed begins reacting poorly to this newly fed corruption, and Tyrranis throws it high into the sky as it begins bulging. As the seed reaches it's apex point, a chill flows through the air and the small object shatters. For a moment there is nothing but empty space where it once was.

This is not for long however, for several of the trees that had been doing their damnedest to grow on the mountain suddenly shatter into a spray of wood. From the remains of the trees, two humanoid forms step out, moving almost jerkily. Thin strings of energy trail from their limbs up to the fingers of a new being, floating in the sky. Tyrranis scowls as the woman calls out, laughing heartily. "Hohohohoho! I have returned to the land of the living!"

The woman moves about in the air, her features gradually fading into being as she does so. Long curled black hair, close fitting clothes and dark gloves fit her hands. "You fool! Don't you know what I can do now?! No longer am I burdened by the old rules! This time, you will die!" With this threat, she flicks both of her hands and the wooden puppets fly out, one heading to attack Tyrranis, and the other flying to Alcatraz!

"What a bitch." Alcatraz did not hesitate in the slightest. In a puff of smoke, he disappeared as the puppet charged him and rematerialized behind it. With a quick turn, Alcatraz aimed his pistol with both hands and began to fire.

Bullets slam into the back of the wooden creation, causing it to stumble forwards in the middle of it's assaulting charge. This does not deter it for long however, as it quickly twists it's individual body parts around to 'sight' Alcatraz once more. With a motion from the Witch, it's arms are suddenly peeled down to sharp, nasty looking points.

Tyrranis looks on the charging puppet with almost a look of disdain. Instead of preforming any fancy trick to negate the charge however, the Giganto simply reaches out and takes hold of the charging construct's 'face' and then shifts his own body into motion, taking the creature down to the ground with brute force. He seems to actually be paying more attention to Alcatraz than the witch or his puppet.

With a fluid motion Alcatraz reloaded his gun as the puppet was altering itself. If it was possible for him to look smug, he would be at the moment. A smokescreen fell around him, obscuring the area and line of sight to see him. It would be hard to notice, but Alcatraz was changing positions, trying to get behind the melee oriented puppet with his switchblade.

The puppet, apparentally effectively blinded by this attack despite having no apparent eyes, decides to just charge forward and attack wildly with it's stabbing arms.

Tyrranis frowns as Alcatraz obscures the area around himself with a dark smoke. Instead of trying to find a better place to view the fight from, he turns his attention to his own puppet, the construct having reached up to try and choke the giganto. In response, Tyrranis grabs both of the puppets hands and begins simply twisting, the wood of the puppet's wrists creaking under the strain.

Alcatraz takes perfect advantage of the flailing puppet, having snuck his way behind it. The fire in the pumpkinhead's eyes never seemed to glow while he was sneaking, almost as if he found a way to turn them 'off.' With stealth having given him the upper hand, Alcatraz grabbed the puppet around its torso from behind and tried to plunge his switchblade into where a human would keep their heart.

As Alcatraz plunges his knife into the heartwood of the puppet, it in no way ceases moving. Instead, it just continues it's wild charge forwards, swinging madly as it makes to break through the other side of the smoke, possibly carrying Alcatraz with it!

Tyrranis growls as he finishes twisting the puppet's hands, a loud 'CRACK' hailing from the wooden creature's wrists as they break off. The puppet's limbs fall limp for a moment before beginning to twitch again. Tyrranis himself simply throws the wooden hands to the side, turning his attention back to the smoke cloud.

Well this was just embarrassing. Alcatraz keeps his hold on the puppet as it continued its charge. With a grunt, Alcatraz reaches for his gun again, carefully placing it right under the puppet's chin as he pulled the trigger. "Sweet dreams, fucker."

The bullet enters the puppet's head and almost instantly exits it, blowing a massive hole out of the top. Regardless, the puppet continues it's wild charge, clearing the smoke screen with a large portion of it's head missing and a knife stuck where it's heart should be. Only after clearing the smokescreen does it stop, it's entire body shuddering to a halt as it stands still.

Tyrranis continues to watch the smoke until the pumpkinheaded wishborn rides his enemy out of it, and grunts in response. With that, he grips his own soul gem finally, and pushes magic into the small artifact.

Tyrranis holds his soul gem up in one hand, and in a moment it melts. Running through his fingers, it hits the ground and then pools around his feet. The giganto closes his eyes, and looks to the sky as dark grey tendrils rise from the ground, grasping at Tyrranis' legs like the souls of the dead, attempting to drag him to their world. Slowly, more and more tendrils rise from the pool, and pull at more and more of his body until they almost encompass him.

Suddenly Tyrranis' eyes open and he lets out a harsh shout, and the darkness is shattered, leaving behind a dark blue hakama in the place of his towel, and his gem now fills in a long thin scar over the top of his heart. The giganto settles back down into a combat stance, holding his weapon at the ready.

As Tyrranis does so, his own puppet staggers back it it's feet, and strikes at the transforming wishborn, flailing at him with it's shredded wrists while he is 'vulnerable'.

Suddenly, brilliance strikes Alcatraz. "I'll deal with YOU later," with his traditional puff of smoke, Alcatraz blinks off of the puppet several yards away. To stop a gang, hurting their friends only pisses them off. Take out their leader and they fall apart. "Hey, you there in the sky. Stand still for a moment." Alcatraz takes aim and fires at the witch controlling the puppets, hoping that the one targeting him would take a ew moments to reach him.

The witch notices Alcatraz notice her, and lets out a shriek. "No! No no nono You are not supposed to pay attention to me!" She dodges in the air by pulling at a 'string' to pull herself towards the Puppet attacking Tyrranis, causing it's attacks to be pulled short of the Giganto.

Tyrranis nods with Alcatraz's eventual attack on the witch, and reaches out as she pulls herself away from the wishborn's bullets. The witch notices Tyrranis' actions too late however, as he grabs a handful of the nearly invisible strings linking her to her puppets and pulls. Hard. "No, this ends now."

Alcatraz unloaded every bullet from the pistol he could directly into the witch, and she plummeted to the ground accordingly. "Fuck. You. Bitch." Alcatraz put his gun away and walked over to the puppet he was fighting, dislodging his switchblade and putting it into his pocket. He turned to Tyrranis. "I'm not exactly elegant, but I can get the job done."

Tyrranis steps over to the newly bullet riddled witch as she bleeds on the ground, and slams his foot into her chest. Coughing out in pain and surprise, the woman looks up to the Giganto, blood trailing from the new holes in her body. "Damn... you." Tyrranis doesn't respond with words. Instead, he brings his bat back and swings it at her head, cracking the Witch's neck as it makes contact. With that done, Tyrranis dismisses his magical form as the woman's body fades away, revealing only a spinning grief seed in it's place. "Next time, do not focus on a witches monsters. They can appear without number and will not always die as a creature should. Unless you are running interference for another wishborn, focus on the witch itself. Understood?" Tyrranis looks to Alcatraz, seeing if he would agree.

Alcatraz nods. "Alright, don't worry about it. I can keep that in mind." Alcatraz's magical form faded away into his standard street clothes. "Do grief seeds still work the second time the witch is summoned from it? Or do we need to take that directly to Kyuubey?"

Tyrranis picks up the grief seed and holds it out to Alcatraz. "I do not know. Feel free to see if it works. If not, then we can give it to Kyuubey once we return to Truce. That is, if you are still willing to join us."

Alcatraz takes the grief seed and uses it to clean his gem like Echo showed him. "Seems to work fine. GUess this means I'm in then." Alcatraz pockets the gem and looks back at the giganto. "Whenever you wanna show me your place then, I'll follow along. Ain't got anywhere else to go regardless."

Tyrranis nods with the pumpkinhead. "Good, follow me then and we will be on our way. With any luck Crossroads will have thawed out some fish. We can have a nice fish fry when we get back." Tyrranis slots his soul gem back into his bat, and begins walking down the Mountain, trusting Alcatraz to follow him.