When Worlds Collide (Closed to Shi and Vexus)

Darkness filled the world, Rai could feel it. His training in the Ring of the Storm had taught him to identify the Evil and sense it no matter where it dwelled. And though there were many dark souls that screamed out for cleansing, one in particular caught Rai's attention. It spoke to him during a three day long meditation. While traveling with The Great Storm he was caught off guard by a fragmented being. Little of it remained, destroyed in some conflict, but what remained was Evil. It oozed with dark energy, spilling it forth into the Spiritual medium. Still in meditation Rai spoke with The Great Storm, his guide and master in this pseudo-world. "Great One, what form of being is this? How can only a piece of Life put forth such Evil Energy." The Storm was slow to respond, eventually whirling into a vision before his eyes. The clouds in Rai's mind formed into that of a curvaceous woman. The cloud eclipsed the Sun, blocking out all light. Then it shattered into pieces, leaving only a single seed. The seed was dark and inky black and as the vision proceeded it grew. Eventually a great black tree rose from the seed grasping at 5 swords which spanned across the world. After which it wiped out all light and devoured the world beneath it. The shock of his vision snapped Rai from his meditation. The Great Storm was clear in its message. This force was one of Great Evil, perhaps even rivaling that of the Days of Darkness. And like in the those days, it was the duty of the Storm to cleanse the world.

Wasting no time he sped from The Temple of Rain and sought out his ally, Shi. He was always on the move but Rai was confident that he could find him, Death's energy was unmistakable. And after a days journey he encountered his ally, already looking for the same Evil force. Upon finding his close friend and ally, Rai spoke. "Shi The Storm has shown me a great evil still walking this land. No doubt you have sensed it as well. We must fulfill our destinies and either turn this Evil from its ways or cleanse it as the Great Storm of old." Shi needed little convincing and the two boarded the first ship to the source of the Evil, Madagascar. After boarding Rai once again entered a state of deep meditation, he did not know what would await him in this foreign land, but he would be ready for it.

Shi was on edge. He couldn't describe it, but there was a large disturbance in the life web. When Obi Wan said it sounded like a million people were screaming out, and then suddenly silence... yeah, that had an actual purpose in reality now. Life went unto Death, and from Death sprang new life. It was the cycle, and the cycle had been repeated far too many times somewhere in the world. He had no sense of direction though. That was the difficulties of being in a human form. Where he was once omnipresent, he was now stuck to one place like a married man.
Shi ventured from his new 'home' or as he rather called it 'temporary residance', and went out into the woods. He felt the creatures of the dense vegitation all looking at him as he passed. He ventured deep, DEEP into the forest and he finally came to his personal 'sanctuary'. Here there was a little stone circle, where he stepped up and when he reached the top of the fourty stairs he saw the glwowing grenish waters within the well. Shi stepped forth, placing a foot on the water.
"By the tears of the rain." He said. His foot made contact with the water and to him it was as a firm surface. Shi stepped over into the middle of the water and went onto his knees. He began counting breaths, entering the most calm and serense state he could manage. Suddenly the world around him meant nothing, and as he sat he could his own spirit leaving his body and coiling around the edges of the pools.
"Brother!" The Dragon within him called out.
"Spirit of the wind." Shi followe after the Dragon.
"I Call out to you, Speak, what has happened?" The Dragon called
"Where I once was free to fly and see formyself, now have I forsaken my divinity to take action. To take redemption. Spirit of wind, please, heed my calls." Shi said.
"Brother...heed my calls." The dragon concluded. A moment of uttersilence, not an animal, not a twig snap, nothing. No noise at all. Then suddeenly the wind blew against Shi. Ever so quietly he heard the whispersin the wind.
"Seek the island..." The wind whispered, but that was all. Shi opened his eyes and felt the Dragon within give a dissatisfied grunt. Perhaps another of his siblings would be of more help.
"Brother!" The Dragon snapped.
"Spirit of Thunder." Shi followe after the Dragon
"Let us see the place in which we must go!" The Dragon called out depreately.
"Hear my cries." Shi said. The Dragon fell silent. In silence the dragon had given, and so silence is what was recieved. Shi suddenly heard his OCEAN communicator going off, and there was a report of a large storm brewing over a place called Madagascar. Shi was wise, but for all of his travel it had all been on foot or by boat. He'd never been to that place, and he'sd no idea how to get there. He knew where he was headed however, and so he would depart to it. But there was one last order of business to attent do. One last spirit he needed to call upon.
"Rain. Will you be with us, should the worst come to pass and we die, can you forgive us for not being able to keep this world from harm?"
Rain. Will you be with us, should the worst come to pass and we die, can you forgive us for not being able to keep this world from harm?
The Dragon and the human spoke in unison, when speaking to this spirit they were unified, both of them were respectfull, humbled, and thankful to this particular spirit. This spirit was the most crucial spirit of the Storm. Rain was the spirit that brought purity. Rain and Death had always been close, Rain purified what Death had reaped, and in so the wicked could be reincarnated and be given a second chance. But after the corruption, and after what all he, what Death, had done. Shi's eyes opened as he gazed upon the pool beneath him. His reflection was the same as it had been. There ws no reply, no gesture to know that he had been heard, or recognized. Shi felt himself burn a little on the inside, Rain was the one spirit that Shi would not care to be cold-shouldered by. As he shook his head, he heard something. His eyes shot open to see a single ripple going throughout the water. In an instan Shi's reflection turned to that of a familiar face. He smiled when he saw the fellow incarnate, Rai Nagataki also in meditation. As if hearing the spirit of rain itself saying "You are not alone." Shi smiled, content. He was ready to seek out his comrade so that they may both do what needed to be done. Whatever the enemy, none was too great for The Storm and Death.
"May the Spirits have mercy upon this Evil." Shi said as he took off in the direction of Rai Nakatai's energies.
'You'll get none from me.'
'You'll get none from me.'

(OoC: Sorry, not my finet hour here -.-" I'll try and make the next one better, promise!)

It was a beautiful day in paradise. Ms. Elena Vexus had ventured to the island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa. An exotic location for Vexus, as she was not completely accustomed to the dense jungle that surrounded her. Her purpose for the visit to the rainforest was for further research on poisons and other toxins. She was in such an area where she would not be disturbing the population with her testing of the poisons, only the living organisms in the immediate area would suffer from the poisons.
She had brought along one of each of her clones. One that held a self destruct a long with some poisons and the other being more combat efficient should anything happen. Elena was not one to take chances and did respect the ecosystem in the area and did not want to throw it too much off balance by having to destroy it should unwanted guests arrive. Though that was the least of her problems at the moment. She was far off from any civilization and no one knows of her departure from the states. There was no way that anyone would possibly be able to track her to this location, or so she thought.

Vexus' attire for her personal mission was far from that of her usual. She had on a black tank top, black shorts, garter holsters on each left with a gun, a small pack to carry items on the back left side of her belt, and military style buckle boots that came up to just below her knee. Her red hair was pulled back away from her face in a french braid that went down to about the lower part of her back. As for her guards, they had on similar outfits though their hair was much shorter still being in the sleek asymmetrical bob. The two of them stood on a casual guard while Vexus sat on a tree stump with glasses perched at the tip of her nose as she held a Golden Poison Frog between her fingers. Since she did not have any organic parts, the toxins on the amphibian's skin had no effect on her though she was taking it into her systems to be analyzed. The type of toxin that these frogs used prevented nerves from transmuting impulses which leave the muscles in the body useless, eventually leading to the failure of major organs ultimately ending in death. Such a powerful poison could only be harnessed in the wild as keeping poisonous frogs captive can cause them to lose their toxicity.
Elena adjusted the glasses on her face and took out a very tiny syringe from the pack on her belt and pierced the side of the frog with it willing the medical item with a liquid. It was the pure concentrate of the frog's poison. She then let the small animal go and it hopped away as removing a frog's poison would not kill it. Moving from location to location she would take more and more of the Golden Poison Frogs and repeat the same process. Vexus had five syringes full of the toxins where the rest of it had been stored in clone and after she gathered two extra sampled of the poison she believed to have enough for the time being.

With the two samples and a few supplies that the two of her bodyguards had been carrying around she set up a very makeshift testing lab where she concocted a very minute mixture of the frog's poison, with some of her own synthetic poison as well as an evaporative agent. However as soon as she dropped in the evaporative agent the mixture reacted violently, as it was programmed to, with Vexus' toxin and caused the entire concoction to go up in a cloud of smoke which expanded over a decently large area. There was a handful of creatures messing about that she watched as the toxic cloud reached them. Monitoring their systems she noted how the frog toxin took effect first by preventing any muscle movement followed by her own which hastened the process of organ failure by rapidly killing cells. Birds, reptiles, and mammals all the like fell to the forest floor not knowing what hit them.
After the Toxin subsided Vexus could see that it had condensated on the surfaces that had been covered by the cloud of poison making nearly every surface highly toxic. Vexus found this rather interesting as with her previous toxin it merely dispersed itself becoming harmless over a short period of time. However as she watched with the poison now being absorbed into the plant life it began to halt the processes they needed to survive quickly wilting and killing them. Elena was pleased with these results and wished to do more testing and create a perfect finished product. She kept the 5 samples that she had along with the small amount stored in her android clone no adding any more, only using what she gathered as more tests. The cloud went up, expanded, killed, and she moved on recorded each event. In some cases the animals and plants died quicker, where in some they remained alive a little longer, or they were not fully paralyzed. She was buried in her work, now having a number of poison frogs stored in a jar by her as she sat on another tree stump dissecting one of the frogs and some of the deceased animals to learn just a little bit more about what had been occurring.
With all the tests that she had performed, multiple layers of poisonous condensation had formed on not only Vexus but both of her clones as well. To anyone else it would appear as sweat on their bodies simply from the humidity of the forest when in actuality a touch to bare skin from any of the three could render most anyone, or anything, paralyzed. Vexus took a few photographs of the dissections and then logged them on a small laptop that had been handed to her by one of the guards. She now began to run calculations on how she could possibly cultivate her poison in massive amounts. For added processing power she reduced her guards to visual only figuring that there was nothing out here but dead plan life and poisonous frogs. Elena sat in silence as her eyes darted across the screen and her flew over the keyboard becoming even further involved with her work. This was the progression of perfection.

The shore was quickly approaching and with the spiritual confirmation from his ally Rai was feeling good. Death and The Storm would be at his side this day, something that brought him much peace. Staying in meditation Rai turned his attention to The Great Storm once more. "Great One, aid me this day in washing the stain of Evil from this world. Grant me the Wisdom of your Wind, the Might of your Thunder and the Purity of your Rain." In silent response massive Storm clouds converged on the island, immediately releasing their unending payload across the land. It spilt over across the island and into the ocean, pummeling Rai's boat and his destination in a constant torrential downpour. Seeing the Storm the ship's captain approached Rai in his quarters. "Mr. Nagataki, a storm has broken out over the island. We can't get any closer. I'm sorry." The fear of the Rain was in this man like in all creatures, an instinct left over from the days in which the Rain purged the world of all Evil. Rai stood in response to the man's statement. Putting a hand to the captain's shoulder, he passed out to the deck as the Rain fell around him. Peering into the distance he could see the island clearly. And while the ship may not have been able to make it, Rai was confident that The Great Storm would provide him passage. Turning to the man, he bowed and offered a small pouch with payment. "I thank you for bringing me as far as you have. If it is possible, please return to this island in a days time, I will be waiting on the shore. If not, then may the Storm watch over you." Before the man could respond Rai turned and jumped into the Storm swept waters below.

It was a half mile swim to the shore but with the Storm on his side is was nothing to Rai. Upon reaching the shore he thanked the Great One for his safe passage and advanced into the jungle. All life it seemed had gone silent here. The Rain brought the same fear in them as it did all others. All around water was flowing, creating rivers of cleansing water. Luckily this entity's tracks had not yet been washed away though they had faded. If he did not follow them quickly he may lose track of his target. There were three sets of trakcs, each with identical markings. This was odd, he had only been shown one woman in his vision. Perhaps these others were bodyguards, brought to protect against intruders. The evil he had sensed in her was great, it would not be surprising if she had created earthly enemies. And as the Rain continued to fall relentlessly on him and the surrounding jungle he began to enter a trance once again. Not one of meditation but of combat. He had the distinct feeling that this entity would not concede to the Wind, but nonetheless it needed to be given the opportunity. All aspects of the Great Storm were vital in maintaining balance. And soon enough Rai was in the position to embody those aspects. His target was in sight, the woman from his vision. She sat among beakers and burners and all manner of captured creatures. Her full attention was currently devoted to monitor, flashing data and figures. He approached calmly, knowing that his ally was nearby. Keeping 20 feet between them he stopped, resting his left hand on his sword and speaking up over the Rain still driving all around them. "Ma'am if I may have your attention for a moment. I am Rai Nagataki, The Spirit of the Storm and I have been shown the Great Evil that resides in your fragmented soul. I now ask with the Wind in my words that you renounce Evil and return to the path of righteousness. If you refuse I will have no choice but to bring the Might of Thunder upon you. Do you concede?" He spoke with tranquility and confidence in his voice. And though he appeared slack and relaxed he was ready to act at a moment's notice. Evil often took Wind as weakness and an opportunity to attack. Knowing this, Rai was ready for anything this woman might throw at him.

Shi arrived on the island of Madagascar. The storm around him began to swirl and twist. Shi awaited his coming ally at the shore, kneeling in meditation. The island had it's charms to be sure. Shi woas going to miss all the mosquito's when he was done here. His meditation was interrupted when he felt the storm finally kick into effect. The rain battered down upon him, drenching him almost instantly. He chuckled as he opened his eyes and saw a person coming his direction. As always, the storm was with Rai, in all he did. Shi stood up to acknowledge his comrade, and they departed deep into the woods. The death in the area was in numbers too far to count. Every plant, every lemur, every person. Death knew them all by name, and silently he mourned for them.
Rai obviously knew the gravity of the situation, but he was not as deeply affected as Shi was, he could not be. Rai was the storm incarnate. The spirits of Rain, Thunder, and Wind all joined their powers, and in doing so they created a storm, and purged the land of the evil. But what Rai doesn't know yet, is that they did not conjure up a simple storm...they conjured a whole new Kami. A whole new spirit was born into creation. It was only because the Storm Spirit had been born that Death could be beaten. The point being, that The Storm Spirit was born only when the time to defeat the Evil had come, and even as a spirit, the infants are blind. Death had to slowly lose himself to the corruption, to know the agonizing pain of losing ones self. To be held prisoner in your own body, as if looking at the screen of a movie theater and watching yourself murder millions, and you are unable to stop it. This region had been turned into a miniature version of the entire world. This time, Death was not at fault, but it still pained him to remember.
Finally their enemy was in sight. Rai would most likely want to talk her down. As was his way. While Rai had his way, Shi had his own. He wouldn't allow the enemy to know he was there. Nor would he give away the advantage of a two-versus one scenerio. Shi would have no mercy on this woman, nor did he much care for her reasonings. Shi found himself smirking at the thought of Rai simply asking the woman to stand down, and her potentially saying yes. Shi growled as he sliced a mosquito in half.'that's ONE death I can accept.' Shi hisssed in his mind. To Shi, this woman was a lost cause. 'The woman kills EVERYTHING around. For surly she is one who revels in the hinderance and the suffering of others. I know of no one so evil enough to leave these damned mosquito's alive!' Shi took in a calming breath and he turned to Rai, the Storm incarnate. He knew that it was here, today that they would learn of Rai's potential as a weapon, and Shi's as a shield. He stopped Rai before they approached. Rai looked at him.
"May The Storm go with you, should you fight as you did so long ago...this foe stands no chance." Shi said. He felt the need to add in something else though. "Know that Death watches over you, and will not let you fall." Rai nodded and then Shi allowed him to go ahead, while he his hemself away, ready at any moment to strike.

There was a storm on its way, though Vexus was not paying attention. That was what her droids were for.
"Ms.Vex--" The clone was cut off by the torrential downpour that came out of absolutely nowhere. Elena was as surprised as the bots, as such a heavy amount of rain falling so quickly with no previous warning was not something of natural causes. Not to mention her work was shot, all her technology was not 100% water proof on this mission which is why she planned to come on a clear day. Luckily, her memory was flawless allowing her to remember absolutely everything she had done that detail down to the last second. The annoying part would be reentering all of the data once she returned to her laboratory. Elena figured that she better remove herself from this location before whoever, or whatever, created this storm found her location. The data she carried on weather manipulating Metas was not something she really wanted to tangle with regardless of her arsenal.
Sadly she had moved too slow, just as she was finishing up putting away her now sopping wet equipment an individual with a sword and straw hat approached her and her guards. He introduced himself as Rai Nagataki, the spirit of the storm letting her know that it was in fact him who brought this large storm on so quickly. He continued on about some sort of 'Great Evil' that resides in her 'fragmented soul'. She thought he was joking at first though seeing his composure as he finished his small speech she could see, and sense, that he was in fact not making a façade out of this. She would need to talk this man away, whatever his motives were it sounded like that of a religious cult and Elena would be having no part.
"How very kind of you to offer to help me, Rai, however I do not see any wrong done here. If you initiate this 'Might of Thunder' upon me, I cannot guarantee you a safe return to where it is you came from..."
With that Vexus' two droids drew their guns for the holsters at their side and aimed them at this Spirit of the Storm. Elena herself then held her arm down at her side with her palm open and in the sound of a low short roar a sword appeared in her hand. To Vexus this weapon went by the name of 'Nephthys', one of her five stolen and modified God Swords. She planned to use this in order to counter whatever storm based attack he might decide to launch at her, or to defend herself in the case he comes at he with his own sword.
While keeping an eye on the situation Vexus and her two clones scanned the are for any other life forms in the area in case this one did not come alone. From what she could pick up there was nothing else living in the surrounding area, most of which has perished in her toxins and it did not appear that this individual had brought anyone with him. However it did not end so well with the last person who challenged Vexus alone...

It was clear that this woman and those with her would not yield to the Wind. Rai had expected as much. The wind was a first line of defense, a means of preventing harm and damage. Those who heard the Wind and heeded its call were those not truly encapsulated by Evil. Instead they were souls torn at  their core over what to do. This woman was no such being. She was confident in here ways, going so far as to see nothing wrong with what she had done. Evil ruled this soul at its heart. In response to his Wind she had her partners raise guns at him and she manifested a sword in here hand. At the very site of it Rai's eyes narrowed, taking in its detail. What she now held was one of the swords from his vision. Had there ever been a question that this was the woman The Great Storm had sent him to deal with, it was now washed away like the Evil of old. You refuse the Wind, deny its mercy with your words and actions. Very well, Thunder is your fate and with Great Storm at my side I fear not my return home. I will be guided to victory this day and your Evil shall be swept away in the Storm. The Rain continued to beat at Rai's back and as he drew his sword, the water dripped down its length, increasing it to about 3 feet. For a moment he meditated, allowing the full effect of the Rain to set in. As the Rain drove his form now began to fade, becoming one with falling water around him. His muscles tightened, strengthening far beyond the capabilities of a normal human. He was now ready and with lighting speed he acted. Crouching his legs he shot to a nearby tree, sweeping his sword in mid air. As he did, the blade collected the Rain and shot a long bladed wave horizontally at the woman. Its speed and size increased as it approached. And before it could eve reach her Rai again shot from his perch to another, this time above the woman and again unleashing bladed waves at her as he corkscrewed through the air towards his next destination. This time once he landed he took off at his highest speed straight for Vexus with his blade drawn upwards. Hopefully his earlier attacks had per her off guard and his position behind her would allow his final precise attack to land deep between her shoulder-blades. The Might of Thunder had been provoked, it was time to see what Evil had in return.

The woman had refused the Wind, and so Thunder was next. Shi had hoped that Rai was not expecting him to join in right off the get go. They had the advantage that the woman knew nothing of Shi's pressence. An advantage that Shi would not compromise. He watched intently at the events that had transpired. The rain began to pick up, the winds howled, no wailed, even louder than they had before. Shi glared at the woman, this woman was so familiar to him, yet somehow it was almost as if seeing her would never get old. This in and of itself confused Shi, for those he met he normally only met once, but not her. This woman had met him before and almsot teased him as she appeared here. The woman somehow cheated him. Clever girl.
     Lost in thought, Shi would be rudely awoken by the first slash of thunder. His pupils widened with the flash of lightning that struck out, making the shadows dance amongst the trees. Shi silently chuckled, knowng that he was well hidden enough in the trees that his shadow would be consmed by the shadow of the brush. Shi was no more than thirty feet from the battle, close enough for him to shadow-step innto the fray and surprise the red headed lady, and perhaps give her a little surprise. Rai was certainly being dramatic about it, not to say that Shi himself was dramatic with his own techniques, but it made him almost uncomfortable that the woman simply sat there and allowed him to do so. She was far too confident, far too relaxed to be real. Many would begin to panic at the concept that a man had conjured a storm. This woman had dealings, and perhaps experience 'dealing' with others with powers like them. So long as Shi lived, Rai was in no true danger. While the woman COULD in theory take him out with one attack, but so long as he drew beath Rai would have a living shield. But not for now. Now he would observe the woman ane her minions.
    Shi was forever vigilant. he folded his foot underneath him, ready to break out into a shadow-step at any second. His resolve was hardened, and should any shot be taken at him he would be able to avoid it, or intercept it with his blade. Shi was on full alert, he was ready to strike. He thought to himself, unsure of what to do. While it was in his nature to strike with his 'heirloom style' of Kushalatatsu, he may need to forsake it to go for the kill. However it was almost a sin for him to do so. No, he would onnly defend, that was what he swore to do. This woman can cheat death all she wants, but the bottom lin eis that he was not sent there to claim her. He was sent to defend Rai.

As the storm intensified, Vexus' focus narrowed on the man before her as his figure began to become unclear in the rain. Using the technology at her disposal she was still able to make a rough outline of him based on a previous image. This way she won't lose him and can still track his movements, to an extent. However To Vexus' surprise this man moved faster than what she could follow. Her android clone that was geared for combat was just barely able to tract his movements and relay them to its creator. In the same instant Vexus recieved the information and looked to see her opponent just as he was firing a wave of energy towards her. The supercomputer of a brain was running a thousands different situation inputs and possible reactions, though most were proving invalid as her systems would not and could not move her body fast enough to respond.
In the milisecond that it took to find a proper counter this warrior had moved to another tree and created another wave of energy speeding towards her from above relayed to her by her clones. Elena did not waste the time to look up as she had the speed measurements from the first incoming blast and simply repeated them for this attack giving her and estimated time of impact. Also by taking in his last two points of contact as well as his speed and trajectory she was able to calculate his next destination point in order to prepare in advance. In information was sent to her clones and they spun around to see that this man had already landed in the predicted spot and was now moving straight towards them at blinding speeds.
The artificial skin on Vexus' arm began to peel off and evaporate as the Anti-Matter Glove underneath was activated and a translucent barrier quickly covered Elena and her two droids. Simultaneously the clone who had the poison stored in it moved in the pathway of Rai's sword. The two waves of energy sent towards Vexus were easily neutralized by the forcefield and the clone took the enemy's sword head on while protecting her master from the attack. 
The way that the clone position itself caused for the loss of most of it's left side. Vexus deactivated the barrier and the skin began to slowly reform over the Anti-Matter Glove. The clone who had lost it's left side stood back up and kicked its severed arm over to Vexus who picked up the gun from its hand and aimed it at Rai.
"You are a fast little thing, that is for sure..." Elena put the gun in her shorts with the handle still sticking out of the wait a little bit while her clones began to fire off the three weapons in their possession at Rai.
With the speed at which he moved she was positive that they would not land a hit, however they would follow him where he moved to try and keep him at a distance temporarily. Vexus stuck the one sword she had on her into the ground and summoned another, this one by the name of 'Shinigami'. While her clones continued to fire Elena pulled the gun from her shorts and pointed it up in the air while she held the new sword by the handle and the blade pointing downwards and the skulls facing away from her. She fired a single shot from the hand gun and at the same time used the swords ability to amplify the sound of the shot in addition to the other three guns being fired. The powerful wave of sound reverberated outwards in all directions pushing the rain away, tearing up the moist ground, destroying and even knocking over nearby trees. When the attack ceased a small area around Elena will have been leveled however the range of destruction spread out for another 200 feet in all directions.
Vexus put the gun back in her shorts the same way she had it before and then pulled the other sword from the ground. Shinigami in her right hand and Nephthys in her left hand which had healed over with new skin by this point. Her two clones stood guard looking off in different directions for any sorts of movement. He was fast, very fast and Vexus could not afford to miss a single step against an opponent like this...

This woman could think fast. So could her allies because as Rai approached her one of them took the blade for this woman. But instead of flesh and bone he felt the cold scrape of metal on metal. Looking down at his victim it became apparent that what he had killed was not a living being but a frigid and heartless machine. Looking up to his target it became clear that she too was inhuman. When his bladed waves approached her, the skin from her hand melted away to reveal a bizarre contraption. Whatever it was it nullified the effects of his technique, not something he had ever seen happen before. But there was no time to contemplate just what had brought this wretched soul to its current state because the woman's three clones, including the one whom Rai believed he had slain now had guns trained on him and it didn't take long for them to begin firing. Seeing the incoming projectiles Rai slashed his sword downwards at the soil in front of him. Another solid wave flung from his blade and skimmed down into the earth. As it did, the dirt and sod ripped from the ground in an arch. This served two purposes. For one, it would absorb some of the projectiles now flying right and him. It would also put him out of site of the woman for a moment. Foul woman, you shall meet Death. He emphasized the words Death, letting Shi know that he would now be creating an opening for him. Fulfilling his plan as though he had meant to unleash some Great offensive, Rai leaped, reaching high into the air and into the clouds of the Storm. Now within the low clouds and in the heart of the Rain Rai was once again calmed and filled with satisfaction. Thunder boomed as if to reassure him (OOC this is Vexus's gunshot, Rai however does not know that). The Great Storm was still on his side, there was nothing more he could need. And as he began to descend, he again began to perform his signature fighting style at ludicrous speed. Over and over he swept his word in the air. And wave after wave Rained down on the woman. Because of his height in the sky the waves had longer to intensify in size and speed. And now as he broke through the clouds he took his sword and made at swift thrusting motion at the woman. Instead of a bladed wave, a growing conical shape began to spread out from a single point hurtling toward the ground. The force from it shot Rai backwards from his original trajectory and landed him in the trees at the edge of the now leveled battlefield. With any kind of luck his ploy had worked and given Shi an opening to strike. But if not, he was still confident that his onslaught would throw her off.

Shi could sense the oncoming disaster. Mass destruction would soon be all around him. You did not need to be a clairvoyant to tell either. The elements were all there, and in place, the only thing that was needed was the moment in time when it would all happen. Shi watched a little longer, his docile nature slowly becoming more and more ready to strike. Death had a purpose and he knew what it was, but now he was beginning to lose sight of that. Rai struck out at the woman, and both of her lackeys stepped in front of her. Her arm began to almost dissolve and peel away, akin to that of dried and sun-beaten paint on the broadside of a barn. The next thing he knew, there was a shielding around the woman and her devious little friends. Rai’s blade went through the shield with no problems, removing just about the entire left side of the lackey, but much to his surprise the energies of his spirit were absorbed by the shield.
          Shi had seen it all now. The lackey looked human, but it still lived through such a grievous wound. Where blood should have been spilled, only small pieces of metal, and wiring were exposed. As if with no concept of pain the mecha-lackey kicked its own severed arm over to the red-headed woman. The woman took the gun and placed it in her short pants, as if holstering it for a moment. Shi then noticed that the woman’s arm had returned to normal and the shield had disappeared, and that was when Shi began to put it together. The woman was not human, it was only a fragment of the woman harbored in a mechanical shell. The woman who this once was had found a logical and almost ‘easy’ way to cheat him. Where he should have rage he had none, rather he had respect and comfort. Respect for the enemy he now knew he faced, and comfort in the fact that killing her and dealing lethal blows of his own were not against his vow.
              The two mechanical lackeys began opening fire with, what appeared to be, everything they had at their disposal. Meanwhile, the woman with red hair armed herself with a blade of her own. With a swift motion it was driven into the ground, almost as if it were meant to do something. Suddenly Shi felt as if his very should had been torn from him, as he watched to find that she had summoned yet another sword. Shi could feel the energy of Death coming from it, but the energy was so lost, so wayward, so…perverted from what it once was. With this new blade in hand then took out the gun she carried in her pants and shot into the air, giving birth to Shi’s premonition. Everything in a good two hundred feet of the woman was practically obliterated. If Shi hadn’t been so sure of his discrete nature, he would have said she was attempting to force his participation.
(ooc: I hate you still for it btw lol, jk…kinda.)
                 Shi took no harm as his ability to shadow step proved useful and with a hardened resolve. With much thanks to the years of vigorous training in the art of the Kushalatatsu, he was able to prevent the falling trees and other unmentioned debris from harming him. He remained hidden, even in the wreckage, but it would not be for long. It seemed as though the Rai had perfectly distracted her lackey’s, and her as well. She replaced the gun in her short pants and took up the other sword in her hand. Shi was so very cautious of this foe. For it was as if she were a gorgeous nightmare. She could cheat Death, wield swords of corrupt god’s and spirits, disregard spiritual energies, and who knows what else she had up her sleeves.
                  “Foul woman you shall meet DEATH Rai sang out. Well it was a song to Shi, his name was music to his own ears. He was more than happy to oblige, seeing as the woman and her minions all had their back to him. With a shadow-step he was inches from the red haired woman, ensuring that no lackeys could  position themselves between him and her as they did with Rai. His blade already up when coming from the shadow step, as he was aiming to remove that pretty little head.
                      “I’m faster” Shi said to her after he slashed down. Shi made four slashes at the woman, and while he was uncertain if any of them would actually kill her, he knew that with one attempt to the neck, and three attempts to the arm with her barrier inducing thing-a-majig, hopefully something would play out in his favor. Even if he failed to kill her, if he could just sever the arm, he would latch onto it and shadow-step to Rai’s side. While he made his strikes he focused his Kushalatatsu, and with each slash he made. He sent two spirit-blades, one a piece, at high velocity towards each of her metallic partners in crime.
                     “Forgive me, I wish it did not come to this.” Shi whispered to himself. Regardless of having the arm or not, his next move would be too keep her as close to him as possible.

As predicted, her guards were not able to hit the speedster with their bullets. He let out a chant, something about her meeting Death, and then leaped high into the air. With her enhanced vision she followed him as far up as she could see, but was obscured when he entered further up into the cloud cover. As she tried to calibrate her vision to see through the clouds her proximity sensors went off the hook as another body appeared only inches away from her. 
Vexus spun around and her eyes met with his as he was already in mid swing as he took the sword to her throat. The attack would have severely wounded any other human being but with her the slice only opened up and cut through the artificial skin on her neck. She stumbled back grabbing her neck with her right hand out of reaction and in doing so dropped her Shinigami sword. This new enemy followed with more slashes specifically to her left arm. Elena could guess it was from witnessing the activation of her Anti-Matter Glove. Her systems were already trying to get a defense going, but his movements were too quick. Two strikes had already made contact, severing some of the wiring to her left arm preventing her from using that hand for defending. The sword from that hand dropped to the ground, and meeting with the third strike was the Shinigami sword.
It flew from its ground position by Elena's command and defended against the last blow that may have severed her left arm. She then grabbed the sword with her right hand and pushed away putting a small amount of distance between both of them. Damage reports flew into Vexus' mind not only on herself but her clones as well. She kept her eyes on this new opponent as the damage info gave her a clear picture on what had happened to her guards. The one missing it's left side had taken damage to its abdomen section where as the combat enhanced had taken minor damage to the same region as it was better programmed to dodge attacks. As her own damage began to repair, she activated her Carbon NanoTube defense and her nano-mites began to weave a protective layer of the super durable material underneath her pseudo-skin. Though it only takes a few seconds to complete the defense activation, it had not finished when she got another warning of incoming projectiles from above. These two must be working in tandem as these attacks flowed together seamlessly. Her clones dove out of the blast radius as Elena still had plans for them and Vexus threw her right arm up over her head and braced for impact.  
The first that struck felt similar to the waves that had initially been fired, only larger. The force of the multiple attacks knocked her down on her stomach. She rotated her head and saw him exit the clouds thrusting his sword forward and generating another attack. Knowing that there was no possible way to avoid she simply prepared how she could for the impending impact. And it hit hard, forcing her downwards creating a slight crater in the ground and stirring up quick a cloud of debris. Her more advanced and fast processing systems had been disrupted temporarily but was still able to contact and instruct her androids to take advantage of this cover situation. The cloud would settle in a matter of seconds due to the rainfall.
Both clones were behind the cloud and the two swords Vexus had summoned were hidden inside the debris cover. Both swords few backwards into the hands of the clones. Shinigami to the battle efficient clone and Nepthtys to the clone missing its left side. They both sprinted forward through the now settling cloud while Vexus brought her systems back online. Exiting the debris they were moving at their top speed, the Droid missing an arm was headed towards Rai and the other towards Shi. They were going to engage the two of them in close combat. Since the combat clone moved faster, it reached Shi first and began fighting him. Only seconds later the other droid reached Rai. It raised the sword up to attack, however as it was brought down it shot out of the clones hand and into the combat clone's possession. And hopefully before Rai had enough time to react, the damaged clone self-destructed at point blank spraying multiple poisions all over the battle field, some evaporating into the smoke creating a small cloud of toxic fumes. The other two (Shi and the other clone) were relatively close and since the combat clone was expecting the explosion, it was able to ride the shockwave out and back towards Vexus' side with minimal damage. The same might not hold true to Shi.

Vexus stood up from ground zero as her clone self-destructed and dusted herself off. Seconds later her clone landed next to her and skidded to a halt, using the two swords in hand as 'brakes'. The android then handed the two of them back over to Vexus who simply dug them back in the ground. Her outfit had been ruined. Her shorts and tank top were torn, her boots were scorched, and her hair was in a tousled mess and undone from the braid she had in earlier. There were parts on her face, arms, and legs where her artificial skin had been torn and damaged and the black carbon nanotubes could be easily seen. She let out a sigh as she scanned and waited for movement from the two while re-braiding her hair. The mechanical damage that had ben done to her neck and left arm were just about repaired seeing as she was able to move her left hand and arm again. Another activation of her Glove however would still take sometime.
Elena ran some number in her head during the down time. The average amount of force that she had been struck with with by the new participants sword was less than that of the maximum output of her remaining clone. Meaning that if her clone and this individual were to reengage, the clone may be victorious just because her overpowering strength may compensate for her lack of speed. This was assuming of course that they had survived the explosion from her previous clone. If the blast didn't do them in then it was possible that the lingering poisons cloud would. Be though as it may if neither of her methods of rapid extermination were successful, then Ms.Vexus may have her work cut out for her with these two...

Upon landing Rai scanned over the battlefield. His earlier attack had stirred up quite a bit of dust around the woman and her henchmen, making his visibility of them almost zero. Silently he prayed to the Storm that Shi had not been harmed in the attack. Rai had known it would be destructive, but worried that Shi may not have seen it coming. Ever vigilant, he continued to peer into the settling cloud of dust and debris. Suddenly the damaged droid came bolting from within the within dust. In its hand was the sword his enemy had been using earlier. Divide and conquer, that was the tactic this woman was trying to employ. Distracting Death and the Storm with her henchmen while she no doubt prepared some new assault.

Rai decided that it would be best to deal with this lesser threat first. It would mean one less enemy to track in battle, allowing the full wrath of the Storm to be brought down upon the Evil in his enemy. With speed and precision Rai lifted his blade to meet that of the incoming attack. But as the droid's arms came down, the sword shot from its grip and reentered the hand of the woman at the center of the battlefield. Something was wrong, he knew it, but he did not know what it was. Seeing that the attack had been a ploy of some kind Rai began to jump back just as the clone exploded, spewing toxic mist everywhere. The shock wave from the explosion sent him flying back despite his attempt to dodge it. In mid air he called out to his ally "SHI!" He screamed as his body collided with a nearby tree. He could see the toxins fast approaching him despite the Rain which caused them to partially dilute. If for some reason Shi did not hear and understand his cry, then the cloud of mystery toxin would reach him. There was no time to rely and Shi's shielding, besides, it would put Shi at a serious disadvantage. But, there was another option. Ria immediately calmed jhis mind and relaxed his body. He collapsed, just as the cloud reached him. All mental faculties ceased, his heart stopped, all signs vital signs ceased. His life force continued on however. He was now sustained by the energies of the Great Storm alone. In this state he was one with the Storm, able to exist with and speak to it directly. Only that Storm, could decide when it was best to wake him. No other external force could do so. To the outside world however, Rai would appear dead, a fresh corpse killed in his enemies explosion.

Shi watched Rai as he fell into a deep meditation. He coughed, ad the explosion of the mechanical lackey managed to cut Shi and cause severe discomfort. This was the first time Shi had ever really known what it meant to be damaged. This was an incredible foe, and it would take both Rai and Shi to stop her. But then Rai went into his trance, and apparently was playing possum. His beautiful straw-hat had been burned and was beginning to smolder down, his mask was unharmed but his armor was cracking, revealing portions of flesh where the exploded clone had ‘left her mark’ on him. Shi was not undamaged by any means, but there was no way that an explosion like that would keep him from continuing battle. He saw that his left arm was slightly more damaged than his right. Perhaps because he lowered himself and once the explosion made contact he exposed his left shoulder to protect his face and throat. It was intense. If he had been at just the right angle a piece of shrapnel could very well have severed his jugular. He had singe marks on his ceremonial cloth, cracks in his samurai styled cuirass, and blood oozing everywhere. The cold metal he wore was warmed, and made into an unpleasant sticky coating as blood coagulated between him and his outer ‘shell’ but he would not be derailed. He also knew this ‘smog’ would be a potential thread, and so he used his warriors resolve and his heightened reflexes to swing spirit blades of kushalatatsu as he rotated the blade in front of him, acting as a large fan and blowing the smoke away from him. Despite all he did though, he could not protect Rai.
Having well enough of the past he noticed that now the tables had finally turned in his favor slightly. He took a second to recall what he had learned in their time fighting. The two lackey’s were not human, but machines of some kind. The woman they are after has not only the ability to heal herself but she can absorb spirit-blades through her left arm, by a means Shi himself could not hope to rationalize. He also knew that the remaining clone was a nuance, and as such needed to be removed. Shi had no strength, that was apparent, but what was not apparent was that just because Shi didn’t have strength didn’t mean that he was powerless. He looked at the woman who they had originally come after, braiding her hair again.
“Rest in peace.” Shi said to Rai as he initiated his plan. He shadow-stepped not one or twice, but many MANY times. He strung them all together seamlessly circling the ginger and her lackey. Each shadow step allotted a thirty foot distance, and as the lackey and the beautiful bitch weren’t so far apart that meat he could circle at least twice per shadow step. As he changed the steps, he took into consideration that any decent warrior would be able to easily find a pattern to his movements, as Rai had many times before. So as he shadow stepped he began impulsively taking different angels as to avoid reputation, and he began using his speed to throw his blade around in a chaotic manner. Each shadow step of thirty feet allowed for six blade strikes, which was an additional twelve spirit blades. Shi knew very well that by using speed he could add additional force to his strength and amplify his damage output, so he intended to make the best of this. He would attempt three fluent shadow-steps, which was eighteen blades and thirty six spirit blades. Each blade, spirit or normal, was propelled not only with his strength, but the sheer mass of his body and blade needed to be factored. Then you needed it to add the accelerations of his movements. Shi was not strong, but under the right circumstances, he could still hurt. The style of Kushalatatsu was only able to be mastered by those who were dedicated to combat. His skill with the blade would also factor in his effectiveness in harming them.
Shi ended and shadow stepped with a finish behind Rai and began panting. While Shi was in fact exhausted beyond the point he had ever been before, he made sure not to exhaust himself too much. He would have his breath back soon, but until then he needed to play up his weakness. The Samurai were honorable warriors, but Death saw an objective. He would achieve it.

Vexus finished her braid and threw her hair back over her shoulder now having it back out of her face. She saw the storm controlling individual hit the tree after the explosion, scanning his vital signs he registered dead. Frankly she was rather disappointed that this man had only survived this long, but figured it would be best to make sure that he would remain dead. There could be no telling what types of additional powers these individuals had. As Elena pulled the Shinigami sword from the ground and prepared to spear through the now deceased Spirit of the Storm, his counterpart began moving around her at speeds her processors could barely follow. By the time she had calculated a position, he had already moved to the next. For one of the first times she can recall, Elena was behind. Her mind working at quantum computing speeds was not working fast enough to pinpoint a single spot where a strike would be probable.
To make matters worse, he began to send off the blades of odd energy that his partner had used. The Android next to her grabbed the other sword and began to deflect and protect what she could, which was not much at all. The droid began to take heavy damage, losing limbs, and major chunks of its body were being taken out with every rotation. Vexus on the other hand still had her Carbon Nano-Tubes active so the damage she was taking from the hundreds of energy blade was not a sever as it could have been. The onslaught ceased when Shi made a final step and appeared behind his dead partner. Initially damaged by the self-destructing clone, he had now put himself at an added disadvantage as without even scanning his life functions Elena could tell that this last attack had exhausted him significantly however she could imagine that he would recover more quickly than the average swordsman so she would need to take advantage of this moment.
She began to make powerful strides towards Shi and the dead Rai and her clone attempted to follow even though it was severely damaged, trying to limp at a fast pace. Vexus released the sword in her hand and it rotated horizontally backwards towards the damage Droid like a firsbee moving at high speeds. Shinigami tore straight through the midsection of the clone, cutting it clear in half and disappearing once it exited the mechanical body. Being as damaged as it was, it was of no use to Vexus anymore. On her approach, the damage to Vexus became apparent. Her hair was ruined and undone (again), all that was left of her clothing were her shorts and a damaged sports bra. On her arms, legs, face, abdominal area and neck the black silk-like coating that were her carbon nano-tubes were easily visible through slash and gash marks varying in size. She pulled her hair back off her back revealing a large portion of pseudo-skin that had peeled, but not yet fallen off.
"I do have to compliment you just a little bit here, my friend, as no one has dealt this much damage to me in some time." Vexus grabbed the piece of skin hanging off and slowly pulled it up off of her face, purposefully taking the rest of the skin that had been covering her face with it completely revealing her metal mug blacked out by the carbon nanotubes. Once she threw the section of skin on to the ground she deactivated the carbon nanotubes and the black fabric like substance began to dissolve away showing her true underlying mechanical inter-workings. Just in the small sections all over her body that could be seen there were an overwhelming amount of moving parts, thousands upon thousands of different wires and circuits. It was all far too complex for any normal human to wrap their heads around all at once. These more delicate parts of hers were only exposed for a few seconds as her pseudo-skin began to form back over the openings.
A new sword appeared in her hand, this one by the name of Saint Joan.
"You are tragically out classed..." she said as the last little bit of her skin covered her face.
Vexus brought the sword up, and the straight down onto the ground activating the effect of the sword reverberating the kinetic energy outwards and multiplying its destructive potential exponentially. The ground in front of Elena was torn apart as she sent powerful shockwaves screaming towards Shi and his now dead weight partner, Rai. With one of the two down, it would be interesting to see how this man would continue the battle single handedly.